ON SCIENCE IN SCHOOL CERTIFICATE EXAMINATIONS. 507 



ponds, the lane, the wood and other parts of the Botany Gardens supply a wealth of 

 material. The girls study the life-histories and habits of many animals. Frequently 

 lesson times are spent out of doors, and the animals are studied in their homes in 

 various parts of the gardens at various times of the year, as well as in the class-rooms. 



The course includes : — 



(a) Life-histories and habits of the garden snail, the pond snail, the spider (including 

 the construction of the web), the caddis-fly, the dragon-fly, the water-boatman, the 

 stickleback, the minnow, the frog. 



{b) Study of bird life. Identification of the bird inhabitants of the gardens by 

 their calls, their songs and their appearance. Examination of nests which various 

 birds have made in the wood and in the lane and have deserted. 



(c) Study of bees in the garden and in an observation hive. 



Division II. 



Science in the Middle School — a three years' course. Age of girls, twelve to 

 fourteen years approximately. 



A. Elementary physics and chemistry. Time, one hour twenty minutes in each 

 of three Forms. 



B. Botany. Time, one hour twenty minutes in each of three Forms. 



B. Botany in the Middle School. 



1. Study of Plants in Wood in Botany Gardens. 



The girls have charge of a small wood and study woodland plants. 



2. Study of Trees. 



There has been planted in the gardens an example of every tree common in 

 England ; also in the oak wood there are numbers of oak trees and ash trees. With 

 the help of these and twigs given by various people the girls are able to study trees. 

 The following are some of the points taken : Branching (monopodial and sympodial) ; 

 structure of buds ; development of buds ; structure of wood as seen with the naked 

 eye ; sections of dicotyledon stems and monocotyledon stems as seen with a hand 

 lens ; lenticels ; experiments to show passage of gases through lenticels. 



3. Pollination. 



The girls have charge of many plots in which they grow plants which they use in 

 pollination experiments. When the plants are bearing flower buds, many botany 

 lesson-times are spent in the garden. Experiments are first made to see if pollen 

 is necessary for the formation of fruit, and the girls themselves usually suggest that 

 control experiments should be made. Experiments are then made to see if self- 

 pollination can take place in various plants. Many different genera are taken, and 

 as many experiments made in each case as time will allow. 



In the year 1925, after the girls had made experiments to see if pollen was 

 necessary for the formation of fruit in a certain plant, and were comparing the results 

 they had obtained with results obtained in previous years, they had the records of 

 more than 1,100 experiments to consider before they drew any conclusions. 



The girls watch insects visiting flowers, and study the various insects seen : flies 

 (midges, house flies, bee-flies), wasps, bees (hive bees, humble bees), butterflies, moths. 



4. Study of Fruits. 



There are many opportunities for the girls to study and draw the fruits in the lane, 

 the wood, the order beds, and the pollination beds. Many opportunities for the 

 study of dispersal of seeds are also found in the Botany Gardens. The girls find 

 growing in their gardens plants which have not been planted by them ; and after the 

 long holidays thousands of groundsel plants have been found in the wood. Dispersal 

 of winged and plumed seeds and fruits by wind, and of hooked fruits by animals, 

 are soon noted. Reference is made to Darwin's observations and experiments on 

 the dispersal of seeds, and many of the girls read the chapter on dispersal of seeds in 

 ' Origin of Species.' 



5. Detailed Study of Seeds and Seedlings. 



Various dicotyledon and monocotyledon seeds are examined and drawn. Experi- 

 ments are made to see in what gases seeds germinate, and if seeds germinate at all 



