THE PKESIDENT'S ADDKESS. 



Gentlemen, 



The year 1914 lias pursued its way, so far as the 

 Society is concerned, very evenly, our meetings have been full 

 of interest, and our Transactions maintain, I hope, the stan- 

 dard that has made them valued all over the world. It will 

 not be out of place here to remark that we have recently 

 had to defer and also to refuse valuable papers for lack of 

 the means to publish them — this has been to some extent 

 by way of precaution on account of the present crisis, but 

 certainly not entirely so, and the need of a fund that could 

 be devoted to the publishing of expensive papers is being 

 g:-eatly felt. The present may not be a suitable time to press 

 this need, but I cannot refrain from mentioning it. 



I must not let my term of office pass away without express- 

 ing my warm thanks to both our well-tried secretaries, and 

 to our other officers as well; our genial Senior Editorial 

 Secretary, Commander Walker, is always the same, kind and 

 suave, ever ready to help in time of need, and with an ex- 

 perience on faunistic questions of the utmost value ; our 

 energetic " Minute " Secretary, Mr. Wheeler, with his know- 

 ledge of literature and his large experience of Central European 

 butterflies, is always " on the spot " and equally ready with his _ 

 help, and I believe we have probably never had a Secretary who 

 has given so much of his time to the Society, for I understand 

 that he spends some time nearly every day in these rooms, 

 examining our archives and seeing to our business — to both 

 these two friends my warmest thanks are tendered, for 

 they, with the Treasurer and the Librarian, have made the 

 past two years, years to be remembered by me, years of 



