XXXI 



Dming tbe year tweuty-one Members or Subscribers have been elected, but 

 seventeen names have been removed from the list ; the numerical gain is therefore 

 reduced to four. 



The volume of 'Transactions for 18G9' includes twenty-seven memoirs by seven- 

 teen authors, extends to four hundred pages exclusive of the ' Proceedings,' and is 

 illustrated by six plates, of which two are coloured. To Messrs. E. Saunders, 

 Higgins, Butler, F. Smith and M'Lachlan, the Society is indebted for the drawings 

 in illustration of their respective memoirs. Every paper read, down to and inclusive 

 of the December Meeting, was actually published before the end of the year. 

 Especial attention is called to Dr. Sharp's Revision of the British Homalots, as 

 affording tangible proof of the desire of the Council that native Entomology shall 

 receive its due share of attention. There is yet a dearth in the ' Transactions' of 

 papers relating to British or European insects. Many of the most active students of 

 the productions of our own islands do not favour the Society with the results of their 

 labours, and thus Exotic Entomology obtains the lion's share of our pages ; and this 

 leads to a supposition that our entomologists do not sufficiently identify themselves 

 wilh their continental brethren. We are either exclusively British, or our range 

 includes the whole world ; and thus, between the insularity of some and the 

 universality of others, European insects (in the broad sense) occupy but an insig- 

 nificant portion of our publications. From this cause, perhaps, results the small 

 number of our Foreign Members; and, as a consequence of that smallness, some 

 who do give European insects a prominent place in their studies prefer to publish 

 through the medium of Continental Societies, believing that they thereby obtain 

 a wider circle of appreciative readers than if their lucubrations appeared in our 

 ' Transactions.' 



In addition to the 'Transactions for 1869,' the volume of the 'Third Series' 

 which was exclusively devoted to the Malayan Longicorns has at length been 

 finished. It was only by spreading the cost over a series of years that a Society with 

 our limited resources could undertake a work of such magnitude, with its two dozen 

 coloured plates ; the choice lay between a separate volume issued by instalments, and 

 the dispersion of the descriptions over three, if not four, of our ordinary tomes. To 

 those who wish to study the group and utilize the work, it is hoped that the 

 permanent advantage of having the whole subject complete in one volume and in 

 unbroken sequence will more than compensate for tbe temporary inconvenience of 

 unbound fragments. The Lamiidse were commenced in 1864 and finished in 1868; 

 the two Parts issued in 1869 include the whole of the Cerambycidae and Prionidge, 

 216 pages and five coloured Plates. Down to the present time the cost to the Society 

 of this volume has been, in round figures, £350, and a further sum of £75 will be 

 required for the colouring of the stock of plates — thus making a total of £425. Even 

 this does not represent the whole cost of the work; for the entire expense of the 

 drawing and engraving of the twenty-four Plates by Mr. Robinson has been defrayed 

 by Mr. W. Wilson Saunders. The Society has on many occasions had to acknowledge 

 the liberality of Mr. Saunders, whose interest in our welfare knows no diminution ; 

 and the Council feels confident that, in suggesting a special vole of thanks for this act 

 of munificence, unique alike in its nature and extent, the Executive is only anticipating 

 the unanimous wish of the Society. 



