The South Australian Naturalist 



To the community by the provision of public lectures, 

 demonstrations, exhibitions, etc., for the further arousing of a 

 general interest in the open-air study of Nature, and by taking 

 a leading part in securing the protection and care of our native 

 plants and animals, scenic features, etc. 



To the abstract study of Natural History our function lies 

 in the undertaking by members of special lines of study along 

 one or more of the many branches of natural science — either as 

 pure observation work on the forms and habits of plants, 

 animals, minerals, land forms, etc., or on the systematic collect- 

 ing and recording of species; and, further, by the publication 

 of the records of the Society, of its lectures and its excursions, 

 and more particularly of the research and observation work 

 carried out by members. 



Taking these three functions in the order set down, it will 

 be agreed by all that the first function of the Club — that of 

 providing interest and pleasure for the members — ^is very well 

 carried out indeed. To support this opinion, I need only refer 

 to the charming informality of our outdoor meetings, to the 

 friendly attitude of members towards each other and to visitors, 

 and to the delightful manner in which the lecturers and leaders 

 of excursions meet the demands made on them by the Club. 

 Possibly no body of people in Adelaide is more fully aware of 

 the natural local charms of field and forest, hill and valley, 

 river and seashore, than are the active members of the Field 

 Naturalists " Club. The outings are numerous and varied, com- 

 fortably and pleasantly intellectual, stripped as far as possible 

 of pedantry, and dealing more with the living, moving, growing 

 forms of life, and with the changing outlines of hill and valley, 

 than with the less popular dead material of collectors and 

 laboratory workers. Not that the latter work is less attractive, 

 but it is certainly less within the scope of "field naturalists." 



This part of our work is done well, and whether exploring 

 the gorge of the Torrens in the rain, or roving among the wild 

 flowers in the heat, or working farther afield on sea or land 

 under the glorious climatic conditions of the Adelaide winter, 

 we may always look back on each year's outdoor work as some- 

 thing in Avhich pleasure and profit were well combined. 



Our second function is also satisfactorily performed by the 

 year's series of public lectures — well illustrated by lantern, 

 episcope, and specimens ; popular, well-attended, often original 

 (but not so often as we might wish), and frequently giving 

 opportunities to the younger members of doing the honours of 

 tie lecture-room. j 



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