xii PROCEEDINGS OF THE 
the time for improvement is passed, and that in my case is fal- 
sified the adage, “ Never too late to mend.” 
The period during which I have been in office has been an 
eventful one ; perhaps I do not exaggerate when, in this respect, I 
compare it advantageously with any other similar period in the 
history of the Society ; and it will not, I think, be uninteresting 
or useless if, in my brief valedictory address, I recur to some of 
the more remarkable events which have distinguished it, with the 
view of examining how far we have progressed in the fulfilment of 
our mission, and what has been the result of our work, either within 
our own immediate circle, or in the more extended sphere of our 
influence, or of our external relations. 
One of the earliest changes which occurred in our arrangements 
was the establishment of the Journal of Proceedings. Many of 
you will recollect that before this plan was adopted, papers were 
occasionally read at our meetings which, however valuable they 
may have been in themselves, neither required the quarto form 
for their illustration, nor appeared, in other respects, to be adapted 
for that mode of publication. In addition to this, the accumula- 
tion of important matter which called for more speedy publication 
than could be effected by the annual issue of the Transactions, 
demanded, so to speak, a supplementary channel for its appearance. 
It was proposed that these requirements should be fulfilled by the 
octavo form of publication to which I am alluding. The innova- 
tion was so considerable, and that too in a body so eminently con- 
servative as ours, that its proposal excited much attention, and 
was discussed with the freedom, and, at the same time, with the 
deliberation, which so important a change demanded. The result 
of much and deep consideration was the adoption of that form, 
which has ever since been carried out with a degree of regularity, 
greater, perhaps, than could have been reasonably expected, when 
it is considered upon how many contingencies its periodical issue 
depends. The success of the experiment (for such it was at its 
commencement) has fulfilled the anticipations of its warmest ad- 
vocates; and the satisfaction with which it has been received, not 
only by the Society, but by naturalists who were not of our body, 
both in England and abroad, has, I doubt not, contributed greatly 
to raise the character of the Society, to extend its usefulness, and 
in no small degree to increase our numbers by the accession of 
many a good working naturalist. 
The most striking event, however, of the period of which I am 
