the year has exceeded 400, this sum would 

 have been much greater, had not several 

 Members, either through inadvertence or from 

 a mistaken delicacy of feeling, given free ad- 

 mission to numbers of strangers with whom 

 they had no manner of connection. It should 

 be distinctly understood, that Members and 

 Subscribers have a right to introduce only 

 their own friends and acquaintance: all others 

 ought to pay. For more than seven years, 

 the Society acted on the liberal plan of taking 

 nothing from strangers, and it might be very 

 well to continue the same practice, could our 

 circumstances allow it; but, in the present 

 state of our finances, it is wrong for any Mem- 

 ber or Subscriber to exempt persons unknown 

 to them, from paying a small trifle for admis- 

 sion, which no respectable stranger can ever 

 grudge. It is hoped that in another season 

 this regulation will be strictly observed, and 

 consequently become much more productive. 

 The Council, as might be expected under 

 present circumstances, have carefully avoided 

 making purchases. A Plesiosaurus, some rare 

 Fossil Fishes, a few other Fossils, and a very 

 few Minerals, comprise the whole amount 

 purchased during the last twelve months. But, 

 while the collections of the Society have gained 



