March, I'Jur.] THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 235 



written up, errors corrected, specimens labelled, and fur- 

 ther information given. Text-books are of service to the 

 teachers in this respect. During an excursion, material 

 sufficient for many class lessons will be procured, and will 

 find its way to the school museum, which should be 

 readilv accessible to the pupils. The treasures gathered 

 are placed there for observation and study. The time 

 wiil come when the confined schoolroom will prove too 

 small for Nature-study material, and, rising amid the 

 blossoms of the school garden, will be seen the Nature- 

 study pavilion, with its pot-plants, aquaria, and shelves 

 of objects for daily and incidental study. To succeed in 

 Nature-study, patient iinvestigation is necessary. It was 

 said of one of our lecturers that he was " without bot- 

 tom," so deep was his knowledge of the district, gained 

 on the spot, and as the result of many visits. Many 

 teachers to-day have the right attitude, but lack adequate 

 knowledge. The remedy lies in skilled instructors. 



The evening lectures showed how useful are the camera 

 and lantern in disseminating knowledge. The Education 

 Department may render real assistance in getting together 

 sets of slides illustrating bird life, rock formations, insect 

 homes, and so forth. These should be accompani'ed by 

 concise descriptions. In our ranks are many who would 

 make good use of a lantern. The travelling showman, an 

 outsider, with his quaint figures and funny pictures, is 

 able to gather an audience in a far-back school. His 

 place might well be taken by a teacher with a suitable 

 outfit. He would interest parents as well as pupils, and 

 would dispense valuable information as regards noxious 

 plants, destructive insects, and insecti\'orous birds. In 

 this way the economic side of Nature-study would be 

 developed, and parents brought into closer touch with 

 their schools. 



In the hands of the Field Naturalists, an excursion is 

 not an aimless ramble. The ground is gone over and 

 studied beforehand, and the time to be spent at each place 

 carefully determined. The leader has his programme. 



The camp for school pupils in place of teachers is an 

 institution of the immediate future, and, at Mornington, 

 the arrangements were so simple, and so complete, and 

 the cost so little, that they may be taken as a model. 

 Here we learned how to free ourselves from the unaccus- 

 tomed task of cooking, and to conserve the greater part 

 of the day for study. Here, too, was seen the secret of 

 camp discipline — a few simple rules and adherence to 



