296 president's addbess. 



taken in the gardens of Earl Vane in Wales. They were sent 

 for examination to Dr. Baird of the British Museum, and there 

 seems reason to believe that they are a new species of a genus, 

 all the species of which hitherto known are natives of Ceylon. 

 I believe Mr. Draper will communicate a full account of them to 

 the Club. 



Such is the record of our Meetings for the past year : the more 

 solid work of our Society is to be found in our Transactions ; 

 and we have to congratulate ourselves on the appearance of the 

 long anticipated new Flora of our district by Mr. J. G. Baker, a 

 valuable addition to our archives. I would also draw your at- 

 tention to a criticism in the "Meteorological Magazine" on the 

 Reports which form part of our published Transactions : it is 

 there pronounced to be "the most complete, most interesting, 

 and in all respects the best local Meteorological Report we have 

 seen." This cannot fail to gratify Mr. Wheeler who undertakes 

 the onerous duty of preparing the Reports, and the gentlemen 

 who make the observations, as coming from those well qualified 

 to form a judgment. The Reports for the year 1868, though 

 they will probably not show much if any deficiency in the rain- 

 fall for the year will most likely shovs^ a great deficiency for 

 several of the summer months, notably so (judging from an in- 

 spection of the observations at the Literary and Philosophical 

 Society, Newcastle,) for May, June, and July. During these 

 months most parts of the kingdom wore a sadly parched and 

 withered appearance : if, however, we missed the green luxu- 

 riance of summer at our Field Meetings, we at any rate escaped 

 the wettings which so often befall us in ordinary seasons. 



We may congratulate ourselves on the prosperous condition of 

 the Club as judged of by the number of members on the list and 

 consequent revenue at the disposal of the Committee for publish- 

 ing Transactions. The attendance, too, at the Field Meetings is 

 now generally very large ; indeed, frequently too large for the 

 accommodation to be obtained ; and although we may sometimes 

 think with regret of the pleasant meetings of former days, when 

 over the little sociable dinner we discussed our dav's ramble and 



