1908-1909.] Nature Notes. 137 



initiative. Darwin was in his early years a nature student 

 of the school of Gilbert White, and at the University he 

 came under the influence of eminent field naturalists. Even 

 when making his observations on island life, which afterwards 

 led him to take up the question of species transformation, he 

 was essentially a field naturalist ; and Mendel was a member 

 of a Natural History Society at Brunn w^hile he was making 

 his experiments on peas. Love of field work adds to one's 

 enjoyment of country life, and it affords, moreover, a pleasure 

 which never palls. The brief contemplation of a specimen 

 revives the recollection of many a pleasant excursion. In 

 the rich flora of the Lothians many a glorious day-long 

 ramble can still be had, and opportunities of making ac- 

 quaintance with the habitats of many rare plants. Our 

 excursions are made constantly during the summer, and 

 many places in the immediate neighbourhood still provide 

 good hunting-ground for specimens, which are usually ex- 

 amined and determined as far as possible on the spot. Sir 

 H. Howorth impresses on all the necessity of trying to make 

 Natural History a study of living matter rather than dead 

 things, and draws attention to the famous professor of botany 

 at Strasburg to whom a lady took a leaf and wanted to know 

 the plant to which it belonged. " Madam," said he, " it is 

 quite impossible for me to tell you; but if you will put 

 this leaf between two pieces of brown paper, and sit upon 

 it for a fortnight and then bring it to me, I shall be able 

 to tell you then exactly the plant to which it belongs." 

 Learning the names of plants is but the beginning of the 

 study of botany. It is like learning the names of people 

 before we become really acquainted with them. After we 

 have learned to tell plants apart and to call them by name, 

 we have presented for study such problems as the laws 

 governing their distribution, the relation between the flora 

 of different countries, and the relation of variety to species, 

 which introduces the subject of Darwinism. The study of 

 botany also includes the fossil plants, and, by enabling 

 us to trace the vegetable kingdom from its first appear- 

 ance on the earth through all the varying conditions of 

 the geologic ages, opens these great scientific questions as 

 to the birth and infancy of the world, — what it is now, 



