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miglit almost as well be called the theory of adaptation) that 

 that theory fits in so Avell with the geological and climatic changes 

 that Ave know to have occurred in all parts of the world. An 

 unchangeable fauna in the midst of perpetually changing envi- 

 ronment would not seem likely on a p7'iori grounds to have i^een 

 the form in which the Creator of the universe would design His 

 work. It would be safe to affirm, I believe, that there is no 

 species on the globe wliich, on the theory of its having been 

 created in its present form, and incapable of structural modifica- 

 tion, could have survived the changes that have taken place on 

 and around the earth's surface. 



Here, then, we have what (if not the ultimate work of natural 

 science) will at any rate be its work in a very advanced period of 

 its career, the investigation of the reasons of the faces of nature. 



Interesting — even fascinating — as is the contemplation of the 

 problems we can imagine our successors in the field of science a 

 century hence being in a position to investigate successfully, I 

 have, nevertheless, not brought the matter before you this 

 evening merely as a curious speculation, but rather with the 

 purpose of asking your attention to the importance of that step 

 towards the eventual achievement, which falls to the lot of the 

 scientific workers of the present day. 



J think it will hardly be doubted tJiat the special task needing 

 to be accomplished by this generation, and in the present state 

 of knowledge, is that of collecting and recording facts and data. 

 I imagine there is scarcely a possibility of any more advanced 

 work being more than guessed at in the lifetime of any one now- 

 working at science. The moment one attempts the more com- 

 plex problems, one feels instantly the need of that exhaustive 

 collection of the data and records of the facts that we are at 

 present engaged in procuring. 



Suppose, for example, the question be propounded, " Why is 

 such and such a genus (say Stigmodera) an especially Southern 

 Australian form ? " We can imagine the reason to be founded 

 on s(jme long past geological change ; but an apparently essen- 

 tial condition of any certainty on the point would be a very 

 accurate and exhaustive knowledge of the fossils of all Australia 

 — so that either it could be determined whether the present dis- 

 tribution is a continuance of that of former periods, or at least 

 it might be said " there is sound reason to believe that geology 

 can tJiroiv no light on the distribution of that genus in former 

 ages." Geologists are at present working towards the al)ility to 

 supply such information. 



And again, if any attempt he made to generalise from the 

 facts of geographical distribution, as I have no doubt some of my 

 colleagues have learned by experience, the result is little more 



