president's address. 19 



Australia. Tt is a boon, which will be more and more appreci- 

 ated as their numbers increase, that investigators in all branches 

 can successfully pursue their studies in these two valuable libraries 

 without being unduly hampered by a lack of means or oppor- 

 tunity to visit the great libraries in Europe, desirable though 

 that may be. 



An event of historic interest came about last year in an unex- 

 pected way. In April last, the Society received a letter from 

 the Director and Curator of the Australian Museum, offering, on 

 behalf of the Trustees, the accompanying "Minute Book of the 

 Entomological Society of New South Wales"; and explaining 

 that "This old record was accidentally found in the Museum 

 'Strong-room' on the occasion of a search for another document." 

 The recovery of this interesting relic of the scientific association 

 which was, in a sense, the forerunner of the Linnean Society of 

 New South Wales is very gratifying, because the Minute Book- 

 in question was supposed to have perished with our Society's 

 early official records in the Garden Palace Fire. The Entomo- 

 logical Society published two volumes of Transactions, each of 

 them comprising five Parts. The first of these contains a record 

 of the proceedings, in addition to the papers read; but the second 

 volume contains papers only. The minute-book shows that four 

 Monthly Meetings, after that of October 8th, 18G8, lapsed for 

 want of a quorum; and with the brief statement that four mem- 

 bers were present at the last of these, the record ends. The 

 survival of the Minute Book is due to the fact that Mr. G. Krefft, 

 then Curator of the Australian Museum, was Hon. Secretary of 

 the Society when the formal meetings were discontinued; and 

 that he retained and took care of the Minute Book. On some 

 future occasion, such, perhaps, as the celebration of this Society's 

 jubilee, it may be possible to supplement, from this new source 

 of information, what is on record relating to the history of the 

 Entomological Society of New South Wales. In his first Presi- 

 dential Address to the Linnean Society of New South Wales, on 

 31st January, 1876, Sir William Macleay said, of the Entomo- 

 logical Society, that its scope was too limited in those early davs; 



