than diminished their value ! Our kind friend, Mr. Acland, 

 who may well be called the backbone of the Society, has not 

 only contributed several valuable papers, but he has been and 

 is now delivering a course of Lectures on Botany, for which he 

 has deservedly gained the cordial gratitude of our Society. 

 Our urtiring and clever Secretary, Mr. Ullyett, has not been 

 behindhand in contributing his share to our success, and Dr. 

 Knaggs has made out a list of local Lepidoptera, which is, in 

 a scientific point of view, invaluable, while Mr. Dashwood 

 sets an example to-night, which I would fain see more exten- 

 sively imitated, by giving us a paper on Birds. We sadly 

 want more working members ; each of you might so easily 

 and pleasantly contribute something towards building up the 

 Edifice of Science — each might bring one brick ; I mean there 

 are so many points on which we want to throw light and to 

 get all available evidence — and here all might help. So many 

 debateable questions to be answered, for example. Do, or do 

 not. Swallows, Sandmartins, &c. hybernate ? There are 

 many instances of their being seen in England in October, 

 November, and December, and again in March. Are these 

 late departures or early arrivals ? have they been hybernating 

 in old walls, sandbanks, &c., where they are said to have 

 been found by reliable witnesses ? It is not many years since 

 Swallows were believed, even by scientific men, to hybernate 

 under water, though this notion is now exploded. Now this, 

 for example, is a mystery you might all help to clear up by a 

 little trained and intelligent observation, and by a careful 

 noting of facts. Again, Do Toads live in air-tight holes and 

 other cavities for unheard of times ? Are the stories we 

 hear to this effect fact or fiction ? Are Birds fascinated by 

 Snakes, and Butterfles by Lizards ? Do Vipers swallow their 

 young when alarmed ? There is a very interesting discussion 

 going on at this momeut in " Land and Water" on this 

 subject ; here again is a case in which every individual ex- 

 perience is all-important. There are deeper questions than 

 this in Natural Science to which no one can at present return 

 a satisfactory answer, for example. What is Gravitation ? 

 Gravitation, which Sir John Herschell justly calls " the most 

 universal truth at which human reason has yet arrived," and of 

 the nature of which, save as to its effects, we know absolutely 

 nothing. What is this immeasurably vast and all-pervading 



