1854.] Linnean Society. 299 



sirous to say thus much of one whom 1 really esteemed, and whose 

 loss, as a profound and ardent investigator of nature, I sincerely 

 deplore. 



Of Mr. Charles Stokes, as a man of the most varied and exten- 

 sive information, of fine and highly cultivated taste, of the most 

 sincere, and warm, and kindly feelings, of unflinching integrity, 

 — as the universal favourite of all who knew him, from the philo- 

 sopher to the child, — I can tell you nothing that would not he far 

 hetter told by Mr. Bennett. I cannot wholly pass over without a 

 few words, the loss of our estimable Vice-President Dr. Wallich. 

 Here too I shall leave the history of his life and labours to better 

 hands. As a thoroughly true-hearted man, as a warm and sincere 

 friend, as a man of great intelligence and learning, he was well 

 known to you all; and I feel that, as a Society, we have sustained a 

 severe loss by the death of a Vice-President, who was always ready, 

 as long as his health enabled him to act for us, to afford us the ad- 

 vantage of his great experience, his counsel and support. 



But, Gentlemen, if we have to grieve at the inroads which death 

 has made amongst the most distinguished of our Fellows, there is 

 another side of the picture for our contemplation, to which we may 

 turn for some degree at least of compensating satisfaction. The 

 accession of Fellows during the past year has been more than usually 

 numerous, and amongst those who have recently joined us, are 

 several rising naturalists whom we may expect to follow worthily in 

 the steps of those whose labours are now over. I am sure I may be 

 permitted to congratulate the Society on the accession to our list of 

 one honoured name, of whom we may well be proud ; and it is no 

 disparagement to others, if I particularize Mr. Charles Darwin, the 

 philosophic traveller, the acute observer, the accomplished and 

 learned naturalist, and the author, amongst other inestimable works, 

 of one of the most complete Monographies that has ever appeared 

 on any group in the animal kingdom. It was principally on account 

 of Mr. Darwin's Monograph of the Cirripedes that the Royal Society 

 awarded to him the Royal Medal of last year, and I trust that we 

 may hope for contributions to our Transactions from the same pen. 



On the Foreign list we have lost a large number, six out of fifty, 

 and some of these are venerable names. In selecting their successors 

 the Society has been able to choose men in no wise, I trust, their 

 inferiors. 



The name of the veteran Dumeril stands at the head of the list of 

 Zoologists who have been chosen by us on the recent occasion. 

 Tliis venerable naturalist has now been prominently before the sci- 



