XX1X 
It deserves consideration whether it would not be desirable to make an 
alteration in our Bye-Laws, by repealing the provision which excludes the 
Librarian from the Council, appointing as Honorary Librarian one of our 
own body, who shall be ex officio one of the Council, like the Treasurer 
and Secretaries, and employing a salaried officer as Sub-librarian. The 
Council will be glad to ascertain the opinion of members on this question, 
with a view to taking action thereon during the ensuing year. In the 
meantime, one of the Secretaries, or some other member of the Council, 
will endeavour to attend at the Society's Rooms on the Wednesday in every 
week. 
The Council gladly avails itself of this opportunity to express its 
appreciation of the self-denying manner in which Mr. Janson has facilitated 
the new arrangements in connexion with the Library ; unable himself to 
give a daily attendance at the rooms, he has not allowed his own interest 
or desires to stand in the way or interfere with measures designed to extend 
the usefulness of the Society. He retires, not without regret, from an 
office to which he was first elected in 1850; what was then a mere handful 
of books has, during his custodianship, expanded into a library not un- 
worthy of the Society ; and the Council feels sure that his services of more 
than a quarter of a century will receive at your hands the recognition they 
deserve. 
The Librarian is not the only officer who retires. The Treasurer and 
the junior Secretary do not desire re-election; and the Bye-Laws require 
us to choose a new President. 
It is seldom that so many changes occur simultaneously in the Society’s 
staff. But in electing Prof. Westwood to the chair, the traditions of the 
past will be preserved ; and relying on the co-operation of all the members, 
the Council has confidence in the future of the Society, whose continued 
prosperity betokens a widening sphere of usefulness. 
January 24, 1876. 
The following gentlemen were elected Memibers of Council for 1876 :-— 
Sir John Lubbock, Bart., Sir Sidney Smith Saunders, Professor Westwood, 
and Messrs. H. W. Bates, A. G. Butler, G. C. Champion, J. W. Dunning, 
F. Grut, R. McLachlan, R. Meldola, Rev. R. P. Murray, H. T. Stainton, 
and J. Jenner Weir. 
The following officers were elected for the year 1876 :—President, 
Professor Westwood, M.A., F.L.S., &e.; Treasurer, Mr. J. Jenner Weir ; 
Secretaries, Messrs. F. Grut and R. Meldola; Librarian, Mr. W. E. 
Poole, 
