THE PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. 



Gentlemen, 



As the first stage in our history has now been 

 reached, it may not be amiss that I should take the oppor- 

 tunity of saying a few words on the objects and prospects of 

 the Society. 



The advantages which the original promoters of the 

 Institution anticipated were of a two-fold character. They 

 wished to oive all who were interested in the Science of Ento- 

 mology opportunities of social intercourse ; and they also 

 wished to be the means of assisting in the publication of such 

 Papers connected with the Science as might be deemed worthy 

 of their sanction. 



Viewing these as the main objects of the Society, I think 

 I am justified in saying, that it has already been as successful 

 as its most sanguine promoter could have desired. A 

 number of gentlemen, previously unknown to each other, have 

 been afforded opportunities of meeting together, which, with- 

 out the intervention of the Society, would, perhaps, never 

 have existed ; an impetus has been given to collecting in a 

 degree hitlierto unknown in the Colony ; and from the 

 facilities given of communicating information, an unusual 

 amount of observation has been concentrated on the history 

 and habits of the Insect tribes 



During the few months of the Society's existence, six 

 Papers have been read. Mr. Schrader*'s Paper on the Gall- 

 making Coccidae of Australia was the first in point of date, 

 and, perliaps, the first also as regards the interest and 

 originality of the subject ; since the knowledge which ento- 

 mologists have as yet acquired of the Insects which produce 



