2 Transactions. 



12 names have been removed, leaving at present 197 names 

 on the roll. During the session we have had the usual seven 

 monthly winter meetings and five summer field meetings ; 

 and it is with pleasure that I bring before you the fact that the 

 attendance at all tlie monthly meetings has been much larger 

 than in any previous year, giving evidence of the increased 

 interest taken in natural history and antiquarian subjects. The 

 average attendance at our winter meetings was 34, and at our 

 summer field meetings 26, as against 22 and 21 the previous 

 year. At the ordinary winter monthly meetings 14 papers were 

 read, many of which were of a very high class character. 



The January winter meeting requires special notice, for it was 

 held as a conversazione in the Greyf riars' smaller hall, and you will 

 all remember it with delight as being one of the sunnier spots in 

 connection with our year's work. A large collection of objects of 

 natural history and antiquarian interest was sent in for exhibi- 

 tion by members and friends. The meeting was opened by Provost 

 Lennox, and several addresses were delivered during the evening. 

 The public were admitted by ticket, and the number of those 

 that attended was so large that the hall was crowded; and many 

 unable to obtain admission went away. On the 30tli March a 

 special meeting of the Society was held for the purpose of con- 

 sidering the proposed alterations and repairs on the "Old Bridge," 

 as they would have materially modernised and altered the ancient 

 character of that structure. A petition approved of by the meet- 

 ing was laid before the Town Council, with the satisfactory result 

 that the Council changed their first plan, and, in the repairs 

 executed, maintained the old lines of the bridge. 



During the winter months we also had an intermediate course 

 of lectures. The subjects chosen related to natural science and 

 antiquities, and were treated in a popular way, and drew large 

 audiences. I am of opinion that those lectures and the con- 

 versazione were the means of considerably increasing the popu- 

 larity of the Society during the session. 



The Summer Field Meetings were all well attended ; and, 

 considering the amount of ground to be gone over at each 

 meeting, a fair amount of work was done. I think our 

 methods on these occasions might be. improved. It is well 

 known, that if curiosity or enquiry is excited, knowledge is the 

 result. At all our Field Meetings (with one or two exceptions) 

 our botanists gather plants, and stow them carefully away in 



