264 Flashlkhits on NATI'RE 



No. 2 shows us tliis second sta^e in the younjij 

 shruli's (levclopniL'iit. At fust si^ht you would 

 liardly suppose it was a j^orse at all ; you niij^ht 

 take it for the younj^ of some such allied species 

 as a broom or a j^euista. You will observe that 

 at this point in its history the younj^ j^orse has 

 trefoil leaves, not very unlike those of some kinds 

 of clover. VV^hy is this 'i Well, we have many 

 ^oo:l reasons for supposinj^ that the ancestors of 

 ^orse were orij^inally soft-leaved and unarmed 

 shrubs, like the ornamental ^^enistas which we 

 f^row in pots for drawinj^-room decoration ; hut 

 as they were much exposed on open moors and 

 commons, where they were liable to be j^razed 

 down and browsed upon l>y rabbits, sheep, and 

 other herbivorous aiumals, the tenderer and more 

 luscious amon^ them stood little chance of sur- 

 vivinjf. Indeed, so hard is it for plants to ^row 

 in such situations, that one not unconnnoidy 

 linds tiny trees of Scotch lir, close cropped to 

 the ground, yet with many years' j^rowth exhi- 

 bited bv the animal linj^s of wood in their 

 imderj^round root-stock. These poor persistent 

 little trees have been nibbled down, year after 

 year, as soon as they appeared, by rabbits or 

 donkeys ; yet year after year they have j^one on 

 sproutini^ afresh, as well as they could, and layinj^ 

 by an annual rinj^ of woody tissue in buried 

 root-stock. 



To some such attacks the ancestral j^orses nuist 

 always have been exposed on the opeii moors 

 and hillsides of primitive Europe, at first, no 



