318 ODD HOURS WITH NATURE 



This is the simple, uncontroversial statement 

 of the case, but unfortunately for the lover of 

 simplicity there is quite a holly problem. When 

 the plant is used to make a hedge, and the hedge 

 is periodically clipped, the holly will be found to 

 grow spiny leaves to the very top. Similarly, 

 when a holly, as sometimes happens, is clipped 

 into dandified shapes, the leaves become armed 

 to the uttermost extremity. This is the case with 

 two hollies well known to the writer, which, though 

 little, if any, short of twenty feet in height, have 

 been clipped like a couple of vegetable poodle 

 dogs. It is also, though in a less general way, 

 the case with holly-trees which are every year 

 despoiled of their berry -bearing shoots as a tribute 

 to the spirit of the festive season. From these 

 facts it has been inferred, and very strongly held, 

 that the spiny character of the holly is not a natural 

 trait of the plant at all, but merely a vigorous 

 reaction against mutilation, and that if the tree 

 were never mutilated or browsed it would fail 

 to produce spiny leaves even near the ground. 

 Very satisfactory evidence has, however, been pro- 

 duced that absolutely untouched hollies do produce 

 the spiny leaves on their lower branches, and that 

 therefore the tree possesses the power, without 

 special stimulus, of arming itself as a precaution 

 against attack, as well as the power of adding to 

 its defences after attack, and that the spines on 

 the lower leaves are a strictly hereditary character 

 of the species. It is part of another and a far 

 larger question a question which separates two 

 schools of biologists whether this character 



