210 HOUSE, GARDEN, AND FIELD 



be found by a diligent botanist in retired spots among 

 the Yorkshire hills. But exchange clubs, and other 

 societies which set an artificial value upon rarity, have 

 come into play, and we now often find that the saxifrage 

 or yellow star of Bethlehem that we have prized for years 

 has been ruthlessly cleared out. The liberty that single 

 naturalists can enjoy without damage to others becomes 

 pernicious when it is claimed by large organised parties. 

 It is no doubt desirable and necessary that parties of 

 beginners should gather wild flowers and other natural 

 objects, but why put into their minds the craving for 

 rarities ? The commonest examples that can be found 

 are really the best for elementary teaching, and a naturalist 

 who does not know the common things well can put the 

 rare ones to no use. 



In the name of science let us make it known that the 

 worst thing you can do with a rare species is to bag it. 

 The man who regularly enriches his own collection and 

 cares about nothing else is not really a worthy member 

 of scientific society ; he is an enemy to natural history, 

 and should be known as such. 



The value of collecting as a means of promoting the 

 study of natural history has in my opinion been greatly 

 over-estimated. Ardent collectors are usually unin- 

 terested in every branch of their study which does not 

 facilitate naming ; they are seldom observers of the habits 

 of living things, and they make few real, though many 

 nominal contributions to biological science. Instead of 

 helping to multiply naturalists of this type, let us try to 

 make naturalists who will seek to understand a little 

 better the plants and animals which come before their 

 eyes every day. 



The school-museum may be mischievous instead of 

 profitable, if it keeps before the minds of the boys one 

 ambition only, the ambition of making a large collection 

 in which there are many rare specimens. 



Some naturalists value the services of the collector 



