46 THE EVOLUTIONIST AT LARGE. 



foot remains in principle a crowfoot still. The 

 traditions of its race, acquired in damp marshy 

 meadows, not actually under water, cling to it 

 yet in spite of every change. Born river and 

 pond plants which rise to the surface, like the 

 water-lily or the duck-weed, have broad float- 

 ing leaves that contrast strongly with the 

 waving filaments of wholly submerged species. 

 They can find plenty of food everywhere, and 

 as the sunlight falls flat upon them, they may as 

 well spread out flat to catch the sunlight No 

 other elbowing plants overtop them and 

 appropriate the rays, so compelling them to 

 run up a useless waste of stem in order to 

 pocket their fair share of the golden flood. 

 Moreover, they thus save the needless ex- 

 pense of a stout leaf-stalk, as the water 

 supports their lolling leaves and blossoms ; 

 while the broad shade which they cast on the 

 bottom below prevents the undue competition 

 of other species. But the crowfoot, being by 

 descent a kind of buttercup, has taken to the 

 water for a few hundred generations only, 



