302 NATURAL SCIENCE [November 
specialists, into readable narratives which any zoologist can 
appreciate. 
THE Strupy oF Borany 
At the meeting of the London County Council on October 12, the 
following resolution was adopted :—“ That it be referred to the Parks 
Committee andto the Technical Education Board, to consider and report 
as to the practicability of laying out plots of ground in certain parks 
in such manner as will afford assistance to scholars of elementary and 
secondary schools in the study of practical botany.” We hope the 
Committee and Board concerned will report favourably and that 
some of the resources of the London parks will be turned to account 
in the interest of the humble student of botany. If we consider 
only those who sit each year for the examination of the Science and 
Art Department, there must be a large number of students scattered 
through the metropolis, to whom the suggested arrangement would 
be very welcome. Examiners tell us that answers to the questions 
show knowledge derived mainly or entirely from books, and insist 
on the necessity of more thorough practical work. But the London 
student has not much opportunity for such. The Botanical De- 
partment of the British Museum in Cromwell Road, by means of 
carefully dried specimens, models and illustrations, supplies an 
excellent systematic review of the plant-world, and by skilfully 
prepared fruits and seeds, and wax models remarkable for their life- 
like accuracy and beauty, associated with clearly written labels and 
explanatory sketches, demonstrates to all who come to see such 
matters as the structure and mode of operation of insect-eating 
plants, or the means of distribution of fruits and seeds. But there 
is still much which can only be learnt from the living plant. We 
believe that Kew and the Royal Botanic Society’s Gardens 
are the only ones to which the student can get access; the former 
by right (after 12 o’clock), the latter by courtesy only of the 
Council at certain times on certain days. The latter are 
useful for those living in a certain part of North London, while 
a journey to Kew means the underground railway or a happy 
day on the South- Western. And after all, life is short, and 
there are often other subjects which must be studied in addition 
to Botany. With even very little alteration or additional expense 
a park, such, for instance, as Battersea Park, might be made 
very helpful to an elementary student. There is a sheltered path 
by the lake where, in the summer, tree-ferns and cycads flourish, 
and in the same sub-tropical garden grow palm trees, most of them 
quite large enough to show a characteristic habit. But if we re- 
member aright, many have no labels at all, and labels when present 
are very inadequate. A bare binomial name conveys little informa- 
tion; the addition of the group or order to which the plant belongs, 
