234 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. [Vol. XXIII. 



the coal-bearing strata of South Gippsland, Otway Ranges, 

 Bellarine Peninsula, Barrabool Hills, and jNIerino Downs 

 shoAvs that they all co^ntain ferns, fresh-water plants, fish 

 and mussels, leading to the supposition that they once 

 formed the bed of an enormous lake or iinland sea, reach- 

 ing from Traralgon tO' the Glenelg. When treated in this 

 way Nature has meaning. 



The work done here in the field showed that Nature- 

 study is not primarily a class-room subject, nor can it be 

 best taught by means of museum and text-book. Class- 

 room lessons may even be uninteresting and disconnected. 

 One may study form and structure, and gain knowledge, 

 but experts are agreed that Nature-study must begin in the 

 field. Movement and colour are found there, adaptation 

 of structure to environment is learnt by the sea-side or in 

 the tea-tree glade, the relation of the insect to the plant 

 and the balance of Nature can only be studied in the 

 open. Scale insects destroy the honeysuckle, insectivorous 

 birds destroy these in turn. Again, our best thoughts of 

 Nature rest on a realistic back-ground. Some association 

 formed long since, it may be, but ready to spring into 

 being again at the first suggestion. The flower of the 

 gorse is beautiful in itself, but its beauty is intensified 

 when, in the early morning, the hedge of golden blooms 

 is seen winding away to the horizon. The glory of sunrise 

 and of sunset, the grandeur of the mountain range purpled 

 by distance, the profusion of the fern gully, the sparkle 

 and music of the waterfall, the majesty of the gathering 

 thimder-clouds, cannot be brought into the school-room. 

 Out of doors there is access to appropriate conditions. 

 Data must be collected, and a general familiarity with 

 things cultivated. A geological specimen gives no idea 

 of geological time, a dried plant trails with it nothing of 

 the glory of sky and woods, that the larva of the Buprestis 

 is destructive to trees means nothing when told, but to 

 see the larvae at work gives meaning tO' the statement. 



Class-lessons, however, are a valuable adjunct to field- 

 work, though subordinate ; and here, again, teachers at 

 the camp unconsciously derived valuable aid as to their 

 purpose and character. As we wander from one point of 

 interest to another, notes are discussed, theories advanced, 

 and specimens compared. At intervals .in camp, too, 

 students gather round the lecturers, with a view to clear- 

 ing up difficulties which arose from the excursion. The 

 class-lesson should do this. Notes might be carefully 



