Dec. 



1882.] 



KNOWLEDGE 



481 



and a luminosity ijicomparably fainter than had the other 

 portion of the tail. 



" May I here be permitted an indiscretion, pardonable, 

 I hope, since it is committed in the interests of science, by 

 quoting the opinion of his Imperial Majesty, Don Pedro II." 

 (good gracious, what a daring thing to do !) " who has been 

 able to contemplate the comet since Sept. 25, and who, 

 comparing it with that of 1843, has condescended to express 

 himself in the following terms 1 — ' I observed, well, the 

 comet of 1843. It was not so remarkable in the brightness 

 of the nucleus and the tail, but it was very much longer. 

 I saw it with the naked eye quite close to the sun on 

 Feb. 28, a phenomenon which has also characterised the 

 present comet ; several days aftei-, I examined it at sunset, 

 during several hours ; the tail nearly reached the zenith, 

 the nucleus being but Little raised above the horizon.' '' 

 {To he continued.) 



DESTRUCTION OF RARE ANIMALS 



AND PLANTS. 



By Richmond Leigh, M.R.C.S. 



THE fauna and flora of the British Islands is slowly, yet 

 surely, diminishing in number of individual species. 

 The increase of population, with its concomitant houses, 

 manufactories, and other buildings, is the great cause of 

 this diminution. But another and preventable cause is an 

 important factor in the change. This is the destruction of 

 the rarer animals and plants by naturalists and sportsmen. 

 The rare bird which might revisit, and breed regularly in, 

 our latitude, is ruthlessly shot for the poor advantage of 

 being closely examined, and perhaps added to some private 

 collection ; and, for a similar reason, the uncommon plant 

 is pulled up by the root, and prevented from adding beauty 

 and variety to our native flora. It is human nature to do 

 this without thinking of the injury done to future oljservers ; 

 and for the sake of obtaining the admiration of the few, 

 which, unfortunately, is at the expense of the many. 



But little consideration will be required to see that more 

 harm than good is done to the study of natural history by 

 this course. The loss of any species is practically irreparable, 

 and our somewhat scanty fauna and flora should rather be 

 carefully nursed than carelessly destroyed. The student 

 should be taught to look for his material in the li\ing book 

 of Nature, not in the dry bones only of herbariums* and 

 museums. 



Travelling recently in Scandinavia, I was struck with 

 the greater tenderness — or oblivion (i) — with which birds 

 were treated, for even in the large cities, tlic sparrows were 

 so tame that they would hardly rise from under your ^-e^y 

 feet, and magpies, in country villages, were as familiar as 

 pigeons here. It may be unreasonable to expect the youth 

 of this country to show the want of mischievousness im- 

 plied in the preceding — though education in natural history 

 might even do this — but the full-fledged naturalist might 

 display an equivalent love of Nature, and seek her preser- 

 vation and protection. 



Then might the true naturalist and lover of Nature be 

 gladdened by the sight of rare (at present) and beautiful 

 forms of life much more fre(iuently than now, and tiius bo 

 able to learn more of their habits, growth, and life history. 



The only justifiable cause for the killing of rare animals, 

 or the removal of rare plants, should be that they might 

 be added to a standard collection, as the Britisli Museum, 



• In preference to herbaria. 



and to some few other similar institutions in the large centres 

 of population ; but beyond this no destruction of rare 

 species should be encouraged, but, if possible, entirely 

 stopped. 



It is indeed desirable that no animals or plants be de- 

 stroyed except for purposes of food, or when their numbers 

 threaten injury to other food-producing plants or animals, 

 or to men. 



THE DOVE FLOWER. 



THE dove flower, or Feristeria a^ato, is very rare with 

 us, as its home is Central America. The leaves of 

 the flower are white and spotted, and give the flower the 



appeai'ance of a white bird with extended wings. The 

 inhabitants of Central America adore this flower, believing 

 that it represents the Holy Ghost, on account of the 



