THE PKOPER STUDY OF FLOWERING PLANTS 57 



the methods of their germination and the time during which they 

 may retain their powers of growth. 



The extent to which flowering plants can modify themselves to 

 suit circumstances is very considerable, and the nature student might 

 do worse than to compare the size of the leaves of plants of the 

 same species which grow respectively in bright light and in the 

 deep shade, or to note the effects of damp soil upon a plant that 

 usually lives in a dry situation and contrariwise. There are plants 

 which possess the power of changing their parts very materially, 

 according as these grow in air or water ; for instance, the leaves of 

 the water-buttercup, which come above the surface of a pond, are 

 very different from those which remain below, and should the plant 

 happen to grow upon the margin, away from the water, the second 

 kind of leaves will not appear at all. 



Again, there are such things to study as the methods which 

 plants adopt in order to protect their pollen ; the movements they 

 make to attain this and other objects ; the whole series of snares 

 and traps to allure and to digest insects, and the means, often hidden 

 from sight, by which they steal supplies from their fellow-plants. 

 Still other matters remain, and some of these, such as the question 

 of fertilisation and the responses which plants make to the attentions 

 of gall insects, are mentioned in this book. Beyond these again 

 there are further relationships between plants and animals which 

 may occupy the attention of the general student. 



Those who wish, however, in the end, to specialise upon flowering 

 plants, should first of all gain some knowledge of the plant- world 

 as a whole, or better still, of animals also, and then proceed not 

 only to consider the classification and habits of their special favourites, 

 but also their internal structure and the ways in which they work 

 and grow and live. 



