PEEFATOEY LETTEE. 



My deae De. Ogle, — I am extremely glad to hear 

 that you have undertaken to edit Kerner's work on 

 Flowers and their Unhidden Quests; for it opens out 

 a highly original and curious field of research. It is 

 possible that some of Kerner's generalisations may 

 hereafter require to be slightly modified ; but I feel 

 sure that every remark which he has made well 

 deserves careful consideration. The beauty and poetry 

 of flowers will not be at all lessened to the general 

 observer, by his being led through Kerner's investiga- 

 tion to notice various small, and apparently quite 

 unimportant, details of structure, — such as the presence 

 of differently directed hairs, viscid glands, etc., which 

 prevent the access of certain insects, and not of others. 

 He will, I believe, come to the conclusion that flowers 

 are not only delightful from their beauty and fragrance, 



