80 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



him a stuffed cat from my cabinet and requested him to mount it upon a 

 stool in the midst of his strawberry bed of perhaps thirty feet square and 

 note the result. Some days afterward he told me it effectually protected 

 the fruit, and I therefore recommend others to try the same remedy ; or 

 perhaps better, substitute a living cat, hung up in a wire cage, and thus 

 turn the surplus of the feline race to some profitable account. 



When first elected to the Professorship of Zoology connected with your 

 Society, about three years ago, I supposed there were specific duties in- 

 volved in the office, and that the different members would propose a variety 

 of researches to me, as your servant in that department. But as yet hardly 

 a question has been proposed to me by a single member. Feeling unwil- 

 ling to hold any office that is in effect a sinecure, I herewith desire the 

 members of the Society to forward to me at Middleboro', by express, any 

 specimens of Natural History that may be found injurious, with whose hab- 

 its they may not be familiar, with such observations as they themselves have 

 made ; and, at the earliest possible opportunity, I will report at a monthly 

 or quarterly meeting. I desire that, my Professorship shall not be a mere 

 ornamental appendage to the Society — but not being a practical horticul- 

 turist, I can only hold myself ready for service at your bidding. The forth- 

 coming revised edition of " Dr. Harris's Treatise," and the most excellent 

 Reports of Dr. Fitch, of New York State, on " Noxious Insects," preclude 

 the necessity of minute investigation in that branch of Natural History. 

 But there are questions connected with the habits of other than insects, 

 that must suggest themselves to the observing horticulturist, and occasion 

 more or less anxiety to have solved according to the facts of nature. Let 

 such be communicated to me by mail, at any time, and they shall receive 

 prompt attention according to the best of my ability, and perhaps some new 

 field will be opened for exploration, connected, it may be, with the habits 

 of the smaller quadrupeds and reptiles. 



Respectfully submitted. J. W. P. Jenks. 



