NATURAL HISTORY NOTES. 
WHAT TO NOTE AND HOW TO MAKE NOTES. 
GREGORY O. BENONI, 
No man knows how much the world has lost by some of her 
the man of action, the stories of the talker, the bon-mots of our 
convivial and versatile companion at our last field meeting, who was 
the soul and life of the whole affair, and the notes of the observant 
naturalist, whose opportunity of seeing what is best worth recording 
is infinitely greater than any the late Richard Jefferies ever had, if 
his power of clothing his memories in living language may never be 
comparable with that ‘nature poet’s’ wonderful gift. 
of keen-minded men see things almost daily which are 
worthy of permanent record—the field-mouse in the hedge stealing 
hip and haw, when in a prolonged frost the snow wraps the ground 
with that thick white mantle so destructive to animal and bird life— 
or the young oak thrusting up from its abandoned home and store 
after a mild winter, as he stalks his rabbits down the wood side. 
But few, how few, realise the truly valuable facts amongst the crowd 
of things they see, or take the trouble, if they know how, to make 
4 note of them. We mean to make notes that will be of value in 
refreshing the memory at any time, or for future publication. 
What to note is the difficulty of all young naturalists. Mere 
bare lists in any department of natural history, without any annota- 
tions, are of comparatively little value ; at most they only appeal to 
g at geographical distribution. The fact of such species 
being found in a given spot is recorded, but the nexus oe 
the sparkling touch of life to the thing recorded is wanting. For 
instance, the young botanist, who knows his plants fairly well, in 
Yorks} is adding hardly anything to our knowledge of nature by 
bare lists of species which grow in his neighbourhood. But let him 
take the new drift maps, published by the Geological Survey, 1 nis 
hand as he walks, and accurately note the ——- ee 
‘ying outcrops and soils he passes Over, : 
be that connecting link which makes his work live. If the elevation, 
dity, porosity, and impenetrability of the surface has nothing to 
do with the distribution, he has di the chemistry of the 
— anda quantitative and qualitative analysis of the plants will 
4 18g. ° 
