Origin of Species Variorum

→ been blown with 1869

flown with 1859 1860 1861 1866

been blown by 1872

→ shown, as remarked by 1859 1860 1861 1866 1869

illustrated, according to 1872

→ I can show, are the greatest wanderers, and 1861 1866 1869

I can show are the greatest wanderers, and 1859 1860

wander more than those of any other; and they 1872

→ would 1859 1860 1861 1866 1869

on their feet would 1872

→ their feet; and when making 1866 1869

their feet; when making 1859 1860 1861

and when gaining the 1872

→ the same fresh-water 1869

fresh-water 1859 1860 1861 1866 1872

→ unstocked ponds and streams, situated at very distant points. 1869 1872

vast distances, and if consequently the range of these plants was not very great. 1859 1860 1861 1866

the nearest land: how much farther it might have →been blown with a favouring gale no one can tell.

With respect to plants, it has long been known what enormous ranges many

fresh-water

fresh-water,

and even

marsh-species

marsh species,

marsh-species,

have, both over continents and to the most remote oceanic islands. This is strikingly →shown, as remarked by Alph. de Candolle, in

those large

large

groups of terrestrial plants, which have

~~only a~~

only a

very few aquatic members; for

the

these

latter seem immediately to acquire, as if in consequence, a

~~very~~

very

wide range. I think favourable means of dispersal explain this fact. I have before mentioned that earth

occasionally

occasionally,

~~though rarely,~~

though rarely,

adheres in some quantity to the feet and beaks of birds. Wading birds, which frequent the muddy edges of ponds, if suddenly flushed, would be the most likely to have muddy feet. Birds of this

order

order,

→I can show, are the greatest wanderers, and are occasionally found on the most remote and barren islands

the open ocean; they would not be likely to alight on the surface of the sea, so that

any

the

dirt →would not be washed

off;

off

→their feet; and when making land, they would be sure to fly to their natural fresh-water haunts. I do not believe that botanists are aware how charged the mud of ponds is with

seeds;

seeds:

I have tried several little experiments, but will here give only the most striking case: I took in February three

tablespoonfuls

table-spoonfuls

of mud from three different points, beneath water, on the edge of a little

pond;

pond:

this mud when

dried

dry

weighed only

6¾

6 3/4

ounces; I kept it covered up in my study for six months, pulling up and counting each plant as it grew; the plants were of many kinds, and were altogether 537 in number; and yet the viscid mud was all contained in a breakfast cup! Considering these facts, I think it would be an inexplicable circumstance if water-birds did not transport the seeds of →the same fresh-water plants to →unstocked ponds and streams, situated at very distant points.