Peacock : Naturalists at Newark. 



I 2 I 



the gap any longer, it went down the side of the valley into the 

 Humber. The whole of these gravels which were scattered 

 about this part of the country were, therefore, simply the effect 

 of river drainage. There was not the slightest doubt that the 

 Trent, the Brant, the Witham, and the whole of that river 

 system had left its remains in these wonderful beds of gravel. 

 It was a most interesting subject, and they were much indebted 

 to Mr. Preston for the able address he had given them. 



Professor J. W. Carr was invited to make some observations. 

 He said there was very little to do in his own particular line, and 

 therefore he turned his attention almost exclusively to ento- 

 mology, and assisted his friend Mr. Thornley in the healthy 

 pastime of catching 'bugs.' He should like, therefore, to say 

 a few words of a general nature, and, in the first place, he was 

 extremely glad that they had had an opportunity of meeting 

 their fellow-naturalists of Lincolnshire. He thought that the 

 example which had been set by the Lincolnshire Society of 

 inviting them to join in their outings was one that ought to 

 be repeated. Nothing assisted field work — which was one of 

 the most important objects of the existence of these societies- 

 to a greater extent than for naturalists of the different districts , 

 to meet together and exchange ideas in the way they had that 

 day'. Work such as theirs was extremely valuable, and might 

 be very greatly extended, not merely to trace out the distribution 

 of animals and plants in their own particular areas so as to lead 

 to the explanation of many interesting problems on the distribu- 

 tion of species, but they might also, to a great extent, carry their 

 work further, and endeavour to create an interest in natural 

 history studies among people who were not connected with 

 thorn. It was astonishing what ignorance there was amongst 

 the great mass of the people on natural history subjects of all 

 kinds. He might be allowed to mention incidents which had 

 come under his own notice that week. During the first three 

 days of the week he had. been examining the students in a certain 

 institution, and he was surprised at the want of knowledge 

 some hoys displayed in matters in which they would think bo) s 

 ought to he fairly proficient. One of the questions he set was 

 to define an insect, and to give some account of its structure, 

 life history, and metamorphoses. One student took as an 

 example a moth, or butterfly, and his paper ran as nearl\ as 

 possible in these words: 'The butterfly first lays its eggs, and 

 the eggs grow up into crystals, which are contained in a sorl 

 OI cobweb. After a time the crystals come to life, and arc 

 i<)tx> April 



