Introduction. xi 



Cux'ator of a Museum who can spare some duplicate specimens will 

 greatly oblige the Committee and materially help them in their 

 efforts. Gifts of live plants are also solicited for the Botanic 

 Garden, which is now in course of formation, and which will (when 

 completed) be under the charge of the Museum Committee. 



In response to this appeal a considerable sum has been 

 contributed, and a contract for the erection of a large portion 

 of the drawers and cases is now almost completed. As a 

 considerable number of useful specimens has been mean- 

 while accumulating, in a very short time the Museum will 

 have begun to exercise aU the good which is expected from 

 it. The Botanic Garden (to which reference has been made 

 in the circular) is now laid out, and contributions of plants 

 for it have been most kindly given by the Directors of the 

 Royal Botanic Gardens at Edinburgh, Regent's Park, and 

 Glasnevin, by the Board of Trinity College, Dublin, and by 

 the Professor of Botany at Oxford, and several private con- 

 tributors. There are still, however, many specimens re- 

 quired for this Garden, and both it and the Museum stand 

 greatly in need of contributions in money. The Herbarium 

 is already in very fair progress, and is likely soon to be a 

 good one, so far as British plants are concerned. A large 

 and excellent collection of plants, gathered by the late Miss 

 Mills, and presented by her nephew, forms the nucleus of a 

 rapidly increasing series of British specimens. A complete 

 list of subscribers to the ' Museum and Garden Fund ' is ap- 

 pended to the present volume of ' Transactions.' 



In conclusion, it may be said that there seems to be a 

 brilliant sphere of usefulness in store for the Clifton College 

 Scientific Society. Not many schools in England possess 

 such advantages for the study of science, within and without. 

 We have no fewer than five natural science masters, all of 

 them ready and willing to help in every scientific pursuit, and 

 some of whom bestow no small share of attention upon the 

 actual working of this Society. The Museum and Garden 

 will be of the highest value and interest to us all, and the 

 Head Master encourages the Society in every possible way. 

 The neighbourhood is an exceedingly interesting one, both 

 in its flora, geological structure, and antiquities. There is 



