TIIF ACASSIZ ASSOCIATION 



261 



ceive sets of carefully prepared speci- 

 mens and distribute them to chapters and 

 schools. For such service there need be 

 no charge above the cost of postage and 

 packing. 



The AA has, as you suggest, a large 

 opportunity to help teachers of nature 

 study and as the AA becomes better 

 known to the teachers it becomes better 

 known to their classes from which we 

 may expect to recruit our members. So 

 by all means the AA should help the 

 teachers. 



I believe that the AA should be widely 

 advertised in such a way as to attract the 

 attention of young people. There arc- 

 yet thousands of individuals who have 

 not heard of this great organization and 

 who need only to be set in the right path 

 to become efficient students of nature. To 

 arouse interest in nature study is doubt- 

 less an important function of the AA but 

 I feel that the directing of this immense 

 energy along proper lines of interest is 

 quite as necessary. I collected hundreds 

 of shells, insects and minerals in haphaz- 

 ard fashion long before I knew the value 

 of doing it in the right way. 



In the old AA Handbook some things 

 were not sufficiently emphasized. I refer 

 first to the necessity of preparing data 

 for specimens in such a way that they 

 may be not only of educational value but 

 of scientific value as well. A starfish 

 in any condition is a treasure, but with 

 the addition of particulars as to locality, 

 date, etc.. it becomes a scientific specimen 

 of current worth. 



In the second place I would emphasize 

 the necessity for much fuller instructions 

 for the collecting and preserving of speci- 

 mens than were given in the old AA 

 Handbook as I remember it. A collec- 

 tion of leaves from trees is interesting 

 and instructive, but is of little or no 

 scientific value unless the leaves are pre- 

 served on their stems and are accompan- 

 ied by the fruit and flower ; with the ad- 

 dition of certain data they become scien- 

 tific specimens. The trouble taken to 

 prepare specimens in this formal way 

 promotes the habit of order and gives an 

 added interest to the work. 



While the AA member is becoming 

 familiar with natural history in a general 

 wav he can and should be of use to the 



specialist. 1 will mention only one case. 



Beside the large garden variety of 

 earth-worm, which has a wide distribu- 

 tion, there are a great number of small 

 earth-worms which are very local in their 

 habitat. These are found in a great vari- 

 ety of situations. Some live under the 

 bark of fallen trees, others burrow in 

 damp moss on the banks of forest streams 

 and still others live in the sandy beds of 

 rivers. The AA might easily amass a 

 splendid collection of these interesting 

 worms which any specialist in the group 

 might be glad to study and describe. 



I believe the A A is destined to con- 

 tinue its good work of showing people, 

 young and old, the interest to be found 

 in the common things of nature and in 

 the study of the relations and adjust- 

 ments among them. An interest in the 

 beauty of a butterfly and its development 

 from the egg are followed, under guid- 

 ance, by a study of the dependence of the 

 caterpillar upon its food plant, the rela- 

 tion between the adult insect and the 

 blossoms it visits and between the egg 

 and the microdipterous insects which 

 fatten on its contents. 



A real interest in any branch of nature 

 study becomes a source of relaxation 

 from work and a saving grace from the 

 curse of idleness. A naturalist is hap- 

 py in any situation. Marooned on an 

 island he grieves not for companions but 

 watches the fishes of the sea or counts 

 the trees of the forest. 



A CORRECTIVE AND A SOLACE. 



BY E. T. BREWSTER, ANDOVER, MASS. 



I cannot state too strongly my belief 

 in the soundness and value of the ideas 

 for which the AA stands. For the young- 

 it seems now the single efficient and 

 wholesome corrective for the craze for 

 athletics which is now-a-days (I speak 

 as a schoolmaster) playing the mischief 

 with all intellectual interests among boys. 

 For the adult, nothing save only a love 

 for reading is such a solace. 



All this, however, has already been 

 said so well by yourself and others, 

 that I hesitate to say it again. Let me 

 only assure you of my hearty sympathy 

 with your ideals and my sincere belief 

 in the principles of the AA. 



