69 
These amounts of income and outgoing are strikingly in excess of those usually 
found in the Balance-sheet of the Society, and some of the items call for a moment’s 
notice. The Council refers with satisfaction to the sum of £70 derived from the sale 
of the ‘Transactions, and regards it as a justification of the large expenditure on the 
| publications and as a presage of the return to be expected from that investment. The 
| total outlay on the publications is no less than £268; and even this does not denote 
| the entire cost of their production; for the drawings and engraving of many of the 
| plates, and in one case the prints of the plates themselves, have been presented to the 
| Society. Donations thus made in kind are none the Jess worthy of remembrance, 
though they do not appear in the Cash Account. But even with this assistance, the 
| Council, having only the ordinary income of the Society at its disposal, and but for 
| the extraordinary item of Special Donations, would not have been-able to publish 
| more than one-third of what has actually appeared. Most of those donations were 
expressly devoted by the donors to the payment of publishing expenses, and the sum 
of £29, from the sale of books, &c., which is also of an exceptional nature, has like- 
wise been applied to the same purpose. The last item on the credit side, £45 raised 
by Joan, in an anticipation of the sale of part of the Society’s Consols, to be effected 
when a convenient opportunity may arrive, and a more favourable price can be 
obtained ; the entirety of this loan has been expended on the permanent improvement 
of the Library; and (including liabilities outstanding) the total amount expended on 
the Library exceeds £50. The result of the measures during the past year is, to leave 
the Society with liabilities to the amount of £58, and assets to the amount of £130; 
without estimating the stock of ‘ Transactions,’ the value of which cannot be less than 
£300. 
The number of Members has slightly increased. During the year there have been 
elected eight Members (one of whom was previously a Subscriber) and one Sub- 
scriber; one Member has resigned. ‘The result is to leave the number of Annual 
Subscribers as before, with an apparent gain of seven Members. From this, however, 
must be deducted the number of those who allow their contributions to fall into arrear, 
-and then silently secede. In point of fact, the number of contributories has varied 
little during many years. In round numbers, the Society consists of 140 Members, of 
whom one-twelfth are foreigners, five being French. Contrast with this the Société 
Entomologique de France, which has 320 Members, of whom one-third are foreigners, 
twenty being English. How is it that the French Society has thus outgrown its 
sister? How is it that the French Society counts eighty or ninety indigenous 
Members more than ourselves? How is it that the French Society has nine times 
as many foreign Members as we have? How is it that four times as many English- 
men belong to the French Society as do Frenchmen to the English Society? The 
answer is probably to be found in the fact that the French Society has habitually 
given to each Member an equivalent for his subscription in the volume of the 
‘Annales’ which it has annually produced. 
Until recently, an Entomologist resident in the provinces, if asked to join this 
Society, might well have replied, ‘“‘ What is the use of my joining? The distance 
would prevent me from attending the Meetings, and as to the ‘ Transactions, I have 
ovly to order them of my bookseller, and I can buy all you publish for less than the 
subscription.” Experience seems to show that public spirit and the general interest 
in the Science taken by many Entomologists is an iusuflicient incentive to them to 
support this Society. In short, before the Suciety can expect any great increase in 
