INAUGURAL ADDRESS. ug 
suggestions must now be worked out by the practical 
naturalist. Darwin himself devoted many years to the 
systematic study of the Cirripedia. He telis us that no 
one has a right to examine the question of species who has 
not minutely described many, and that opinion has been 
recently endorsed by the President of the Biological 
Section of the British Association.* 
A clear and vivid impression of such matters of 
fundamental importance as the struggle for existence, 
the action of natural selection, the benefit of protective 
colouring, the completeness and the advantage of 
mimicry, and the utility of specific characteristics can 
only be gained by one who has practically studied the 
subject by observing the organisms in their living con- 
dition amongst their natural surroundings. During the 
last few years I have had occasion to study somewhat 
closely the fauna of the sea-shore at different parts of our 
coast. I have spent many most delightful, and to: me 
most instructive, hours on the rocky beach at Puffin 
Island, and elsewhere, at extreme low water, watching the 
animals and plants in their natural conditions; and I am 
sure that it is of primary importance to all students of 
natural history, but especially to the philosophic biologist 
who would concern himself with the problems of evolution, 
that he should thus become practically acquainted with 
the different forms of life in their native haunts, that he 
should see for himself their variations and their resem- 
blances, their habits, and their complicated relations to all 
around them. 
Of all the regions of the sea and land, so far as my 
experience goes, by far the most prolific of animal life 
is that region of the shore which is known as the 
upper edge of the Laminarian zone. It lies just beyond 
* Nature, vol. xxxviii., p. 474, Sept. 13th, 1888. 
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