XXIV EOYAL SOCIETY OP CANADA. 



belle et louable mission que les fondateurs de l'Institut ont légud à leurs successeurs : celle d'instruire 

 le peuple autant que possible, d'une manière tout à la fois profitable et agréable. En dernier lieu, je 

 tiens à sitjnaler que nous comptons, parmi nos membres, tous les borames distingués d'Ottawa qui font 

 partie de la Société royale : MM. Suite, Lusignan, Marmette, De Celles, Tanguay, Deville, ainsi que 

 M. Tassé, que nous réclamons encore comme un des nôtres. Dejjuis assez longtemps, Québec s'est 

 fièrement décerné le titre de l'Athènes du Canada français. Que la vieille cité de Champlain porte son 

 sceptre sans ostentation, car avec des plumes comme celles que nous possédons, s'il survenait un 

 combat de chroniques et de sonnets, Ottawa pourrait dire avec Sertorius: 



Rome n'est plus dans Rome, elle tombe où je suis. 



VI. From the Ottawa Field Naturalists' Club, through Dr. Ells. 



I have the honour to present herewith the report of the Ottawa Field Naturalists' Club for the 

 year ending March, 1891. 



The progress of the club during the past year has been eminently satisfactory. The membership 

 has largely increased, no less than sixty-six new names having been added to the roll. The several 

 lecture courses have been much more largely attended than in any previous year, and a generally 

 increasing interest has been manifested in the work of the club. In addition to the two courses of 

 lectures conducted by the club as a regular part of its operations a new departure was made during 

 the past winter in the direction of a series of visits to the museum of the Geological Survey, on 

 which occasions the different branches of natural history there displayed were discussed by the various 

 officers of the Survey staff, and much valuable information was imparted in that way. The special 

 object of these visits to the museum was to show the great value which might be derived from this 

 institution in the study of the natural sciences. In the three series of lecture — viz., those in the 

 afternoon, in the evening and at the museum — no less than twenty-six wei-e delivered, embracing the 

 several subjects of mineralogy, ornithology, botany, paleontology, geology, ethnology, etc. 



It may be remarked that the condition of the club, both financially and otherwise, has never been 

 more prosperous than at present. Its publications, now issued monthly, form an annual volume of 

 over 250 pa^-es. It has on its list of exchanges over seventy societies in Europe and America, and has 

 a membership of nearly 300 persons, including many names distinguished for scientific work in vari- 

 ous departments in all the provinces from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and one of the aims of the 

 society now is to so extend its active membership as to make it the centre for collecting fiicts in all 

 the branches of natural history from all parts of the Dominion. 



The following list of officers for the present year was elected at the annual meeting in March : 



President— Dr. E. W. Ells. 

 First Vice-President— T. J. MacLaughlin. 

 Second Vice-President — H. M. Ami. 

 Secretary — W. H. Harrington. 

 Treasurer — A. G. Kingston. 

 Librarian — W. A. D. Lees. 



Members of Council— Miss M. A. Mills, Miss E. Bolton, Miss G. Harmcr ; Messrs. W. 

 Scott, R. B. Wbyte and James Fletcher. 



The leaders of the different sections for the present year are— in 



Geology and Mineralogy— Messrs. H. M. Ami, "W. F. Ferrier, and C. W. Willimott. 

 Botany — Messrs. James Fletcher, Wm. Scott and R. H. Cowley. 

 Conchology — F. E. Latchford. 



