iling vegetation; and should the
grasses disappear, animal life would not necessarily be destroyed,
because a reserve supply, equivalent to a fresh act of creative power,
has been provided.

One of this family, 'M. turbiniforme', is so colored as to blend in well
with the hue of the soil and stones around it; and a 'gryllus' of the
same color feeds on it. In the case of the insect, the peculiar color
is given as compensation for the deficiency of the powers of motion to
enable it to elude the notice of birds. The continuation of the species
is here the end in view. In the case of the plant the same device is
adopted for a sort of double end, viz., perpetuation of the plant by
hiding it from animals, with the view that ultimately its extensive
appearance will sustain that race.

As this new vegetation is better adapted for sheep and goats in a dry
country than grass, the Boers supplant the latter by imitating the
process by which graminivorous antelopes have so abundantly disseminated
the seed of grasses. A few wagon-loads of mesembryanthemum plants, in
seed, are brought to a farm covered with a scanty crop of coarse grass,
and placed on a spot to which the sheep have access in the evenings. As
they eat a little every night, the seeds are dropped over the grazing
grounds in this simple way, with a regularity which could not be matched
except at the cost of an immense amount of labor. The place becomes in
the course of a few years a sheep-farm, as these animals thrive on such
herbage. As already mentioned, some plants of this family are furnished
with an additional contrivance for withstanding droughts, viz.,
oblong tubers, which, buried deep enough beneath the soil for complete
protection from the scorching sun, serve as reservoirs of sap and
nutriment during those rainless periods which recur perpetually in even
the most favored spots of Africa. I have adverted to this peculiarity
as often seen in the vegetation of the Desert; and, though rather out of
place, it may be well--while noticing a clever imitation of one
process in nature by the Cape farmers--to suggest another for their
consideration. The country beyond south lat. 18 Deg. abounds in three
varieties of grape-bearing vines, and one of these is furnished with
oblong tubers every three or four inches along the horizontal root.
They resemble closely those of the asparagus. This increase of power to
withstand the effects of climate might prove of value in the mor