NA rURE 



60 1 



THURSDAY, APRIL 29, \i 



FLOWERS, FRUITS, AND LEAVES 

 Flowers, Fruits, and Leaves. By Sir John Lubbock, 



Bart., M.P., Sic. "Nature Series." (London: Mac- 



millan and Co., 1886.) 

 T^HE President of the Linnean Society sets a good 

 example. Not many men, we suppose, have more 

 onerous or more multifarious duties than he. He earns 

 his leisure, httle though it be, and he makes ex- 

 cellent use of it. Flowers, fruits, and leaves, to say 

 nothing of insects and archaeological investigations, 

 supply him with the recreation he needs, provoke 

 his observation, and stimulate his intelligence. More 

 than that, they make him a propagandist. He is anxious 

 to share with others the pleasure and relief he obtains 

 from the study of Nature. To this end he descends from 

 the Presidential chair to converse familiarly on the objects 

 of his study, not only with those who are already in 

 sympathy with him, but with those benighted Philistines 

 whom perchance he may yet hope to gather into the fold. 

 The substance of the book before us formed the basis of 

 certain lectures addressed to popular audiences, and is 

 well suited, with the accompanying illustrations, to arouse 

 the attention of the indifferent and of that very large class 

 of persons who go through the world with their eyes shut. 



Two of the lectures, those on " Flowers," have been 

 previously published. They contain references to the re- 

 lationships between insects and flowers, to the visitations 

 of the former to the latter, and other cognate matters 

 with which the reading public has been familiarised. 

 We need therefore only allude to the remaining chapters, 

 treating of " Fruits and Seeds " and of " Leaves." The 

 terms are throughout used in their popular and not in 

 their strict technical acceptation, a circumstance which 

 at once brings under notice the very different means by 

 which the same effect or purpose is fulfilled. The 

 general reader concerns himself far more with results 

 than with the way in which they are brought about, and 

 hence he sees no incongruity in grouping the winged 

 flower-stalk of the lime, the "keys" of the ash or the 

 maple, and the winged seed of the pine under one and 

 the same heading. 



Sir John humours this tendency. Probably he feels 

 that the majority would be repelled by morphological 

 disquisitions, genealogical dissertations, and transcen- 

 dental speculations. These things come after. For the 

 present the author dilates upon the form and appearance 

 of the fruit and seed in relation to the necessities of their 

 life and the purpose of their existence. He thus points 

 out, on the one hand, the modifications and adaptations 

 to secure adequate protection for the seed from the 

 vicissitudes to which it is exposed, and, on the other, the 

 divers means by which the dispersion of the seed is 

 effected and its germination facilitated. Similarly, in the 

 case of the leaves, the author discusses the probable 

 causes of the exuberant variation met with in these 

 organs. Whatever the cause, the result is doubtless con- 

 sistent with the principle expressed by "the greatest 

 happiness of the greatest number," the co-relations and 

 adaptations met with secure the maximum of advantage 

 Vol. XXXIII.— No. 861 



possible to each leaf with the least interference with the 

 requirements of neighbouring leaves. It is not often we 

 should be disposed to cite Mr. Ruskin as an authority 

 on botanical matters, but in the fifth volume of his 

 "Modern Painters "he has to some extent anticipated 

 Sir John, and given some striking illustrations of the 

 mutual adjustments between the several leaves on the 

 same branch. 



The protection possibly afforded by the close resem- 

 blance of one plant (unprovided with other means of 

 defence) to another duly equipped with defensive armour 

 was not thought of in pre-Darvvinian days. Sir John 

 Lubbock in the volume before us gives several illus- 

 trations of the phenomenon which, whether we accept 

 the explanation or not, are very striking. Attention is 

 also called to the primordial leaves which succeed to the 

 cotyledons or seed-leaves. In many cases, as in conifers 

 and in most compound-leaved plants, the form of these 

 adolescent leaves difters widely from that of the adult 

 foliage. Frotii these circumstances the obvious inference 

 is drawn that plants with lobed or compound leaves are 

 derivatives from ancestors that had leaves of simpler 

 type. The seedling plant in such cases is assumed to 

 repeat the form and appearance of its ancestors. If this 

 inference is taken in a general sense, and not made too 

 exclusive in its application, it will meet with general 

 acceptance. But we do not think that we are entitled 

 to assume direct genetic connection in all such cases. Of 

 necessity siinple leaves must precede divided or com- 

 pound ones. Similarity of conditions and requirements 

 would bring about, in the case of archaic and of recent 

 plants respectively, similarities of form without any neces- 

 sary direct hereditary connection between the two. 



A few slips may be mentioned for correction in the 

 next edition ; thus, it is hardly correct to describe the 

 leaves of Desinodiicin gyrans as perpetually moving round 

 (p. 49) ; Stael (p. 114) should be Stahl ; and the reference 

 (at p. 93) to " Mr. Moore " requires further differentiation, 

 as there are several Moores known to botanists. In this 

 case Spencer Le Marchant Moore is probably intended. 



We have said enough to show what varied sources of 

 interest are opened up by Sir John Lubbock in this book. 

 We trust that in future we may have further discussions 

 of like nature from his pen, and we might suggest to him, 

 as a complement to what he has here given us, a chapter 

 on the significance of the various modifications of leaf- 

 arrangement met with in Buds. 



Maxwell T. Masters 



THE GEOLOGY OF PAI^ESTINE 

 Memoir on the Physical Geology and Geography of Arabia 

 Peiraa, Palestine, and Adjoijiiiig Districts. By Edward 

 Hull, F.R.S. (Under the auspices of the Committee of 

 the Palestine Exploration Fund. 1886.) 



MUCH has been written in recent years regarding 

 the geology and natural history of that deeply 

 interesting region which lies to the east of the Gulf of 

 Suez, and includes the Basin of the Jordan River. Yet 

 much still remains for further exploration, more especially 

 in the way of more accurate detail and of connected 

 analysis of the whole region. Recognising this deficiency 

 of information, the Committee of the Palestine Explora- 



n D 



