256 THE JOURNAL OF BOTANY 



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 

 Osmunda regalis, the Scolopendrium vulgare (hart's tongue), and 

 the Asplenium veride (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." — Daili/ 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 hedgebauks, to the great advantage 

 of the nettles, docks, and other weeds which take the place of the 

 native vegetation, our British plants are threatened with a new 

 danger. We entirely associate ourselves with the protest printed 

 by Professor L. C. Miall in the Times of June 8, which we reproduce 

 in the hope that our readers may, in their respective localities, join 

 in opposing any similar proposition that may be made. Prof. Miall 

 writes : — 



"I have before me the programme of the Essex Technical 

 Instruction 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 suggests 

 that duplicate plants will prove useful for ' special fascicles.' It 

 would not interest many of your readers to discuss at length the 

 educational value of such a programme. 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 our native plants. The Essex 

 Committee is simply organizing a raid upon plants which are 

 already near to extinction. I hope that they will fail to discover 

 the rarities which they selfishly covet ; their enterprise is, I venture 

 to say, an injury to natural history and to education alike. It may 

 not be too late to get this programme cancelled, and I would beg 

 those who care for live natural history to use their influence in 

 diverting the attention of the Essex collectors to some other pursuit 

 where they will do less harm." 



