206 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [June 



NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. 



PROCEEDINGS AT THE ANNUAL MEETING, 



Held May ISth, 1870. 



The annual meeting; of this Society was held at its rooms on 

 the evening of May 18th, the Acting President, Rev. A. De 

 Sola, LL.D., in the absence of Sir W. E. Logan, in the chair. 

 Mr. J. F. Whiteaves, the Recording Secretary, read the minutes 

 of the last annual meeting ; after which the usual annual address 

 was delivered as follows : — 



In the notice calling this meeting, it was announced that there 

 would be an address by the Acting President. I fear, however, 

 that I shall have now to prove there would be more of courtesy 

 than of justice in dignifying my few remarks, illustrative of the 

 work done in the past year, with a title that has frequently, even 

 if not invariably, conveyed on such an occasion the idea of a 

 scientific treatise. When I had the honor of last filling the 

 presidential chair, I called your attention to '' some points of 

 interest in the study of Natural History" ; but this evening, I do 

 not follow this course, for two reasons, which I trust you will 

 regard as quite sufficient. The first is, that I — and I venture to 

 add most others in my situation — would but little desire to give 

 opportunity of contrast with what, had he been present, our 

 learned President, Sir Wm. Logan, would have favored us. And 

 the second is, that multifarious and urgent official and other 

 duties would have prevented me, however I might have felt dis^ 

 posed to intrude in such a direction. In uniting with me, as I 

 am sure you will, in regretting the absence of our President on 

 this occasion, we may yet have the satisfiiction of recalling the 

 fact that on Sir William Logan's recent retirement from the 

 active duties of Director of the Geological Survey, this Society, 

 which in the past had done something to help Sir William in 

 creating the Survey, availed itself of the occasion of his with- 

 drawal to present him with its silver medal, accompanied with 

 resolutions expressive of the Society's desire — although it could 

 not add appreciably to the many honors which Sir William had 



