220 The Aims of Field-Club Excursions. [Sess. 



lakes has been taken up by Sir John Murray and his staff. 

 Such surveys can only be well done under the best scientific 

 direction by a number of observers giving a large part of their 

 time to the work. They are beyond the capacity and reach 

 for the most part of Field Clubs or local Natural History 

 Societies. Still, these societies can do much to aid biological 

 surveys in supplying materials for them and in the study of 

 particular groups of organisms. It is to be regretted that 

 local societies do not generate more enthusiasm for the study of 

 living things, and for the creation of specialists : we have had 

 in the past Dr Greville, the author of the ' Flora Edinensis,' 

 and we have still a few very admirable field - naturalists 

 amongst us. When such men, however, make excursions, 

 they prefer to go almost alone ; and when members are 

 devoted to particular groups, say to fresh-water algae, or 

 microscopic fungi, or flies, or mites, they do not want more 

 than a companion or two. What I want to talk about are 

 the larger excursions of from 20 to 50, or even more. What 

 is the aim of the excursions ? and how could they be im- 

 proved ? Every year in this and other societies an excursion 

 committee meets and arranges a programme, generally without 

 any definite ideas of ends to be aimed at. New members do 

 not know what previous committees have attempted, and the 

 arrangements are haphazard. That is the defect of demo- 

 cratic rule in general, — there is no continuous policy. Could 

 we not think out some of the things to be aimed at when a 

 party of a score or two of intelligent people go out together 

 into the country for the purpose of increasing their knowledge 

 of natural phenomena and laws ? I believe we could, and it 

 is with the intention of laying before you some considerations 

 for our guidance that I have written this paper. 



Let me repeat, it is not excursions connected with biolog- 

 ical surveys, and it is not excursions made up of two or 

 three specialists, that I am going to speak about ; it is the 

 larger excursions of Field Clubs. I would make two remarks 

 at the outset — they are axiomatic, I mean self-evident : — 



1. Excu.rsions are for nature study — that is, their ultimate 

 aim is to cultivate the habit of observing things and of 

 reasoning from what is observed. They should also keep 

 us in touch with nature. 



