51 



AN ADDRESS TO THE MEMBERS 



OF THf. 



^outh London Ofntomoloiiiral and Jlatural iHHtorn 



Read Jauuarv 2^fk, 1901. 



f^^ ENTLEMEN, — As year, siicceedino' year, has run its course, 

 ^-^ a custom has grown up and is now well established 

 that the President should deliver a parting address before 

 vacating the Chair, and this custom no doubt commends 

 itself as eminently praiseworthy, except, perhaps, to the 

 mind of the retiring President himself. But be this as it 

 may, I certainly have no desire to break through a custom 

 having the sanction of long-continued observance. 



There is another well-recognised rule of this Society, which 

 bids fair to become the established custom also, and is 

 certainly very convenient in operation, that a Vice-President 

 shall be chosen, in order that by sequence he may proceed to 

 the office of President in the following year. You will doubt- 

 less recollect how the established order came to be set aside 

 in my case. Dr. Chapman, one of the Vice-Presidents of 

 the previous year, who, from his extensive knowledge of the 

 Lepidoptera, and the unremitting zeal he displays in observ- 

 ing and experimenting in the same field, was so prominently 

 fitted to take the lead in this Society, to the great regret of 

 the Council, felt that he did not see his way to undertaking 

 the duties of President. When at this point the Council 

 approached me with a view to allowing myself to be 

 nominated, though I consented, it was with considerable 

 diffidence as to my suitability for the position. The 

 President, however, has always this fact to support him, 

 that his chief duty is to be regular in his place, and that the 

 brunt of the work falls upon the other, hard-working, officers, 



