194 The Field Naturalist's Quarterly August 



suitable to the particular district in which the club works, 

 and which would be certain to yield valuable and new 

 results. We are by no means sure that any observation 

 can be utterly aimless, but we certainly agree with his 

 argument, and, indeed, we know that many clubs act on 

 the principle suggested. It will generally be found that 

 the objects of field clubs, as set forth in their laws and 

 constitution, are adapted to their own locality. The ques- 

 tion, of course, is, whether the members duly carry out those 

 objects. An examination of the reports and transactions of 

 a number of societies will prove that in very many instances 

 an effort is being made to obtain complete records of the 

 fauna and flora of the district, and in some instances com- 

 paratively large monographs have been published as the 

 result of these successful labours. We may mention, as an 

 example, the excellent Flora of Liverpool and District, re- 

 cently brought up to date and issued by the club of that 

 city, and other instances could be given of equally valuable 

 publications. Still, there is no doubt that a great deal 

 remains to be done in this direction, more particularly in 

 the zoology department. There are many animal species 

 in this country whose distribution in the various counties 

 and districts is very imperfectly known, and about which it 

 is impossible to get accurate information. Especially is 

 this the case with the smaller mammals, and some of the 

 amphibians and reptiles, concerning which one may inquire 

 in vain for evidence of their relative frequency of occurrence. 

 In many cases the information actually does exist, but 

 owing to the imperfect means of communication between 

 the various societies, it is extremely difficult to obtain, or to 

 find. Any plan by which all our societies could be made 

 aware of what is being done by each other, and which at 

 the same time did not involve great expense, would be 

 welcomed as a real boon to field naturalists. Societies 

 cannot afford to distribute their transactions broadcast, nor 

 is it to be expected that they should. What is wanted is a 

 means of reference which all workers can get ready access 

 to, and which will give at a glance the titles of all subjects 

 which have been dealt with in all the clubs in a given time 

 — the past year, for example. We have our own ideas as 



