President's Address. 25 



Eurypterus pacJiychirus, Petalodus allegha^iiensis, or Hydreiono- 

 crinus hansasensis. Each detail of each great find is indelibly 

 stamped on the memory. The only moments of regret come when 

 it is remembered how the unfortunate individual who has been so 

 indiscreet as to ask about the collections has been bored as the rare 

 things have been brought out, their possessor forgetting that the 

 poor victim knew little or nothing of what he was pleased to show 

 him, and that he cared even less. 



As a teacher of the sciences anxious to discover the best ways of 

 presenting the subjects that belong to his department, the speaker 

 has asked himself and others, Why do naturalists value their collec- 

 tions so highly, and why were most scientists first naturalists ? 



A glance through the reports of this Academy would make one 

 marvel at the amount of space taken by lists of species contributed 

 by its members, were it not known by personal experience that 

 naturalists prize their collections even more than they do the 

 knowledge that this or that species of plant or animal is a friend or 

 a foe to the farmer, orohardist, or gardener. 



In the first volume of proceedings issued by this Academy there 

 is found a catalogue of plants, by J. H. Carruth, with additions by 

 F. H. Snow and E. Hall ; a catalogue of birds, by F. H. Snow ; and 

 a collection of facts on the climate of Kansas, by F. H. Snow. The 

 lists show that great care had been taken to make them as complete 

 as possible. They occupy more than half of the space of the 

 volume, and must have been very helpful to other naturalists. The 

 succeeding eighteen volumes are almost equally rich in lists of 

 species — in all, more than ninety different lists. Of these, flower- 

 ing plants furnish nearly one-third of the list, and, in the order 

 named, Coleoptera, birds, minerals, fossils, Lepidoptera and some 

 twelve or thirteen other groups the remainder. 



To these lists of species should be added numerous lists of facts 

 of observation and experiment. These comprise numerous ref- 

 erences to work done in chemistry, physics, meteorology, mathe- 

 matics, field geology, astronomy, psychology, and philosophy. 



To show still further the intense interest of naturalists in col- 

 lecting, a few members of the Academy have been asked to give, 

 for use in this address, the number of species represented in their 

 private collections. 



Mr. Warren Knaus, of McPherson, reports that he has collected 

 or obtained by exchange, since 1880, 5512 species of Coleoptera, 

 distributed among 38 families. 



Prof. Alfred W. Jones, of Salina, says that during the past ten 



