Origin of Species Variorum

→ in pellets or in excrement, many hours afterwards. 1859 1860 1861 1866 1869

many hours afterwards in pellets or in the excrement. 1872

→ this 1859 1860 1861 1866 1869

the distribution of this 1872

→ its distribution 1859 1860 1861 1866 1869

the means of its dispersal 1872

→ although I do not know the fact, yet analogy makes me believe that a heron flying to another pond and 1859 1860 1861 1866 1869

Now this bird must often have flown with its stomach thus well stocked to distant ponds, and then 1872

→ would probably reject from its stomach a pellet containing 1859 1860 1861 1866 1869

analogy makes me believe that it would have rejected 1872

→ of the Nelumbium undigested; or the seeds might be dropped by the bird whilst feeding its young, in the same way as fish are known sometimes to be dropped. 1859 1860 1861 1866 1869

in a pellet in a fit state for germination. 1872

→ in kind, 1869 1872

already occupying any pond, 1859 1860 1861 1866

→ even in a well-stocked pond 1869 1872

of kinds 1859 1860 1861 1866

The same agency may have come into play with the eggs of some of the smaller fresh-water animals.

Other and unknown agencies probably have also played a part. I have stated that fresh-water fish eat some kinds of seeds, though they reject many other kinds after having swallowed them; even small fish swallow seeds of moderate size, as of the yellow water-lily and Potamogeton. Herons and other birds, century after century, have gone on daily devouring fish; they then take flight and go to other waters, or are blown across the sea; and we have seen that seeds retain their power of germination, when rejected →in pellets or in excrement, many hours afterwards. When I saw the great size of the seeds of that fine water-lily, the Nelumbium, and remembered Alph. de

Candolle's

Candolles

remarks on →this plant, I thought that →its distribution must remain

~~quite~~

quite

inexplicable; but Audubon states that he found the seeds of the great southern water-lily (probably, according to Dr. Hooker, the Nelumbium luteum) in a

heron's

herons

stomach.

stomach;

→although I do not know the fact, yet analogy makes me believe that a heron flying to another pond and getting a hearty meal of fish, →would probably reject from its stomach a pellet containing the seeds →of the Nelumbium undigested; or the seeds might be dropped by the bird whilst feeding its young, in the same way as fish are known sometimes to be dropped.

In considering these several means of distribution, it should be remembered that when a pond or stream is first formed, for instance, on a rising islet, it will be unoccupied; and a single seed or egg will have a good chance of succeeding. Although there will always be a struggle for life between the

individuals

inhabitants

of the

species,

same pond,

however

few,

few

→in kind,

yet,

yet

as the number →even in a well-stocked pond