236 NUTS AND NUTTUW. 



has a very similar prickly covering to its small 

 triangular fruits ; while in the walnut the bitter 

 juice of the outer rind is quite nasty enough to 

 deter at once any intending animal foe. In the 

 horse-chestnut, not only is the outside shell 

 prickly, but the actual kernel itself is also in- 

 tensely bitter, and slightly poisonous ; and in the 

 acorn the mere bitterness of the nut seems almost 

 sufficient to protect it from serious injury, with- 

 out the need for any external armor at all. Even 

 here, however, the little scaly cup that fits upon 

 the softest and most vulnerable portion of the 

 shell is evidently meant as a piece of defensive 

 mail against the attacks of the ubiquitous grubs. 

 But why are nuts provided with these defences 

 against animal invasion ? Why are they coated 

 in hard shells, or covered with prickly rinds, or 

 enclosed in bitter envelopes, or insuied against 

 attack by coats of scaly mail? Are they not, in 

 fact, intended as food for the squirrels, and dor- 

 mice, and nuthatches, and pigs, if not even for 

 the ugly little grubs and burrowing worms them- 

 selves ? What is the use of thus protecting them 

 against the very creatures whose natural food they 

 seem intended to provide? Well, the answer all 

 depends upon which point of view you happen to 

 take, that of the tree or that of the squirrel. We 

 lordly human beings, as we are ourselves confirmed 

 nut-eaters, sympathize rather with the aggressive 



