XX PEOCEEDIN&S OF THE 



tlie almost unprecedented n\itnber of naturalists who have been 

 enrolled in our list of Fellows during the present session, — amount- 

 ng to no fewer than 20, — besides those whose certificates are still 

 suspended. 



It is with much regret and sorrow that I turn to the painful 

 side of the accoimt, and find it my duty to refer to the annual 

 diminution of our numbers by death, besides several who have, 

 from various causes, withdrawTi from us ; but although there were 

 many, amongst those who have been removed from us by the 

 inevitable fate of man, whose loss as good men and most valuable 

 members of society, and some of them ardent cultivators of natural 

 science, we must deeply deplore, — and I have myself to mourn the 

 loss of one who was the constant and faithful friend of nearly fifty 

 vears,— yet few of those of whom we have been thus deprived had 

 occupied a conspicuous place in the scientific world, or contributed 

 in particular to our own Transactions, or taken any active part in 

 the affairs of the Society. 



At the last anniversary I had the pleasure of announcing to you, 

 that the Council had unanimously resolved upon a modification of 

 your publications, which should aff"ord the opportunity of a more 

 extensive and more speedy issue of such papers, read at your 

 meetings, as might not require to appear in the quarto form of your 

 Transactions. This resolution has now been carried into effect, as 

 far as the brief period which has since elapsed has permitted. It 

 would be premature as yet to declare, that all the anticipations 

 of advantage from this design have been realized. It Avill require 

 at least another year to ascertain its full results, and whether the 

 present plan shall be exactly followed, or whether any modification 

 of it may prove desirable. I may, however, be permitted even 

 now to state, that I have not heard one word of dissatisfaction 

 expressed by any one ; but, on the contrary, I have received from 

 many quarters the assurance of the cordial welcome with which 

 the new publication has been received, and of the general approval 

 of the form in which it has been issued. The only condition with 

 which I have heard this approval connected is, that the quarto 

 Transactions should never be infringed upon by its humbler and less 

 pretentious handmaid. I need not say, that in this view I most 

 heartily concur ; nor could I feel tlie satisfaction which I now do 

 at the present working and future prospects of the Journal of our 

 Proceedings, did I not confidently expect that it will not interfere 

 with the reg-ular appearance, or diminish the value and importance 

 of those Transactions, which have been so long identified with tlie 



