164 THE EVOLUTIONIST AT LARGE. 



its relations, such as the American butter- 

 nut, which can only be cracked by a sharp 

 blow from a hammer or even the hickory, 

 whose hard covering has done more to de- 

 stroy the teeth of New Englanders than all 

 other causes put together, and New England 

 teeth are universally admitted to be the very 

 worst in the world. Now, all nuts have to 

 guard against squirrels and birds ; and there- 

 fore their peculiarities are exactly opposite 

 to those of succulent fruits. Instead of at- 

 tracting attention by being brightly coloured, 

 they are invariably green like the leaves 

 while they remain on the tree, and brown or 

 dusky like the soil when they fall upon the 

 ground beneath ; instead of being enclosed in 

 sweet coats, they are provided with bitter, 

 acrid, or stinging husks ; and, instead of being 

 soft in texture, they are surrounded by hard 

 shells, like the coco-nut, or have a perfectly 

 solid kernel, like the vegetable ivory. 



The origin of nuts is thus exactly the 

 reverse side of the origin of fruits. Certain 



