LIXXEAX SOCIETY OF LOXDOX. 67 



ill the Cevlon pearl-oyster to the presence of larval Cestodes of 

 th(i genus Tetyarhi/nchiis, was briefl)' discussed : photographs of 

 different stages in the process were shown. 



Finally, photographs were shown illustrating some of the ancient 

 customs of the fishery, which have probably existed since pre- 

 historic times with little or no change ; and some of the ancient 

 temples and buried cities of the north of Ceylon, which date back 

 to the same early times and which were erected by native princes 

 who obtained their pearls from the Gulf of Manaar centuries 

 before the Cliristian era. 



Lieut.-Colouel Praix, F.R.S., V.P.L.S., then delivered the third 

 of the series, epitomised thus : — Botanical studies, if purely syste- 

 matic, though perhaps uninviting to outsiders, are engrossing to 

 the initiated. Those other botanical studies that are termed, 

 somewhat pragmatically, scientific are as interesting to their 

 votaries as they are varied in themselves. We are not uo\a-, 

 however, concerned with either, but with botanical studies of still 

 another class, those economic ones that appear often as uninviting 

 to the systematic worker as systematic studies appear to the 

 botanist whose " science " excludes taxonomy. The economic 

 botanist, humble-minded soul, cannot indulge in airs and graces ; 

 his work can only go on with the help of his scientific colleagues; 

 it can only begin if his taxonomic colleagues have provided him 

 with a sure foundation. Humility is not the only virtue he has 

 to cultivate. He must be patient too. The natural law which he 

 finds least irregular in its application is that our knowledge of a 

 vegetable product varies inversely with its importance. He 

 cannot, like the taxonomist, decline to deal with a subject because 

 the material before him is incomplete ; he often has to be content 

 with what he can get, and is sometimes driven to make the most 

 of rather scrappy samples. 



In general, however, the human interest of his studies relieves 

 bis work of the monotony that might be anticipated, and the by- 

 paths into which he is enticed often lead him to unexpected places 

 and result in reciprocal greetings with workers whose field of study 

 seems at first sight foreign to botany. 



A few stray instances taken from experience gained in the 

 course of Indian economic enquiries may serve to indicate the 

 interest of such collateral results. A study of the distribution of 

 the races of Wheat in Eastern India shows that, although it is 

 impossible to hope for a good crop in any part of Lower Bengal 

 in any year, on account of " rust," the cultivation of this cereal, 

 so widely grown in Upper India, does not stop short when the 

 western margin of the unsuitable region is reached, but extends in 

 a narrow belt through Central into Eastern Bengal. We are thus 

 brought in contact with the history of the progress of the Mogul 

 power eastward. The wheat-consuming conquerors, not content 

 with the rice which is the staple food of those they overcame, 

 must needs persist in growing their favourite grain. 



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