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HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



qualities, for he never heard a gun fired without cutting 

 home as fast as he could. Nevertheless, the instincts 

 of his breed were there. I have a stupid habit of 

 lingering by wayside stone-heaps, and poking among 

 the stones, if haply I may find some flint implement 

 or fossils. Likewise a gravel, clay, or sand-pit has a 

 similar attraction for me that a public-house has for 

 other men — I cannot pass one. Bruce soon found all 

 these weaknesses out. On a country ramble, if he 

 were ahead, Bruce never passed a stone-heap or a 

 gravel-pit — he stood there till I came up, and said as 

 plainly as an intelligent dog could, " Master, are you 

 going in here this morning ? " I have seen that look 

 hundreds of times, and said to him, "Not this 

 morning, Bruce ; " whereupon he wagged his huge 

 tail at the compliment that he was understood, and 

 proceeded on his own canine investigations. I used 

 to say to my friends, " Bruce knows as much about 

 geology as most men," whereupon some of the easily- 

 surprised ones said "Indeed !" and the others, who 

 were conscious that they knew no more of geology 

 than my dog did, laughed at my weak joke. 



Bruce was nearly as old as my youngest child. 

 They were almost babies together. As soon as my 

 baby-daughter could toddle, Bruce was her companion 

 and playfellow. She rode astride his big black back, 

 and Bruce would then put out his great red-flannel 

 strip of a tongue on one side, as if he were proud 

 that a mere dog could be so useful. The children 

 played " Little Red Riding Hood " with him. He 

 was the " Wolf," and was put to bed with a white 

 night-cap on his splendid black head — only he 

 wouldn't go to sleep, or pretend to. He preferred to 

 see what was going on, and every now and then to 

 put in a word or two, and interrupt the dialogue in 

 the form of a sharp bark. 



The last time Bruce appeared in public (for he 

 frequently made his way surreptitiously on to my 

 platform) was a few weeks ago, when Mr. Leighton 

 Bailey gave his lecture on Australia, and I proposed 

 a vote of thanks. The people called out "platform," 

 and on to the platform I went. There was a large 

 audience, and they cheered me. Then, just as I was 

 speaking, there was another cheer. It was for Bruce, 

 who had followed me, and now stood confronting the 

 audience I was addressing, greeting their cheers with 

 a few short but vigorous barks. The more they cheered 

 the more he barked at them, until, at a word from 

 me, he coiled himself up, and the subsequent pro- 

 ceedings interested him no more. 



Such was my canine friend of seven years' standing 

 — faithful, obedient, sympathetic. We found him 

 last Friday morning — dead. Evidently he had been 

 poisoned, and I don't envy the brute who unfortunately 

 poisoned him. The children cried and sobbed. I 

 felt that another friend had joined those on the Silent 

 Shore. But I am thankful I ever had the friendship 

 of Bruce. I am a better man for it ; and God has 

 not sent even a dog into the world without a purpose ! 



REMARKS ON BRITISH BOTANY, AND 

 ON PLANT COLLECTING. 



By A. Bennett, F.L.S. 



IT is seven years since the author of "The Cybele 

 Britannica," Mr. H. C. Watson, died. Since 

 that time how many of our local botanists have made 

 themselves acquainted with his compendium of the 

 above work, issued in 1870? I fear far too few; 

 and yet it is the most interesting of all his works on 

 our flora, whether we consider its range as showing 

 the distribution of our flora in Britain, or outside of 

 our country, the numerous valuable comments on 

 sub-species and varieties, or the attempt to eliminate 

 the doubtful records from the real. His later work, 

 "Topographical Botany," goes into more detail, and 

 shows the county distribution of every species (then 

 known) of our flora, and in its second edition is 

 available to all (the first being only privately printed). 

 Now, my reason for writing these notes is to call 

 more attention to these works of Mr. Watson, and to 

 beg of collecting botanists to try and gather better 

 and fuller specimens than many now do. It is really 

 quite unfair to those who are asked to name speci- 

 mens to send wretched fragments (such as are often 

 sent !) on which a man must either stake his reputa- 

 tion, or give possible offence from a supposed want 

 of courtesy by refusing to name such. And the 

 more critical the genus, the greater need for full 

 specimens. An experience of a few years with the 

 various exchange clubs compels me to say, that 

 generally we are behind Continental botanists in the 

 usefulness and scope cf our gathered specimens. 



And again, our botanists generally fail to tell us in 

 what sort of a place the plant grows ; the parish is 

 given, but usually not a hint whether it is on a heath, 

 roadside, common, &c. Not that all are so lax ; 

 there are now several of our botanists who are most 

 careful to indicate the height, situation, &c, on their 

 labels ; these are hence valuable, especially if from a 

 province where the range was not known, or only 

 imperfectly known to Mr. Watson. I had through 

 my hands last year some hundreds of voucher-records 

 from Scotland, and the difference in the way they 

 were recorded was remarkable ; some thought the 

 year and county was sufficient, others put on their 

 labels all that one could desire or expect. Much of 

 this, I fear, comes from the rage to collect rarities ; 

 of course, most of us want to gather some "good 

 things," as we call them ; but I shall never forget 

 the words that good and estimable botanist, the Rev. 

 W. W. Newbould, said to me when I was first intro- 

 duced to him : " Don't hunt for rarities, but gather 

 all, and examine all, and you will find more rare 

 things than rushing from one place to another after 

 them," and my experience is, he was perfectly right. 



With many of us our time is limited and oppor- 

 tunities few ; but I could point to several botanists 



