4 THE AUSTRALIAN NATURALIST. 
the enthusiastic work of members is making its influence 
widespread. ] 
Water W. Froggatt, President. 
81st July, 1905. Wu. B. Gurney, Hon. Sec. 
THE AIMS AND USEFULNESS OF FIELD NATURA- 
LISTS’ SOCIETIES. 
(Presidential Address by Mr. W. W. Frogatt, F.L.S., at the Annual 
General Meeting, 8rd August, 1905.) 
Laplgs anp GENTLEMEN,— 
I have thought that a presidential address for this evening 
would be appropriate if it dealt with the aims of Field Natura- 
lists’ Clubs in general, and our own in particular. 
Nearly twenty-five years ago I was collecting beetles, and 
gaining colonial experience in the the north-west corner of New 
South Wales, known then as the Grey Ranges, now as Milpar- 
inka, when I heard that a party of ladies and gentlemen had 
met together in Melbourne and founded a Field Naturalists’ 
Club. On my return to civilization I communicated with 
seyeral members, and through the courtesy of Mr. Charles 
French, then in the Botanic Gardens (and as ardent beetle 
collector then as now), I began to name up my collections. 
After that my interest in Natural History never flagged. I 
had always been a bush naturalist, but the assistance gained 
from the F.N.S. of Victoria set me on a definite track, and I 
therefore consider that I owe a great deal to our first Field Natu- 
ralists’ Club. I have since been identified with, and taken a 
keen interest in the first two Societies that were formed in 
Sydney on these lines, and after their death, when it was 
proposed in 1900 to start our present flourishing Society, 
readily joined in the movement, Nearly every naturalist 
has commenced his life work as a collector, but the simple 
accumulation of specimens, be they beetles, birds’ eggs, min- 
~ erals, fossils, or plants, does not make a naturalist. Ifhe stops 
at this he never reaches beyond the stage of a collector—he 
might as well collect match-box lids or cigarette cards. 
Darwin tells us that as a boy he collected all kinds of speci- 
mens—heetles, plants, stamps, seals, and many other things— 
and might have never done any scientific work if it had not 
been his meeting with Prof, Henslowe at Oxford, through 
whose kind offices he had the offer of a position on the explor- 
ing ship Beagle, the story of which he afterwards told in 
“The Voyage of a Naturalist,” which should be read by every 
one of our youthful members. ; 
‘Now, the primary object of a Field Naturalists’ Club is the 
bringing together of all the young people, reaching out its hands 
to the young students and collectors, bringing them within its 
