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gentlemen, I feel assured that one and all of you will endorse 

 the remark when I affirm that during my absence the affairs 

 of this Society have been watched over by our able vice- 

 Presidents, Mr. Step and Mr. Main, in so careful and thorough 

 a manner that the Society has rather benefited than other- 

 wise by the prolonged absence of its temporary head. 



You have heard the Council's Report read, and also that 

 of the Treasurer. Though our cash balance stands at rather 

 a lower figure this year than last, it is simply a matter of 

 transfer. During the year we had the opportunity of adding 

 to our assets some valuable scientific works ; these had to be 

 paid for, and by the expenditure of another small item we 

 have greatly increased the value of our herbarium. So that 

 in reality our total assets compare very favourably with those 

 of last year. 



Your Council have thought fit to recommend to you 

 during the past year an alteration in the Bye-laws, which 

 alteration was duly made at a special meeting held on 

 November loth. We are therefore now able, if we so desire, 

 to re-elect a President for a second year of office. 



There is another matter which your Council have taken 

 in hand ; that is, the reparation of the Tugwell Herbarium. 

 This, I consider, is for the Society a most important matter. 

 The late Mr. Tugwell, a former member of this Society, and its 

 President in 1891, formed an excellent collection of dried 

 plants which were subsequently presented to the Society. 

 This collection has now been put into thorough order in 

 such a manner that any plant may easily be referred to and 

 also its place ascertained in the last — I think gth — edition 

 of the " London Catalogue of British Plants." But please 

 mark, for this is important, all this reparation has been 

 carried out without interfering with either the specimens or 

 their labels, so that the collection is still the Tugwell collection. 

 Now, gentlemen, I said the Council had taken this work 

 in hand ; they did so, but the real labour has been borne 

 entirely by one member of the Council. I know that his 

 modesty, had I allowed it to interfere, would have prevented 

 me making special reference to this point. But I feel really 

 that Mr. Step truly deserves the gratitude of this Society. 



I think, perhaps, that one of the features of our meetings 

 of 1904 has been the frequent exhibition of photographs of 

 lepidopterous ova, larvae, and imagines, besides other insects, 

 and also of wild flowers in a living and natural condition. 

 These photographs are not only of great scientific value, but 

 also in many cases of great beauty. The chief contributors 



