79 
I should be glad to hear that our microscopists were ready to give proof of 
their work in some contributions to our papers, and I leave the (I have no doubt) 
easy task of eliciting such, as a legacy tothe new President. Several things have 
fought against us in the year past, and the delays of publishing our long-promised 
yolume—delays over which the President and the Committee had no control or 
remedial power—operated as discouragements to thej collection of papers, as to 
which it was uncertain when they were likely to see the light. At last our volume 
is launched, and this I must say in candour, owing very much to the staunch and 
magnanimous way in which, as ever, Dr. Bull has taken the working oar. In 
experience, in resource, in real wit in cases of ditficulty, but above all, in hearty 
helpfulness I have never met his equal. Mr. Clark, of Eaton Bishop, too, deserves 
my thanks for valuable and timely assistance. I think the Editorial Committee 
should address itself to the discovery of a better mode of publishing our transactions 
in future; and that it would be well if our finances, which are hopeful, were 
revised by a collateral sub-committee. On the whole, and in coficlusion, I see 
much whereupon to congratulate the club. Our numbers grow ; there are no 
schisms in our body ; we have a local habitation found, and a museum in prospect, 
Our reputation as a field club is so extended that the Natural History Societies of 
Bristol, Dublin, and Berwick-upon-Tweed write to us ever and anon through their 
Secretaries to ask for our new volume of transactions. 
I believe that Mr. Isbell’s movement in reference to a pair of thermometers 
and a rain guage at the Free Library has been taken up and carried out, and Iam 
glad to think that we have satisfactorily accomplished a modest scheme of prizes 
for the encouragement of young naturalists. 
A prize for dried plants was awarded in January last to Miss Edith Jones 
Thomas, a daughter of one of our most active members, and also a smaller prize 
to a young Herefordian for a collection of bird’s eggs. So much for the past. 
The future of the club ought not to be doubtful. I could name, were it not 
invidious, half-a-dozen or a dozen members who have not yet filled the office of 
President, yet who, if elected to fill it, as the years come round, would adorn the 
office and impart life, method, research, prestige to the doings of the club. For 
myself, I have striven in my two years’ term, to make up for defects of special 
knowledge by accessibility to every member, and a study to understand and carry 
out the wishes of the whole body ; and I am vain enough to think that I have not 
wholly failed. But if this is so, a great part of the secret has lain in the ready 
help and great encouragement I have met with from every officer and every 
member of the Woolhope body, and in their loyal principle of lightening their 
President’s labours by confidence and support. 
After the President had concluded, the Rev. W. Bevan (Hay) and Rev. T. 
W. Webb (Hardwick) were proposed by the President (Rev. Jas. Davies) and 
seconded by the President elect (Rev. C. J. Robinson), and unanimously elected 
honorary members. 
L 
