vi PREFACE 



species, to take them into consideration, and make a 

 study which cannot fail to add to his pleasure in the 

 field. Besides, if one is to catch the real spirit of botany, 

 and in any way grasp the principles of plant-life, these 

 humbler plants must be taken into account. It is 

 within their ranks that we get to the foundation of 

 things, and they display phenomena that throw con- 

 siderable light on the beginnings and earliest develop- 

 ments of plants. 



According to a Hindoo proverb, " The carpenter is 

 forgotten when the house is built." The author is not 

 unmindful of the painstaking labours of a host of 

 observers who have contributed to the fabric of modern 

 botany. He has entered into a heritage of knowledge 

 upon which he has freely drawn in confirming and supple- 

 menting his own observations. If he makes no pointed 

 acknowledgments, it is because the workers to whom he 

 is indebted are too numerous, not that he is ungrateful. 

 The coloured plates are from drawings by Mr. C. F. 

 Newall; they are distinguished for a degree of accuracy 

 made certain by the fact that Mr. Newall is a botanist 

 as well as an artist. The black-and-white plates are 

 from the author's own photographs. 



CHAELES A. HALL. 



Meikleriggs, 



Paisley, 

 1915. 



