XXXUl 
THE PKESIDENT'S ADDRESS. 
Gentlemen, 
In addressing you on the present occasion I must be 
allowed, in tlie first place, to express the great regret which 
I have experienced, during the past year, from having been 
prevented by severe illness from attending several of the meetings 
of the Society. Those only who, like myself, have scarcely ever 
failed being present at our reunions since the first establishment 
of the Society, can fully appreciate such a forced absence from 
them ; and I greatly fear that the same cause will continue to 
operate against my frequent presence on such occasions. 
The Annual Report presented to you by the Council, and just 
read, will have made you acquainted with the satisfactory state of 
the Society, both in a financial and scientific point of view ; and 
I cannot leave this chair without expressing the gratifying con- 
viction which I entertain that our Society has become firmly 
established, and is recognized as one of the necessary conduits of 
knowledge. Our publications and the proceedings at our meetings 
have taught the world that Entomologists are somewhat more 
than butterfly catchers, and that the vast tribes of animals which 
constitute the materials of our study possess claims, both econo- 
mical and scientific, to the attention not only of the professed 
naturalist, but also of the general public. 
Although we have not had occasion, so far as I have learned, 
to mourn the loss of any of our more prominent fellow- workers 
in this country, several eminent naturalists and entomologists 
have passed away lately whose memory claims a short notice 
from me. 
- Dr. Kaup, of Darmstadt, was a distinguished PalEeontologist, 
but he had made his name famous amongst us by an admirable 
memoir on the difficult group of Passalides, and by his descrip- 
tion of many new species of the curious tribe of Phasmidse. 
George Bitter von Frauenfeld was one of the naturalists of the 
celebrated Novara Expedition of the Austrian Government ; he 
