8 
rampion (phyteuma spicatum) at Buxted, neither of which are 
found anywhere else in the United Kingdom, while it would be 
interesting to know whether the Adonis still haunts the vicinity 
of Rottingdean, or whether the smooth spleenwort (asplenium 
Jontanum), once seen at Petersfield, has ever re-appeared. 
In like manner, to the Ornithologist and to the Entomologist 
such researches would be of the highest value. 
Further, I am strongly of opinion that it would add much to 
the interest of such reports from a section, if they were, if 
possible, accompanied by collections of specimens illustrative of 
actual facts. The fullest particulars should be given—the exact 
locality, the time of the year, and, in many cases, the natural 
surroundings. As regards this last point, I may instance the 
immense educational value imparted to the Booth Museum of 
Birds, now the property of the Town, by the faithful representa- 
tion of the peculiarities of the surroundings connected with the 
localities from whence the birds were obtained. 
I will hazard yet another suggestion, for the sake of those who, 
while unable or unwilling to devote themselves to the study of 
any special branch of Natural History, would yet desire to know 
something of the marvellous objects which everywhere meet his 
gaze. Such an enquirer placed, for instance, on our beautiful 
Brighton beach, can derive little information from the volumes he 
finds in our Library. The shells demand a knowledge of 
Conchology ; the sea weeds belong to Cryptogamic Botany ; the 
sea mats (Sertularia), jelly fish, hermit crabs, and limpets must 
be studied in the treatises on the Polyzoa, the Zoophytes, and the 
Mollusca; while the Cliffs, with their long lines of flints, their 
“raised beach” and “elephant bed,” belong to several geological 
periods. A paper on this subject —popular without being super- 
- ficial and scientific without technicality—would be of the greatest 
use to many of us, and would consequently attract many to our 
Meetings, who would fail to understand a purely technical 
discourse, while the character of the Society would be rather 
raised than lowered, in awakening a truly scientific interest in 
objects which, for want of such information, have hitherto passed 
unregarded and totally unthought of. 
How to infuse greater vitality in our work is the problem we 
have to solve, and I believe that if we direct our attention to the 
necessity of organizing a series of weekly or fortnightly Field 
Excursions during six months of the year, we shall be on a beaten 
track which will be productive of the desired results. 
If these Field Excursions are merely considered as a pleasant 
“outing,” they will never be well attended. To render them 
attractive they should have a definite purpose in view, and be 
conducted by a Member who knows the vicinity and its 
