Clifton College Scimtijlc Society. 23 



% i-are insects. Owing- to the high price often given for 

 J-arities, unscrupulous dealers frequently palmed off upon the 

 inexperienced foreign specimens as British, and as an in- 

 stance of the high prices sometimes paid, he mentioned, on 



!n!f fn T/ -1 f t'^"1 "^^^ ^^'^ ^^"^^^ P^e^e^t, that at an 

 auction of British Lepidoptera, two little moths, barely a 

 quarter of an inch in expanse of wing, fetched the sum 



The Eev. J. Greene invited any members, who mio-ht feel 

 disposed, to inspect his collection of British Lepidoptera, ou 

 Saturday, May 28, at 8 p.m. 



Mr. Ward then gave the following lecture on 

 THE HABITS OF THE BEAVER. 



A great deal has been written in books of popular Natui-al 

 History on the habits of this curious animal, and there are 

 few who are not acquainted with some detaUs respecting it 

 But the common accounts are too often flavoured with so 

 much romantic and incredible spice, that one would feel 

 mchned to believe tha,t the famed Baron Munchausen had 

 had a share in the composition of them. The habit of em- 

 bellishing and adorning is unfortunately but too apparent in 

 mos tofthe works of those who profess to write' LieTtific 

 matters m popular language, and most of all, in the uniyer- 

 sally favourite pursuit of Natural History, those who compile 

 ad populum captandum often excel in their ingenuity the 

 most darmg romance writers, and in their inaccm-acy /eveal 



undertaken '^' ^^''^ ^"^'"''' ^'' *^' *^^^ *^^^ ^^^« 



.i^ITt,''"^®'''''^^^®*^ *° ^^^^ *^^®«e remarks from the fact 

 that I have recently had occasion to look oyer many works 

 of ^e class I have above alluded to. I mean popular books 

 of Natural History, and I have been profoundly struck ove? 

 and over again, with the frequent fabrications, the still more 

 numerous maccui-acies, and the everywhere apparent ob- 

 scurities which so large a proportion of these accounts con- 

 tain. To the Beaver, as I have ah-eady said, an amount of 

 sagacity is commonly attributed far beyond the real state of 

 the case. One would almost think, to read some of the 

 pretty stories that have been told about it, that the Beaver 

 was endowed with an understanding and powers of reasonino- 

 m advance of the intellectual qualities of many sensible men 

 Yet I am far from saying that there is not some foundation 

 for all these tales : the fabric has a foundation of truth un 

 questionably, but it is the superstructure and its embellish- 



