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must be undertaken at no very distant date. In such an event, with a 

 national museum erected, it is easy to see what a power for good 

 scientific woik such a scheme as that now proposed would be, in the 

 contributions not only of wonderful and valuable materials to every 

 branch ot Natural History, but in the great collections of important 

 scentihc data that constantly accrue. Throughout all the provinces of 

 this Dominion which I have visited, many persons intei^ested in some 

 one of the various branches of Natural History will be found. Botany, 

 ornithology, entomology, etc., all have their students among persons 

 whose tastes incline them to the study of the many objects of interest 

 which are common to every one of Nature's fields. These observations 

 are, however, checked or hindered by the fact that there are no local 

 societies in most of these places where assistance in determining the 

 specimens can be found, unless, indeed, at considerable expense ; and 

 also by a lack of opportunity for presenting the facts obtained, many of 

 which are of very great importance to the scientific world, and by 

 means of which the results can be made known to the host of persons 

 interested in such pursuits. To all such workers the methods of the 

 Ottawa Field-Naturalists' Club must commend themselves heartily, 

 since in the work of this club there is an honest effort made to 

 acquire as well as to impair information in nearly all the branches of 

 Natural History. I can see, therefore, no reason why this society, 

 having already shaken off the local trammels which once bound it 

 according to the terms of its original constitution, should not go on still 

 further and enlarge the scope of its operations to an indefinite extent by 

 incorporating in its ranks the best talent found in our High Schools 

 and other educational centres throughout the length and breadth of our 

 country, as well as all those whose tastes incline them to the study of 

 the natural sciences. 



To this it may be objected by some that local societies are already 

 in existence in the several provinces, and therefore there is no field left 

 for extending the scope of our own society in this direction. It is true 

 that such societies exist in cities like Halifax, St. John, Quebec, 

 Toronto, Ottawa and Winnipeg, but of many, and in fact most of 

 these, the work is of a different character to that contemplated by the 



