i] PRESENT-DAY BOTANY 3 



discovered and described. If new species were found, 

 the chances are strongly against their presenting any 

 feature of special importance for purposes of com- 

 parison with others : and in the absence of such the 

 duty of describing and delineating is unprofitable 

 for one whose aim is comparison with a view to 

 tracing Descent. If this be the case for Jamaica, 

 what will be the chance of discovery of important 

 novelties in our own carefully searched islands? 

 The home botanist can only look for fresh "finds" 

 among minute and obscure forms, or among the 

 subordinate shades of varietal distinction. To most 

 of us the game is not worth the candle at home, and 

 we do not lay ourselves out for it in the better known 

 localities abroad. Specially organised expeditions in 

 little known countries where much that is found is 

 new, are a different matter; but they should be 

 undertaken only by those specially trained for the 

 purpose. Thus the recording of new forms no longer 

 takes the premier place in the progress of the science. 

 If the conversation at some social gathering turns, 

 as it often may when a botanist is present, to the floral 

 decorations, the unfortunate victim of a misplaced 

 confidence will as likely as not betray a lamentable 

 ignorance of the most fashionable new varieties of 

 decorative plants circulated from some celebrated 

 nursery, or be unable to give the usual social or 

 trade name of some common greenhouse plant; 



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