135 



£225 to £250 per annum, an income which would not only provide 

 for all our roquirings, but would assure the perpetuity of the Society. 



I)tternal Management. 



Two other changes in internal management are worthy of your at- 

 tentive and calm consideration. We have found that the law enforcing 

 a change of President at the end of each second year does not work 

 so beneficially as we hoped and believed it would. The very circum- 

 stance that a vacancy of the chair is inevitable induces the friends of 

 every member whose talents, works or position are supposed to qualify 

 him for that honourable post, to seek, by every constitutional means, 

 to place him there ; and since many of our members possess one or 

 other of the qualifications in question, there arises of necessity a 

 struggle to attain the object; hence an unkindness towards those op- 

 posed to us at the time, and a disappointment at its issue, since one 

 party must always be defeated. These evils are to be avoided by re- 

 moving the necessity for contest: had we the power to retain a Kirby 

 or a Spence in the chair there is not a member of the Society who 

 would desire a change, until death or infirmity deprived us of his 

 services. The question of re-election should, however, be discussed 

 by the Council every year, and good taste should dictate to the sitting 

 President the pro])riety of his absence on such occasions. The qua- 

 lifications for a President are not exclusively in the head : the open 

 heart, the courteous demeanour, the disposition instantly to yield to 

 the wishes of a majority, the maintenance of order, the granting a fair 

 hearing to all, especially to those who from diffidence have not the 

 power of enforcing it, and strict punctuality and business habits in 

 the performance of all its duties, are far more important qualifications 

 for the Presidency than any amount of scientific acquirements. 

 While on this subject a suggestion may also be made on a matter of 

 routine, a slight change in which would render the presidential duty 

 of preserving order much less onerous. It cannot have escaped the 

 notice of members that the introduction of numerous insects for 

 exhibition, immediately after the opening of the meeting, induces 

 us to congregate like moths round the light, and elicits such a buzz 

 of general conversation as to prechide the possibility of hearing any 

 member who may wish to address the chair. Would it not be a better 

 arrangement to read the scientific communications immediately after 

 the confirmation of the minutes, the members remaining seated and 

 silent .'* After this, wliich is really the legitimate business of the 



