BOTANICAL GALLERY. 95 



be found in one of the cases. It is also shown that meteorites 

 are closely related, not only to shooting stars, but also to 

 comets, and probably to nebulas and fixed stars. 



Second Floor. 



The upper floor of the East wing is devoted to the Depart- Botanical 

 ment of Botany. ®*""^' 



The Collections of this Department consist of two portions, 

 the one open to the public and consisting of specimens suit- 

 able for exhibition, and mainly intended to illustrate the various 

 groups of the Vegetable Kingdom and the broad facts on 

 which the natural system of the classification of plants is 

 based ; the other set apart for the use of persons engaged in the 

 scientific study of plants. 



On the landing outside the gallery is a series of tree-sections 

 representing some common British-grown trees, with sections 

 and bark of the Cork-Oak (Quercus suher), and large sections of 

 the White Fir and Douglas Pine from British Columbia. The 

 Douglas Pine was cut down in 1885 when 533 years old ; its 

 age is indicated by the annual rings seen in transverse section 

 of the wood, and a record of events has been painted on the 

 surface. 



The system of classification followed in the exhibition cases System of 

 in the public gallery is a modification of one widely used on " *'°^ "* ""■ 

 the Continent and in America. In the first bay on the left- 

 hand side an attempt has been made to illustrate, by means of 

 books dealing with the subject, the history and development of 

 modem systems of classification. The series of specimens 

 (starting on the north or left-hand side of the gallery) begins 

 with the simpler orders of Dicotyledonous Seed-plants, those in 

 which petals are wanting in the flower or if present are free 

 from each other, and passes on to the less simple orders with 

 united petals. The orders are represented by dried specimens 

 of the plants themselves, drawings, fruits, and prepared sections 

 of the woods. Diagrams are employed to indicate the characters 

 in the flowers on which the grouping is based. The use of 

 the same colour for corresponding structures throughout the 



