THE QUEST FOE LIGHT 279 



become confirmed in many curious habits, and have 

 adapted themselves to fill many niches. The Anemone 

 (Anemone nemorsa) and the Lesser Celandine (Ranun- 

 culus ficaria) are common in some woods, and in early 

 spring are exceedingly active, They make themselves 

 busy while, for them, the sun shines — i.e., before they 

 are cast into deep shade under the leafy canopy of 

 forest- trees. In point, they conclude the principal 

 business of their season while the trees are yet in bud, 

 and thus do not intercept the light to anything like the 

 extent they do when in full foliage. The leaves pro- 

 duced by the Celandine after its flowering period, par- 

 ticularly in shade, are much larger than those which at 

 first appear, and it is evident that this enlargement has 

 relation to the necessity for a larger assimilating and 

 transpiring surface in shade conditions. The Marsh Mari- 

 gold (Caltha palustris, Plate VIII.), as its name implies, 

 grows in damp places, generally in full light of the sun. 

 It flowers early in the year, and at the time of flowering 

 its leaves are not nearly so large as they become when 

 the flowers have done their work. It is certainly an 

 advantage for the flowers not to be overshadowed by 

 leaves, as they might be were the latter to reach full 

 growth at the flowering time; but the post-flowering 

 leaf enlargement has definite relation to assimilation and 

 transpiration, which are very seriously undertaken after 

 the flowers have served their use. A plant that grows, 

 like the Marsh Marigold, with its feet in the water, so 

 to speak, or at any rate in very damp sites, can support 

 a large transpiration area, even in full sunlight. One 

 might say that the Marsh Marigold, like numerous other 

 plants, devotes its spring energies to flowering, and its 



