240 
THE PLANT WORLD. 
point out horizontally or even subhorizontally. Those that had 
sprung- from the under side of the parent branch and were origi¬ 
nally directed obliquely downward were at maturity generally still 
further declined. Usually the deviation from the original angle 
was notable at the very base of the thorns, so that they sat ob¬ 
liquely upon the supporting limb. Those alone which happened 
to be seated upon or near the upper or under median line of the 
limb showed no signs of obedience to the usual law, but grew 
straight up or straight down. The numbers borne upon the 
upper and under faces of the limb were very nearly equal; the 
prevailing declination, therefore, was something not predeter¬ 
mined by position but induced during the development of the 
thorns. The count, as to the proportion of spurs affected by the 
observed tendency, gave the following returns. “ Subhori¬ 
zontal ” here includes all those with points ultimately directed 
below the horizontal plane. Whole number, 172; subhorizontal, 
119; somewhat declined, 38; unaffected, 15. A further exact ac¬ 
counting was not necessary since a survey, in the gross, of several 
trees confirmed the plain purport of this table, namely, that the 
spurs of Crataegus Crus-galli are influenced by some power 
guiding their growth so that, when mature, most of them bristle 
toward the earth. 
