No, 1.] THE president's ADDRESS. 5 



country. Ontario is in advance of us in this, and has in the pre- 

 sent year produced an important contribution to practical science 

 in the report of the Fruit Grower's Association, which includes, 

 among other matters, three papers on applied Entomology ; that 

 on Insects aifecting the Apple, by Rev. C. T. S. Bethune ; that 

 on Insects affecting the Grrape, by Mr. N. Saunders ; and that on 

 Insects affecting the Plum, by Mr. E. B. Reed. These are most 

 creditable productions and of much practical value. 



I would mention here that though we have amonii^ us several 

 diligent and successful students of insects, yet we have no one at, 

 present who has taken up the mantle of Mr. Ritchie as a describer 

 of their habits. I trust that some of our younger members will 

 at once enter on this promising and useful field. 



WORK DONE. 



Looking at the amount of work done by our Society in the course 

 of the year, I think it will bear comparison with that of similar 

 societies elsewhere. We have not before us so larsje an amount 

 of matter as that accumulated by the great central societies of the 

 Mother Country and the United States ; but we exceed in this 

 respect most of the local societies of Great Britain, outside of 

 London, and most of those in America with the exception of a few 

 of the more important. With regard to the quality of scientific 

 matter, we can boast many papers of which any society might 

 gladly take the credit, while all of the papers which we publish 

 are at least of local value and importance. This Society is, on 

 this account, now recognized as the chief exponent of Canadian 

 Natural History, and its journal is sought by all interested in the 

 aspects of nature in this part of America. The responsibility 

 which devolves upon us in this aspect of our work, is, I think, 

 worthy of our consideration, with reference to our future opera- 

 tions, and to this subject I would desire to devote the remainder 

 of this address. 



One of our functions as a local society I think we have well and 

 efficiently performed. It is that of accumulating and arranging 

 for study the natural productions of this country. Our collec- 

 tions of mammals, birds, insects and mollusks of Canada are now 

 nearly complete up to the present state of knowledge, and we have 

 also valuable collections in other departments of Zoology. Our 

 curator, Mr. Whiteaves, has done very much to give to these 

 collections a scientific value by careful and accurate arrangement- 



