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Addvess to the Lincolnshive Naturalists’ Union. 109 
biological work by more than a century. But he, like they, 
was hampered by a cumbrous system of nomenclature. It was 
reserved for the next century, and for the great Swedish 
Naturalist, Linnzus, to devise the simple and effective system of 
binomial nomenclature, which rendered possible the work of 
modern systematic zoologists and botanists. 
The common garden snail, which Linnzus and we know as 
Helix aspersa, had to be spoken of by Lister and his contem- 
poraries in a long descriptive sentence like this—‘‘Cochlea 
vulgaris major, pulla, maculata et fasciata, hortensis’’—that is, 
translated, ‘‘ the common larger dark grey spotted and banded 
garden snail,’ a most cumbrous method of expression. Yet, in 
spite of this great disadvantage, the work which was accomplished 
by Lister and his contemporaries was worthy to be compared 
with much of that of the naturalists of our own time, their 
philosophical insight was as keen, their mental vision as alert, 
their powers of observation, comparison and reasoning as 
manifest. Willughby died in 1672, John Ray in 1705 and 
Lister in 1712, and with him closed the first epoch in our 
history. 
For the next century and a half we are unaware that any 
conchological investigations were made in Lincolnshire. 
The history of our branch of research now becomes 
the record of work done by investigators who are living or of 
very recent memory, and it is a source of gratification to us that 
the first man who paid attention to our shells since Lister’s time 
is still living in full bodily and mental vigour, although within a 
few weeks of attaining his goth year [which he did on the 3rd 
of January, Igio]. 
Mr. John Hawkins, of Grantham, has been a naturalist 
keen and observant from his twelfth year, and as it has been 
remarked that times of conflict are conducive to the development 
of thought, and as the scientific activity of Lister and Ray were 
in some degree consequent upon the stirrings of thought follow- 
' ing the Civil Wars, so it would seem that the struggles over the 
Reform Bill of 1832 were instrumental in quickening the mind 
of our friend Mr. Hawkins, and leading his bent of mind in the 
