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Journal of Proceedings.
perhaps never two centuries in age, and may only have "come in with
the Conqueror." Though valued only as covert for game, our English
forests probably owed some little planting, besides protection, to the
Norman. Gurth, and his acorn-eating swine, was ousted by the
foresters of Malvoisin.
So also the rest of our flora should be studied. Following up the
fine "Flora of Essex," by Gibson (unfortunately a scarce work), we
should endeavour to trace the history of the introductions of Nature
and of human agency, and by careful study of so-called "critical"
species, or "splits," we may be able, even in the tributaries of the
Thames, or at least. in the main watersheds of England, to illustrate
those laws of geographical distribution which have been shown in the
case of the Amazons.
At the same time, we should learn the lesson of Continental botanists ;
trace every stage of development in any plant we can; study every
phase of physiological life by field observation, as well as by laboratory
experiment: not omitting the minute discrimination of the much
maligned "species-monger." In fact, the Darwinian must note details
even more than the mere species-discriminator, since he looks for the
intermediate variations that the latter would rather discard.
A recognition of the necessity for thoroughness in the many new
fields of work suggested by the Theory of Evolution must necessarily
lead to an increase of specialism ; but the lecturer thinks that the local
Field Clubs have an important function to perform, to some extent
counteracting this tendency, in keeping alive that fine old type, now in
danger of sharing the fate of our Ilford Mammoths, the "good all-
round "naturalists. This is a type represented by such men as John
Ray—name dear to Essex—and Gilbert White, naturalist and poet.
Such Clubs also bring together students of various branches of science,
and so teach us to appreciate work in directions untrod by our own
footsteps, and to learn the true proportions of our work to the general
scheme of Nature.
An eminent geologist once said to the lecturer, "Botany ! what's to
be done in botany ? Our plants are all known as well as the butter-
flies." It may be enough to reply that one or two plants "new to
Britain" are discovered nearly every year, even among Phanerogamia.
This is not, however, the sole aim of the botanist. If we turn to the
base of the scale of vegetable life, we find the but newly-discovered
Myxomycetes (perhaps plants, perhaps animals), the virtually unknown
Schizomycetes, and the constantly increasing list of the higher Fungi,
among which even the mushroom has not been traced with certainty
through its whole life-history. The fresh-water Alga have not been
recently monographed; the Characeae are unplaced, and we are much
in want of- a satisfactory classification of Thallophytes as a whole.
Higher up we have the apparently causeless variation in the Ferns,