COMMITTEE OF BRITISH ASSOCIATION. 185 



Information is also solicited as to the reproduction of such species by means of 

 seed under natural conditions. 



(a) What species produce seed freely or at all ? 



(b) In the case of each species examined, are seedlings found in the neigh- 

 bourhood of the parent plants, and do they seem to survive the first winter ? 



(c) In the case of young plants— that is, those which have not flowered— can 

 those which have grown from seed be easily distinguished from vegetative shoots 

 when such occur ? 



(^) In general, what proportion of the young plants in each species are 

 seedlings ? 



Miss Sargant, like a true naturalist, observed that she should 

 like the information to be obtained, as far as possible, without 

 rooting up the clumps, which is rather like killing the goose 

 which lays the golden eggs. Drawings of germinating seeds 

 would be acceptable. 



Mr. J. David Thompson, of Washington, D.C., U.S.A., 

 addressed the delegates, and explained that he had been appointed 

 editor of a Handbook of the Learned Societies of the World, to be 

 issued b}^ the Carnegie Institute. For the purpose of this work 

 he asked Secretaries to send him full information respecting 

 their Societies. 



Thus ended the Southport Conference — a meeting which 

 promises to be memorable, inasmuch as it may mark a new 

 departure in the work of many of our local Societies, by extending 

 their sphere of usefulness to the promotion of scientific education 

 throughout the country. 



A SUGGESTION WITH RESPECT TO EXPLOR- 

 ATION AND REGISTRATION WORK FOR 

 COUNTY LOCAL SOCIETIES. 



By W. COLE, F.L.S., F.E.S., Hon. Sec. Essex Field Club, 



[Being a paper read at the Southport Meeting of the Corresponding Societies 

 Committee of the British Association^ September i^th, IQ^S^-] 



HAVING been Secretary to a registered local scientific 

 society during the whole period of the life of the Corre 

 spending Societies Committee of the British Association, 1 

 have been impressed with the number and variety of the subjects 

 recommended to the attention of local societies by the Com- 



I This paper will be printed in the Report of the British Association, but we repro- 

 duce it in order to gather the opinions of our members on the proposal. — Ed. 



