RARE SPECIMENS 209 



London Pride seeds are minute, elongate, black, and 

 roughened by many projections. They sink at once 

 when placed in water, and are therefore ill-suited for 

 dispersal by streams. I have never known them to 

 germinate in my garden, and suspect that they require 

 a much damper soil. 



XXXVIII. RARE SPECIMENS. 



The gratified collector often sends to a journal an 

 account of some rarity which he has just captured a 

 grass, a moth, or a bird's egg, and there is a little chorus 

 of congratulation from his friends, especially if the rare 

 object has been found in a new place. All this is per- 

 fectly natural ; and we have been accustomed to believe 

 that such discoveries are gains to natural history, small 

 gains perhaps, but deserving of recognition. 



Where collectors are few, and the country in which 

 they carry on their operations practically inexhaustible, 

 no harm comes of their pursuit, but in a populous country 

 like England, which has been diligently searched for more 

 than two centuries, and where there is always a multitude 

 to follow any leader, good or bad, it may be a question 

 whether it is prudent to give glory to the naturalists who 

 announce from time to time that they have added a rare 

 specimen to their cabinets. 



There can be no doubt, I think, that rare specimens 

 become yearly rarer in consequence of the eagerness of 

 collectors. Certain species of birds, butterflies, ferns and 

 flowers, which are fancied by the collector have been 

 altogether exterminated in places where they were once 

 well established, and if things go on at the present rate 

 we shall eradicate a good many species which have managed 

 to survive so far, while we shall turn other species which 

 are now moderately common into rarities. Years ago I 

 knew of many uncommon flowering plants which were to 



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