<jxx Proceedings of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. [June, 



science which lead towards the alleviation, if not the preven- 

 tion, of human suffering. In these respects King Edward VII 

 is an example for all time to those whose destiny calls them to 

 rule over nations of men; and it is therefore most fitting that 

 this Society, established for the furtherance of those objects in 

 which he showed so deep an interest, should express its sense 

 of the loss that the world has suffered by his death. 



The minutes of the last meeting were read and confirmed. 



Fifty-nine presentations were announced. 



The General Secretary reported that Maulavi Sakhawat 

 Hosain had expressed a wish to withdraw from the Society. 



The following gentleman was balloted for as an Ordinary 

 Member : — 



Babu Pramatha Nath Mukerji, M.A., Officiating Chief 

 Superintendent, Finance Department, Government of India, 

 proposed by Dr. B. N. Ghosh, L.M.S., seconded by Mr. G. H. 

 Tipper. 



Dr. Annandale exhibited a collection of Indian Earwigs 

 and referred to the recent publication of Dr. Burr's volume on 

 the Dermaptera in the "Fauna of British India and Ceylon." 



In exhibiting the collection Dr. Annandale said : 



"The publication of a volume on the earwigs by my 

 friend Dr. Malcolm Burr in the ' Fauna of British India and 

 Ceylon' affords an occasion to call the attention of the 

 Society to some peculiarities of these insects and also induces 

 me to make a few remarks on the work of which Mr. Burr's 

 volume forms a part. The present position of the official 

 4 Fauna ' of the Indian Empire is in many respects a anomal- 

 ous one. Written and edited in England by men who have never 

 seen India, 1 the volumes that appear from time to time claim to 

 be authentic monographs, and most of them are valuable con- 

 tributions to systematic zoology. It is casting no discredit on 

 their authors and editor, however, to say that even a little ex- 

 perience in the flesh of the animals they describe, and a leisurely 

 study of the collections preserved in India, which in many res- 

 pects are by far the most complete in existence, would vastly 

 improve the work. It is becoming increasingly difficult to send 

 to Europe or America the whole of the rapidly increasing col- 

 lections of the Indian Museum and other Indian institutions, 

 and it would be a ridiculous situation, even from an official 

 point of view, if, as has been practically the case in some 

 volumes that have been published, the official collections of the 



1 Since this statement was made, the Secretary of State has sanc- 

 tioned the preparation of two volumes in India. — N. A. 30-vi-10. 



