Natural History. 61 



literature, and this, though it is a quite necessary work, is 

 surely of all human pursuits the driest, dullest, and most 

 exasperating^. 



In all these laborious undertakings our three counties 

 have done far more than their full share, as will be clear from 

 what our President has said, and there are many others such 

 as our President himself, the Lorraine Smiths, Carrutherses, 

 Olivers, Mr M' Andrew, Mr M'Gowan, and many others. 



There is plenty of local work waiting for our members 

 in the further study of smaller plants and of most classes of 

 animals. At present their names are for the most part known, 

 but we hardly know anything of what they do, which is of 

 much greater importance. Another new department of 

 Botany is the study of plant associations, which could not be 

 undertaken until all systematic pioneering had been done. 



In any part of the world, whether on our Galloway hills 

 or in Rhodesia, the particular set of plants growing naturally 

 in any place constitute an infallible guide to the economic 

 possibilities of that locality. For they are an expression of 

 the climate and other factors of the environment. I wish 

 this had been realised by Great Britain before the partition of 

 Africa had been definitely finished. 



This new science is, therefore, invaluable not only to the 

 colonist abroad, but to every farmer and forester at home. 

 It is perhaps because these plant associations are exceedingly 

 complicated and intricate that they are not yet studied as 

 they should be. 



Suppose one were to take an ideal section through the 

 natural grass pasture of the Galloway hills as far down as 

 the subsoil, one would find the whole of such a section crowded 

 with life. The interstices of the soil are coated with bacteria 

 and protozoa; there are worm burrows and insects of all 

 kinds ; the roots of the flowering plants occur each at the level 

 congenial to itself; the ground surface has its flora of algae, 

 liverworts, and mosses; then there are the various foliage 

 stories of leaves, of grasses, bracken, and flowers; and, 

 besides all this, there is an intricate mosaic of visits from 

 insects, birds, and other animals : the whole being, in a casual 

 desultory fashion, under the control of man. 



