28 GLAUCUS ; OE, 



you will find in these islands. And on the shore 

 only will you have the enjoyment of finding new 

 species, of adding your mite to the treasures of 

 science. 



For not only the English ferns, but the natural 

 history of all our land species, are now well-nigh 

 exhausted. Our home botanists and ornithologists 

 are spending their time now, perforce, in verifying 

 a few obscure species, and bemoaning themselves, 

 like Alexander, that there are no more worlds left 

 to conquer. For the geologist, indeed, and the en- 

 tomologist, especially in the remoter districts, much 

 remains to be done, but only at a hea\y outlay of 

 time, labour, and study ; and the dilettante (and 

 it is for dilettanti, like myself, that I principally 

 A\Tite) must be content to tread in the tracks of 

 greater men who have preceded him, and accept 

 at second and third hand their foregone conclusions. 



But this is most unsatisfactory ; for in giving up 

 discovery, one gives up one of the highest enjoy- 

 ments of natural history. There is a mysterious 

 delight in the discovery of a new species, akin to 



