6 JUNE 1931, Page 14

WHIPSNADE AGAIN.

A curious little contradiction of principle is to be observed at the new Zoo. Whipsnade is to be a flower sanctuary as well as a bird sanctuary. Now all sorts of birds are welcome whether home or alien, and some of them, including duck and pheasant, are likely to stray. So, perhaps, will some of the imported deer, as they have strayed from Woburn. On the other hand, in accordance with the desire of botanists, only native flowers are to be allowed in the flower sanctuary. It is a thing horrible in the philosophy of our students of flowers that the native should be compared at all with the exotic. Why ? After all, a great number of trees—some say the elm itself—are of alien origin, and a fair sprinkling of flowers (probably the greater celandine and dusky geranium are exam- ples) have wandered beyond the confines of our gardens. Nevertheless, though it is hardly logical, one instinctively favours the botanist's view ; and it is wholly to the good, as we shall all agree, that the rarer flowers, several of which are in some danger of extinction, should be planted and cared for in that lovely sanctuary.

W. BF...Agri Triosins.