ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 55 



remarked that a considerable number of ladies were present ; 

 this we announce with great pleasure, for their countenance is, 

 in every undertaking, an earnest of success : we understand 

 that ladies are eligible as members, and that several have 

 already joined the Society. Among the gentlemen present, 

 we recognized the Rev. Mr. Kirby, who had the same day, as 

 we heard, travelled to London expressly to attend the meeting, 

 and Mr. Spence, Mr. Kirby's coadjutor in the great work with 

 which every entomologist is acquainted. 11 



The chair was first taken by Mr. Children, who said 

 that, before proceeding to the regular business of the Society, 

 he must trespass a few minutes on the attention of the meeting. 

 He was delighted to see before him so numerous and so dis- 

 tinguished an assembly ; a delight greatly enhanced by the 

 presence of ladies. The object of the Society was to study 

 the forms, the habits, the economy, he might say, the moral 

 character, of insects. He could remember the time when the 

 idea of associating for such a purpose would have been treated 

 with ridicule and contempt, but happily a very different feeling 

 now prevailed : we were now beginning to perceive that 

 Natura nusquam magis quam in minimis tota est. Many 

 gentlemen present would be aware that this was not the first 

 attempt that had been made in this country to establish a simi- 

 lar society ; he would not dwell on the cause of want of success 

 in that instance, but he would say, and say with all his heart, 

 let the proceedings of the present Society be conducted with 

 peace, good-feeling, and unanimity, and then it must succeed. 

 Concordia parvce res crescunt; discordid maximce dila- 

 buntur. This was, in fact, the first meeting of the Society ; 

 a previous meeting had indeed taken place, at which officers 

 had been appointed and formal business arranged, but that 

 must be looked on as merely a preliminary meeting. He 

 would remind the meeting, as an incentive to exertion, of the 

 establishment and present prosperity of an Entomological 

 Society in France: that Society has been joined by most of 

 the first entomologists of Europe, and had already published 

 a volume and a half of valuable scientific Transactions : that 

 Society had unanimously elected the great patriarch of the 

 science, the late illustrious Latreille, to the office of Honorary 



" Kirby and Spence's Introduction to Entomology. We only record the pre- 

 sence of honorary members and distinguished visitors. 



