Field Day and Excursion. 67 



3. Maconia calcarea (?) Chemnitz. 



4. Saxicava rugosa, Linngeus. 



These shells here occur at an altitude of about 410 feet above 

 present sea level. 



Mr. W. H. Harrington then followed and described many 

 of the insects collected and observed by the entomologists. He 

 devoted special attention to the study of the coleoptera and 

 diptera. In the latter order the number of species was amazingly 

 large, so also regarding the hymenoptera. He had discovered 

 several new forms, and many more interesting and undescribed 

 species awaited the keen eye of the naturalist who would find it 

 and place it on record. 



Mr, H. B. Small was then called upon and said : — 



The leader in Zoology has so little left him apart from bird and 

 insect life, in a settled part of the country, that I must diverge from 

 speaking on animal life proper and instead, allude to natural history 

 generally. To place stuffed specimens in cabinets and plants in drawers, 

 Sir John Lubbock styles only the drudgery of the study, but to watch 

 the habits and study the instincts of animals, that constitutes the true 

 interest of natural history. Some may delight us specially by the 

 beauty or their voice, others by their habits, especially those living in 

 communities such as ants or bees. The lover of Nature can never be 

 dull, for in every blade of grass, in every stone he finds something to 

 open a train of thought. Kingsley remarked that such a one is never 

 alone in his walks, for he has the bird and the insect always around 

 him . As the seasons come round he gathers fresh stores to look back 

 upon as happy memories, and for him all Nature seems to have been 

 specially created. Loveliness is around us everywhere, but because of 

 its being always before us, it is overlooked. Were we compelled to 

 dwell inside the earth and only got a chance to see the rising and set- 

 ting sun, we should be lost in admiration of its beauties, which from 

 familiarity we lightly pass by. To the ardent disciple of Nature every 

 ordinary walk may be made a morning or an evening sacrifice, and the 

 study of nature may become a veritable fairy tale . 



Mr. R. B. Whyte, leader in Botany, and an ardent botanist, 

 then addressed the large gathering. He took up the leading 

 forms of flowering plants collected during the day and described 

 their structure, uses and gave such interesting notes that many 



