Hudson. — Inii)ortance of N.Z. Biological Collections. 203 



Zealand in connection with the subject of geographical dis- 

 tribution cannot be overestimated, and the alterations which 

 have already taken place in both fauna and flora are enor- 

 mous. It is really incredible that the first and best efforts of 

 New Zealand scientists should have been directed to the 

 fossils. Extensive collections have been made of these, which, 

 above everything else, could best have been left alone. They 

 are neither subject to extinction nor to modification like the 

 living forms, and a sojourn of a few more hundred years in 

 their original museum, the crust of the earth, would not in 

 any way have detracted from their use or value to future 

 scientists. Already it is often difficult to say whether many 

 species of animals and plants are indigenous, or whether they 

 have been accidentally introduced by man, and many ques- 

 tions of great importance must thus for ever remain un- 

 answered. As I have already said, if immediate steps are . 

 not taken to make good collections, everything that could be 

 learned from geographical distribution will be irrecoverably 

 lost. 



In conclusion, I should like to mention, for the satisfaction 

 of those who always desire to know the use or incentive to 

 the study of the various branches of natural science, that, as 

 Dr. Burmeister well puts it, " The chief incentive to our study 

 of natural bodies in general is the instinctive impulse of the 

 human mind towards progressive information, and the exten- 

 sion of the circle of its knowledge ; but in this pursuit a 

 multiplicity of useful discoveries are made which are appli- 

 cable to daily life, and which distinctly show the evident 

 advantages of the science, although their elicitation can never 

 be considered the primary object of scientific research." 



In connection with this it may also be stated that all the 

 modern inventions and discoveries— which, by the way, the 

 unscientific have not been slow to avail themselves of — w^ere 

 only found by men who were investigating natural forces 

 purely with the desire for information, as prior to the 

 discoveries their labours had no apparent economic value. 

 The experience of the past has taught us that scientific 

 inquiry is incessantly aiding us in everyday life, and we may 

 rest assured that, as knowledge increases, this will continue 

 to be the case, but, if every branch of investigation is to be 

 stopped unless it can be proved to be immediately remune- 

 rative, it is not likely that we shall succeed in discovering any 

 really new useful facts. 



