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mattei's, that the noticing of those papers which the Governors of the 

 New Zealand Institute have held worthy a place in their published 

 Transactions, is rather a prerogative of the President of that body, than 

 of the head of one of its affiliated Societies ; and in this view I am 

 inclined to agree. But so brief a retrospect as that in which I pro- 

 pose to indulge, which it will not be found in any way to anticipate, far 

 less to supersede, the address of our common President, will yet I 

 trust be not without its uses to us, in the encouragement to future energy 

 which inevitably follows the contemplation of honest work already 

 achieved. 



In Natural History, the contiibutions of our veteran friend. Dr. P. J. 

 Knox, naturally take precedence. To those old settlers who can with me 

 remember the steady interest which Dr. Knox has shown for the last 

 thirty years, in the Cetacea which frequent our seas, it will be a matter 

 of congratulation, that at last his patient study is rewarded by the 

 establishment, in the land of his adoption, of a society to which his 

 valuable notes can be communicated, and by which they can be preserved, 

 not to our profit alone, but even more especially to that of the scientific 

 men of countries not possessing the facilities for observation of this 

 interesting class of mammals which we enjoy ; to these, the observations 

 of one so long known as a skilled and accurate observer, will naturally 

 be of the greatest interest and value. The papers on some of our Lizards, 

 by the same gentleman, will I trust be followed by many others, not by 

 Dr. Giinther only, but by our venerable friend, and by such more 

 youthful successors to him in this attractive study, as our Societies may 

 produce in future years. 



Passing the narrow boundary which Separates erpetology from 

 ornithology, I must congTatulate you on the charming paper by Mr. Potts, 

 — a clear, simple, and accurate result of work which has evidently 

 extended over many years, and conveyed in a manner so attractive that 

 it cannot fail to bring to his aid in fui-ther observations, many from 

 whom, as well as from their pioneer, we shall hope to receive a never 

 failing supply of similar records of carefully observed facts. For after 

 all, our first and most important duty at this epoch of our acquaintance 

 with the natural history of our country, is the collection of facts, — an 

 ounce of fact is worth a pound of theory, and if we take care of facts 

 we may be sure that theories will take care of themselves, — and to that 

 care for the present let us leave them. If we wish examples of theories 

 formed in advance of facts, and of the tortures to which facts when found 

 are subjected in oixler that they may be made to fit those theories, let us 



