238 NUTS AND NUTTINO. 



the parent animal to preserve its young from 

 being destroyed by their natural devourers. 

 When man uses a seed for food, as in the case oi 

 wlieat or pease, he more than repays the plant that 

 bears it by keeping some for sowing, and by 

 planting it in the best prepared soil under the 

 most propitious circumstances. But tlie lower 

 animals are not so provident. If left entirely to 

 themselves, they would eat up every seed of the 

 plant on which they live, and so exterminate the 

 very species upon which they de[)end for suj)port. 

 Doubtless, this result does now and again liappea 

 in the infinite changes and chances of nature, and 

 then both plant and animal must necessarily dis- 

 appear, to join the long and ever-increasing roll of 

 extinct species. 



As a rule, a certain number of seeds always sur- 

 vive, no matter how much they may be persecuted 

 by animals ; and it is these seeds that become the 

 parents of the trees or plants of the next genera- 

 tion, lumding down to them their own individual 

 peculiarities. Of course, the larger and richer the 

 seeds are, the more likely are they to be eaten, 

 and the more will they stand in need of some ex- 

 ternal protection to guard them against the 

 attacks of their animal foes. Now, a nut is merely 

 the name we give to an exceptionally large and 

 rich seed; and nuts are noticeable for the ini- 

 niense number of protections which they Lave 



