81 



elimination of those that will not, is surely the first step to 

 their separation as a distinct race, or even as a distinct 

 species. 



There are many other facts connected with this all- 

 absorbing subject with which I should like to have dealt, 

 but this is not possible within the limits of an address. If 

 these remarks lead any member of this Society to publish 

 any observations bearing on the points suggested I shall be 

 more than pleased. What we want now are fewer collection- 

 makers and more observers — fewer specimens, but more 

 observations on the habits of insects. We want to know 

 more about the insects as living organisms, and the facts 

 relating to these can be put on record by every member of 

 our Society. The work of the field naturalist is not yet 

 begun on these lines, and the energy of the hunter will only 

 be diverted into another channel. He will still have an 

 excuse for outdoor exercise, whilst the results obtained will 

 be of the greatest value in the elucidation of some at least 

 of the many mysteries of nature which everywhere surround 

 us. 



Before closing this address there are two things left to do. 

 The first of these is important to all the members of this 

 Society. I have in an earlier part of this address pointed 

 out what I consider the advantages of natural history as a 

 science, and there is scarcely need to suggest the great value 

 of the work done by natural history societies, if carried on in a 

 liberal manner, with an idea of developing the scientific tend- 

 encies of its members. I have quoted Huxley to the effect that 

 character and not talent is the essential element of success 

 in science, and that the training involved in the study of 

 natural history must react upon the man. All these points, 

 I take it, are exemplified and have been reached by members 

 of this and kindred societies, and our members are willing, 

 I doubt not, if the study of natural history has reacted on 

 them in the sense suggested by Huxley, and made them 

 men of logical mind, of generous and wide-reaching sym- 

 pathies, to do all they can for the Society of which they are 

 members, not ungrudgingly but generously. 



I need hardly point out that the only connection between 

 the members of the past and these of to-day, between the 

 members of to-day and those of the future, are their books 

 (the Library) and the " Proceedings." These are the links 

 that bind our Society into one continuous whole, and we, 

 who are proud of its past and sanguine as to its future, 

 would strengthen those links in every possible way. But 



6 



