LINNEAN SOCIETY OF LOXDON. 33 



as organized beings have, on the other hand, derived their 

 inspiration from human activities ah'eady in operation before any 

 ordered conception of rural economy had been formed. Our work 

 in this field has reacted equally beneficially on the efforts made by 

 man to preserve a sound mind in a healthy frame and to find a 

 satisfactory solution of the two great problems, what he shoidd eat 

 and wherewithal he might be clothed. 



Sir Harry VEiTcn then moved : — " That the President be 

 thanked for his excellent address, and that he be requested to 

 allow it to be printed and circulated amongst the Fellows," which 

 resolution, having been seconded by Mr. P. M. Campbell, was 

 put and carried witli acclamation. 



The President having acknowledged the vote of thanks, pro- 

 ceeded to address Dr. Frederick Du Cane G-odman, F.R.S., 

 reciting his services to the study of zoology, and handing to him 

 the Linnean Medal in gold. He said : — 



Dr. GODMAN, — 



It is a source of much pleasure to me that it should be my 

 fortune to serve our Society as the representative of its Council 

 in conveying to you on their behalf the highest mark they can 

 offer you of their appreciation of your services to the Science of 

 Natural History. 



Devoted from your youth to the cultivation of that Science, 

 and especially to the study of Birds, you took a leading part, 

 now sixty years since, in the foundation of the British Ornitho- 

 logists' Union and in the establishment of that notable scientific 

 journal, ' The Ibis.' 



Shortly thereafter you joined your friend, the late Mr. Salvin, 

 in his third expedition to Centi-al America, and some years later 

 you explored the Azores as a naturalist, and in 1870 put the 

 results of your researches at the disposal of other workers. You 

 then visited Madeira and the Canaries on the same errand, before 

 commencing in 1876 those fruitful labours which have placed 

 students of Natural History under so great an obligation to Mr. 

 Salvin and to you. 



The ' Biologia Centrali-Americana,' in which these labours are 

 embodied, is a work which affords a survey of the fauna of the 

 region, including the countries of Mexico and Panama with all the 

 intervening territories, more complete than any such survey yet 

 made of a similar tropical area. Since the inception of the task 

 there have appeared, between the years 1879 and 1915, over three 

 score volumes dealing with nearly forty thousand species of 

 animals, al)out one-half of which have proved new to science. We 

 owe to you, in conjunction with your colleague, the account of 

 the Butterflies of the area, and to you alone the account of the 

 Birds. 



LINN. SOC. proceedings. — SESSION 1917-1918. d 



