2G 
FIFTY YEARS OF BOTANY IN BRISTOL. 
external characters, has largely given place to laboratory work on 
anatomy, histology and physiology. In these departments 
botanical research of a high order is now conducted in established 
schools of science — schools that have arisen since the birth of our 
Society. Some of us may think that this revulsion has gone too 
far, as such movements are wont to do. Field botany, however, 
is already recovering some of the lost ground ; and the belief can 
still be entertained that to identify a plant when met with, and 
to learn its scientific place and appellation, is one of the very 
first and most important steps in botanical training, although it 
is true that those who are interested in the wider problems of 
systematic botany have to consider a recent theory, authoritatively 
expressed, that a separation of species on morphological grounds 
alone is unsatisfactory. It is evident that the practical pursuit 
of ecology, for example, is only for students who have acquired an 
intimate acquaintance with native plants as they live and grow. 
Let us hope that in due time many zealous followers of Bentham 
and Babington may emerge from among the young folk who, 
just now, in " Nature Study " classes and on rambles, seem to think 
that nothing can be done with less than an armful of specimens, 
not always, unluckily, of the commoner kinds. 
On a contemplation of the happenings during fifty years, 
thoughts come to one's mind in random fashion. For the present 
purpose it will not be necessary to set them all forth in sequence. 
It may suffice to jot down three or four. 
Modern investigation has broken down the apparently clear 
distinctions between flowering and flowerless plants. The groups 
of Iyichenes, Fungi and Algae have run one into the other, and 
when the lowest forms of such plants are alone considered, even 
the animal and vegetable kingdoms cease to have a definite 
frontier. 
The detection of natural hybrids and the recognition that they 
form an appreciable portion of the flora of the country is a feature 
of consequence in latter-day botany. Many plants that were once 
regarded as good species are now known to be the produce of 
hybridization, proof having been obtained by effecting the process 
artificially. In the neighbourhood of Bristol numerous hybrids — 
primary, secondary, or more complex — are found among the 
Epilobia, Salices and Carices, and their production seems easy also 
with Brambles, Roses, Thistles and Mints. These facts afford one 
reason why, apart from exploration and nomenclature, the local 
naturalists who were steadily gathering details respecting the wild 
plants of this district with the view of marshalling them within the 
pages of a Bristol Flora, found their work become heavier and 
more critical than formerly. Hybrid Narcissi and Primuke have 
recently been produced and studied in the garden of Mr. Philip 
Worsley, one of our oldest members. Natural hybrids between 
species of distinct genera are very rare, but several such instances 
have occurred in Orchidaceae. 
