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with as many as 61 species. Truly the species, rightly or other- 

 wise, are themselves as plentiful as blackberries, but I do not know 

 how many of these papers grow about here. Dr. Johnson, when 

 once asked a question by a lady, confessed that he did not know by 

 answering " Sheer ignorance madam, sheer ignorance." This 

 statement before you must not of course be taken as accurate, but 

 only as something near the mark, and as near, at any rate, as some 

 amount of care can make it. Some plants are fitful and uncertain, 

 appearing and disappearing curiously, and " turning up " where 

 they had not before been seen. There is evidence, too, that the 

 seeds of some species will lie long in the earth without germinating, 

 so that you may often find the unlooked-for where the ground has 

 recently been disturbed again. Seeds are carried by the wind and 

 brought by the birds into fresh districts, and there are other 

 agencies concerned in the distribution of seeds. Therefore it is not 

 possible for any one to say that this year's flora in any given spot 

 will be the same as last year's. The size of a plant makes no 

 difference to a student ; a small thing gives as much pleasure and 

 is as good a "find" as a large thing. The eye that is trained 

 readily sees some new form, although it may be so small that 

 another eye would not detect it at all. A few of our small plants 

 are very plentiful, and on account of their tiny flowers and prostrate 

 mode of growth they have to be looked for rather carefully. Such 

 are several species of the Trifolium genus and some other of the 

 Leguminosffi. I have purposely left till last one matter which con- 

 cerns students generally, and which relates broadly to the fauna as 

 well as to the flora of this and pretty well every other district — 

 country, I may as well say. The wanton destruction that goes on 

 is something shocking. The " Goths," the " Philistines," are bent 

 upon exterminating things, and the result is that many are surely 

 disappearing. As to this neighbourhood of ours, I can speak from 

 actual observation. What chance do our graceful ferns stand 

 against the horde of collectors who gouge them up by the dozen 

 and sell them at our doors ? Where will the better known of our 

 Warren plants be in a few years ? Where are our orchids going ? 

 Nearly twenty years ago I found, for the first time, the beautiful 

 Bee Orchis, not far from there. It was growing in some profusion 

 at that spot, but to-day it is not there. Of course the more the 

 public take to a plant, the less is its chance of life, and the more 

 scarce a plant becomes, the more likely it is to be lost entirely. 

 In my hand is " English's Guide to Folkestone, Sandgate, and the 

 Neighbourhood, published in 1875." It contains a list of some of 

 our rarer plants, probably (but I do not know) taken chiefly from 

 published floras of East Kent. That list gives about 75 plants, 

 nearly all of which I have found at some time or other, adding, 

 however, a good many that ought to have been given a place as 



