consequently a large total expenditure, a single society rarely contains a number of members having the leisure and means sufficient to form a company which will subdivide the expenses so as to reduce them to a reasonable amount per head; but in the larger association the necessary number ought to be easily found. Such excursions, independently of the direct results which may be expected from the opportunities they afford for investigations of new sources of knowledge, would have the inestimable advantage of intimately associating for a lengthened period the best Naturalists of the district, whereby many valuable friendships may be formed, and thence some indirect benefits to science be expected to accrue. I can speak with the more confidence on the subject, as I have enjoyed and witnessed the results of our own less extended excursions to such places as Teignmouth and Arran. I have heard the many expressions of satisfaction at the pleasure derived from the opportunities of friendly intercourse of members who previously were comparative strangers to one another, and noted with satisfaction the increase of practical knowledge gained of subjects, which before had been confined to the comparatively imperfect information to be derived from books. For the latter class of excursions association of the societies generally is not necessary, or even desirable, for the numbers of the members of the Union who would he willing to form a party to visit a place of such surpassing interest: as Arran, where the botanist, zoologist, or geologist can revel in the superabundance of objects of his special pursuit, would become unmanageable, as the means of accommodation in such places, although often very good, are but small; however, it may he convenient for two or more of the smaller societies to associate for these excursions; probably the best number for the purpose is twenty, and the best destination, if not previously visited, and even then so many fresh objects might not be found elsewhere, is Arran.
I have to the best of my ability endeavoured to show what may be usefully done by the Union. I have one suggestion to make to the individual members of the several societies, The Union is, speaking generally, strong in proportion to the number of societies of which it is composed; the societies in proportion to the number of their members. It is, therefore, the obvious duty of every member to Induce his friends to join his society; he may meet with the objection on the part of his friends that they are not Naturalists; he must urge in reply that, although working Naturalists are few, all are interested in natural phenomena, and all can, by subscribing to its funds, assist a society which is working much good in Cultivating intellectual pursuits and disseminating valuable knowledge. It is without doubt true that many are deterred from entering on the most engrossing and enchanting pursuit, which has even banished ennui and melancholy front its happy followers, by the mistaken idea that no progress can be made in it without painful application to the study of the technical details of the refined distinctions, which are supposed to be the boundary marks between one and another species or variety, and of the to often unmeaning and barbarous names violating all rules of grammar and
