323 



The membership of the Society consists at the present 

 time of 9 Honorary Fellows, 73 Fellows, 4 Corresponding 

 Members, and 2 Associates. 



Resignations have been received on the plea of inabi- 

 lity to attend the meetings. It may be pointed out that 

 every member of the Society is directly aiding scientific re- 

 search, whether or not he attends meetings. 



Requests for the Society's publications are constantly 

 being made by scientific societies in Europe and America, 

 and so every year the list of exchanges is increasing, and the 

 library getting larger and becoming more valuable to those 

 interested in scientific work. 



The additions to the Institute Buildings were com- 

 pleted in June last, and declared open at an entertainment 

 given by the Board of Governors of the Public Library, etc., 

 on the 12th of that month. At this function it was an- 

 nounced that the large western room on the ground floor 

 (in which this meeting is now being held) was granted to 

 the Royal Society. Since then the allocation has been offi- 

 cially made by the Board. 



It is anticipated that the Government will furnish the 

 room with a complete set of shelves for the accommodation 

 of the library. 



If it can be arranged it is proposed that the work of 

 Secretary and Librarian shall be made the work of one 

 person, who shall be paid for his services, and who shall act 

 in these capacities for both this and for the Royal Geogra- 

 phical Society. 



The obituary for the year includes the names of two 

 life members, the Hon. David Murray, who joined the 

 Society in 1859. and Ebenezer Cooke, the late Commissioner 

 of Audit, also H. C. Russell, an Hon. Member, and late 

 Government Astronomer of New South Wales ; David Fle- 

 ming, Fellow, and some time Chairman of the Microscopical 

 Section, and John Dennant, F.G.S., an Honorary Fellow, who 

 died on June 13 of this year. 



Mr. Dennant, a resident of Victoria, was elected in 

 December, 1888, and for nearly thirty years has been an 

 active member of the Society. His first contribution ap- 

 peared in the Transactions of the Society in October, 1888, 

 in a paper entitled "Notes on the Muddy Creek Beds, with 

 Brief Remarks on other Tertiary Strata of South- Western 

 Victoria." Some years later Mr. Dennant was associated 

 with Professor Tate in compiling three papers on "The Corre- 

 lation of the Marine Tertiaries of Australia." The interest 

 each had in this work naturally drew Dennant and Tate to- 

 gether, and thenceforward they became friends and fellow 



