162 NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETIES. 



what seems of easy attainment, and of comparatively little trouble. When- 

 ever I visit for the first time a new neighbourhood, I long for some source 

 of information as to its natural productions; but how seldom can we find 

 any one who can say what birds, what plants, what geological peculiarities, 

 or what remains of antiquity may abound there; and yet what would be 

 easier than that each parish should have its record of local productions, 

 and local objects of interest Of what infinite value to all naturalists has 

 been, and still continues, *•' White's Natural History of Selborne;" and how 

 easy would it be to form on a simple scale a parish register of the natural 

 and historical statistics of each locality. 



The clergyman and his family would of course be the persons to whom 

 we should look in the first instance for setting such a record on foot; 

 and in every parish would be found three or four, or half a dozen people 

 who would gladly unite in such an efiFort, according to the peculiar pursuits 

 of each. Let those who are fond of animal life record the birds, (how easy 

 to set down the arrival of summer birds,) the beasts, or the insects, ac- 

 cording to the taste of each; others the flowers, others the plants, others 

 the strata and formations geological, and for each to bring at some given 

 and fixed time of each year what he has observed or what he has discovered; 

 and have such statistics arranged every year in the form of a register, and 

 kept at the reading-room or at the parsonage, open for inspection and study. 

 Four or six persons in each locality would amply sufiice, with no sacrifice, 

 but on the contrary, by merely increasing their own sphere of pleasure and 

 information. The first formation of such a record would, of course, be the 

 most onerous; but I verily believe that if the thing were once proposed, 

 there is not a parish in which there would not be found plenty of persons 

 who would think it a pleasure to contribute his individual exertion to such 

 a task; and when once formed, the work of subsequent years would be as 

 nothing. 



I was first impressed with the desirableness of such a record by visiting 

 a parish in which the clergyman's wife had painted every flower natural 

 to the locality, setting down its class and time of flowering: it formed a 

 volume of exquisite beauty and delight. Will you therefore allow me, 

 through your columns, to suggest the formation of a Parochial Naturalist's 

 Record. Had such existed in the olden times and continued down to the 

 present, what a treasure would it have been, and how many things past 

 and for ever gone and forgotten, would it have preserved to us; but let 

 us remember that our day will ere long be the olden time, and let us 

 preserve for those who follow what we have lost for want of a little 

 thought and a little pleasurable exertion. 



Since writing the above, I have been informed that the Rev. Professor 

 Henslow, some years ago, started in his parish a local register, not confined 



