History of the Society. 19 



subsequently contributed many valuable papers on this 

 subject to our Transactions, and whose collections are now 

 worthily deposited in the Royal Scottish Museum at Edin- 

 burgh.! Similar in size to our present issue, the internal 

 arrangement of our first volume was entirely different : the 

 " Proceedings," consisting of excerpts from the minutes, 

 formed a first part; the " Transactions," or papers read, 

 followed as a second part, and a comparatively small num- 

 ber of the contributions achieved the permanence of print. 

 The Membership in this session numbered sixty-one ; Corre- 

 sponding Members, twenty-two ; and Foreign Members, 

 two. The balance sheet showed receipts of ;^'6 los, and 

 expenditure of ;^2 14s. On January 6th, 1863, the first 

 donations towards a museum were made : six items had been 

 given by the end of the winter session. 



Session 1863-1864. [\'ol. II.] 



Our second volume appeared in 1866. It was printed 

 in Dumfries, a custom from which, I am glad to say, it has 

 never since been found necessary to depart. It contained 

 ninety-two pages, as well as two plates, one of which may 

 be more accurately described as a mounted photograph 

 Valuable papers were contributed by Sir William Jardine, 

 James Starke, W. R. M'Diarmid, Wm. Lennon, Thomas 

 Aird, and the Rev. James Fraser. In this session the library 

 of the Society was established with eight items. The 

 Ordinary Members would appear to have numbered one 

 hundred and four. The balance sheet shows receipts of ;£, 25 

 15s, with an expenditure of ^^18 17s lod. It is pointed out 

 that twenty-three members were in arrear of their subscrip- 

 tions for 1 863- 1 864; and I regret to say that our present 

 Treasurer informs me that a similar forgetfulness is still to 

 be found to-day among some of our Members. 



t The collections, which were acquired by purchase by the 

 Museum Authorities in 1900, comprise a fine series of Coleoptera 

 (23,280 specimens') and a fair one of Lepidoptera (2,400 specimens). 

 The collection of Coleoptera represents 2,500 species, or about 

 five-sixths of the entire British species. 1,500, or more than one- 

 half, were collected bv Lennon from the Sol way district. 



