WINTER SESSION. 



At the commencement of the Session, a new arrangement was 

 inaugurated : The Natural History and Philosophical Society, and 

 the Club, which had previously held their meetings separately, 

 then joined their forces for the reading of papers and delivery of 

 lectures. The first of these joint meetings was held on 



Wednesday, ioth November, when the Opening Address was 

 delivered by Dr. Wyville Thomson, F.R.S., President of the 

 former Society, on " The Aims of Natural History Societies, and 

 the Uses of Local Museums." The lecturer gave an outline of the 

 history of both societies, with a sketch of what each had accom- 

 plished, and the reasons that influenced the leaders of both to urge 

 a future united action, while preserving each its own individuality 

 and peculiarities. He pointed out, that as a typical collection, 

 illustrative of natural history, had, during the last fifteen years, 

 been gradually formed in the Queen's College, Belfast, the special 

 object to be now held in view by the Belfast Museum was the 

 perfecting within its walls, local collections that would worthily and 

 thoroughly represent the fauna, flora, geology, and antiquities of 

 the North of Ireland. The lecture was received with marked 

 attention. Mr. Alexander O'D. Taylor, the senior secretary of 

 the Natural History Society, afterwards explained in detail the 

 progress which had been made in re-arranging and re-naming the 

 various collections by members of the Club. Each department 

 was being taken up seriatim, and put in thorough order for 

 reference. 



