XATURE XOTES 
members and friends of the Society. The lecturer dealt with his subject in a 
manner calculated to instruct and interest even the youngest of the children, and 
all followed the lecture with close attention. The lantern views from Mr. Ward’s 
own photographs were particularly good, the series showing the various trans- 
formations from the egg to the fully-developed White Admiral butterfly being 
especially beautiful. Mr. Ward also gave a very interesting life-history of the 
Hover fly, a frequent visitor to the flower garden. 
Some groups of butterflies and moths photographed by the new colour process 
were also exhibited. 
Mr. T. H. Russell presided, and at the close proposed a hearty vote of thanks 
to the Lecturer, which was carried by acclamation. 
Twenty-four voluntary stewards rendered great assistance in placing the chil- 
dren in their allotted seats, and Mr. Perkins, the city organist, played a selection 
on the organ before the commencement of the lecture. 
EXCURSIONS. 
Saturday, February 22. — By the courtesy of the Secretary of the General 
Post Office, a party consisting of thirty members was allowed to visit the 
buildings at St. Martin-le-Grand. In all eighty applications reached the Ex- 
cursions Secretary, and those who were in time to receive tickets had good reason 
to be pleased that they were able to do so. The party was split up into four 
sections, each of which was supplied with a competent guide, who explained very 
lucidly the system regulating the whole process of receiving, sorting, stamping and 
despatching the letters. 
The Posting Box, or rather the room which bears this name, was first visited, 
and it was explained that the country letters are, immediately upon collection, 
placed in mailbags, and sent to the country sorting office at Mount Pleasant. 
The town letters are dealt with in the St. Martin’s office itself. They are taken 
to the sorting tables and “ faced ” ; that is, they are arranged so that the stamps 
aie all in the same relative position. This operation is performed in order to 
facilitate stamping, which is done by four stamping machines. The stamps are 
obliterated at an almost incredible speed, each machine being capable of dealing 
with 200 tetters per minute. Letters of odd sizes will not pass through the 
machines, so the stamps upon them have to be cancelled by hand stamps. 
The letters are next sorted into districts, and those which are to be delivered 
by the postmen on the St. Martin’s staff are subdivided into rounds, whilst those 
for the suburbs are de'^patched en bloc to the local sub offices. 
The “Blind Office” which is usually mis-named “the Dead Letter Office,” 
is a department where five experts devote their time to the deciphering of 
insufficiently and illegibly directed letters. The addresses they have to decipher 
are often puzzles, and would defy any less expert than the veterans who deal 
with them. Even they, however, have perforce to employ the aid of interpreters 
in order to deal with the numerous letters consigned to the many aliens who dwell 
in our mighty metropolis. 
Another interesting department is the “ Hospital,” where an official devotes 
his whole time to patching up parcels and letters which have become damaged 
during transit. 
The guides tell a story that upon one occasion a chameleon, enclosed in a 
cardboard box, was once discovered by this gentleman, who was, it seems, 
somewhat afraid of it and wished to destroy it. \Ve were glad to learn, however, 
that although it is against the regulations to send such parcels, the lady to whom 
the little creature was consigned was communicated with, and eventually received 
her pet in safety. 
Each different batch of letters is stamped with its own particular stamp, so 
that the officials have a record of through whose hands each individual letter has 
passed. Few of us realize, when we hear the familiar rat-tat of the postman, 
the intricate system which enables us to receive our letters in such a prompt and 
certain manner. 
On Saturday, March 7, Mr. T. A. Joyce, one of the staff, conducted a party 
of twenty-five members and friends over the Ethnographical Galleries of the 
British Museum. He gave a very interesting discourse on “ The Stone Stage iix 
