THE PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS 



Delivered at the Annual Meeting, January 22, 1881. 

 BY RAPHAEL MELDOLA, F.R.A.S., F.C.S., etc. 



Vice-President of the Entomological Society of London. 



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Ladies and Gentlemen, 



Although our Rules do not make the delivery of 

 an annual address a necessary part of the duties which 

 devolve upon your President, I think that the custom of 

 reviewing the labours of the Club annually is a healthy 

 one, and on the occasion of this our first Anniversary it 

 will not be amiss to express the hope that this custom will 

 be regularly observed by our future Presidents. 



In taking stock of the work done during the first year of 

 our existence, we have every reason to congratulate our- 

 selves upon the general success of the Club ; and I do not 

 think that I go too far when I state that it is impossible to 

 name any other Society of a similar character which has 

 grown so rapidly within such a small period of time. From 

 the 140 original members entered down to February 28th 

 of last year — the date of the delivery of my inaugural 

 address — we have now risen to about 240 members, and 

 candidates for admission still continue to come forward. 

 It is often observed, however, that when an organism 

 grows too rapidly, a constitutional weakness is the result, 

 and I should be no true friend of the Club if I reviewed 

 our work solely from an optimist point of view ; it will be 

 more conducive to our future welfare if I point out what 

 appear to me to be certain weaknesses, so that some of 



