THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 39 



groups of animals and plants, and is published at about a 

 shilling. 



" I may mention by the way that as a general practice for 

 preserving specimens in spirit it is not well to use the strong 

 methylated spirit, but to dilute it with one part pure soft water to 

 four parts of the spirit. This strength will be about 70 per cent. 

 Care must be taken not to add too much bulk of fresh specimens 

 to too small a quantity of spirit, so as to dilute it unduly, because 

 the specimens will become macerated ; the over-diluted spirit 

 should be poured off from the specimens and fresh spirit added. 

 Also, if they have to undergo rough transit the bottles should be 

 loosely packed inside with a bunch of cotton wool, tow, or soft 

 paper, to prevent the specimens being knocked against one 

 another. 



*' As regards what groups most require systematically collecting 

 and studying you have been well informed two years ago by a 

 former president, whose judgment, in virtue of his experience, can 

 be safely relied upon. I can but reiterate that our land and 

 freshwater organisms particularly require working before the 

 inroads of settlement and the spread of introduced forms dis- 

 possess the original dwellers. This assertion, however, does not 

 mean to imply that anyone at present doing marine work should 

 leave it in favour of the former, for unquestionably the latter is of 

 importance. 



" Whatever group of organisms you study, be sure not to 

 neglect to observe the common forms. These are often the most 

 important ; they have at least shown, in virtue of their numbers, 

 that they have been the most successful in the struggle for 

 existence, and therefore possess dominant characters. It is also 

 a good thing to collect thoroughly whatever group of organisms 

 you are studying from at least one restricted locality, and 

 compare them with collections from elsewhere. At any rate, 

 consider your organisms from the point of view of locality and 

 range ; one often gets interesting reading from nature in this way. 

 As only one instance, I may mention a little freshwater crusta- 

 cean, called Phreatoicus australis, which was first found on the 

 summit of Mt. Kosciusko ; later it was recorded from Mt. 

 Wellington ; later still I identified it from Lake Petrach, a moun- 

 tain lake in Tasmania ; and again from material received from a 

 member of the last Club excursion to Mt. Buffalo, collected from 

 the top of the mountain. It therefore appears to be an 

 inhabitant only of Alpine regions, and the reason why this should 

 be so is raised in our minds. Of course considerable data are 

 required before we can satisfactorily answer many questions 

 that may arise in this way, but we have a better prospect of 

 working to good purpose when we try to answer definite 

 questions." 



