THE PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. 



Gentlemen, 



The loss of our most illustrious Member, Charles Eobert 

 Darwin, which occurred on the 19th of April last, is still fresh 

 in our recollections. Born on the 12th February, 1809, he 

 was educated successively at Shrewsbury, Edinburgh, and 

 Cambridge. 



In the case of any one who has achieved greatness, it is 

 always interesting to search in his early career for the first 

 indications of his future celebrity ; it becomes, so to speak, an 

 embryological study of the mental development. 



Through the kindness of our excellent Secretary, Mr. Fitch, 

 I have been favoured with a few lines written by one of our still 

 living Original Members on the subject of Charles Darwin leaving 

 Cambridge in 1831. This was in a letter addressed by the Eev. 

 Leonard Jenyns (now Kev. Leonard Blomefield) to James Francis 

 Stephens, April 11th, 1831. It was as follows : — 



" S waff ham Bulbeck, April 11th. 

 " My dear Stephens, 



'' . . . . Darwin, I am sorry to say, has taken his 

 degree, so that we are likely to lose him soon at Cambridge 

 altogether, which I shall very much regret, he having assisted 

 me greatly in working out the Cambridgeshire insects, and proved 

 so very diligent a collector ; though I have not yet been able to 

 induce him to extend his enquiries beyond the order of Coleoptera. 

 He comes up for one more term this spring, I believe solely for 

 entomological purposes, and I mean that we should do a great 



deal together during that time 



" Yours very sincerely, 



"L. Jenyns." 



