490 Canadian Record of Science. 



example had been more widely followed by those 

 members of the society who are devoted to the study 

 of animals, for our knowledge of the local fauna is still 

 wofuUy incomplete. England has been specially prolific 

 in good natural historians. Few of them were profes- 

 sional zoologists ; most of them had only a compara- 

 tively limited leisure to devote to the subject, and yet 

 German specialists have to turn to their work as the 

 foundation for their special biological researches. 

 Spence-Bate, whose knowledge of the Crustacea was 

 unrivalled, was a dentist in Plymouth, and amongst the 

 greatest living authorities on the British fauna may be 

 mentioned two Anglican clergymen, J^orman and Steb- 

 bings. But. we need not go to England, You are surely 

 all of you familiar with that wonderful collection of 

 shells stored in the cases of the Redpath museum. That 

 collection, the duplicate of which has been presented 

 to the British Museum, is the work of a former 

 honoured citizen of this city, and member of this 

 society, Dr. Carpenter, who pursued the calling of a 

 schoolmaster. 



Having made a tolerably accurate list of the 

 animals and plants of the neighbourhood, the next 

 thing is to study them in their relation to one another, 

 in a word, to make out their life history and their 

 habits. And here there is an endless field for open- 

 air work of the most entrancing kind, and this is the 

 kind of work on which scientific agriculture directly 

 rests. I often wish that I could give the future 

 farmers of our country a short course in ISTatural 

 History at McGill, so as to open their eyes to the nature 

 of their biological surroundings, provided that a sojourn 

 at the University would not make them wish to desert 



