iJZU 
se 
JAN 19 
PREFACE. 
The completion of the second volume of the ‘‘ Midland 
Naturalist ” affords the opportunity for reviewing what purposes 
its publication has served ; and the Editors feel satisfied that they 
will not be accused of mis-statement when they say that the 
monthly publication of this magazine has given an appreciable 
stimulus to Natural History studies in the Midland Counties. 
Some valuable papers on Fresh-water Life published in it show 
that one of the Societies in the Midland Union, at least, has been 
busily occupied in the study of a very fascinating and interesting 
branch of Natural History, and with results of a most satisfac- 
tory character. The discovery for the first time in this country 
of Leptodora hyalina and of Daphnia Kahlbergensis (or Bairdii as 
was at first suggested) are some of these results. 
The practical papers on Entomology which have been 
published will, it is hoped and believed, lead to a more general 
‘study of the Insect world, especially among the younger 
members. A sort of reproach seems to have hung over the 
Midland Counties as being a district unable to afford any reward 
to the investigations of the Entomologist: how ungrounded 
