xl 



Report of the Council foe the Yeae 1898. 



The Council of the Hertfordshire Natural History Society, in 

 presenting the 2-Uh Annual Repoi't, regrets to announce that there 

 continues to be a falling-off in the number of Members. Although 

 this is in great measure due to the resignation of members who 

 have removed from the County, there is evidence, in the small 

 attendance at most of the Watford meetings, of a waning interest 

 in the proceedings of the Society in its original home. The Field 

 Meetings, on the other hand, only three of which were held during 

 the year, have been well attended. 



During the year six ordinary members have been elected ; 

 eighteen members have resigned ; one member has been removed 

 from the list for non-payment of subscription for several years ; 

 and the Council regrets to have to record the loss by death of one 

 Honorary Member — Professor AUman, F.K.S. — and one Ordinary 

 Member — Mr. Abel Smith, M.P. 



George James Allman died on the 24th of November at the ripe 

 age of 86, having been born at Cork in 1812. Fortunately for 

 science he was able to follow his natural inclinations, first 

 abandoning the Bar, for which he was educated, and then the 

 medical profession, for which he qualified, becoming Regius 

 Professor of Botany in Dublin University in the year in 

 which he took his M.D. di^gree, and Regius Professor of 

 Natural History in the University of Edinburgh ten years later. 

 Although his writings are versatile and prolific, contributing 

 to our knowledge of neaiiy every group of animals from the 

 I'rotozoa to the Mammalia, his work is thorough, and for 

 over seventy years he had microscope and dissecting-knife in 

 almost constant use. His ' Monograph of the Gymnoblastic or 

 Tubularian Hydroids ' is his greatest work, and of all the splendid 

 Natural History monographs of the Pay Society this is the finest. 

 Its exquisite coloured plates are faithful copies of his original 

 drawings. He worked at fossil as well as recent Hydrozoa, and it 

 was through the concurrent study of the graptolites that youi- 

 Editor became acquainted with him. He was President of the 

 British Association in 1879 and of the Linnean Society from 

 1874 to 1881, and was one of our original Honorary Members, 

 having been elected in February, 1875. 



By the death, on the 30th of May, of Mr. Abel Smith, Hertford- 

 shire has lost a generous benefactor and a staunch Parliamentary 

 representative, whose political connection with the County extended 

 over the long period of forty -four years. 



The census of the Society at the end of the years 1897 and 

 1898 was as follows : — 



1897. 1898. 



Honorary Members 17 16 



Corresponding Members 3 3 



Life Members 46 46 



Annual Subscribers 149 137 



215 202 



