THE ADDEESS 



Of the retiring President, Charles Lingen, Esq., M.D., 

 read in his absence before the Members of the 

 WooLHOPE Naturalists' Field Club, at their 

 Annual Meeting, held in Hereford, Januaiy 26Lh, 

 1858. 



Mt year of office has closed, and it now becomes my duty — a 

 somewhat embarraesing one I find — to give an account of our pro- 

 ceedings since you did me the honor, twelve months ago, to elect 

 me your president ; but I must first record my acknowledgements 

 for the honor conferred, which I felt to be as uimierited, as it 

 certainly was unexpected ; indeed, had I known of your decision in 

 time, I should have entreated you to reconsider, and reverse it : 

 but I had no choice. My professional occupations, though scientific 

 in, their nature, only border on those branches of knowledge to 

 which the attention of this Society is devoted, and leave little time 

 for such pursuits. Being fully a^vai'e that those subjects demanded 

 of your leader more than a general familiarity with them, I entered 

 on my duties with timidity ; yet thanks to the efficient and ready 

 help of my fellow-members, my duties have been lightened, and my 

 presidential cycle has passed off very pleasantly as regards myself, 

 and not fruitlessly as regards the Club ; if success has attended its 

 labors, the merit of that success is essentially its own. 



It is from combinations such as these, scattered throughout the 

 kingdom, that so much has been effected, and is yet to be hoped 

 for, in accimiulating material for purposes of generalization, and for 



