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and their transformations, will serve as an admirable introduction 
to this fascinating study ; while many of the phenomena of the 
life-histories of other Insects, and particularly of the Hymenoptera, 
have recently been sketched in a most attractive form by Dr. Sharp.* 
This, however, by no means exhausts the list of animals in which 
there is a promising field for research ; and it appears to me that 
some of the members of our own Society would do well to turn 
their attention to certain Invertebrate groups whose study is usually 
restricted to specialists. The life-histories of parasitic animals are 
of absorbing interest, besides being of great practical importance. 
If I have ventured to put forward a plea for the study of the 
lower animals, it is with no wish to underrate the importance of 
devoting attention to those which share with ourselves the dignity 
of belonging to the Yertebrata. But the Vertebrates constitute, 
after all, no more than a single type of animal structure ; and 
there are many others which equally merit attentive study. 
I have endeavoured this evening to bring a few cases to your 
notice with the object of showing that the observation of the 
conditions under which Invertebrate animals live, and of the 
details of their life-histories, is a study which will yield to no 
other in interest. 
“The minutest Works of Creation are not always the least 
wonderful.” f 
I have trespassed too long on your time, and I will conclude 
with some words of a writer of the end of the Eighteenth 
Century : — “ He that is delighted with the Works of Nature, and 
makes them his Study, must undoubtedly be happy ; each 
Garden or Field is to him a Cabinet of Curiosities, every one 
of which he longs to examine fully; and he considers the whole 
Universe as a Magazine of Wonders, which infinite Ages are 
scarce sufficient to contemplate and admire enough.” J 
* “Insects,’’ Cambridge Nat. Hist., vols. v., vi., 1895, 1899. 
t J. Ellis, “ Essay Nat. Hist. Corallines,’’ 1755. 
t Baker, “ Of Microscopes,” Introduction to Vol. I., New Ed., 17S5. 
