8 FKK!SII)KXT*8 ADDRESS. 



observation. Tlie plants seemed to gi\ e me special interest, and 

 I started to collect those around my home, to notice their con- 

 struction, and to learn their names from their descriptions. T 

 was told for the first time that much could be learnt from noting 

 what plants occurred together, or how different plants favoured 

 tlifierent localities and surroundings. I need not tell you much 

 as to ]io\v Mr, Hedley made stone, animal, and green plant of such 

 interest that I had to look at them. Few of you knew Charles 

 James Martin, but all of you know Charles Hedley. There 

 will be no one in this room who has not had some words from 

 him on natural history, who has not had his attention turned to 

 some (jbject of interest, and who has not been led by his inspira- 

 tion to look again at some natural object. No naturalist has 

 done more for those of us of the younger generation. I think 

 some of the older naturalists do not realise how ditHcult it is for 

 the Australian to obtain information about the things around 

 him. There is an almost complete absence of simple books about 

 our plants or animals. E^'en the elementary text-books used in 

 schools are those of European authors, and deal with European 

 forms. It seems to me that there is here an opportunity which 

 should not be missed by those among us capable of supplying 

 this information. AVe need cheap books dealing with the differ- 

 ent forms of life of our bush, beaches, and waters. 8uch books 

 as ha\ e been prepared cover a wide range. They deal with the 

 birds, fishes, animals, or insects of Australia. I believe there 

 would be a ready sale for cheap books dealing with the fauna and 

 flora of small districts. When I started to examine the flower- 

 ing plants about my home, T read once again Hooker's Botany, 

 and then used Moore's Flora of New South Wales. I will not 

 say how many hours I spent in discovering the name of a plant. 

 No beginner will find it easy if he has to use Moore's Flora. 

 The classification of plants depends on characters which are not 

 readily ascertained. After several weeks, I named Bauera 

 7'ubioides, and was materially aided by the presence of eight 

 petals. Observ^ation seems easy to those who have not observed. 

 I cannot i-emember how often it became necessary to revise my 

 description of the characters of a plant. I used to write them 



