A Penny Weekly Magazine of Natural History. 



Wo. 10. 



JANUARY 3rd, 1380. 



Vol. 1 



THE NEW YEAR. 



HAPPY new year to our readers. 

 Cfi3Vs May their undertakings be pros- 

 rous, and their efforts crowned with the 

 cces.s they deserve. Now that we are 

 rly into the year 1880 we feel con- 

 lerably nearer the collecting season than 

 3 did a few days ago. The year has 

 tually commenced in which all our 

 hievements are to be performed, and 

 at makes to-day very different from the 

 t expiring days of the old year, the 

 bours of which were over, and such 

 suits as there may have been were all 

 alized. In our last number we spoke 

 Good Resolutions, and it is fitting now 

 say a few words as to our intentions 

 r the immediate future. To-day you 

 ceivc the promised plate, illustrative of 

 e papers on " Orders of Insects " that 

 ve been publishing for the last few 

 eeks, and the paper to-day on the 

 omoptera will be followed by others of 

 milar character on the remaining orders. 

 < r e have endeavoured to make these 

 rnular, rather tkan deeply scientific, and 

 ! clear of technicalities as was conven- 

 nt. On their completion will be com- 

 lenced a series of articles on British 



Butterflies, about which we shall speak 

 more at length next week. This, and 

 the continuance of the papers on the 

 Lepidoptera of the months, and Mr. 

 Gregson's able series of papers for begin- 

 ners are what we have at present projected 

 for the Entomological branch of our 

 Magazine. The articles on Nests and 

 i Eggs will be continued till their completion, 

 ! when others on Ornithology will take 

 their place. We are also preparing 

 Instructions for Skinning, Preserving; and 

 j Mounting Birds and Animals. The able 

 ' lectures on the Lower Forms of Animal 

 ; Life, by G. Brook, Esq., will be continued 

 j to their completion. We also have ready 

 I for early publication, probably in the next 

 I number, a condensed report of an intro- 

 i ductory lecture on Ferns by Mr. J. P. 

 i Soutter, of Bishop Auckland. This will 

 i be followed by a popular account of our 

 ■ British Ferns, which will enable any one 

 to recognize and name our native species, 

 and will give instructions for their culti- 

 vation. We have also promised us, a 

 series of popular articles on Favourite 

 Wild Flowers. We therefore trust our 

 Botanical friends w T ill be satisfied that 

 their branch is not be neglected. 



While we thus announce our arrange- 



