120 



vations have been made by theoi on the various subjects of natural 

 history, the results of which have not yet been presented to the society, 

 possibly for the reason that in many persons a certain innate modesty 

 or a lack of confidence in their own powers has heretofore restrained 

 them from taking a more active part in the work or discussions of the 

 Club. To bring such members more fully into the light, and to secure 

 their hearty co-operation and valuable assistance, and to provoke a 

 spirit of enquiry generally, on their part, concerning the beauties which 

 lie around us on every hand, is one of the first aims of this institution. 

 While we acknowledge that much has already been done in this 

 direction, our hopes will not have been fully realized till we see far 

 richer results. 



It may not be generally known that in our membership we now 

 include the greater portion of the ofl&cial staff of the Geological and 

 Natural History Survey of Canada, comprising a body of men eminent 

 in many branches of science and well known throughout the scientific 

 world. And in this respect we are, as a club, clearly in advance of any 

 other similar scientific institution at least in Canada, if not in the 

 adjacent country of the United States. Of these it may be said that 

 while for well recognized reasons the chief result of their observations, 

 in the field or otherwise, may not be directly available to us as a 

 private institution, many important, interesting and valuable facts 

 bearing on the several branches of natural history and geology, as well 

 as sketches of explorations of our hitherto but little known and vast 

 stretches of territory, can be presented at our meetings and incorporated 

 in the Club's Transactions, thus rendering this publication one of the 

 most valuable of the scientific journals published in any country. I 

 cannot but feel that in this Club, as at present constituted, we have a 

 membership sufficient to entitle us to a very high })osition among 

 scientific institutions at large, and that it, in ideality, depends upon our- 

 selves to make the Ottawa Field Naturalists' Club a true power in the 

 land, and its published Transactions of such value as to be eagerly 

 sought after by scientists and those interested in science generally all 

 over the civilized world. I am impelled or rather authorized to say this, 

 more particularly at this time, in view of the fact that up to the begin- 

 ning of the present year, according to a clause in the late constitution of 



