14 THE STORY OF THE PLANTS. 



came to be so. Plants live on sea and land, and 

 have varieties specially fitted for almost every 

 situation. Plants have very varied ways of secur- 

 ing the fertilisation of their flowers, and look 

 after the future of their young, like good parents 

 that they are, in many different manners. Plants 

 are higher and lower, exactly like animals. 



These are some of the points we must proceed 

 to consider at greater length in the following 

 pages. 



CHAPTER II. 



HOW PLANTS BEGAN TO BE. 



Which came first — the plant or the animal ? 



That question is almost as absurd as if one 

 were to ask. Which came first — the beast of prey, 

 or the animals it preys upon ? Clearly, the ear- 

 liest animals could not possibly have been lions 

 and tigers; for lions and tigers could not begin 

 to exist till after there were deer and antelopes 

 for them to hunt and devour. Now the general con- 

 nection between animals and plants is somewhat 

 the same in this respect as the general connection 

 between beasts of prey and the creatures they 

 feed upon. For all animals feed, directly or in- 

 directly, upon plants and their products. Even 

 carnivorous animals eat sheep and rabbits, let us 

 say ; but then, the sheep and the rabbits eat grass 

 and clover. In the last resort, plants are self- 

 supporting ; animals feed upon what the plants 

 have laid by for their own uses. Every animal 

 gets all its material (except water) directly or in- 

 directly from plants. In one v^oxd, J^lafits are the 



