50 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



grandeur of mountain range or sea cliff, the soft beauty of valley 

 or glade. We may have puzzled over the " Key" to work out 

 the name and place of the plants we have gathered, but we 

 remember them best as they grew interwoven in some nook on 

 the moor or in the forest. We may have toiled with scalpel or 

 with microscope to make out the structure of land or sea animals, 

 but we yet have sympathy with bright eye of bird, quick turn of 

 lizard, hum of bee, or chirp of grasshopper, the humble life of 

 the worm in the soil, and the mysteries of the lives lived beneath 

 the waves. And how much we have gained this year in this way 

 we cannot estimate. We have treasured up views of broad out- 

 lines, of noble landscapes, and pleasant pictures of detailed 

 beauty ; we have filled our common paths in the country with 

 pleasing associations ; and we have felt ourselves, and perhaps 

 succeeded in imparting to others, a living interest in the wonderful 

 and beautiful forms of life which exist in such variety around us. 

 And if we had made but this record for the year, who shall say 

 that it has been spent in vain ? For it is a great thing to acquire 

 and to communicate to others a knowledge, but, I think, a 

 greater still to acquire and diffuse amongst one's fellows a love, of 

 Nature. 



The Rev. J. J. Halley then delivered an interesting lecturette, 

 entitled, " Short Stories of Strange Lives." He rapidly sketched 

 the most striking features of the habits of parasitic animals of 

 several classes, and gave an account of some of the more remark- 

 able life-histories. He concluded by giving at length a descrip- 

 tion of a parasite he had often observed occurring in the muscles 

 and other parts of the common flat-head. He said that nearly 

 every individual he had examined had been infested with the 

 parasites, but that fortunately the cooked fish were none the 

 worse for their presence. 



A vote of thanks to the President for his address, and to Mr. 

 Halley for his lecturette, was moved by the Baron von Mueller, 

 The Baron referred, in the course of his remarks, to the meeting 

 of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science, 

 to be held in Melbourne in the summer, and hoped that the 

 Field Club would be well represented by members and papers. 

 He recalled, in an exceedingly interesting manner, his recollec- 

 tions of a meeting of the German Association in 1843. At that 

 meeting were present, amongst others, Oersted, Schleiden, 

 Rammelsberg, Berzelius, and he (the Baron) had never lost the 

 effect of the stimulus which association with such men had 

 afforded. He trusted that young members of the Australasian 

 Association would look back with similar feelings to the meeting 

 at Melbourne. 



