xliv PROCEEDINGS OF THE 



Eepoet of the Council foe, 1882. 



In presenting the eighth Annual Report, the Council of the 

 Hertfordshire Natural History Society and Field Club has the 

 pleasure of stating that the Society maintains its position as one 

 of the most vigorous of the many provincial scientific societies in 

 the kingdom, and continues to do valuable work in the investigation 

 of the natural history of its legitimate area, the County of Hertford. 



During the year nine ordinary members have been elected, and 

 one honorary member ; two members have compounded for their 

 annual subscriptions; eight members have resigned; and the Council 

 regrets to have to record the loss by death of one honorary member, 

 Mr. Charles R. Darwin, M.A., LL.D., F.R.S., and four ordinaiy 

 members, Mr. John Flower, M.A., the Rev. H. Wade Hodgson, 

 M.A., Mr. Matthew Moggridge, F.G.S., and Mr. John Sedgwick. 



By the death of Charles Darwin the Society has lost its most 

 distinguished honorary member. While Linnteus left his mark on 

 science by his comprehensive survey of living things, giving to 

 every natural object known to him a name and place in the system 

 he invented, Darwin will be chiefly known and honoured for his 

 patient investigation of the reason of the harmonies and analogies 

 existing in Nature and of the causes which have given rise to its 

 diversity, and whether the philosophical theory of evolution to 

 which his name has been given be eventually accepted or not, it 

 cannot be denied that his writings have done more to advance the 

 study of Natural History, and have had a far greater effect upon 

 scientific thought and investigation, than those of any other natu- 

 ralist. 



The census of the Society at the end of the years 1881 and 1882 

 was as follows : — 



1881. 1882. 



Honorary Members 15 15 



Life Members 36 38 



Annual Subscribers 220 215 



271 268 



The Council has to announce the completion of the first volume 

 of the ' Transactions of the Hertfordshire Natural History Society ' 

 and the commencement of the second volume, two parts of each 

 having been published during the year. The contents of the first 

 volume issued by the Society under its altered title are equal iu 

 value and interest to those of the ' Transactions of the Watford 

 Natural History Society,' but while in the former series papers on 

 Geology and Botany predominate, in the present volume Meteor- 

 ology and Zoology have received the greatest amount of attention. 

 For the valuable plate in this volume illustrating Mr. Henry Grove's 

 paper on the occurrence of Vertigo Moulinsiana in Hertfordshire, the 

 Society has to thank Dr. Gwyn Jeffreys, F.R.S., by whom the paper 

 was communicated. For the other illustrations the Society is 

 indebted to the liberality of authors, Mr. F. W. Phillips having 

 supplied the plate illustrating Uotifera from the neighbourhood of 



