302 NATURAL SCIENCE [November 



specialists, into readable narratives which any zoologist can 

 appreciate. 



The Study of Botany 



At the meeting of the London County Council on October 12, the 

 following resolution was adopted : — " That it be referred to the Parks 

 Committee and to the Technical Education Board, to consider and report 

 as to the practicability of laying out plots of ground in certain parks 

 in such manner as will afford assistance to scholars of elementary and 

 secondary schools in the study of practical botany." We hope the 

 Committee and Board concerned will report favourably and that 

 some of the resources of the London parks will be turned to account 

 in the interest of the humble student of botany. If we consider 

 only those who sit each year for the examination of the Science and 

 Art Department, there must be a large number of students scattered 

 through the metropolis, to whom the suggested arrangement would 

 be very welcome. Examiners tell us that answers to the questions 

 show knowledge derived mainly or entirely from books, and insist 

 on the necessity of more thorough practical work. But the London 

 student has not much opportunity for such. The Botanical De- 

 partment of the British Museum in Cromwell Eoad, by means of 

 carefully dried specimens, models and illustrations, supplies an 

 excellent systematic review of the plant-world, and by skilfully 

 prepared fruits and seeds, and wax models remarkable for their life- 

 like accuracy and beauty, associated with clearly written labels and 

 explanatory sketches, demonstrates to all who come to see such 

 matters as the structure and mode of operation of insect-eating 

 plants, or the means of distribution of fruits and seeds. But there 

 is still much which can only be learnt from the living plant. We 

 believe that Kew and the Eoyal Botanic Society's Gardens 

 are the only ones to which the student can get access ; the former 

 by right (after 12 o'clock), the latter by courtesy only of the 

 Council at certain times on certain days. The latter are 

 useful for those living in a certain part of North London, while 

 a journey to Kew means the underground railway or a happy 

 day on the South - Western. And after all, life is short, and 

 there are often other subjects which must be studied in addition 

 to Botany. With even very little alteration or additional expense 

 a park, such, for instance, as Battersea Park, might be made 

 very helpful to an elementary student. There is a sheltered path 

 by the lake where, in the summer, tree-ferns and cycads flourish, 

 and in the same sub-tropical garden grow palm trees, most of them 

 quite large enough to show a characteristic habit. But if we re- 

 member aright, many have no labels at all, and labels when present 

 are very inadequate. A bare binomial name conveys little informa- 

 tion ; the addition of the group or order to which the plant belongs, 



