520 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLIV. No. 1137 



purpose of providing material for paraffin sec- 

 tions and balsam mounts. To give college 

 students real knowledge of plant life one must 

 use living plants, and not merely skeletons and 

 sections, no matter how important the latter 

 are in their way. 



As a concrete illustration of a general course 

 in college botany that is given in an environ- 

 ment unusually favorable for field work, the 

 writer will refer to the College of Hawaii, 

 Honolulu. This institution corresponds in 

 general status and organization to the state 

 universities upon the mainland. Honolulu en- 

 joys remarkably equable weather throughout 

 the year; there are no storms; no frost, snow,' 

 ice or hail; thunder and lightning are very 

 rare. There is no marked dormant season, and 

 very few deciduous plants. The forests are 

 evergreen, and most of the seed-plants have 

 prolonged flowering periods. The climatic con- 

 ditions are practically ideal for field work. In 

 the immediate vicinity of the college is a re- 

 markable variety of ecologic zones and habi- 

 tats, ranging from the abyssal ocean to moun- 

 tain peaks of three thousand feet elevation. 



The botany course referred to is a freshman 

 subject. There are two afternoon periods — 

 two and one half hours each — and one lecture 

 period per week. Customarily one of the after- 

 noon periods is used for field work, the other 

 for laboratory work. There are thirty-six 

 weeks in the college year. The total number 

 of field trips made by the class as a whole is 

 about thirty. Students are encouraged to do 

 individual field work and collecting, either on 

 assigned topics, or those of their own choosing. 

 This encourages the botanically-inclined stu- 

 dent to develop a taste for original observa- 

 tions, and often prepares the way for special 

 studies of genuine scientific merit. 



The trips usually occur on Monday after- 

 noon, as the experience of several years has 

 proved this time to be the most satisfactory in 

 connection with other features of the week's 

 schedule. This permits the keeping-over of 

 material collected, for the laboratory period, 

 and facilitates a close coordination between 

 field and laboratory work. The official period 

 is two and one half hours, but the distances 



covered by some of the trips necessitate a con- 

 siderably longer time than this, and field pe- 

 riods of three or three and one half hours are 

 not uncommon. Occasionally, for the purpose 

 of visiting some distant region of special inter- 

 est, a double period is arranged by mutual 

 agreement, and the excursion will occupy a 

 period of five or six hours. On these occasions 

 each student brings a light lunch, which is 

 eaten at some convenient time in the course of 

 the trip. 



There are several types of excursions, which 

 may be classed as follows : 



1. Systematic Collecting. — To study in the 

 field and collect for laboratory examination 

 the plants of a given group or region; e. g., 

 green algas; lichens; lycopods; Leguminosss; 

 strand plants; stream plants; swamp plants 

 It is almost needless to point out that a certain 

 amount of systematic collecting naturally 

 forms a part of any field trip, irrespective of 

 other objects. 



2. Ecologic Studies. — Field studies of well- 

 defined ecologic factors and adaptations; hab- 

 itats with strongly marked characteristics; 

 studies of zonation, invasion, competition, suc- 

 cession, etc. ; relations of plant organs to envi- 

 ronmental factors. 5 



3. Field Studies of Plant Members and 

 Organs. — Particularly those organs and struc- 

 tures that are not adapted to bringing into 

 the laboratory, e. g., plank-roots, buttress roots ; 

 trunk types; bamboo; lianas in situ; epiphytes 

 in situ; palm inflorescences ; and many flowers. 



4. Phytogeographic Studies. — Floral zones 

 and regions in relation to their physiographic 

 background; distinctive plants of the coral 

 reef, lagoon, littoral, lowlands, valleys, summit 

 ridges, peaks, etc. 



s ' ' On ecology of the structures they — the stu- 

 dents — can do little better than guess at uses; for 

 removed from their native homes, the plants can 

 give no idea of their habits. Here is where the 

 outdoor study of native plants through field ex- 

 cursions is most valuable. ' ' Ganong, loc. cit., 

 p. 206. 



' ' Early in field work one should learn that the 

 collection of specimens is not the primary aim of 

 excursions, that specimens are only one kind of 

 facts. ' ' Adams, loc. cit., p. 41. 



