29 



ANNUAL ADDRESS TO THE MEMBERS 



>outh 3oiuIou (gntomolocjtal and Uutural listori) 



Head January 28M, 1904. 

 By Edward Step, F.L.S. 



/'^ENTLEMEN, — Probably in order to secure uniformity in 

 ^J our published reports, the Bye-laws of the Society lay 

 upon each retiring President the necessity of preparing and 

 reading an address before he makes way for his successor. I 

 believe I am correct in saying that among actual and 

 possible Presidents this bye-law is by no means popular, and 

 it has even come to my knowledge that men well qualified for 

 the office have declined nomination solely on account of this 

 condition. I must confess that I sympathise with this 

 feeling, for though I have never held back when asked to 

 read a paper or deliver a lecture to the Society, I do feel that 

 I have nothing to say of sufficient importance to be made a 

 special feature of an annual meeting, and possibly to be 

 printed in extenso in our " Proceedings." I think it would be 

 better if this were an optional rather than a compulsory 

 matter, so that he who had something to say could feel 

 warranted in saying it, whilst he who felt no special call for 

 speech might be silent and yet break no law. 



The statistics relating to membership, meetings, and 

 finance have already been placed before you in the Report of 

 the Council and the Treasurer's Balance-sheet, and there is 

 Httle need for me to traverse the same ground. Though the 

 past year has been marked by no new departure or by any 

 circumstance of special note, I feel that we may congratulate 



