11 



most important contributions published abroad. Under these 

 circumstances I hope that I shall not be considered to be 

 actuated by vanity in claiming that the Journal which I 

 helped to set on foot fifty years ago, and the superintendence 

 of which has been under my charge ever since, has in no 

 small degree aided in the marked progress made by Natural- 

 History studies in this country during the last half-century. 



It may have been remarked, perhaps, that since the publi- 

 cation of the late Charles Darwin's * Origin of Species ' and 

 other works, which have produced a greater effect upon 

 human thought, not only in Natural History, but in the most 

 varied departments, than any thing published since ihe days 

 of Newton and Linn^us, the Editors of the ' Annals ' have 

 taken a position towards the new doctrine either opposed, or, 

 at least, more or less " agnostic," to use the phrase by which 

 Mr. Darwin himself characterized his position with regard to 

 religious matters. This, however, has been without prejudice 

 to a sincere admiration of the character and attainments of 

 the man whose work in the most various departments of 

 Natural History always showed a depth and solidity which, 

 perhaps, in many minds were too much thrown into the shade 

 by the brilliancy of his theoretical results. It must be recol- 

 lected that some of the best systematic work done in this 

 country during the last fifty years came from the same hand 

 which has changed the whole face of Natural History, 

 and that in his younger days his first introduction to Natural 

 History consisted in collecting Insects and Plants, the inci- 

 dents and pleasures connected with which seem to have been 

 most vividly retained in his mind nearly to the end of his 

 days. This lesson may be taken to heart by those who are 

 too much inclined to start from the other end. 



To return to the point from which we started. With the 

 next number a Sixth Series will commence, and I trust that 

 the ' Annals ' may still receive the same kind support which 



