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William Stafford. The veteran ornithologist of Surrey 

 departed this Hfe ' peacefully on September the 2ist, at 

 Godalming, at the ripe age of 80. He was one of a group of 

 self-taught naturalists, two of whom — the late Edward 

 Newman (Author of the " Letters of Rusticus,") and J, D. 

 Salmon (" Flora of Surrey ") — were his staunch friends and 

 fellow-townsmen. He never published anything, but dispensed 

 his great local knowledge through others of more literary 

 habits. His favourite study was the vertebrate fauna, and he 

 was the chief authority on the birds of Surrey, of which he 

 has left a magnificent collection, obtained by himself during 

 more than fifty years of observation, stuffed and mounted by 

 his own hand. Almost every naturalist who has passed 

 through Surrey has visited his charming homestead at 

 Godalming, more especially if desiring to gain any knowledge 

 of the reptiles and birds of the county. To all of them he 

 imparted information with the fulness and freedom which were 

 his notable characteristics. 



Prof. William Ramsey McNab, M.D., F.L.S., died 

 suddenly at Dublin, from heart disease, on December 3rd, at 

 the early age of 45. He was educated for the medical 

 profession, and took his degree at Edinburgh in 1866, and for 

 a short time held an official appointment. But the hereditary 

 instinct for Botany, descending from father and grandfather, 

 seemed to prevail, and he became Professor of Natural History 

 at the Royal Agricultural College at Cirencester, and subse- 

 quently of Botany at the College of Science at Dublin, and at 

 the time of his death was scientific director of the Royal 

 Botanic Gardens at Glasnevin. His name frequently occurs 

 in the early volumes of the Entomologisf s Monthly Magazine 

 in connection with Scottish Coleoptera, and he was the 

 authority for several species recorded in the late Andrew 

 Murray's Catalogue. 



It now only remains for me. Gentlemen, to thank you for 

 the patience with which you have listened to the dis- 

 connected sentences brought before you this evening, and for 

 the very courteous and kind attention shown me during my 

 term of office. In my successor, Mr. Carrington, whom you 

 have elected this evening, you have a first-class biologist, 



