THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



the chief share in our work, there is a danger that there will not 

 be others ready to take their places. 



I am induced to make these remarks by noticing that the 

 attendance at our excursions has fallen off during the last twelve 

 months. 



In regard to papers, it would be satisfactory to have more 

 dealing with the life-history or habits of animals and plants from 

 the personal observation of the writers. There is still an almost 

 unlimited field for observers, for, though year after year it is more 

 difficult to discover new species, as catalogues become more 

 complete, there are countless points in connection with the 

 habits and distribution of the most familiar animals and plants 

 which have not yet been sufficiently observed and recorded, 

 many of which merely require patience and ordinary intelligence 

 to elucidate. I may refer to the methods of fertilization of our 

 native flowers ; to the times of flowering and seed ripening in each 

 species in various localities ; the particular insects or birds on 

 which fertilization depends, and the provision for self-fertilization, 

 if any ; the form of dichogamy, whether protandry or protogyny ; 

 the forms of the cotyledonary and primary leaves (a most inter- 

 esting and suggestive subject) ; the gall-producing insects, which 

 so frequently deform our native plants ; the struggle for existence 

 between our native flora and introduced weeds ; the causes which 

 produce the spread of the latter, and the districts they have in- 

 vaded. The duration of hatching and of the larval and pupal stages 

 of insect life of various species ; the length of life of the fully 

 developed insect, and its instincts or psychical manifestations in 

 house-building, care of its young, &c. ; the causes of the appear- 

 ance, at intervals of several years, of swarms of particular species.' 

 The forms and materials of the nests of birds ; the particular 

 trees, shrubs, or other places where they are built ; the period of 

 incubation of eggs ; the insects and fruits which form the food, 

 especially in districts remote from settlement ; the connection of 

 the colours of birds with their surroundings. 



Mr. Dendy informs me that a wide field still remains open for 

 Victorian naturalists in the study of our cryptozoic fauna. The 

 habits, the life-history, the food, the enemies, and the .mutual 

 relations of the different members of the little community which 

 dwells in harmony, or otherwise beneath every stone or fallen log 

 are almost unknown to us. The solution of these problems is a 

 peculiarly fitting task for the field naturalist. The cryptozic fauna 

 may be lowly, but it is not insignificant ; every little community 

 of these hidden animals is a microcosm in which we may study, in 

 a restricted and convenient area, almost all the biological 

 problems which present themselves for solution in communities 

 of a higher and more extensive character. 



If each one of us patiently endeavours to make accurate 



