38 THE EVOLUTIONIST AT LARGE. 



have come to usurp almost the entire interest 

 of botanists and horticulturists alike. Dar- 

 winism itself has only heightened this exclu- 

 sive interest by calling attention to the 

 reciprocal relations which exist between the 

 honey-bearing blossom and the fertilising 

 insect, the bright-coloured petals and the 

 myriad facets of the butterfly's eye. Yet 

 the leaf is after all the real plant, and the 

 flower is but a sort of afterthought, an 

 embryo colony set apart for the propagation 

 of like plants in future. Each leaf is in truth 

 a separate individual organism, united with 

 many others into a compound community, 

 but possessing in full its own mouths and 

 digestive organs, and carrying on its own life 

 to a great extent independently of the rest. 

 It may die without detriment to them ; it 

 may be lopped off" with a few others as a 

 cutting, and it continues its life-cycle quite 

 unconcerned. An oak tree in full foliage is 

 a magnificent group of such separate indi- 

 viduals a whole nation in miniature : it may 



