10 



The Field Meeting in June was very well attended, and, 

 if many scientific discoveries were not made on that 

 occasion, most of us will at least preserve a delightful 

 recollection of the various beauties of nature and art which 

 were presented to us on that glorious summer day. 



The Cryptogamic Field Meeting or Fungus Hunt was 

 much more successful and enjoyable than the unpromising 

 opening of the day led us to expect, and I believe that we 

 were favoured with a more numerous attendance than on 

 any previous occasion. May your President, as one specially 

 interested in the subject which is supposed to occupy 

 attention on that annual outing, venture to suggest that 

 some arrangement should be made for the systematic 

 collection and identification of the mycological specimens. 

 It is impossible to recognise every species which is met with 

 during a rapid march in the waning light of a late autumn 

 afternoon. Possibly an earlier start, some organization for 

 the collection of specimens, and a provision for their 

 transport to a convenient centre for examination, might 

 bring to a focus the labours of the day which are now 

 somewhat aimless (of course I speak from a scientific point 

 of view) and would add considerably to our knowledge of the 

 local Cryptogams. 



At present the social element in our Society may be 

 thought to prevail over the strictly scientific. Probably many 

 will consider this an advantage rather than a subject of 

 reproach. The more important scientific societies have their 

 inner Clubs for the cultivation of social amenities apart from 

 their severer pursuits. We combine both in one. 



It is indeed doubtful vv^hether a local and especially a 

 suburban Society can in any case maintain itself upon 

 science alone in the present day. The study of Natural 

 History in its several branches is every day becoming more 

 and more of an exact science and demands its rigorous 

 apprenticeship— and this can only be carried out successfully 

 at the great centres. Certainly one of our old-fashioned 

 Naturalists would be surprised if he could see the amount 



