16 



PRESIDENT S ADDRESS. 



them read: those who were present will look for them in a 

 printed form with avidity, without any prompting of mine. 



During the past year a thick part of the Transactions has been 

 issued, completing the fourth volume of the new series, and the 

 tenth volume in all. It will I think be found to average fairly 

 in general value with those which have gone before, though it 

 may appear to contain an undue proportion of Meteorology, ow- 

 ing partly to the record for two years being accidently thrown 

 into the same number. 



This, then, is the tale of our work for the year. How will it 

 compare with similar reports presented in the earlier days of the 

 Club ? I fear the excess of historical and legendary allusions 

 over those of Natural History import in the sketches of the 

 Field Meetings, may lead to the idea that the excursion, rather 

 than its scientific results, had become the chief object of the 

 members ; and if it be confessed that this is, in some small mea- 

 sure true, the fact must be stated with certain explanatory 

 clauses, referring on the one hand to the nature and extent of 

 the work the Club has already accomplished, and on the other 

 to the great changes which have taken place in its external re- 

 lations. 



Thanks to the labours of Messrs. Alder and Fryer, of Hutton, 

 and Buddie, Bewick and Wingate, "Winch, Bobertson and Storey, 

 and others, some of whom happily are yet with us and still con- 

 tributing to science, a great deal was known of the flora and 

 fauna of the two counties before the establishment of the Club 

 in 1846. The systematic purpose and direction imparted to re- 

 search by its influence shows its result in the extensive series of 

 catalogues and memoirs which have since been published. The 

 more conspicuous objects of field and hedgerow, of wood and 

 stream, of shore-pool or sandy beach, naturally occupied first 

 attention ; but original work has by degrees been turned towards 

 classes of plants and animals little studied, or perhaps scarcely 

 known, in any accurate sense, a quarter of a century ago. It 

 cannot be said that the contributions of the members to science 

 have diminished of late, either in number or importance, but the 



