CX KINGS COUNTY BRANCH OF THE INSTITUTE. HAYCOCK. 



results of original investigation by its members, and the presentation 

 and discussion of papers on contemporary discoveries in science, or on 

 scientific subjects pertinent to our especial needs. The former will 

 suggest methods and point the way to exploration of the unknown ; 

 the latter will aid in furnishing the basis of knowledge necessary to 

 fruitful investigation. 



Although an arduous preparation is absolutely necessary for work 

 of the above character in many branches of science, yet in many more 

 departments of scientific study anyone with a love for truth and an 

 honest interest in the world about him, whether he be young or old, 

 whether he has or has not had a scientific training, may make contri- 

 butions to the sum of human knowledge. These departments lie 

 mainly within the domain of what are known as the Natural Sciences, 

 and in them we hope to achieve our best results. The distinct aim of 

 the society should be, in my judgment, to explore the natural history 

 of Kings County, and in order to train workers for that purpose, to 

 disseminate knowledge of the natural sciences in the widest possible 

 way. 



In designating this as the work of the society, we assign a field that 

 lies all about us, that lias scarcely been touched by the investigator, 

 and in which the maximum results can be secured with the minimum 

 amount of preparation. A few hours reading would put one in pos- 

 session of all the facts that have as yet been recorded in regard to the 

 geology of the county. A smaller number of hours would enable one 

 to read the mineralogical record. I know of but one paper on the 

 microscopic study of a Kings County rock, and this new science of 

 petrography offers to one who is willing to make the necessary pre- 

 paration, an outlook that is very fascinating. An admirable begin- 

 ning in the zoology of the county has been made by Mr. Harold Tufts, 

 who has published a list of 250 birds that occur within its borders. 

 This list is without doubt still incomplete,, and further, every bird 

 enumerated should be on exhibition either in a public county museum 

 or in a private collection, in order that the correctness of the identifi- 

 cations might be verified at any time. Similar work in the land 

 animals, the marine vertebrates and invertebrates, is waiting to be 

 done, and the collection of all the known insects of the county and the 

 study of their metamorphoses and habits, is a work not only of scien- 

 tific interest, but likely to prove of untold value to the fruit growers 



