FEBRUARY 10 



long cherished the intention of sampling it as an esculent, 

 but hitherto have failed to hit off the right moment. 



The structure of this plant is a successful piece of 

 camouflage, effectively disguising its kinship with the 

 affluent clan to which it belongs. The true leaves have 

 degenerated into colourless scales set at the bases of 

 what appear to be leaves, but are actually only flattened 

 twigs ending in a sharp spine, technically termed 

 a cladode. The inconspicuous greenish-white flowers 

 are set each in the centre of the lower surface of a 

 cladode. Viewed through a lens the minute perianth 

 will be seen to be six-cleft, after the manner of the 

 Liliacece, strangely disproportioned to the showy fruit 

 whereof it is the preface. A lens is also required to 

 enable one to detect the sex of the flowers the pistil 

 of the female as distinct from the anthers of the male. 

 Having ascertained the sex of your plant, I venture to 

 recommend you to get one of the other gender, which 

 will ensure an autumn crop of very pretty berries. 



VI 



In the closing days of the winter of 1921-22, I 

 happened to meet my old friend Mr. Abel Bitterns _ 

 Smith of Woodhall Park, Herts. I give his a coinci- 

 narne in full, because our meeting led to a 

 coincidence which requires all the corroboration that 

 may be had. He told me how, a few days before (on 

 St. Valentine's Day), two persons walking beside the 

 Bean as it flows through his park, noticed a large bird 

 flapping on the river bank. They went to the spot and 

 found that it was a bittern in distress from having 



