THE PEESIDENT'S ADDKESS 



Ladies and Gentlemen, 



The session which terminates with this evening's 

 Meeting has undoubtedly been one of the most eventful in 

 the whole history of the Society. In the first place, mainly 

 owing to the generous response of a large body of our Fellows 

 to the appeal for the funds necessary to carry out the under- 

 taking, and to the energetic efforts of our indefatigable 

 Treasurer, we have at last been able to secure as our own 

 property a home which we trust will be worthy of the tra- 

 ditions and dignity of the most influential association of 

 Entomologists in existence. Our new home will be shared 

 with us, for some years in any case, by the Imperial Bureau 

 of Entomology, and thus its importance and utility as the 

 head-quarters of our Science in the British Empire will be 

 enhanced in no small measure. Moreover, our new and ample 

 accommodation will enable the treasures of our Library to 

 be displayed to far greater advantage, and to be rendered 

 much more accessible and available to our Fellows, than they 

 have been for so many years in the cramped and congested 

 space they have of necessity occupied. We deeply regret, 

 however, that the valuable services of Mr. G. C. Champion, 

 our Honorary Librarian for the last thirty years, are no longer 

 available to us. During the long period in which he has 

 held this office, his unfailing attention to its arduous and 

 responsible duties, and the conspicuous ability with which 

 these duties have been performed, have earned for him the 

 unfeigned gratitude of the Society as a body; and it must 

 not be forgotten that to him we owe the first printed catalogue 

 of our great collection of Entomological works, as well as its 



