Preface. xiii 



the engagements for producing this volume. In concluding these 

 prefatory remarks the writer may still point out, that plants are 

 more readily accessible, more easily prepared and more com- 

 modiously kept, than any other naturalist's collections. Any such 

 gatherings, however small at the commencement, may therefore 

 become permanent; they may add to the objects for mental 

 training and joyous engagements far beyond ^what by the youthful 

 observer could be surmised playfully at the outset; they may 

 exercise indeed an influence on a whole life, and they suredly 

 should always lead up to contemplations of the godly power, from 

 which the endless and marvellous forms of nature derive their 

 origin,' their design and their maintenance. 



Melbourne, October, 1888. 



