( xxxix ) 



THE PKESIDENT'S ADDKESS. 



Gentlemen, 



In accordance with the terms of Chapter XX. of our Bye- 

 Laws, I announce that the Officers and Council for the ensuing 

 year will be as follows : — 



President: Pi. M'Lachlan, F.E.S. Treasurer: E. Saunders, 

 F.L.S. Secretaries : H. Goss, F.L.S., and W. W. Fowler, M.A., 

 F.L.S. Librarian : F. Grut, F.L S. And as otlier Members of 

 Council: T. E. Billups, E. A. Fitch, F.L.S., F. Du Cane 

 Godman, M.A., F.E.S., W. F. Kirby, E. B. Poulton, M.A., F.G.S., 

 S. Stevens, F.L.S., H. T. Stainton, F.E.S., and J. J. Weir, 

 F.L.S. 



The exigencies of other engagements necessitate the retire- 

 ment from Secretarial duties of both Messrs. Fitch and Kirby. 

 A thorough change of Secretaries is always a matter of im- 

 portance. The Secretaries (or the Acting Secretary) and the 

 Treasurer are the most important Officers in every Society, for 

 it is on their supervision, separately and combined, that the 

 welfare of a Society mainly depends. Two of our Fellows have 

 kindly volunteered to fill the vacancies, and from what we know 

 of them and of their work, I have no doubt they will 2)rove 

 as efficient as their predecessors ; and they are doubtless 

 fully aware that they enter upon their duties at a time when 

 the Society has acquired a new position and advantages, and 

 also increased responsibility. 



Our Treasurer has kindly supplied an unsolicited analysis of 

 the financial condition of the Society for the last six years. It 

 is not quite so satisfactory as I could have wished ; but it shows 

 a gradual increase in what may be termed current income, in all 

 items save one ; I allude to the receipts from the sale to the 

 public of our Transactions, which last year show a notable 

 diminution. This is an item at all times lluctuatino- and 



