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appeann<^ from this country, and one, at any rate, can rarely be 

 seen outside Kew gardens. This is the Cypripediuin Calccolus 

 commonly known as the ' lady's slipper.' It is really a wild 

 orchid, with a pretty yellow flower resembling in shape the article 

 which has given it its popular name. The other vanishing plants 

 are the Osnninda rcgalis, the Scolopendrium vulgai-e (hart's 

 tongue), and the Asplenmni viridc (green spleenwort), all of which 

 are ferns. Their disappearance is due to the depredations of the 

 tourist, especially of the cyclist, and the professional botanist, 

 who scours the woods and disposes of his ' finds ' for a few pence 

 in the streets of the nearest large town." — Daily Mail, June 26. 



" There can, however, be little doubt that, apart from the 

 ravages of ' professional botanists ' and the destructive efforts of 

 various local bodies, who throughout the country are engaged 

 in destroying grassy roadsides and scarifying hedgebanks, to the 

 great advantage of the nettles, docks and other weeds which take 

 the place of the native vegetation, our British plants are threat- 

 ened with a new danger." 



"I have before me the programme of the Essex Technical In- 

 struction Committee for Field Studies in Natural History. The 

 course for 1901 is intended to instruct teachers in the elements 

 of botany by means of rambles in search of wild flowers. One 

 leading feature is a vacation course of ten days in the New 

 Forest. The teachers are to be accompanied by local guides, 

 and their attention is particularly directed to the rarest species, 

 which are specially named, as well as the places in which they 

 are known to grow. To collect, dry and identify plants is the 

 chief aim of the leaders, who not only urge every teacher to 

 make his own collection, but suggest that duplicate plants will 

 prove useful for ' special fascicles.' It seems to me lamentable 

 that teachers should be advised to study natural history by 

 schedules, and to gather plants merely in order to name and dry 

 them. I imagine that they will be worse and not better for 

 working through so dry and barren a course. Nothing shows 

 the want of judgment of the promoters more clearly than that 

 untrained botanists should be seriously advised to pay particular 

 attention to the difficult and uncertain subspecies of the common 

 bramble. But all of us, whether we are concerned with the 

 teaching of botany or not, have an interest in the preservation of 



