38 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



has been fully maintained during the past year, and that the 

 monthly meetings have been quite up to the standard of former 

 years. 



" The membership of the Club remains numerically about the 

 same. Thirteen ladies and gentlemen were elected members 

 during the year. Several members have retired for various 

 reasons, and we unfortunately had losses by death, so that our 

 roll now contains 128 names, in addition to which there are 11 

 honorary members. 



" The most serious loss the Club has sustained since its 

 inception fell upon it during the year, when its valued patron, 

 Baron Sir F. von Mueller, passed away in the midst of his labours ; 

 and your Committee feel that, notwithstanding all that has been 

 said and written with reference to the late Baron, they cannot 

 refrain from making further acknowledgment of the many and 

 valued services which he rendered to the Club during the sixteen 

 and a half years of his connection with it as member and patron. 

 Death also removed one of our honorary members, in the person 

 of Mr. T. A. Forbes-Leith, lately resident in England, but well 

 known to many of the older members as an enthusiastic lover of 

 nature's handiwork. 



"For the first time in the history of the Club a monthly 

 meeting was allowed to lapse, the October meeting being 

 cancelled as a mark of respect to the late Baron von Mueller. 



" Twenty-one papers were read at the monthly meetings, ten 

 of which related to Zoology, three to Botany, three to Geology, 

 and five were descriptive of trips and general collecting. The 

 authors of papers were Messrs. C. C. Brittlebank, W. Fielder, 

 C. French, jun., J. Gabriel, R. Hall, H. R. Hogg, G. A. Keart- 

 land, A. E. Kitson, D. Le Souef, G. E. Shepherd, H. T. Tisdall, 

 and Col. Legge (hon. member). Communicated papers were 

 forwarded by Messrs. A. J. Campbell, F. Reader, and J. H. 

 Wright. In addition to these Messrs. T. S. Hall, M.A., and 

 O. A. Sayce gave accounts of recent science work in their 

 respective departments. Notes for reading and publication in 

 the Naturalist were furnished by Baron Von Mueller, Messrs. 

 A. W. Howitt (hon. member), Bullen, Goudie, Hill, Kershaw, 

 and M'Alpine. The Club is to be congratulated on the 

 interesting nature of the papers brought before it, many of which 

 must have entailed a considerable amount of observation in 

 order to enable the facts to be recorded. 



"Another volume (the 13th) of the Naturalist has been com- 

 pleted and duly forwarded to the members, also to a large 

 number of scientific societies both in the Australian colonies and 

 other parts of the world. Your Committee is deeply indebted to 

 Professor Spencer, Messrs. Ashworth, Campbell, Fielder, Gabriel, 

 Le Souef, and Shephard for the plates with which their articles 



