I20 Thoniley : Equipment of the Field Naturalist. 



Societies to set a hig-h ideal of Nature study to the multitude, 

 and to direct into profitable channels the desultory work which 

 we so often observe in individuals. For example, what great 

 use mig-ht be made of the camera in connection with the attitudes 

 of birds, or the positions of leaves and flowers at different times 

 of the day. I recently saw a beautiful lantern slide of a field of 

 sleeping- daisies, and then the same wide awake in the morning'. 

 I once had given a pretty photo of a Leaf-cutter Bee at work on 

 a rose tree ; and I have seen lately a wonderful slide of two 

 butterflies asleep on a flower, and covered with dew drops. In 

 infinite ways the camera might be made to do us great service. 

 What could be more suitable for museum decoration than a fine 

 series of Nature photographs? But the subjects are infinite 

 which may rightly engage the attention of naturalists, and all 

 have to do with the relation of living things to their environ- 

 ment — a conception now conveniently expressed by the term 

 'bionomics.' Mimicry, pollination, instincts, the movements 

 and attitudes of plants and animals ; such studies as these, as 

 well as accumulating an accurate series of records, invaluable 

 for the purposes of distributional zoology, will afford plenty of 

 opportunity for work. Too often one gets from individuals the 

 laconic reply, ' I 6.0 not collect anything,' to which one feels 

 inclined to make answer, ' My friend, you are not required to 

 collect anything, but to observe everything-. ' 



Nature study just now has sprung into notoriety — there is 

 something almost like a boom in it. After years of educational 

 experimenting our authorities seem lately to have found out 

 that Nature teaching has a remarkable power in bringing out 

 the observational faculty, having discovered that the ordinary 

 curriculum of study has a tendency to train the memory, but 

 does little for the observing powers. Moreover the very con- 

 ditions under which Nature must be studied in the highest 

 degree contributes to the health of the individual. It brings 

 him out into the open fields and shady woods, to the purified 

 atmosphere of the mountain top. It provides abundance of 

 material at the least cost, and an infinite variety of subjects for 

 study. This spirit then being in the air, so to speak, ought to 

 lead to some accession to the ranks of Natural History Societies, 

 and in the future they should be a recognised and honoured 

 factor in that ideal of education which the nation has now set 

 before itself. Let naturalists seize the opportunity, and by 

 vigorous action play their part in leading the minds of those of 

 our day and generation to profitable study and elevated ideas. 



Naturalist, 



