338 



original work, and of a new botanist ; and may we hope to 

 find in him the leader we have been referring to, who will 

 organize the botanical forces of our State and stimulate them 

 to individual and concerted activity ? 



The animal kingdom apjiears to offer greater attraction 

 and afford more abundant opportunity for original re&earcli, 

 doubtless becausie of its infinite variety and the numerous prob- 

 lems its larger life presents for solution. Our results here 

 have been very rich. 



Insect lite is inconveniently abundant in parts of our 

 State ; but these become a veritable paradise for collectors. 

 Mr. Basedow, during the Government expedition to the 

 North-West, gathered about 450 species, which have been pre- 

 sented to the Museum. Mr. Blackburn, who deals with the 

 Australian Coleoptera; Mr. Arthur Lea, with the Curculion- 

 idae ; Mr. Tepper, with the Orthoptera, etc. ; Dr. Jefferis Tur- 

 ner, Mr. Oswald B. Lower, and Mr. Meyrick, with the 

 Lepidoptera, are veterans and experts in entomology, and can 

 always be relied on for abundance of copy in their volumi- 

 nous papers upon these interesting families ; while Mr. Tep- 

 per and Mr. Zietz, from the treasury of the Adelaide Mu- 

 seum, bring fortn things new and old for exhibit at our 

 meetings. 



One lesson seems to suggest itself from looking over the 

 volumes of the Society and noting the material supplied by 

 these gentlemen — the distinct advantage to science which ac- 

 crues from definite specialization. A person may confine him- 

 self to some circumscribed domain and do good work : in fact, 

 do far more and better work than if his energies are spread 

 over too extensive an area. He becomes acquainted with his 

 district, and thoroughly comprehends it. By taking up some 

 single class, or even some separate family, he can grasp it 

 without too great toil ; he is able to deal with his material 

 accurately and confidently; and becomes a chief referee. Ap- 

 parently there is not much probability of exhausting his ma- 

 terial, which seems to be almost unlimited in our island con- 

 tinent. He may be somewhat lonely in his researches, and 

 be precluded from exciting a general audience with his tech- 

 nical minutiae ; but it is an enviable loneliness of supremacy 

 which he enjoys or endures, and is balanced by a more intense 

 personal interest and the glad consciousness of good work well 

 done. 



Might not this specialization be imitated with advantage 

 in other realms of natural history ? They may be less crowd- 

 ed with multitudinous forms, and their determination, classifi- 

 cation, and description may not therefore be such a lifelong 



