Walsh. — On Public Ferneries. 619 



Albinoes, however, show up in every class of human being, 

 birds, and animals, and, no doubt, insects, proving another 

 unity of birth and the common nature of the vital force.) 

 There is little or no use here for these different varieties of 

 elephant, as one type would have been sufficient for us. 



Then, there is the hyena, which laughs like a demented 

 human being, with powerful neck and jaws for bone-crushing, 

 and no back or hindquarters to speak of. This animal is sent 

 by nature, apparently, to crunch up the huge bones of larger 

 animals, for it usually resides in big-game countries, and shows 

 that nature never even wastes bone-marrow. The hyena 

 bristles its back hair when excited, just like a dog. Dogs, 

 wolves, and hyenas have many points of resemblance, proving 

 the minor doctrine of evolution, a doctrine I readily admit, 

 seeing that it is by this path progressive adaptation plays its 

 part in the production of new species — that is, new only to us, 

 but actually far older than our hills. There are many 

 varieties of hyena — the striped hyena, or Hycena vulgaris; 

 the Abyssinian hyena, the spotted hyena {H. crocuta), the 

 brown or hairy hyena {H. villosa). These animals burrow 

 just like dogs, having burrowing-claws for the purpose. (The 

 power to burrow is possessed by many orders of living things, 

 and shows another unity of design, deserving explanation in a 

 separate section of this paper.) 



Art. LXXIII. — Public Ferneries : A Suggestion. 

 By the Eev. Philip Walsh. 



[Read before the AncTilancl Institute, lOtli October, 1S93.\ 



The work of beautifying our towns should be of interest to 

 every true citizen, and especially to the members of a body 

 like the Auckland Institute, which may be said to be a kind 

 of ex officio guardian of the arts and sciences, and the natural 

 leader in all matters of culture and taste. I need therefore 

 make no apology for introducing to your notice a point in 

 connection with it which seems hitherto to have been over- 

 looked, and one by wdiich, at a comparatively slight expendi- 

 ture of money and trouble, a great and permanent advantage 

 might be secured. 



In advocating the establishment of public ferneries in our 

 principal centres of population — which is the object of the 

 present paper — I may be excused if I enlarge somewhat upon 

 a subject which, though familiar enough to older colonists, 



