NATURE NOTES. 
2 
not theories ; and the aim of the Selborne Society is rather to 
take folk out into the open, and to induce them to love and 
study Nature in her many aspects, than to develop and evolve 
theories, of many of which it may be said, “ A breath can make 
them as a breath has made." 
\Ve should like to extend the portion of our Magazine which 
is devoted to notices of books, for this is considered by many 
one of the most useful sides of our work ; and we also wish to 
see the “Children’s Column” a conspicuous feature in every 
number. Nothing more important can be undertaken by Sel- 
bornians than the education of the 30ung, whether rich or poor, 
in the principles of the Selborne Society. By so doing we are 
laying foundations upon which the Society of the future will be 
raised to a height far beyond anything we can at present hope 
to attain. 
We must not conclude rvithout an expression of satisfaction 
at the way in which our members have responded to the appeal 
on behalf of Mrs. Mjdes. A full acknowledgment of the help 
received will be found elsewhere. 
Lastl)'^, we beg our friends to remember that subscriptions of 
any kind, whether for the Selborne Societ}', or for Nature 
Notes, should not be sent to the Editor, but to the Secretary, 
at 9, Adam Street, Adelphi, W.C. 
AN OPEN FIELD. 
GOOD microscope, such as Beck's “ Star” or Zeiss’s 
cheap instrument, can now be bought at so moderate 
a price, that there are few persons with the leisure to 
study natural objects and a love for such investigation 
who do not already possess one, or who could not easily supply 
themselves if they rvished. It is, however, too often the case 
that this invaluable aid to prying into Nature’s secrets is merely 
used as a plaything, and put aside when the first novelty has 
worn away, for want of some definite object to which it may 
be applied. 
Now there is one group of organisms within the reach of any 
one who is not confined to the flagstones of our great cities which 
offers an almost unworked field for investigation. While most 
branches of zoology and botany have been worried almost to 
their bare threads, the Mycetozoa — or Myxomycetes, as they were 
called before the illustrious de Bary pronounced that they were 
more animals than vegetables— seem to have been very much 
left out in the cold. 
At almost any time of the year a little careful search will 
discover that at our very doors there are minute growths 
belonging to this group, possessing an exquisite beauty which 
