330 GLIMPSES INTO PLANT-LIFE 



influence of sunlight, and by so doing supply the 

 anemone with oxygen for respiration, whilst the 

 starch formed in the protoplasm of the alga; passes 

 b}^ diffusion into the anatomy of the animal. The 

 transaction does not end here ; the alga; in all 

 probability receives nitrogenous substances in 

 return, so that there is a mutual interchange. 



These are but one or two of the many wonderful 

 phases of vegetable life, and I hope by thus briefly 

 sketching a few of them m\' readers will be 

 stimulated into a greater desire to explore God's 

 marvellous works in nature. There is an endless 

 succession of such wonders to be investigated, but 

 in order to find them we need a careful spirit of 

 observation, passing nothing by without trying to 

 learn something of its life history. Every hedgerow 

 is full of delightful problems which will reward the 

 interested student. A single field has been found 

 to contain as many as fifty different species of 

 plants, and every month of the year will present 

 a new aspect of life. In the earl}' spring we have 

 the germinating seed and the tiny growing moss. 

 A little later the opening buds with their wealth of 

 interesting points to study, then the unfolding of 



