30 REPORT— 1897. 



knowledge of anatomj and physiology, and also some acquaintance with 

 the problems of development as well as a considerable power of obser- 

 vation and much enthusiasm. These certainly appear to be large demands, 

 but we cannot expect to get any scientific results of real importance 

 which are not procured at the cost of much labour. The things which 

 lie upon the surface and are easily got at are, as a rule, in the present 

 development of science, not of very great value. If we aim at achieving 

 real scientific results we must expect to have to pay for them both with 

 our time and with our labour. 



' If there be anyone here who may think of devoting himself to the 

 study of life- histories, I need hardly say that he has an abundant choice of 

 subjects, even in so narrow and so well worked a country as England. 

 I will ask your permission to take a run over that department of natural 

 history with which I have of late years occupied myself. I refer to the 

 study of insects. Anyone who has occupied himself with promoting the 

 scientific study of insects will, I think, agree with me when I say that almost 

 everything still remains to be done. The insects have been collected and 

 classified, but with rare exceptions their life-histories are still unknown. 

 Let me instance the Le^iidoptera and Coleoptera, for the simple reason 

 that they are better known than the rest. "VVe know well their external 

 forms or shapes ; the stages of many have been recorded and drawn ; and 

 along with these external features we know something about their food- 

 plants, mode of life, and so on ; but how their mode of life and peculiarities 

 of structure are interrelated we know not. I think it is a reproach to 

 the naturalists of our generation that they are content to leave the higher 

 knowledge of insects and devote tlieir whole attention to mechanical details. 



' As a type of M'hat I am dealing with, let me refer you to the common 

 Diptera. I do not think that more than a dozen out of the vast number of 

 these insects have been thoroughly investigated. It seems that 200 or 300 

 have been studied, at least superficially, and of these we know more or less; 

 but they are among many thousands of which it seems that we are practi- 

 cally in complete ignorance. "What, then, can we expect to learn about such 

 a subject as this unless we are prepared to meet difficulties and incur the 

 cost of time and labour ? Here is a vast and important field inviting the 

 attention of naturalists ; and when we consider the number of enthusiastic 

 naturalists scattered, not only over our own, but also over every other 

 country, we might surely expect most important results if this business 

 were taken seriously in hand. 



' As to the methods of inquiry, let me suppose that any one of you 

 intends to take up li\ e natural history. I should recommend him to study 

 the things which are commonly found round about him ; to procure those 

 animals which he is accustomed to see again and again every day, and 

 which he will not have to go a mile or two to procure, say from the nearest 

 stream if not too far away. Then as to the helps which exist, there is a 

 literature of this subject ; but one difficulty is that most, if not all, of this 

 literature is written in a foreign language. Malpighi wrote in Latin, and 



