BOTANICAL EVOLUTION, A7S5 
the fur of the animal, and in trying to rid itself of them by means of 
its teeth, many of them got into the mouth and stuck there, causing 
an inflammation which ended fatally. To the allied genus Mariynia 
belong a number of plants having the same peculiarity of hooked 
fruits by which they are enabled to cling to passers-by. We see the 
same in the so-called “burs,” belonging to different genera and 
species. One of these—Galium aparine or Cleavers—has been intro- 
duced into several parts of New Zealand from Britain. The fruit is 
covered with little hooked bristles which are very adhesive. Probably 
the hooked hairs of carrot seed serve the same purpose, only in this 
the adaptation has not been carried so far as in the other cases 
cited. In many cases of special modification such as this, all the 
steps of the process cannot be traced, because the ancestral forms 
have themselves become modified or have passed away. But there 
are few cases in which we cannot follow out the process by analogy, 
and the sum total of the evidence is conclusive in favour of continuous 
modification, even where individual cases afford little or no proof. 
In presenting such a condensed account as is here given of the 
modifications which plants have undergone, it may be considered that 
I have merely shewn the diversity which exists in the vegetable king- 
dom, especially among the higher members, without shewing actually 
the relation of this diversity to the doctrine of evolution. But 
I may say in reply to any such objection that before the 
doctrine was clearly enunciated, and while botanists held to 
the idea that species were immutable creations, all the exist- 
ing species of plants having been formed just as we see them to-day, 
this remarkable diversity of structure was meaningless. It might be 
interesting and wonderful, but little more. As soon however as the 
capabilities of variation possessed by every organized structure were 
recognized, together with the unerring manner in which all favourable 
variations tend to be preserved and intensified while unfavourable 
ones are suppressed, a clue was supplied by which Nature could be 
studied on new lines. Every little detail of structure has now a 
meaning, and if we question Nature closely, we can often find out 
what that meaning is. When we cannot do so, it arises either from 
our ignorance, or,—what amounts to the same thing—from want of 
sufficient data to go upon. We shall never answer all the questions 
which the vegetable world presents to us, but the page of Nature is 
open to all who choose to read, and in reading or attempting to read 
it, they will find unlimited pleasure and profit. 
OOLOGY OF NEW ZEALAND.* 
BY Tf. He ROTTS. 
Genus—Heterolocha. 
43. Heterolocha acutirostris, Gould. 
Huia.—This highly-prized bird, indigenous to this country, is 
very restricted in its range, which is confined to a few wooded districts 
in a certain part of the North Island. It isa species that must soon 
*Continued from p. 378. 
