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with as many as 61 species. Truly the species, rightly or other- 
wise, are themselves as plentiful as blackberries, but I do not know 
how many of these papers grow about here. Dr. Johnson, when 
once asked a question by a lady, confessed that he did not know by 
answering ‘Sheer ignorance madam, sheer ignorance.” This 
statement before you must not of course be taken as accurate, but 
only as something near the mark, and as near, at any rate, as some 
amount of care can make it. Some plants are fitful and uncertain, 
appearing and disappearing curiously, and “ turning up’’ where 
they had not before been seen. There is evidence, toc, that the 
seeds of some species will lie long in the earth without germinating, 
so that you may often find the unlooked-for where the ground has 
recently been disturbed again. Seeds are carried by the wind and 
brought by the birds into fresh districts, and there are other 
agencies concerned in the distribution of seeds. Therefore it is not 
possible for any one to say that this year’s flora in any given spot 
will be the same as last year’s. The size of a plant makes no 
difference to a student; a small thing gives as much pleasure and 
is as good a ‘‘find”’ as a large thing. The eye that is trained 
readily sees some new form, although it may be so small that 
another eye would not detect it at all. A few of our small plants 
are very plentiful, and on account of their tiny flowers and prostrate 
mode of growth they have to be looked for rather carefully. Such 
are several species of the Trifolium genus and some other of the 
Leguminose. I have purposely left till last one matter which con- 
cerns students generally, and which relates broadly to the fauna as 
well as to the flora of this and pretty well every other district— 
country, I may as well say. The wanton destruction that goes on 
is something shocking. The ‘“‘ Goths,” the ‘‘ Philistines,” are bent 
upon exterminating things, and the result is that many are surely 
disappearing. As to this neighbourhood of ours, I can speak from 
actual observation. What chance do our graceful ferns stand 
against the horde of collectors who gouge them up by the dozen 
and sell them at our doors? Where will the better known of our 
Warren plants be in a few years? Where are our orchids going ? 
Nearly twenty years ago I found, for the first time, the beautiful 
Bee Orchis, not far from there. It was growing in some profusion 
at that spot, but to-day it is not there. Of course the more the 
public take to a plant, the less is its chance of life, and the more 
scarce a plant becomes, the more likely it is to be lost entirely. 
In my hand is “‘ English’s Guide to Folkestone, Sandgate, and the 
Neighbourhood, published in 1875.” It contains a list of some of 
our rarer plants, probably (but I do not know) taken chiefly from 
published floras of East Kent. That list gives about 75 plants, 
nearly all of which I have found at some time or other, adding, 
however, a good many that ought to have been given a place as 
