xliv Journal of Proceedings. 



perhaps never two centuries in age, and may only have " come in with 

 the Conqueror." Though valued only as covert for game, our English 

 forests probably owed some little planting, besides protection, to the 

 Norman. Gurth, and his acorn-eating swine, was ousted by the 

 foresters of Malvoisin. 



So also the rest of our flora should be studied. Following up the 

 fine " Flora of Essex," by Gibson (unfortunately a scarce work), we 

 should endeavour to trace the history of the introductions of Nature 

 and of human agency, and by careful study of so-called "critical" 

 species, or " splits," we may be able, even in the tributaries of the 

 Thames, or at least in the main watersheds of England, to illustrate 

 those laws of geographical distribution which have been shown in the 

 case of the Amazons. 



At the same time, we should learn the lesson of Continental botanists ; 

 trace every stage of development in any plant we can ; study every 

 phase of physiological life by field observation, as well as by laboratory 

 experiment : not omittmg the minute discrimination of the much 

 maligned "species-monger." In fact, the Darwinian must note details 

 even more than the mere species-discriminator, since he looks for the 

 intermediate variations that the latter would rather discard, 



A recognition of the necessity for thoroughness in the many new 

 fields of work suggested by the Theory of Evolution must necessarily 

 lead to an increase of specialism ; but the lecturer thinks that the local 

 Field Clubs have an important function to perform, to some extent 

 counteracting this tendency, in keeping alive that fine old type, now in 

 danger of sharing the fate of our Ilford Mammoths, the "good all- 

 round " naturalists. This is a type represented by such men as John 

 Ray — name dear to Essex — and Gilbert White, naturalist and poet. 

 Such Clubs also bring together students of various branches of science, 

 and so teach us to appreciate work in directions untrod by our own 

 footsteps, and to learn the true proportions of our work to the general 

 scheme of Nature. 



An eminent geologist once said to the lecturer, " Botany ! what's to 

 be done in botany ? Our plants are all known as well as the butter- 

 flies." It may be enough to reply that one or two plants "new to 

 Britain" are discovered nearly every year, even among Phanerogamia. 

 This is not, however, the sole aim of the botanist. If we turn to the 

 base of the scale of vegetable life, we find the but newly-discovered 

 Myxomycetes (perhaps plants, perhaps animals), the virtually unknown 

 Schizomycctes, and the constantly increasing list of the higher Fungi, 

 among which even the mushroom has not been traced with certainty 

 through its whole life-history. The fresh-water Algcd have not been 

 recently monographed ; the CharacccB are unplaced, and we are much 

 in want of a satisfactory classification of Thallophytcs as a whole. 

 Higher up we have the apparently causeless variation in the Ferns, 



