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home and in the field, to congratulate you, as members of this society, 
upon the facilities it affords you for exchanging views and comparing 
notes and specimens, and thus advancing not only the personal 
knowledge of each and all who take an interest in such studies, but 
very frequently also the general knowledge of the subject by means of 
discoveries, which, however small in themselves, may be, as it were, 
the missing links in some line of thought, by which important con¬ 
clusions are ultimately verified. That such societies as these should 
exist in our large towns, and in the heart of the City of London, is in 
itself sufficient to prove the great interest taken by a large section of 
the population in acquiring some knowledge of the common things 
of the country, which they are likely to meet with when they can 
devote their leisure to field rambles. I think none of us would 
hesitate to prefer the opportunity of collecting a fair cabinet series of 
some of our commonest insects, to devoting our vacation, for instance, 
to a search for larvte of Boletobia fulit)inaria within the metropolitan 
district. I sat next to the great traveller, Mr. Stanley, one night at 
a big dinner, and the conversation having turned upon collecting 
objects of natural history, I mentioned the very refining and 
civilising effect of entomological societies and field clubs upon a 
section of the population of our large manufacturing towns, lie had 
to make a speech soon afterwards, in which he emphasised the fact 
that he had that evening heard for the first time that bug-hunting 
had a civilising effect upon human nature. It certainly occurred to 
me that a very elementary study of ichthyology would have saved him 
and his followers from much unnecessary starving upon rotten bananas 
on the banks of the Aruwhimi river! We do not all have Mr. 
Stanley’s opportunities of field study, hut most of us are able 
occasionally to extend our knowledge of natural history somewhat 
beyond that which may be acquired through the medium of printer’s 
ink, and such societies as this undoubtedly go far to defend us from 
the too popular fallacy that anything one sees in print must be true. 
Had I not arrived from the country only yesterday, and been far too 
busy to hunt up recruits, I should certainly have liked to send a card 
of invitation to this meeting in a friendly spirit to the publisher of 
the following charming and instructive description of the habits of 
Cossus : ‘ A talk about trees. 0 The elm tree. Dear children, now we 
must tell you a little about the elm.I am sorry to have to 
tell you that these beautiful elm trees are often much injured by the 
ravages of insects. One of these insects is called the Goat Moth. 
This tiny little creature bores holes in the bark of the tree, and lays 
her eggs there. A small beetle comes out of each egg, and these 
little beetles eat the soft parts of the wood, and so the poor tree begins 
to wither. As many as 80,000 beetles have been found in one tree.’ 
This passage was discovered, and severely criticised, by the daughter 
of my assistant, Mr. Durrant, who was evidently preparing to review 
the work at the mature age of six. It is certainly remarkable that no 
one in this room should yet have discovered that caterpillars of any 
kind lay eggs from which beetles subsequently come into existence. 
The little boy who, when told by his mother that G,od made every- 
* D.B.M. The Prize for Girls and Boys, 1896. [Published for the Proprietors 
by Wells, Gardner, Barton & Co., 3, Paternoster Buildings.] No. VI. (New Series), 
pp. 75-76, June, 1896. 
