64 OCCASIONAL PAPERS. 



tion of objects, which we had not then time to 

 arrange, perhaps not even to name. Now is the 

 time ; the collector would never get through his 

 work if he were always collecting, if he never had 

 seasons of leisure, for simply gathering objects is but 

 half the work ; they have to be compared, classified, 

 and specified ; general laws deducted, hasty conclu- 

 sions tested, perhaps reversed ; all this you know is 

 specially the work of the mind, and the mind at 

 such times must not be hampered by the body, 

 leisure and freedom from disturbance is essential for 

 contemplation and study. There are our Land and 

 Water Shells ; it was no easy task to name some of 

 them, and no doubt some of us have got three or 

 four pill boxes full of shells somewhere or other 

 labelled " doubtful." Now is the time, when the 

 drizzling November rain keeps us in doors, to sit 

 down, and by the aid of Lovell Keeve and a mag- 

 nifier to settle the question. A few papers of dried 

 flowers too, not yet properly labelled, will occupy us 

 now and then for an hour or two, perhaps also birds' 

 eggs, seaweeds and fossils. Winter is necessarily 

 the time for theoretical study ; we cannot do so 

 much out of doors, and in Summer, when all is 

 favourable for so doing, it would be folly to be read- 

 ing books at home. We must perfect and complete 

 in December what we began in the early spring. 



But there is an impression I know that no active 

 out-door work can be done by a naturalist in winter. 

 I should be glad to do something towards removing 

 this impression. Winter is not so lifeless as we are 

 apt to think. I look back to many mild days in 

 December and January when I experienced great 



