ON THE STUDY OF ADAPTATION IN 



PLANTS. 



THERE are two characteristics which are apparent in 

 plants and animals : firstly, the organisation and 

 division of labour in general which they exhibit ; and, 

 secondly, their adaptation to their environment. It was 

 natural to begin by studying the former problem first, 

 and only to attempt the solution of the second later on. 

 But during the last few decades this aspect of botany 

 has attracted an increasingly large share of attention, and 

 various causes have contributed to this result. The re- 

 searches of former times had enabled us to arrive at 

 certain definite conclusions on the subject of the external 

 and internal construction of plants, so that the simple 

 enumeration and addition of new facts in this direction no 

 longer attracts so wide an interest. But the great problem 

 of the future — the investigation of the qualities of proto- 

 plasm — seems for the present to afford but little prospect 

 of solution. If we may use a metaphor, we might say that 

 Botanical Science is like a mountaineer, who, after long 

 weary climbing, only discovers that after all there still rises 

 — steep and apparently impossible to scale — the real peak ; 

 but, notwithstanding this, on casting his eyes around, he 

 finds himself well rewarded for the toil he has undergone. 

 It was particularly by following the stimulating example of 

 Darwin in his researches on the Pollination of Orchids and 

 other plants, his works on climbing and on insectivorous 

 plants, that we have been enabled to see the biological 

 meaning of many arrangements which had either been little 

 observed or entirely misunderstood, and have begun to grasp 

 the meaning of adaptation in the struggle for existence. 



As a third reason for the revival of this branch of 

 Botany, I should recognise the fact that during the last 

 few years we have begun to attain to a more accurate 

 knowledge of tropical plants. This was rendered possible 

 by the erection of the first excellently-appointed botanical 



