THE AUSTRALIAN NATURALIST. 13) 
their contribution to the map, whose outlines we are now com- 
mencing to fill in. 
Collect, if we will, for a purpose that in time we approach 
so near to finality to say, ‘‘This is so, I know.” 
If one could only gather together from the brains of the 
farmers and others all they know of the relation between 
plants and soil value! Dr. Jensen hag shown that except by 
trial there is no better indication of the value of a soil than 
the trees upon it. Many can help to collect accurate data. 
Collect plants according to the conditions which determine 
their presence and growth. Determine the influence of geolo- 
gical and meteorological conditions, why certain plants are 
here and not there. Study the community life of the bush 
and of the relations of plants to other life. Learn the weeds 
and why they are so, the useful and harmful grasses, herbs 
and trees. Collect seeds and fruits and study their develop- 
ment, distribution, germination, etc. 
Take a small district and fix definite boundaries, and on 
it attempt to make— 
1. A census of all plants, showing flowering, fruiting and 
growing seasons. 
2. A classification of the plants according to the sets of en- 
vironmental conditions under which they are growing. 
. Trace how the communities were formed, where the plants 
came from ; the adaptations of the communities and of 
the individuals composing them. 
4. Trace the changes due to man’s interference. 
Gs 
To illustrate the object of this lecture numerous lantern 
slides were thrown on the screen illustrating work that has 
been done, or as suggestions for investigation. Such points 
were ; — 
The fertilisation of Stylidium and Grevillea. 
Fruit development of Sterculia. 
Shy-seeding in} Banksia and Callistemon. 
Seeds that need bushfires for germination. 
Fruit and leaf variation in the Proteaceae. 
Polycotyledony in Persoonia. 
‘“‘Piping”’ in Australian hardwoods. 
Effect of soil, water, aspect on vegetation. 
The following floras being illustrated:—Sydney sand- 
stone, Sydney shale, Blue Mt. shale, sandstone gullies, and 
sandstone heights, basalt, Grose Vale limestone, North Coast 
basalt. 
