Ivii 



household word with every British Entomologist. The translator of 

 Burmeister's ' Handbook,' the author of the ' Essay on the Fossorial 

 Hymenoptera' and the 'Monograph of the Dorylidae,' of the letter- 

 press of ' The British Coleoptera Delineated,' and of numerous other 

 papers, several of which appeared in the early volumes of our 'Trans- 

 actions,' was formerly an active Member of our Society : after a silence 

 of nearly a quarter of a century, Mr. Shuckard published his 'British 

 Bees' in 1866, and died at Kennington on the 10th of November, 1868, 

 at the age of sixty-five. 



And, though not one of our body, nor in any way a man of Science, 

 a passing word may be permitted me to record the death of Charles 

 Turner, well known, at least to our metropolitan Coleopterists, as a most 

 persevering Collector, to whom our cabinets owe many rarities, and 

 more than one novelty. 



I believe I may safely congratulate you on the share which the 

 Entomological Society of London has had in promoting the study of 

 our difficult branch of Natural History, during the year that has 

 recently closed. We have held, as heretofore, twelve Meetings, uni- 

 formly well attended, at which valuable papers have been read, and 

 many topics, relating to variation, economy and nomenclature, have 

 been discussed, I hope with the effect not only of ventilating the sub- 

 jects, but of eliciting opinions and facts from men of experience, 

 which may be of some interest to the cultivators of other departments 

 of science. Our published ' Proceedings,' in which these discussions 

 are reported, are given with more completeness than is usually the case 

 with learned societies, for which we are indebted to the industry and 

 excellent judgment of our senior Secretary, Mr. Dunning. With 

 regard to our ' Transactions,' in which are published the more im- 

 portant memoirs read before us, I must call your attention to the 

 improvement made in the past year in the mode of publication, an 

 improvement the suggestion and carrying out of which we also owe to 

 our senior Secretary. Instead of issuing an indefinite number of parts, 

 forming a volume ever}' two or three years, we now publish a volume 

 each year, a simplification which will earn for us the blessings of all 

 working Entomologists, who have to quote our volumes or the dates of 

 the publication of species recorded in them. The four parts com- 

 posing the volume for 1868 (the Index and completion of the ' Pro- 

 ceedings' await only the conclusion of this day's Meeting) were issued 

 ivithin the year. They contain 332 pages of ' Transactions' proper, 



