Deserts 
The remarkable woodiness and thorniness of desert 
plants is probably directly connected with the dry con- 
ditions under which they live. The absence of leaves 
may have also been brought about in the same way.’ 
Even our common whin forms leaves when it is 
quite young or kept particularly fresh and moist, but 
there is generally no trace of them when it grows in a 
dry and exposed place. 
The connection between thorns, spines, and browsing 
animals is a very old story, but unfortunately the con- 
troversy has become a little acuminate and requires to 
be very gingerly treated. 
One cannot possibly believe that a plant said to itself, 
“ Those — goats are destroying my leaves, and I shall 
(or will) make thorns and spines to daunt them.” 
But as a matter of fact, not of theory, in every country 
open bushlands, clearings in temperate forests, desert 
fringes, and deserts are generally remarkable for the 
number of thorny and spiny plants. But it is just such 
places that a hunter of big game will first visit, for they 
are always full of antelope and other animals, 
This coincidence is not confined to desert or dry 
countries. Patches of brambles and rasps, thorn thickets, 
furze, and whin are generally favourite places for rabbits, 
and even pheasants and partridges, in our own islands. 
Thick, close forest or woodlands is as a rule very poor 
in game, simply because there is but little grass, and if 
it is natural forest it is by no means easy for them to 
traverse it. 
Mr. Leavitt,’ in an interesting study of the cockspur 
thorn, points out that “the first step is the hardening of 
a small bit at the end of the winter bud.” In open, 
exposed, and especially in dry or desert countries, the 
drying up by exposure of the extreme tip of a branch 
or leaf must be an exceedingly common occurrence. 
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