190 THE HAUNTS OF LIFE 



There is another reason why it is not easy to 

 think of land animals beginning on the dry 

 land; the conditions of life are too difficult 

 for beginners or apprentices. This will become 

 clearer later on, but it may be noticed that 

 breathing and moving, and the disposal of the 

 eggs or young, are much more difficult on land 

 than in the water. As it is much more diffi- 

 cult to escape from enemies when movement 

 is all in one plane, we cannot wonder that 

 many land animals have become burrowers, 

 and other climbers, and others fliers, that 

 others have become camouflaged, and that 

 others have taken to coming out at night only. 

 But we shall return to this subject later on. 



ORIGIN OF LAND PLANTS 



When we consider the sand-dunes, the rocky 

 islands, the deserts, the mountain-tops, and so 

 on we feel at once that there are many parts 

 of the dry land which cannot be called very 

 hospitable to living creatures. The dry land 

 is a haunt very much more difficult than the 

 sea or the lake. The fact is that no greaf 

 colonisation by animals was possible until 

 plants had prepared the way. They provided 



