14 Croii}ther : Lintax teneLlus. in Yorkshire. 



not be abte to teach me many thing-s in many branches of this 

 dehg-htful pursuit ; but I hope I may be permitted to heartily 

 cong-ratulate each of you on belong-ing- to the NaturaHst 

 Brotherhood, and to express my hope that your love of Nature 

 may always continue and ever increase, and that you may be 

 able to induce many to join our ranks. For whatever may be 

 our talents we may here develop them ; of whatever disposition 

 we may be we may here gratify it. Here the artist has his 

 model, and here the poet finds his inspiration. Nature will feed 

 their fancy to the full, but they will never exhaust her, or even 

 sound her depths. She is a past master in all the arts of con- 

 struction and contrivance. The engineer and the architect and 

 the shipbuilder are but her apprentices. Well and nobly may 

 she occupy those who pass their lives in searching- into her 

 secrets, for only to the faithful and to the worthy will she reveal 

 them. But it seems to me that it is to the common work-a-day 

 world and to its ordinary toiling- inhabitants that the love and 

 study of Nature are most blessed. Here is recreation indeed ! 

 Care does not follow us into the open fields. A man must have 

 great cause for gloom w^ho can worry about his own affairs after 

 he has spent half an hour with the stars. We are filled w^ith 

 the beauty of the world and forget our own sordid troubles. 

 There is infinite comfort for us in the contemplation of the 

 perfection of every flower and bird and insect, and there is 

 unending interest in the study of them ; and I truly believe that 

 among all the changes and chances of this mortal life, which 

 often prove many and grievous, we may here find an unfailing 

 source of solace and refreshment and delight. 



MOLLUSCS, 



Limax tenellus in Yorkshire.— It falls to the lot of Mr. W. 



Thwaites, of Masham, to be the first to find this slug in York- 

 shire. At the request of Mr. Roebuck, Mr. Thwaites made a 

 special search for this species in suitable localities in his district, 

 and in Hall W^ood, Healey, about three miles from Masham, 

 beneath fragments of wood, close to the root of a spruce fir, he 

 found several individuals of the var. ce?'ea of this species; this 

 was about the middle of October. The wood lies low, close by 

 the banks of the river, and not on high ground. Limax ienellus 

 has also been found not uncommon in Epping Forest by Mr. T. 

 Fetch, of Hull.— J. E. Crowther, EUand. 



