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(at any rate, for the time being), the valuable services of our 

 excellent friend Mr. W. A. Pearce, who has been compelled 

 by business to leave us for the New World, he having accepted 

 an appointment at Chicago. I can only wish him every 

 success, and that our loss may be his gain, and that we shall 

 soon be enabled to find another of our members, not only 

 able, but as willing to use his pencil as brilliantly for the 

 benefit of the Society as our friend has so frequently done. 



I have already said, and hope I have made it clear, that I 

 desire to appeal to a much larger and wider circle, and to 

 bring into this Society all who can in any sense be called 

 naturalists, or induced to take any part in the study of Natural 

 History. Each individual has his place in nature and a share 

 of work to do, and each of us requires the aid of others. 

 There is room for all students, no matter how humble their 

 efforts or of what branch they may be votaries, neither should 

 sex be any barrier. 



I remember reading some years since of a mean selfish 

 fellow who was said to have destroyed duplicate specimens, that 

 he might boast of his uniques, as if there was any great credit 

 due to a man for being the first to capture a specimen, which 

 others might have done equally well, had they been there at 

 the same time and place. I feel sure that this is not the spirit 

 we intend to cultivate. The charms of Natural History are 

 boundless ; and aspirants, particularly our younger members, 

 ambitious for scientific honour, need not fear that there will be 

 no opportunity for them to distinguish themselves by the dis- 

 covery of new species, as I have already shown you by the 

 list of captures during the past season. It may be difiicult 

 to estimate the advantages such a Society as ours confers ; 

 but I am quite convinced that many of our members have 

 enjoyed the means of gaining and imparting knowledge in 

 one of the most interesting departments of research. But 

 apart from the scientific gain, I am also fully aware of the 

 social profit of our gatherings, and the opportunities they 

 afford of forming friendships of a firm and lasting character. 

 We have now entered upon a New Year with vigour and 

 healthy activity. There is plenty of work for the Society to 

 do ; then let us go forward with the full determination to do 

 it, remembering, while we ourselves are benefiting, to com- 



