14 FAMILIAR TREES 



in accordance with that newer teleology which has 

 been evoked by the teaching of Darwin. The 

 spines of the lower branches do indeed protect them 

 from cattle, though not from deer ; whilst a sort of 

 innate tendency to spinousness must account for the 

 one terminal point for the upper leaves. Another 

 poetical reason has been given for its general exemp- 

 tion from attack namely, that, " unknown before, the 

 Holly sprang up in perfection and beauty beneath the 

 footsteps of Christ when He first trod the earth, and 

 that, though man has forgotten its attributes, the 

 beasts all reverence it, and are never known to injure 

 it." Nevertheless, the Holly has other enemies 

 besides the deer, for a species of aphis (A* phis i'licis) 

 lives on the young shoots, and a fly (Phytomy'za 

 i'licis) burrows, when in the larval stage, under the 

 epidermis of the leaves. 



From May to August the tree bears clusters of 

 small, wax-like, Avhite flowers, which seem peculiarly 

 attractive to bees ; and, as the species is almost dioe- 

 cious that is, has on one tree flowers in nearly all 

 of which the ovary is aborted, and on another those 

 in which the four stamens bear hardly any pollen, it 

 is by these insects that its fertilisation is mainly 

 effected. This is also, of course, the reason why 

 certain trees, being male, never produce berries ; 

 though an opinion has been expressed that male 

 Hollies become female with age, a point deserving 

 further attention. Many of the variegated forms 

 grown in gardens produce little or no fruit, though 

 one of these (var. laurifo'lia) bears a profusion of 

 fragrant flowers. This absence of fruit argues a 



