312 PRESIDENT’S ADDRESS. 
can boast of. If, however, Great Britain stands pre-eminent in 
this respect, I think I may say with safety that there is no part 
of it in which the native productions have been more successfully 
studied than in the district where we reside. A Flora of Nor- 
thumberland and Durham by Mr. Winch, a Catalogue of the 
Birds of Northumberland by Mr. Selby, and of the Zoophytes by 
Dr. Johnston, together with many excellent papers on local 
Geology, were published in the Transactions of the Natural 
History Society. These, with the Catalogue of Coleopterous In- 
sects by Messrs. Hardy and Bold, that of Mollusca by myself, and 
of Permian Fossils by Mr. Howse, in the Transactions of this Club, 
contain a large mass of information on our local natural history: 
and, if we also take into account what has been done by our 
neighbours of the Berwickshire club, there cannot, I think, be a 
doubt that the indigenous Fauna and Flora have been more fully 
investigated in this district than in any other portion of the 
united kingdom. Nevertheless much still remains to be done. 
The Fishes, the Crustacea, the Echinodermata, and many of the 
lower tribes of marine animals remain yet to be investigated ; 
and, as nearly twenty years have elapsed since the papers in the 
Natural History Society’s Transactions were written, much ad- 
ditional information can now be given on the subjects of which 
they treat. It was therefore very properly determined by the 
Club to publish a complete Fauna and Flora of the two counties, 
of an uniform size and in an unexpensive form. The materials 
are ample and we have among us naturalists fully competent to 
the task. The chief difficulty is in the expense. We have al- 
ready, unfortunately exceeded our means in that respect, but I 
hope some plan may be adopted to lighten our present responsi- 
bilities, and that with careful management, aided by the experi- 
ence we have now acquired, we may be enabled to proceed in the 
publication of our Catalogues, so that some portion at least may 
appear during each year. The limited sale which works of a 
merely local and scientific character can command, has been found 
a great impediment to the carrying out of our plans. In the 
hope of removing this in part, and under the impression that 
many gentlemen of the two counties might, if the subject were 
