604 Meeting of the British Association. [Oct., 



of grain. The sparrow-hawk was the only bird which could cap- 

 ture a wood-pigeon on the wing, and the gamekeepers destroyed tins 

 as well as kites and buzzards. 



An animated discussion took place on both these papers. Pro- 

 fessor Huxley strongly opposed all protective legislation, except in 

 the one case of the salmon fishery, which he said was exceptional, 

 because by placing nets across a river you could catch every salmon 

 that was in it, and so exterminate them ; but that this could not be 

 done in the case of any other animal. He ridiculed the idea of the 

 House of Commons adding to its other duties the protection of the 

 whole British fauna and flora, about which it was so utterly ignorant ; 

 and behoved that their tinkering could only lead to evil results. 

 Sir John Lubbock, on the other hand, advocated such legislation, 

 which he thought was both safe and useful, and thought that, con- 

 sidering the immense increase of our population and the extension 

 of our towns and manufactures, we ought to do what we could to 

 prevent the wilful and jDurposeless extermination by man of that 

 variety of living things which added so much to the beauty and 

 interest of our country. Mr. Wallace made some remarks on the 

 accurate balance of the powers of offence and defence in nature, 

 which led to all diseased or less perfectly organized creatures dying 

 or being killed off, and to that appearance of j^erfect health and 

 symmetry in all wild creatures, -vyhich was one of their charms as 

 contrasted with domesticated animals. "When man interfered with 

 this balance, either by protection or extermination, imperfection and 

 disease appeared and rapidly spread; and he quite agreed with 

 Mr. Tristram that the grouse disease would probably have been 

 stamped out on its first ajDpearance, had not the sanatory police of 

 nature, the birds of prey, been so greatly reduced by man. Drs. 

 Hooker and Scott and Messrs. Hanbuiy, Newton, Norman, Dal- 

 rymjjle, E. Bowring, and Miss Becker, also took part in the dis- 

 cussion. 



Mr, Hallett, the producer of the celebrated " pedigree wheat," 

 read a paper " On the Law of the Development » of Cereals ; " in 

 which he stated that, after twenty years of observation and experi- 

 ment, he had arrived at the conclusion that every fully developed 

 plant of wheat, oats, or barley presents one ear finer than all the 

 rest, and in that ear one grain superior in productive power to all 

 the rest. This superiority is transmissible, and thus we at last 

 arrive at and maintain a grain of the best quality and highest pro- 

 ductive powers. 



Some Botanical papers of less general interest were afterwards 

 read. 



On Friday the entire Section met in one room to hear papers 

 of general interest. Dr. Dickson first exhibited some abnormal 



