sKssioN 1895-96. xxi 



works of these two writers that natural selection is the chief factor 

 in the origin of species. 



Our late President, Mr. Henry Seebohm, was the founder of the 

 firm of Seebohm & Dickstall, steel manufacturers, of Sheffield. He 

 was a high authority on steel, a great traveller and geographer, 

 being one of the Secretaries of the Royal Geographical Society, and 

 the foremost ornithologist of the day. To these acquirements he 

 added that of being a splendid lecturer, as those of our members 

 who heard his lectures before this Society on the "Migration of 

 Birds" and on "Siberia" will bear witness. He bequeathed to 

 the British Museum his collection of birds, numbering nearly 

 seventy thousand specimens, of which Sir W. H. Flower, Director 

 of the IMuseum, says that " in extent and scientific value it is one 

 of the most important that the British Museum has ever received." 

 As a tribute of respect, the December meeting of the Society, being 

 the first after his death, was adjourned after the formal business 

 had been transacted. 



Of the ordinary members whom we have lost by death it must 

 sufiice to say that Mr. Isaac Robinson was a contributor to our 

 ' Transactions ' ; that Mr. Upton Robins more than once enter- 

 tained the Society at his residence, Delaport, Wheathampstead ; 

 and that to the kindness of the Earl of Verulam we owe many 

 a pleasant ramble in Grorhambury Park and the woods around it, 

 with one visit to Gorhambury House, when he and other members 

 of his family showed to the members of the Society his valuable 

 collection of paintings and antiquities, etc., and pointed out their 

 historical and other features of interest. 



The following papers or lectures have been read or delivered at 

 Watford during the year : — 



Jan. 29. The Relative Advantages of Hard and Soft Water, with Special 

 Reference to the Supply of AVatford ; by John Hopkinson, 

 F.L.S., F.G.S., F.R.Met.Soc. 



On the Advantages of a Supply of Soft Water for the Town of 



Watford; by Arthur King, M.B. 

 Feb. 26. Anniversary Address — The Stone Age in Hertfordshire ; by 



Sir John Evans, K.C.B., D.C.L., LL.D., Sc. D., 



Treas. R.S., V.P.S.A., etc., Vice-President of the Society. 

 March 26. Report on the Rainfall in Hertfordshire in the year 1894 ; by 



John Hopkinson, F.L.S., F.G.S., F.R.Met Soc. 



The Floods of November, 1894, in Hertfordshire ; by John 



Hopkinson. 



Notes on liirds observed in Hertfordshire during the year 1894 ; 



by Henry Lewis. 



Notes on Birds frequenting the Neighbourhood of Heronsgate, 



Herts; by A. Sainsbury Verey, M.B.O.U. 

 April 23. Climatological Observations taken in Hertfordshire in the year 

 1894 ; by John Hopkinson, F.L.S. , F.G.S., F.R.Met.Soc. 



Meteorological Observations taken at The Grange, St. Albans, 



during the year 1894 ; by John Hopkinson. 



The Gale of the 24th of March, 1895, in Hertfordshire ; by 



John Hopkinson. 



Report on Phenological Phenomena observed in Hertfordshire 



during the year 1894 ; by Edward Mawley, F.R.Met. Soc, 

 F.R.H.S. 



