402 Linnean Society. [May 24, 



Although I would not in any degree disparage the importance of 

 our ordinary Meetings, nor undervalue the interest which attaches 

 to a full attendance at, and an earnest and animated spirit pervading 

 them, it must be admitted that the very staple of our prosperity as a 

 Society, that element which will contribute most to our usefulness 

 and to our reputation at home and abroad, is our published Transac- 

 tions. The marked improvement in the regularity of their appear- 

 ance during the last few years was received as an earnest of further 

 progress ; and the Part, which, I trust, will appear upon your table 

 at the commencement of the next session, will, both by its extent 

 and the value of its contents, show that there was no permanent 

 falling off in either of these respects. Still it has been felt by many, 

 and those amongst the most eminent and valued of our Members, 

 that some modification had become necessary in the form of our 

 publications, and in the rapidity and regularity of their issue. This 

 subject was so important in all its bearings, and presented so many 

 difficulties in its execution, that the most serious consideration was 

 necessary in order, on the one hand, to avoid any infringement, 

 either in letter or spirit, of the constitution of the Society, or any 

 compromise of the prestige of its character ; and, on the other, to 

 provide for all the requirements which the spread of its influence and 

 the anticipated increase of its communications should demand. It 

 was felt, and I assure you by no one more strongly than myself, that 

 a new impetus would be given to the Society, and through its means 

 to natural science in general, if facilities were afforded for the rapid 

 and regular transmission to its Members, and to naturalists through- 

 out the world, of such papers as required early publication, and in 

 respect to which the quarto form of our Transactions was either un- 

 necessary or undesirable. It was also considered that our country 

 Members, to whom the Society affords no other tangible advantages 

 than the acquisition of its publications, would be greatly benefited, 

 and their interest in, and, so to speak, their communion with the 

 Society increased, by the regular reception of such a publication, 

 without trouble on their part, and without any increase to the ex- 

 penses of their fellowship. The fact that exactly at this juncture 

 the legislature introduced an Act, by which the greatest facilities 

 would be afforded for the transmission of such publications by the 

 post at a merely nominal expense, concurred strongly in rendering 

 the scheme practicable, and appeared to afford an unmistakeable 

 sanction to its being at once attempted. I need not say that 

 your Council gravely and earnestly considered the proposed plan 

 in all its bearings ; and I have the greatest satisfaction in now 



