IO 
INTR OD UCTION 
the various species? Has dryness or wetness, the kind 
of soil or any other physical agent, anything to do with 
presence or absence of species (test by experiments in 
planting, and by comparison with areas differing in one 
of these characters) ? What are the relative numbers of 
each species in a given small portion of the area, eg. in 
4 square yards? Do the proportions differ on different 
small portions, and if so, why? Why are some species 
much more (less) numerous than others? Is this abundance 
(rarity) general in the neighbourhood, or confined to the 
area considered? What special advantages or disadvantages 
in the general competition has each species, under each of 
the following and other headings ? What are the polli- 
nation-methods of the flowers, and how perfect are they ? 
Do they lead mainly to cross- or to self-pollination ? What 
insects visit the flowers, and of what kinds ; and what pro- 
portion of the total insect-visits of each kind does each 
flower get? How much seed does each species produce, 
both actually and in proportion to the possible quantity 
indicated by its flowers, and to that produced by other 
species ? What are the germination phenomena, and does 
the species gain any advantage in early, late, or rapid 
germination ? Do any plants gain by early or late flowering, 
by special arrangements for bud-protection, for wintering, 
for storage of reserves, by annual or perennial habit, by 
xerophytic, aquatic, climbing, parasitic, saprophytic, or other 
peculiarities ? What is the exact life-history of each species ? 
and so on. 
Other areas, differing from the first, should be examined 
in the same way, and compared with it, and an attempt 
should be made to map the whole district into regions 
characterised by definite vegetations; of course these will 
shade into one another at their edges. The student will 
soon find this kind of work fascinating, and it will tax his 
knowledge of every branch of Botany and suggest innu- 
merable problems for solution, besides supplying abundant 
material for morphological, anatomical, or embryological 
study. There is also ample opening for new research in this 
direction, even in well-known floras like that of Britain, 
when he becomes proficient. 
