fiEPOST, 1884. 



r PHE Council, in laying before the Members their 13th Annual 

 Report on the status of the Society, feel a pardonable 

 gratification in coupling with it the announcement that the 

 year, now at its close, has been one of prosperity and ad- 

 vancement. 



The Society has experienced seasons of apparent de- 

 cline ; but it speaks to the vital activity and energy inherent 

 in the Society itself, that on each occasion the decline has 

 generally been followed by an advance, — on the present 

 occasion by an advance of a more marked character. This 

 fluctuation is not a matter for real discouragement : it will be 

 found to affect all classes of Societies founded for special 

 purposes. 



Mention should be made of the fact that the Society, 

 since its last annual meeting, has removed to more convenient 

 and commodious quarters. The new locality is more central ; 

 and it is perhaps an indirect testimony to its greater con- 

 venience that, whereas during the first half of the year three 

 new Members only were enrolled in the old quarters, thirteen 

 have since joined us at our present location. The total 

 number of new Members for the past year is therefore sixteen, 

 making our present membership fifty-six. 



The Society has also incorporated into its name the words 

 '* Natural History," which a previous resolution (adding all 

 branches of the science to the scope of its investigations) 

 rendered necessary. Thus the field of research has vastly 

 widened, and calls for new, staunch, and resolute workers. 



