ch. xxiii CHAIRMANSHIP OF L.C.C. 291 



certainly was ; and steady up to the point that 

 he attained. He made a nine-hole course in the 

 park at High Elms, and it used to astonish me, 

 time after time, to see the accuracy with which 

 practice had enabled him to gauge the strength 

 required to run the ball up, as he did, from long 

 distances, to the small putting greens, over the 

 ground, left in its original state of rough pasture, 

 of the park. I would attempt a pitch stroke, 

 which had the air of being rather more scientific, 

 but was generally a relative failure as regards the 

 important point of bringing the ball to rest 

 anywhere near the hole. Sir John would push 

 the ball up, with a running stroke of the putter, 

 estimating the final result of all the multitudinous 

 bumps with an accuracy which made it look like 

 an inspired fluke every time. 



A very good account, with an admirable general 

 idea of Sir John's procedure in the study of his 

 insects, is given by Sir Edwin Arnold in a lecture 

 which he delivered in the early part of this year 

 in Japan. 



" Take the example," he said, to his Japanese 

 audience, " of one whose name you will know and 

 honour, Sir John Lubbock. I have the privilege 

 of his friendship, and have watched those daily 

 researches of his by which he has thrown so much 

 interesting light upon the habits of ants, bees 

 and wasps, as well as on the structural marvels 

 of the floral and the forest world. If you have 

 read his delightful books and could afterwards 

 see the simple arrangements which have produced 

 them, those among you who are naturalists would 

 be encouraged to attempt similar great and 



