8 FuTUEK Botanist. 



I'agnall, the author of the AVanvickshire County Flora, which is 

 the best tliat I have seen, is a clerk in a Birmingham factory, and 

 his work is a wonderful example of what can be done in ver}' 

 scanty leisure time. Such a feat is not, however, possible for m<jst 

 people. The object of this paper is to show that for the future 

 I5ritish botanist there is within easy reach of any person's home an 

 enormous lield of work in which investigation is urgently I'equired, 

 and which can be cultivated by any industrious and sharp-sighted 

 observer. 



The present British botanist treats all the details of flower, 

 leaf, and fruits as if they were invented by Nature simply in order 

 that he may conveniently label his collections. It is a sufficiently 

 astonishing fact that scarcely any realise, that every small and 

 insignificant character has a definite object and purpose. Yet this 

 is obvious to everyone who grasps the principle of Darwin's ''Struggle 

 for Existence"; and the idea g'oes back to far before Darwin's time ; 

 for Geoffrey St. Ililaire, in 179;j, had grasped it more or less 

 clearly,and it is very philosophically explained liy Herbert Spencer 

 in 1852. 



In our own time Sir John Lubbock, Grant Allen, Ilenslow, 

 Korner, Wiesuer, and others have studied this question practically. 

 A few illustrations will make their point of view clearer. Flowers 

 are red not because human beings admire that colour, or find it a 

 useful guide in the study of botany, but because this shade 

 attracts a certain kind of insect. A poppy has thick, hard, and 

 hairy sepals, which enclose the young flower, and fall off when 

 they are no longer required, not because caducous sepals are use- 

 ful to us in distinguishing the order Papaveracea\ but because 

 they are of advantage to the bud. 



A laurel has glossy, hard leaves becau.se the rain dries rapidly 

 off foliage of this kind, and hence fungus spores and bacteria do 

 not find a footing. If you look at this sparraannia you will see 

 that the leaves have a curious shape. They are brought back into 

 lobes, so that the growing point is protected from excessive light 

 and heat. So with the curious, unsymmetrical liegonia leaf ; the 

 odd lobe protects the young bud. though this i.s not easy to see 

 in hothouse specimens. 



These are isolated examples of a new and most important 

 branch of botany which may be called '-The Suitability of Plants to 

 their ("limate." nr one may say Habitat, Environment, or Milieu, 



