200 Samian Ware. 



struggle for existence between the various cells in a plant, then 

 any useless exuberances ought to disappear. Any plant which 

 wasted its substance on a useless colour or extravagant honey pro- 

 duction would be at a disadvantage. If it competed with others 

 which did not do those things, it ought to vanish from the surface 

 of the earth. I am convinced that one can always find a 

 plausible explanation for details which appear at first to be utterly 

 useless. Anyone who doubts my word has simply to examine 

 the unfolding leaves of our common trees or the details of flower 

 structure. But one must remember that these sort of adaptations 

 are business-like, not mathematically exact. A flower has not 

 merely to suit one insect visitor, but it must be prepared for many 

 sorts ; it must also protect itself against wind, rain, sunshine, and 

 injurious insects. Its engineering mechanism must be adequate 

 to its needs, and, moreover, the supply of food material to the 

 seeds and the distribution of those seeds when ripe involve modi- 

 fications. So also do its protection when in bud, and these bud 

 characters, as I have tried to show with a few primulas, leave 

 their mark on the mature flower. 



Samian Ware. By Rev. H. A. Whitelaw, M.A. 



In the few brief observations we propose to make on this 

 subject we only intend putting in a claim for more of your 

 attention and much of your admiration for some of the most 

 beautiful objects restored to us by the spade of the excavator. 

 We do not speak as one having authority on this theme, but 

 where those who have authority remain silent the very stones will 

 cry out. We can at least be crying stones. And if we blunder 

 we shall blunder happily indeed if in our walk we firmly trample 

 on the toes of some sleeping giant of authority and rouse him to 

 the fact that this subject is deserving of a more exact study and 

 exposition than it has hitherto had. With this preliminary 

 explanation of our touching so unfamiliar a topic we shall proceed 

 to remark first on the great quantity of this so-called Samian ware 

 that was used in our island during the Roman occupation. 

 Wherever the antiquary has stumbled on a Roman settlement 

 some of the first objects the spade strikes on are the bright red 

 fragments of ware. This article is known by the name of Samian 



