44 
NATURE NOTES. 
enough to avoid any possible cruelty in the matter. It appears 
to me that if we bring up young people with a reverent love for 
all, even the lowliest of God’s handiworks, that feeling will tend 
to restrain them from exercising the instinct of destruction, 
which we can so often trace in children’s early years. 
The indiscriminate slaughter of innocent life that is carried 
on year by year fills me with distress, and I for one shall never 
cease to protest against it by voice and pen. I can but hope that 
by the multiplication of our Selborne branches and kindred 
societies we may in time see some diminution in this cruel war- 
fare against all creatures in fur and feathers. 
Eliza Brightwen. 
LEAF-SHAPES AND MOISTURE. 
N a very short time spring will be with us again. 
Already the tiny buds on the trees and shrubs have 
begun to swell, and in some cases have burst from the 
dingy coats which shielded them from the icy winds 
and frosts of winter. In a few weeks the sombre brown of the 
woodlands will give place to the tender green of the early year, 
with fresh inducements to us to wander through the glades and 
mossy pathways. At such a time as this it is seasonable to ask 
you to open your eyes as you pass along the woody paths and 
notice how varied are the shapes assumed by the leaves of 
the trees above, and of the herbage at your feet. It is exagger- 
ating very little to say that every variety of form and structure 
assumed by the foliage of the diferent plants, serves some defi- 
nite purpose in the life of the herb or tree in which it occurs. 
It is well to inquire what the conditions are which surround 
each plant in its native home, and from a knowledge of these to 
attempt to explain the meaning of the shapes and structures 
which occur in its organs. 
A great German botanist — Stahl — has done this in one 
important respect with leaves. Java happened to become his 
home for a time ; and whilst there, one of the things which 
struck him most was the extreme humidity of the atmosphere. 
He very naturally applied this to his favourite subjects, the 
plants, and asked himself what effect this condition might 
have upon their structure. A little observation and reflection 
showed him, how harmful it is to the leaves, and indeed to the 
whole plant, if rain, or other moisture, be allowed to remain 
standing on them for any length of time. 
In the first place, its slow evaporation greatly interferes with 
that which should go on from the interior of the plant through 
the numerous pores in the leaf surface. Then, again, it rots the 
tissues of the leaf, as may be seen in many greenhouses, where 
