WINTEE WOEK. 



" Look on Nature as a volume 

 Ever open to inspection, 

 In which characters are written 

 By the Hand of the Almighty : 

 Reverently turn its pages." 



NjjT HE reign of Winter 



is now fairly begun; 

 and the naturalist, 

 who has occupied 

 the preceding 

 months in the 

 study of the won- 

 ders presented to 

 his eye in the 

 world around him, begins 

 to find a diminution in 

 their number. Not that 

 nothing is left to engage 

 his attention. Myriads of 

 Fungi, of bright and varied 

 hues, spring up in the wood 

 and on the hedgebank ; 

 a few hardy Wild Flowers 

 brave the inclement season ; 

 and underground, many an 

 Insect is awaiting the re- 

 turn of genial weather to 

 assume its perfect state. 

 To such naturalists as are 

 also collectors, the want of active employment in 

 searching after additions to their store is often a 

 most welcome " rest from their labours." The 

 Botanist delights in a long winter evening, when he 

 can bring out his treasured specimens from their 

 various hiding-places in music-books or old news- 

 papers, to transfer them neatly to their destined 

 foolscap ; and the Entomologist has always his 

 insects to arrange or re-arrange, to select specimens 

 for "exchange," or fight his battles over again— 

 in describing to a correspondent how he captured 

 Edusa flying over a clover-field, or how his supposed 

 Cabbage Butterfly proved to be a Bath White ! 

 No. 25. 



No : the Winter is no dead time for the collector — 

 rather is it a time for additional exertion in-doors, 

 compensating for the comparative inactivity with- 

 out. 



But, besides these, there are many who have not 

 time or inclination to do more than cursorily inspect 

 the works of Nature — who have noticed many of 

 their beauties during the summer months, and, 

 having neither insects to arrange nor plants to 

 mount, still do not wish to lose altogether the 

 memory of the enjoyment of their country walks. 

 They know too little to enable them to appreciate 

 scientific works, and Natural History books which 

 are at once cheap and good are " few and far 

 between ; " and yet they would like to keep up and 

 add to the little information they have already 

 gained, so that another season may find them more 

 prepared to observe and admire. The question, 

 then, is : Can we provide a means by which infor- 

 mation may be pleasantly gained at a time unfavour- 

 able for the examination of natural objects in their 

 most perfect state ? In answer, it may be said that, 

 to a certain extent, this is possible ; and the follow- 

 ing suggestions for so doing are offered in the hope 

 that they may prove useful to at least a few of our 

 readers. 



In many of our larger towns, and in not a few 

 villages, there exists a Natural History Society, the 

 members of which meet during the summer months 

 for rambles in different parts of their district, with 

 a view to increasing their knowledge of the natural 

 objects which it contains. It is gratifying to learn 

 that such societies are greatly on the increase ; but 

 it is to be regretted that many of them confine their 

 investigations to the summer months, remaining 

 (like many of the objects of their study) dormant 

 during the winter. Where such a society is fairly 



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