The spines,
hairs, or sticky glands on the stem or flower-stalk, the curious hairs
or processes shutting up the flower, or sometimes even the extreme
smoothness and polish of the outside of the petals so that few insects
can hang to the part, have been shown to be related to the possible
intrusion of these "unbidden guests."[42] And, still more recently,
attempts have been made by Grant Allen and Sir John Lubbock to account
for the innumerable forms, textures, and groupings of leaves, by their
relation to the needs of the plants themselves; and there can be little
doubt that these attempts will be ultimately successful. Again, just as
flowers have been adapted to secure fertilisation or
cross-fertilisation, fruits have been developed to assist in the
dispersal of seeds; and their forms, sizes, juices, and colours can be
shown to be specially adapted to secure such dispersal by the agency of
birds and mammals; while the same end is secured in other cases by
downy seeds to be wafted through the air, or by hooked or sticky
seed-vessels to be carried away, attached to skin, wool, or feathers.
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