in view of its growtli and jirospects, the present congestion 

 would almost certainly recur in a few years. 



The second alternative seemed the only satisfactory method 

 of dealing with the question, and the Sub-Committee, with the 

 Council's consent and approval, proceeded to develop it. 



The principal difficulty that confronts all such bodies as 

 ours from time to time is their tendency to outgrow their 

 accommodation, especially as regards their libraries. It 

 therefore seemed desirable to acquire premises with much 

 larger accommodation than present requirements demanded, 

 and with a room sufficiently large to be used as a meeting- 

 room, or alternatively, space on which to erect one. It was 

 realised that whilst the cost of erecting new buildings at 

 present is prohibitive, there were a certain number of large, 

 roomy old-fashioned houses, which not being suitable any 

 longer for their original purpose, could be acquired on reason- 

 able terras. It was thought that if such a house could be 

 purchased, the surplus accommodation could be let until 

 required by the Society to other similar bodies, several of whom 

 were without rooms. 



It was considered that for the sum of £10,000 one of these 

 old houses could be acquired and adapted for the Society's 

 purpose. 



At this juncture the Society received an offer from the 

 Imperial Bureau of Entomology to the effect that, provided 

 the site selected was near the British Museum (Natural History) 

 at South Kensington, they were willing to lease the portions 

 of the building not required by the Society. 



In view of the advantages to the Science of Entomology that 

 obviously would accrue by having the two bodies under the 

 same roof, the Council could only consider the offer favourably, 

 and the Sub-Committee proceeded to search for suitable 

 premises in the required position. The task was a difficult 

 one, for the requirements of the Imperial Bureau made it 

 incumbent that the premises should be within the very limited 

 area of practically three roads, i. e. Cromwell Eoad, Queen's 

 Gate and Prince's Gate, and within this area the great majority 

 of the houses that were for sale were too small, were not free- 

 hold, or were unsuitable in some other way, and of the few 



