450 CONFERENCE OF DELEGATES 



objectives of zoological investigation. Almost since zoology began the 

 pendulum has swung between interest in structure and interest in function, 

 and for many years the structural characteristics of animals themselves 

 dominated, I might almost say usurped, the field ; first, it was the super- 

 ficial structures, which determined the classification of a creature ; then when 

 the inquiry was pushed a little deeper, the gross structures of the animals, 

 described on their own account and almost irrespective of their function ; 

 and lastly the microscope was called in for a final analysis, so that nothing 

 in a structural sense should be lost. These studies moved far beyond 

 the sphere of the natural history societies, but they expressed the zoological 

 spirit of the times. They are useful and important studies ; very properly 

 they will continue to have their followers, and I say no more about them, 

 safe in the assurance that ' old soldiers never die,' although it must be con- 

 fessed that their blood may run very thin. 



But the spirit of the times is changing, and now the emphasis has forsaken 

 structure for structure's sake, and is laid upon the animal as a living thing ; 

 zoology is stressing its place as a science of life. 



Joint Enterprises in Biological Problems. 



The combination of these two modern tendencies offers a new outlook 

 and a new field for the societies ; the combination of organised co-operation 

 or team work directed towards the solution, of biological problems. Let 

 me give you an example or two of the sort of scientific work I have in mind. 



We know generally how beasts and birds are distributed throughout 

 Great Britain, and we know that man with his cultivation, and industries, 

 and ribbon-building and so on, interferes with the distribution of some of 

 them. We see the differences, perhaps after the lapse of years, but we do 

 not know enough about the numbers of beasts and birds in any area to be 

 able to recognise changes whenever they occur and before they force them- 

 selves upon our notice. The only safe basis for estimating changes must 

 be a census. Some creatures are more easily counted, some are more 

 worth counting, than others : there is the grey squirrel, which has spread 

 since its introductions, ultimately from America, an undesirable alien ; we 

 should like to know more about its numbers in different parts, to supplement 

 Mr. A. D. Middleton's account, and as a check upon its movements. Even 

 more interesting is our own red squirrel ; in some places it seems to be dying 

 outj in other places it continues to flourish, but only when we get counts 

 can we hope to understand such anomalies. Amongst birds, there is the 

 rook, because of its interest to farmers ; the owls, because of their value as 

 destroyers of vermin ; we do not even know if blackbirds, thrushes, house- 

 sparrows, are increasing or decreasing throughout the land. 



Only successive counts can tell. No single man can make such a count ; 

 to be really valuable it must be approximately simultaneous. But your 

 natural history societies could make such a census a success, were it 

 organised for them, if each society plotted out its own area amongst its 

 active members. Moreover organisations are at hand for the planning 

 and analyses of such counts, such as the Bureau of Animal Population at 

 Oxford, and the Institute of Ornithology which has already carried out 

 several successful bird counts. But the societies could help almost inde- 

 finitely in the expansion of such scientific investigations. 



Consider how much we have learned in recent years, about bird migration 

 by organised co-operation in the ringing of birds in this and other countries ; 

 about the arrival and movements of migrating birds and many other seasonal 

 happenings by the organised reports sent to the Royal Meteorological 



