SECTION I. 

 INTRODUCTORY. 



X 1 



THOSE who study any of the preceding sections of this book will 

 realize that some knowledge of plants is absolutely necessary. For 

 example, to breed butterflies, it is essential to know the plant upon which 

 to feed the larvae ; or to collect beetles, it is of equal importance to know 

 something of the trees or low plants whereon some species are to be found. 



In order to make this book of all-round usefulness to the Nature student, 

 therefore, it must contain some reference to the Vegetable World. 



Yet the subject is too vast for more than a very condensed amount of 

 matter. 



It is chiefly, however, with flowering plants and trees that we have to 

 deal, because these are of first-rate importance to the study of bird and insect 

 life. 



The Vegetable Kingdom is divided into four sub-kingdoms : 



1. The Thallophyta, to which seaweeds and fungi belong. 



2. The Bryophyta, or mosses and liverworts. 



3. The Pteridophyta, including ferns, horse-tails, and club-mosses. 



4. The Phanerogamia, or Spermaphyta, in which are the flowering, 



seed-bearing plants. 



For the purposes of this book we deal principally with the fourth group. 

 The student will find a list of more than 600 British plants, arranged in a special 

 order and after a special method, in order that he may recognize very quickly 

 almost any of the wild flowers or trees which he is likely to come across. There 

 are more than 1,200 species of British flowering plants ; but many of them are 

 very rare, or confined to a few localities ; the majority with which most students 

 will come into touch are to be found in the subjoined list. 



As in other sections of the book, I suggest that the student should obtain 

 Wild Flowers (is. 3d.), No. 117 of "The People's Books" (Jack), and use 

 it as a basis. It is an excellent work, and with a little adaptation can 

 be supplemented by the descriptions given in the following pages. 



It should be interleaved, and when a flower is discovered and identified 

 which is not mentioned in that book, it should be inserted in its appropriate 

 place. It would also be most excellent practice to paint the illustrations, 

 from actual specimens. 



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