( cxxxi ) 



THE PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. 



Gentlemen, 



It is the privilege, and no small privilege, of the President 

 of our Society to give an address at the termination of his 

 year of ofl3.ce, and I can assure the Fellows of The Entomo- 

 logical Society that I more than appreciate the honour 

 which is thus conferred on me. There is no task so difficult 

 for the President of our Society as to give an address, for, 

 whatever theme he may select, he knows at the outset that he 

 is addressing a number of experts, many of whom are far 

 more familiar with the subject he has selected than he is 

 himself. Under these circumstances, perhaps, it would be fit 

 for the President to make a kind of apology that he has to 

 speak at all, but I do not propose to do this ; I merely crave 

 your indulgence to listen to the few remarks that I am going 

 to put before you. 



In giving my Presidential address this evening, it is hardly 

 necessary for me to point out that we are in the midst 

 of the greatest war ever known in history, and possibly are 

 face to face with the greatest changes that mankind has ever 

 seen. It is therefore not strange that entomology and 

 entomologists should be affected by this titanic struggle. I 

 must mention the deaths of three well-known entomologists. 

 Firstly, the famous French entomologist, one of our honorary 

 Fellows, Mons. Fabre, whose works recording and portraying 

 the marvels of insect biology will remain for ever as a monu- 

 ment of his greatness. Professor Fabre died at a very ripe 

 old age, and his loss is not due to the great struggle which is 

 going on. We have also lost Professor Meldola, another dis- 

 tinguished scientific man whom we cannot replace, and finally 

 I must mention Colonel Manders, whose premature death 



