15 



Annual Address to the Cotteswold Naturalists^ Field Club, read at 

 TewTceshury, on the lUh February, 1861, by "W. V. Guise, F.L.S., 

 President. 



Gentlemen of the Cotteswold Club. — In reviewing the condition of our 

 society during the past year, I am happy to be able to congratulate you 

 upon the satisfactory condition of our finances and upon the increasing 

 popularity of the club, as proved by the large addition to our list of 

 members. I wish I had it in my power at the same time to congratulate 

 you upon a corresponding increase in the number and value of the 

 additions to our printed transactions. This I regret to say I cannot do. It 

 is to be observed, however, that this is no new cause of complaiut, nor is 

 it confined in its operation to the last year or two. The increasing paucity 

 of late years in the number and importance of the papers communicated to 

 the club contrasts in a most disadvantageous manner with those valuable 

 communications which marked the earlier years of our existence, and 

 which have given to our printed transactions a value which is recognised 

 not in this country only, but on the Continent of Europe, and wherever 

 science, especially geological science, is cultivated. To what then are we 

 to attribute the falling off to which I have alluded? Not, certainly, to the 

 lack of popularity, or decay of interest, for such suppositions are negatived 

 by the increase of our numbers, and by the usually large attendance at 

 our Field Meetings. Somewhat of this slackness during the past season 

 may, no doubt, be attributed to the unfavourable, and we will hope, 

 entirely exceptionable character of the summer of 1 860 ; but we must look 

 further to discover the causes which have led of late years to so remarkable 

 a falling off in the number and importance of our printed papers, and first 

 amongst these must be numbered the increasing influence and attraction 

 of the great scientific societies of the Metropolis, whose meetings offer a 

 more imposing audience and a wider field of fame for the working 

 naturalist than can bo expected in a local association such as ours. But 

 after making every allowance for the action of this great central force of 

 attraction upon our smaller and weaker body, it cannot be doubted that 

 there is stiU a wide field left for our researches, firom which an earnest 

 worker may obtain an ample harvest both of utility and reputation. The 

 vast mass of isolated and unrecorded facts which from time to time present 

 themselves to the eye and mind of the observer, — the question of the 

 distribution of particular forms, — the observation of local variations of 



