Natural History. 115 



regards the endowment, it is very probable that considerable 

 help might be given by the Technical Education Committee 

 of the County Council ; and it surely ought not to be difficult 

 to raise ^2,000 or ^3,000 from the whole county, when we 

 consider the large sum that was raised in Lincoln alone for the 

 School of Science and Art. Over and over again we hear of 

 the irreplaceable treasures that leave the county, simply because 

 there is no place to store them in for the public benefit, and if 

 the Union does nothing more than help towards the providing 

 of the much needed Museum, it will not have existed in vain. 

 In this connection I should very much like to thank Mr. 

 Fieldsend, in the name of the Union, for all he has done for 

 our present collections. 



On an occasion like the present it is usual for the President of 

 a Union like ours not only to set forth the position and aims of 

 the Union, and anything of interest in its history during the 

 course of the past year, but also to say a few words on the par- 

 ticular subject in which he may himself have taken an interest. 



Now, in considering the subject of this part of my address, 

 I have felt very much at a loss, for it is, of course, right that it 

 should, if possible, have some bearing upon the natural history, 

 geology or archaeology of Lincolnshire. I should hardly, 

 however, venture to do more than merely touch upon the 

 geology, botany, or ornithology of the county, in the presence 

 of several leading authorities on these subjects ; and with 

 regard to the conchology and, more particularly, the entom- 

 ology, I have made comparatively few observations, as the 

 chief part of the time which I have felt I could legitimately 

 devote to natural history has been spent on the general 

 subjects of the British Coleoptera, and lately of the Central 

 American Homoptera ; such observations, moreover, as I have 

 been able to make, have been mostly limited to the immediate 

 neighbourhood of Lincoln. I feel convinced, however, that, 

 in spite of the fact that many of the fen species have been doubt- 

 less effaced by drainage, the county will be found to be exceed- 

 ingly rich in every branch of natural history, and it is to be 

 hoped that, in the field of entomology, workers may be found 

 who will emulate such ardent geologists as Mr. F. M. Burton 

 and Mr. Cooke, such indefatigable botanists as Mr. Peacock 

 and the Rev. W. Fowler, and such world-renowned ornith- 

 ologists as Mr. Cordeaux. 



If we consider the physical features of Lincolnshire we 

 shall see that it ought certainly to contain a large and varied 



