10 



the society, he hasbeen twice President, and I know not how many 

 times he has served on the Council, a position he now holds. 



Long may he still be with us and continue to produce those 

 handy little volumes of the " Wayside and Woodland Series," that 

 have done so much to popularise the study of nature ; books thafc 

 to nature lovers as such, unsupported by a scientific training, have 

 made so special an appeal, and have enabled them to recognise and 

 know by name, have, as it were, introduced them personally to, the 

 flowers, and insects and animals of the countryside, and have made 

 the name of Edward Step a household word amongst nature lovers 

 of all degree. 



The fifty years upon which we can look back, are fifty years of 

 continued progress and prosperity. Our membership is now close 

 upon 200, and as you have heard from the Treasurer's and the 

 Council's reports the affairs of the Society are in a very satisfactory 

 and flourishing condition ; in fact our greatest, I may say our only 

 trouble just now is that in some respects the Society is growing 

 too large for its accommodation. Our meeting room certainly is 

 large enough to enable us to face another 50 years expansion with- 

 out a qualm, but unfortunately the space available for our Library 

 and Collection is not so happily situated, in fact in these respects 

 we are very seriously cribbed, cabined and confined. 



As regards the past twelve months we have very nearl}' bad to 

 report the passage of a year without the death of any member of 

 the Society. Unfortunately, only at the last meeting it was the 

 Chairman's sad duty to report the death of Dr. T. A. Chapman, 

 F.R.S., F.E.S., F.Z.S. Dr. Chapman joined us in 1897 and 

 since then has, until this last year, been a familiar figure at our 

 meetings. Probably his most notable work is that in connection 

 with the ' Blue ' butterflies, of which he has worked out the life- 

 history and defined the limits of many, not only of our British 

 species, but of Continental species also. His work is perhaps 

 mainly characterised by its bionomic interest, and he has worked 

 out or elucidated life-histories of many insects of divers orders 

 besides butterflies. 



We also have to deplore the death of one of our early Presidents, 

 Albert Brydges Earn, Avho died on October 31st last, in his 81st year. 

 Though he has for years ceased to be a member of our Society, 

 and was in consequence personally known probably to but few of us, 

 Mr. Earn was President in 1875-76, being only the second to hold 

 that office. 



