147 



THE PEESIDENT'S ADDRESS. 



Gentlemen, 



Our By-Laws provide that at the Anniversary Meeting the 

 Society " shall receive from the Council, and hear read, the Annual 

 Report on the general concerns of the Society." But our constitu- 

 tion says nothing about an Address to be delivered by the President, 

 and therefore the President for the time being would not fail in his 

 prescribed duties if he did not say a word at the Anniversary 

 Meeting about the aifairs of the Society or the progress of Ento- 

 mology. Yet it has apparently been deemed necessary that the 

 President should make some such statement, and the way in which 

 in diiferent years this has been done is very various. Some addresses 

 have been extemporary, some have been very short, and others very 

 elaborate : what I now purpose to say will not come under either of 

 these heads, and if the few observations I have to make serve no 

 other purpose they will at least fill up the time that must necessarily 

 elapse while the ballots remain open. 



Finance. 

 First, then, I take our finance, for finance is at the root of all 

 material prosperity. Our Treasurer's account shows the receipts of 

 last year (including the balance in hand) to have been ^6288 12s. 8jd., 

 and the payments ^183 8s. Qd., leaving a balance of ^105 4s. 2jd.; 

 add to this " Arrears of subscription due ^9 9s.," the balance 

 becomes ^6114 13s. 2^d., from which must be deducted "Amounts 

 due at Chrismas, £-i8 17s. 2d.,'" making the true balance in favour 

 of the Society £65 15s. ll^d. Contrasted with the balance of last 

 year, £49 13s. 2d., this appears favourable, but it must be recollected 

 that we have brought out but three, instead of four, parts of ' Trans- 

 actions ' during the year. The actual income of the Society for the 

 year was .£158 5s. 65-fZ., and the expenditure £165 4s. Sd. ; so tliat, 

 though we have not gone much beyond our revenue, yet an increased 

 income, such as I believe we might easily attain by the method I 



