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ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS 
ever preceded those possessed of higher or more beautiful develop¬ 
ments. Will our present flora at some distant period he regarded 
as dull if compared with that which may then exist? Many 
species not indigenous, which we now regard as common, will in 
all probability have died out, and botanists will turn over the 
leaves of our ‘ Hertfordshire Flora ’ to point out, as the cause, the 
many climatic changes which have taken place since it was written. 
With these thoughts I passed to our wild fauna, their dangers and 
their defences, and concluded my reverie by considering that plants, 
like animals, require protection. This gave me the subject which 
I have now the gratification to lay before you— the Means of 
Protection possessed by Plants. 
The “ survival of the fittest ” owes its place in English phraseo¬ 
logy as much to its embodiment of truth as to the genius of its 
author. Ho community or species ever advanced without the 
working of this principle, and although in human affairs philan¬ 
thropy strives to divert its consequences, namely ‘‘ the destruction 
of the least fit,” yet the sad thought remains, that such relief can 
be but temporary. Nature is just, but not merciful, for she heed¬ 
lessly destroys the weak and incapable— 
“ So careful of the type she seems, 
So careless of the single life.” 
But it is the universal application of the “ survival of the fittest ” 
which has given us on this earth so much beauty and produced 
both in animal and vegetable life so many adaptations to ends, of 
which not the least wonderful are the means of protection against 
danger. 
Just as weak nations require special guarantees of their inde¬ 
pendence, so do weak organisms need special protective modifica¬ 
tions, and instances of this occurring in plants are common. Ento- 
mophilous flowers have dangers peculiar to themselves, for their 
pistils and stamens may be injured by insects which consume their 
nectar but are unadapted for their cross-fertilisation. We find that 
obstacles are placed in the way of such unbidden guests. 
We are now considering the protection of plants, and so much 
has been written on the special means of the protection of insects, 
that it will be as well, before proceeding further, to compare briefly 
their respective means of protection. Insects can evade danger by 
flight or immobility, though, when they move, they attract the 
attention of enemies. Plants by their fixity escape this danger, 
and unlike insects are independent of locomotion for finding their 
food. The roots of plants are comparatively free from attack, 
