Ixxiv 



Linnean Society will be found a paper on " The Butterflies of 

 Malacca," by Mr. A. G. Butler, and " Descriptions of some 

 minute Hyraenopterous Insects," by Prof. Westwood. The 

 Journal of the same Society (Zoolog}'', vol. xiv.), besides the 

 posthumous paper by Mr. F. Smith already mentioned, contains 

 " Descriptions of new Hemiptera," by Dr. Buchanan White ; 

 " Descriptions of new Coleoptera collected by Mr. Darwin," by 

 Mr. F. H. Waterhouse ; " An Analysis of the Species of Caddis- 

 flies described by Linnteus in his Fauna Suecica," by Pastor H. 

 J. D. AVallengren, with Notes by Mr. M'Lachlan ; " Observations 

 on the Habits of Ants," by Sir John Lubbock; and an abstract of 

 a paper by the same author, " On the Anatom}' of Ants," which 

 is reserved for publication in the Transactions, with illustrations. 

 The Proceedings of the Zoological Society contain no less than 

 eleven entomological papers (two in the volume for 1878, but 

 published in 1879), including three on Lepidoptera by Mr. F. 

 Moore, two on Coleoptera by Mr. Martin Jacoby, two on 

 Arachnida by the Rev. 0. Pickard Cambridge, one on Lepidoptera 

 by Mr. Distant, and three on Lepidoptera by Messrs. Godman 

 and Salvin. 



Nearly all these memoirs are by Fellows of this Society, and I 

 take this to indicate that the means of the Entomological Society 

 are insufficient to keep pace with the productive capacity of its 

 members. It can only be from their unwillingness to overtax 

 our resources that our past and present Presidents, Vice- 

 Presidents, Treasurers, and Secretaries are driven to have 

 recourse to other Societies for the publication of purely entomo- 

 logical papers. 



This leads us naturally to the consideration of our finances. 

 The prosperity of the Society is in proportion to the number of 

 our members, and depends mainly on a steady increase in the 

 number. The Society started with about 100 members; during 

 the first ten years of its existence the number gradually 

 increased, and was eventually doubled ; the tide then turned, and 

 we dwindled down to 130 ; after small fluctuations, at the end of 

 thirty years the number was under 150, but the next lustrum 

 brought us back to 200, and for several j'ears the number was 

 maintained at or about that figure ; during the last few years 

 there has been a slow but steady growth, and at the present 

 time we count 230. Corresponding with these changes, our 



