198 TRANSACTIONS AND PROGEKDINHJS OF THE [Sess. LXVI. 



That the objects which the Society had in view at its 

 foundation have ah^eady been carried out to a very con- 

 siderable extent. 



A large collection of British and Foreign plants has been 

 acquired (the Countess Dowager of Dalhousie alone having 

 munificently presented the Society with about 1500 species 

 of rare and valuable Indian plants, collected under her 

 own immediate superintendence), and not less than 150,000 

 specimens from all parts of the globe have been contributed 

 by members, a great proportion of which have again been 

 as widely circulated among public institutions and individual 

 collectors of Herbaria, 



That Her Majesty has been graciously pleased to honour 

 the Society by becoming its Patron, and its design has 

 received the general approbation and support of botanists 

 both at home and abroad. 



It has also recently provided an appropriate diploma and 

 seal, for the better distinguishing of its members and for 

 attaching them more decidedly to the pursuit of its objects. 



That the Society have hitherto, by the kindness of the 

 Professor of Botany, been allowed to hold their meetings 

 (which occur monthly) in the Botanical Classroom, and 

 have also been favoured by him with the use of the 

 apartments in the College appropriated to the University 

 Herbarium for the storing of their collections, and for 

 effecting their annual distribution of plants. 



That being now firmly established, the Society are pro- 

 ceeding to classify and arrange their collections, for which 

 purpose they have had an Assistant-Curator, with a salary, 

 constantly employed since the middle of December last, 

 and from the scale on which their operations are now 

 necessarily carried on, they find that his services will 

 henceforth be permanently required. 



That the Society, having for their chief object to advance 

 the cause of botanical science, and thereby promote the 

 public benefit, it has occurred to them that the collections 

 of plants which have from time to time been transmitted 

 to the College, and are now deposited in an unarranged 

 state in the apartments above mentioned, so as to be 

 wholly unavailable for scientific purposes, might with great 

 advantage for all parties be handed over to the Society, as 



