glijports of IB^tdings, 



GENERAL. 



THE present issue of the Proceedings of the Bristol 

 Naturalists' Society is a very small one. It will be 

 remembered that the preceding number was unusually laro-e 

 representing, as it did, more than one year's work and 

 papers that strictly should have found a place in this issue 

 were inserted there in order to avoid delay in publication. 

 A list of the birds of the neighbourhood, it was hoped, would 

 have appeared now, but those members of the ornitholoo-ical 

 section w^ho have undertaken the work, although they have 

 already spent much time and trouble in order to ensure 

 £iccuracy, have desired to withhold the list until the publi- 

 cation of the next number of the Proceedings. One other 

 reason for the small size of this issue may be mentioned. 

 The papers read before the general meetings of the Society 

 may be described as having been educational rather than 

 original, and therefore not w^orthy of publication. In the 

 interests of the majority of the members of the Society, 

 it is perhaps desirable that the papers should be more 

 of that character. A communication, based upon original 

 work, is appreciated only by the few. It is hoped, how- 

 ever, that the sectional meetings of the Society will still 

 furnish the Proceedings with material worthy of the con- 

 sideration of members of other societies. 



279 



