PROCEEDINGS 



OF THE 



ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON, 



FOR 1851. 



February 3, 1851. 



J. O. Westwood, Esq., President, in the chair. 



M. Motchulsky was present as a visitor. 



The President returned thanks for his election and delivered tbe following inaugu- 

 ral Address. 



Gentlemen, 



Before proceeding to perform the first public official act which 

 I am called upon to do in this chair, I must beg permission to be 

 allowed to trespass a few minutes upon your time, in order to offer 

 to you my best thanks for having elected me to the honourable posi- 

 tion in the entomological world which I now occupy. Looking, as I 

 do, upon the Entomological Society, as the mainstay and support of 

 entomological science in this country, I cannot, whilst proud of my 

 position as President of the Society, conceal from myself that that 

 position is attended with duties of considerable weight, which will 

 require a greater share of attention and much more time than I am 

 afraid I shall be able to bestow upon them, as well as an amount 

 of talent and self-possession, to which I am equally afraid I can lay 

 no claim. I must look, Gentlemen, under such circumstances, to you 

 for support, and I feel confident that if my exertions, although 

 inadequate, are directed to the welfare of the Society, I shall receive 

 that support. It will be now more than ever my duty to consider the 

 well-being of the Society as of paramount importance; and acting on 

 this principle, I feel convinced that I shall not disappoint the kind 

 intentions of those gentlemen, who have considered that my election 

 to the Presidency would advance the Society's interests. 



I 



