436 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



these means of defense have been multiplied over and over again 

 for still greater precaution, so that the final outcome is a seed al- 

 most absolutely fortified against the onslaught of every possible 

 aggressor. 



In England, Tvhere there are only three native nut-eaters of any 

 importance — the squirrel, the dormouse, and the nut-hatch — most of 

 our indigenous trees have not found it necessary to arm themselves to 

 any large extent against this class of deiDredators ; and consequently 

 there are only three kinds of nuts in the truly aboriginal English flora, 

 namely, the beechnut, the acorn, and the filbert. Chestnuts, walnuts, 

 and horse-chestnuts are cultivated in the British Isles to some slight 

 extent, but they do not thrive, and the two former seldom j^roduce 

 fertile nuts. These three native English kinds, therefore, may be 

 taken as good examples of very simple and undeveloped forms of nuts, 

 far inferior to the most advanced American specimens. The acorn, in 

 all countries, is comparatively little armed with protective coverings : 

 it has only a thin shell, and is guarded from depredations mainly by 

 its slightly bitter taste, as well as by its cup, or saucer, which acts as 

 a barrier against the attacks of insects who try to lay their eggs at its 

 tender base. Beechnuts have a rather more leathery shell, and are 

 externally protected by their prickly husk, which makes them difficult 

 for the delicate noses of squirrels to tackle as they grow upon their 

 native boughs. Filberts, specially exposed to the attacks of the cun- 

 ning dormouse and the persistent nut-hatch, are far more effectually 

 guarded by a double coat-of-mail : their shell is solid and woody in 

 texture, Avhile their outer husk, which completely envelops them from 

 stem to tip, is thickly sprinkled with stiff and annoying hairs, very 

 painful to our human fingers, and still more so, no doubt, to the tender 

 skin on the naked noses of the inquiring rodents. 



None of these nuts belong to the same family as the hickory ; they 

 are all independent modifications of totally different forms, which 

 have simultaneously hit on somewhat the same protective method. 

 But on the Continent of Europe, where a larger number of nut-devour- 

 ing animals are to be found, the hickory tribe is represented by the 

 common walnut. Everybody must have noticed (in conducting his 

 biological studies at dessert) that the distribution of the two lobes which 

 make up the kernel in the walnut is extremely like that of the hickory ; 

 and the resemblance is equally close in all other important structural 

 matters. The walnut shows decidedly more protective care in its cov- 

 erings than any of the few and simple English nuts. Its outer husk 

 is very bitter and nasty — so nasty that even a little of the flavoring 

 matter off fresh Avalnuts clinging to one's fingers is enough to give a 

 very unpleasant taste to any food one may touch afterward ; and the 

 inner shell, though evidently rendered easier to open for the lazy 

 human consumers by being previously kiln-dried to preserve the kernel 

 from decomposing, is in its native state extremely hard to crack, and 



