[ XX ] 



The fossil plants On tlie Other hand, it must be remembered that the fossil plants which 



are not m the Q^^e preserved in the British Musemn are with some few exceptions placed 



Botany Jmt in i^^' ^^^ regarded as belonging to, the Department, not of Botany, but of 



that of Geology. Geology, and it has been stated to us that the removal of the fossil plants to 



Kew would mean a dismemberment of the geologic collection. It must be 



borne in mind in reference to this question that the Geological Department 



of the British Museum is not in the ordinary sense a geologic collection, 



that is, one having relation to what is called stratigraphic geology ; it is 



essentially a palseontologic collection. And it is by reason of this nature 



of the collection that fossil plants are placed in the collection together with 



the fossil animals. The position of palseontoiogy in the scientific hierarchy 



is a peculiar one. It is often ranked as a separate science ; and yet from 



one jDoint of view, one namely which does not regard the geologic side of 



the matter, it appears as a mixture of zoology and of botany. 



No recommenda- From the Standpoint of botany it would be satisfactory were the 



tion regarding National Botanic Collections at Kew completed by the inclusion of the 

 fossil plants made. fQggQ plants ; but we feel that considering the circumstances in which the 

 fossil plants are housed at the British Museum, we should in a certain sense 

 be going beyond our instructions, and be taking up a definite attitude 

 towards palaeontology, iC we were to recommend that fossil plants, being 

 botanic specimens, should, together with the botanic collections, be 

 transferred from the British Museum to Kew. We therefore make no 

 recommendation concerning the collection of fossil plants. 



Botanic gardens 

 as necessary (or 

 more so) for 

 stud}' of fossil 

 plants as a 

 herbarium. 



A collection of 

 fossil plants 

 might be made 

 at Kew. 



Changes at Kew 

 in consequence 

 of ihe trans- 

 ference. 



One point, however, does require to be dealt with. The former Keeper 

 of tbe Department of Botany in the British Museum, Mr. Carruthers, stated 

 before the Devonshire Commission his opinion that a complete herbarium is 

 essential to the study of fossil plants ; indeed he went so far as to state 

 that a more complete herbarium was needed for the study of palseo-botany 

 than was needed for the conduct of a botanic garden, and he assures us that 

 he is still of the same mind. But we have failed to find any adequate 

 corroboration of Mr. Carruthers's views. Nor indeed have we been able 

 to find reasons for thinking that supposing the fossil plants to be 

 retained in the Department of Geology at the British Museum, any 

 herbarium at all ought to be retained to assist in the study of these 

 plants. The students of these plants are not very numerous and they 

 are nearly all botanists. While it is true that in their studies they have 

 to take account of outward forms, and in respect of this, have to consult 

 or are assisted by consulting, herbarium specimens, it is no less true that 

 -they also, and indeed no less, have to take account of internal structure, 

 and for this purpose have to consult living plants. Hence for the com- 

 plete study of fossil plants, access to a botanic garden, or to some 

 collection of living plants, is no less necessary than to a herbarium. We 

 cannot see that the separation of the fossil plants at the British Museum 

 from a herbarium, which would be the result of the proposed removal of 

 the present herbarium, without any other herbarium being placed in its 

 ;stead, is a greater evil than the present separation of those fossil plants 

 from all collections of living plants. Indeed the argument that the 

 national collection of fossil plants should be placed at Kew, is at least 

 as strong as the argument that a herbarium should be provided for them 

 at the British Museum. 



The conclusion at which we arrive from the peculiar relations of the 



study of fossil plants is rather that, notwithstanding the retention in the 



interests of palaeontology at the British Museum of the fossil plants now 



there, no obstacle should be placed in the way of forming a collection of 



fossil plants at Kew in the interests of botany. 



«^ 



The transference we recommend of the botanic collections from the 

 British Museum to Kew would necessitate, as we have already said, some 

 changes at Kew, including an increased expenditure both upon the 

 Herbarium ard upon the Museums, and perhaps incidentally elsewhere. 

 The amount of this and the method of its allocation must, as we have also 



