THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST 



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It is now three years since tlie Field Naturalists' Club of Victoria 

 was first formed. The club has supplied a want, and has steadily 

 increased in numbers until over 150 members have been enrolled. 

 Field work has been the main object of the Society, and the enlarged 

 cabinets, and the exhibits at meetings, testify to the activity of 

 members in this du-ection, while the number of careful observers of 

 Nature in the colony has been greatly multiplied. Many who before 

 worked alone have been encouraged by association with workers in 

 kindred branches, and a substantial enthusiasm has been aroused in 

 many who had before felt no interest in the subject. 



Hitherto the proceedings of the Society have appeared in the 

 " Southern Science Record," published by Mr. J. Wing, but it is 

 now deemed time to bring out a periodical of our own. It is hoped 

 that a larger field of usefulness will thus be opened u]), and that both 

 members and the public will gain by the publication of a monthly 

 record of work and results, of original papers on Victorian Botany 

 and Zoology, and of current notices of the occurrencas and habitat 

 of interesting forms. " The Naturalist " is also intended as a 

 medium for the exchange of specimens, and space will he given for 

 correspondence. 



Lastly, the Club has decided to prepare, and to publish in this 

 Magazine, scientific lists of the Victorian species of animals and 

 plants for the use of collectors. Such lists cannot be considered to 

 be complete even in the case of the most conspicuous and best- 

 known groups. Additions may be made from time to time ; in fact, 

 the very publication is expected to stimulate members to the discovery 

 and recognition of new forms. Great care will be exercised to 

 exclude all doubtful species, and as the services of some of the most 

 active practical naturalists in the colony have been secured, it is 

 confidently expected that the catalogues will be of value in creating 

 that exact knowledge of specific forms which will facilitate more 

 advanced Biological studies, and in diffusing an acquaintance with 

 the useful and hurtful organisms of Victoria, which must be of great 

 practical and material benefit to the community. 



