486 REPORTS ON THE STATE OF SCIENCE, ETC. 



4. Subjects to be taken while seed-growing is in progress : — 



(a) Study of structure of seed and bulb. Were the shoots originally packed 

 within ? 



(b) Comparison of seed with egg; study of hen's egg. Parental care of 

 birds. 



(c) Frog's eggs; weekly record of changes. Habits of frogs and newts. 



C. Summer Term. 

 Studies of plants and animals to be pursued concurrently. 



1. Plant Life. Typical spring and summer flowers ; need for classification ; 

 natural orders; how to use a 'Flora.' 



Insect visitors to flowers. Transference of pollen ; significance of pollina- 

 tion ; fertilisation and cross-fertilisation. 



2. Animal life in the pond. 



(a) Record of growth and met-amorphosis of tadpoles. 



(b) Life-history and habits of : Water-beetle, water-boatman, water-scorpion, 

 caddis-fly, dragon-fly, gnat, water-spider, water-snail. 



(c) Common pond weeds. 



(d) Study of green water-plants in aquaria. Evolution of gas noted for 

 future investigation. 



Note — It is desirable that the formal work should be supplemented by 

 (fl) rambles and excursions to study plants and animals in their natural 

 setting; (b) holiday work, including collection of specimens, records of life- 

 phases of some animal or plant, drawings and paintings ; (c) gardening. 

 Common plots may be worked in school hours for demonstrations and experi- 

 ments ; individual plots in leisure hours. 



II. Physical Section. 

 A. Astronomy. 

 Simple observations and graphic records (i) to establish the (apparent) 

 diurnal rotation of sun and stars about an axis directed (nearly) to the Pole 

 Star, and (ii) to explain the principle of civil time-measurement. The observa- 

 tions are to be made, as opportunity offers, partly in and partly out of 

 school hours. The graphic records will be drawn and discussed from time to 

 time in class. The data for the several records may be accumulated con- 

 currently. 



1. Direct observation that the snn appears to move. Closer study hy 

 means of the shadow of an upright rod gives data for graphic records showing 

 (a) the direction of the shadow at a series of fixed times of the day in different 

 months, (6) the lengths of the shadow at these times. The latter brings out 

 the facts (i) that the shortest shadow has a fixed direction (south to north), 

 and (ii) that the shadow is shortest {i.e., the sun highest) at varying times 

 .<:hortly before or after 12 o'clock (or 1 p.m. 'summer time '). 



Discussion of results (supplemented by the table of ' equation of time * 

 in ' Whitaker's Almanack ') leads to the notions of ' mean noon ' and the ' mean 

 solar time ' kept by an ordinary clock. The difference between ' local mean 

 time' and 'Greenwich mean time.' Longitude lines as lines of identical 

 local mean time. The international system of standard time-zones, and time- 

 signals by wireless telegraphy. Determination of longitude at sea, &c. 



2. Graphic records of the sun's track across the sky on typical days at 

 or near midwinter, the equinoxes, and midsummer. Discussion of these eluci- 

 dates the varying length of day and night and the correlative phenomena at 

 the antipodes.*' 



" The following method works well. A number of thin rods (e.g., long 

 knitting-needles) are mounted perpendicularly at equal intervals along the 

 circumference of a circle marked out on a drawing-board. Each rod carries 

 a small paper or cardboard slider. The board is fixed horizontally in sun- 

 shine. As, from time to time during the day, the shadow of one of the rods 

 falls across the centre of the circle the slider is so adjusted that its shadow 

 covers the centre. The heights thus registered are entered upon a sheet 

 of graph-paper whose length is equal to the circumference of the circle, and a 



