42 



and his knowledge increases, he will delight to observe the variations 

 produced by soil and situation, by dryness and moisture, by exposure 

 and shelter ; and he will be pleased and surprised to find how greatly 

 the form and condition of plants are affected by those and other circum- 

 stances of their growth. 



Or if botany has no charms for him, he may take some branch of 

 zoology for his special study. One may give his attention to the vast 

 vai-iety of forms in insect life. Another may take more interest in the 

 feathered tribes, or, it may be, in the dwellers in the waters, whether of 

 lakes, brooks, and rivers, or of the mighty deep. Wherever he turns 

 his eyes, the thoughtful man will find an endless variety of marvellous 

 beauty in the forms and manifestations of the mystery of life. 



Others, again, may do good service by keeping careful records of 

 meteorological observations, noting at regular hours every day the 

 condition of the atmosphere in respect of temperature, pressure, moisture, 

 clouds, force and direction of winds, etc. A series of such observations, 

 made with patience and accuracy at various points of our long and 

 narrow islands, and extending over a series of years, would furnish data 

 of great value to any one who may undertake the task of investigating 

 and describing the meteorology of this country. 



In connection with these subjects, our worthy secretary reminds me 

 that there is an impression abroad that some sections of natural history 

 have already been so thoroughly worked as to leave no room for the 

 discovery of further novelties. This is shown to be erroneous, by the 

 fact that additions are constantly being made in those sections which 

 have been most closely investigated — namely, botany and ornithology. 

 For instance, the botany of the northern part of this island has been 

 more carefully examined than that of any other part of the colony ; and 

 yet, since the publication of the " Handbook of the New Zealand 

 Mora," several new genera of phenogamic plants, and upwards of thirty 

 additional species (many of which are new to science, and of great 

 interest), have been found within its limits ; while as regards the lower 

 orders of plants, much less is known. 



Other branches of natural history are hitherto almost untouched. 

 "Very little is known of the shells, and next to nothing of the insects 

 and fishes of the colony. But the discovery of novelties in the flora and 

 fauna of the colony is not so exclusively important as is too commonly 

 supposed. The vertical and horizontal range of each species, its abun- 

 dance or i-arity, the nature of its habitat, its variation Tinder altering or 

 altered circumstances, the nature of its food, and all other peculiarities 



