NUTS AND NUTTING. 239 



accordingly acquired against the sliarp teeth of 

 mice and squirrels and other animals, as well as 

 against certain birds and the larva) of insects. In 

 this respect nuts differ greatly from true fruits, in 

 the popular sense of the word. For a fruit — for 

 example, a plum or a peach — is a seed-vessel of 

 which we eat the outer pulp, husk, or rind ; but 

 we throw away the actual seed or kernel, the part 

 from which the young tree is destined to be pro' 

 duced. As a rule, too, even in fruits, the seed 

 itself is more or less carefully protected. Thus, 

 in the peach, the kernel is enchased in a very solid 

 wrinkled shell ; in the apple, the pips are sur- 

 rounded for safety by a leathery central sack, the 

 core ; and in the orange they are not only cov- 

 ered by a hard skin, but are also themselves in- 

 tensely bitter and extremely nasty. So that even 

 in pulpy fruits we are always more or less pre- 

 vented from swallowing, or at any rate from digest- 

 ing, the true seeds, pii)s, or kernels. 



Nuts, however, are fruits in which the eatable 

 part is not the husk, pulp, or outer coat, but the 

 true seed itself, the hope and stay of all future 

 nutty generations. Hence it becomes very im- 

 portant for these large and rich seeds to be etfi- 

 ciently guarded against animal depredators. In 

 the tropics, where monkeys abound, it is needful 

 for the nuts to withstand in some cases, at least, 

 those cunning and active little animals, which are 



