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The Hon. S. H. Gatty said he was there unexpectedly that 

 night. The truth was that he was a little hurt at the Club not 

 having asked him to become a member, but, at any rate, he had 

 subscribed to the magazine, and he should be only too glad to 

 be a member if they allowed him. (Applause.) He had heard 

 also of another ardent naturalist in the Colony who was asked 

 to be a member and said he would be, but he had never been 

 elected or he would have been there that night — he alluded to 

 Dr. Rake.* So that they had not yet got all those in the colony 

 who took an interest in natural history among their ranks. He 

 had belonged all his life to natural history societies, and field 

 naturalists' societies, he thought, were most excellent institutions. 

 As His Excellency had pointed out — and he had covered almost 

 all the ground — no one could have a more health.ful occupation 

 than studying the ways of nature in the manner these clubs did. 

 What they ought to be on the look-out for was that the Avork 

 they did was not entirely thrown away ; that was to say, that 

 they should work on proper lines. He was in correspondence 

 Avith a gentleman who Avas collecting insects from all parts of 

 the world and Avho assured him that he did not Avant so much 

 the specimens as careful notes of the actual habits of the insects ; 

 that Avas Avhere science Avas most at fault. They Avho Avere on 

 the spot could see in their living state and Avatch the specimens 

 sent home, and in this Avay amateurs could do, by their obser- 

 vations, as much as most eminent scientists. He had some of 

 his corresj)ondent's letters there — he had brought them doAvn, 

 having put them in his pocket at the last moment, because he 

 only heard of this meeting before he sat doAvn to dinner, and his 

 correspondent Avrote him that a great many ot the insects here 

 were South American ; some of them, he said, Avhich Avere com- 

 monly thought to be the greatest triumphs of their captors, the 

 large and shoAvy Morphos, Caligos and Papilios Avere not rarities, 

 but there Avere things that Avere vastly more interesting to him, 

 the small whites and Theclas and Skippers and Simonidas, 

 Avhich Avere less knOAvn ; then, he said, " 1 Avish you Avould sit 

 down some day and Avrite Avhat you have observed." Well, he 

 could not say that his observations Avere accurate enough ; in 

 fact, he had not the time to make notes, but he thought he had 

 got in him — probably inherited from his mother, Avho Avas a 

 great naturalist all her life — the right sort of instinct of obser- 

 vation, andheAvrote about those butterflies a short story of how 

 they fleAv, and so on, and his corresjiondent said it Avas most 

 valuable. He told him that the cracklers only crackled AA'hen 



* The election of Dr. Bake and several other gentlemen had been post- 

 poned, as Bome amendments with regard to the election of members were 

 being made. Dr. Bake has since been elected. 



