Report of Delegate. 33 



venient form. This is embodied in the report of the Committee, 

 published in extenso in the British Association report for 1889. 

 He, I doubt not, would be ready and desirous to receive further 

 information for publication in supplementary reports. 



Two other subjects remain, to which I desire to ask your 

 attention ; these are, the " Protection of Wild Birds' Eggs," 

 and the "Disappearance of Native Plants." In both cases the 

 indiscriminate and thoughtless collector is probably the main 

 root of the evil. It was stated at the late meeting, and appears 

 in the report, " that in Edinburgh there was a gentleman who 

 made it his boast that he had over 100 eggs of the golden 

 eagle." 



These Conferences, on their present basis, date from the year 

 1884, and owe their existence to the felt need for a better means 

 of utilising the labours of the scientific societies scattered all 

 over the country. This feeling was expressed in the following 

 resolution, passed in 1881 at the York meeting, viz., " that the 

 Council be requested to consider the number and position of 

 delegates from scientific societies, and the regulations which 

 should be adopted for governing their relation to the Associa- 

 tion." The eventual outcome of this resolution was a report, 

 presented to the Southport meeting in 1883, one paragraph in 

 which may be quoted, as indicating the Committee's apprecia- 

 tion of the importance of the object in view : — 



" Believing that the British Association is fitted, by its con- 

 stitution and position, to become an organising centre of local 

 scientific work, and that, through an extension of the system of 

 delegation from scientific societies, which has already been 

 recognised in the rules of the Association, this object may be 

 attained, the Committee venture to make the following pro- 

 posals, thrown into the form of rules." 



The rules so proposed were adopted, and are those now acted 

 on. Since they were adopted, great progiess has been made; 

 much interest has been taken in all the Conference meetings 

 by leading permanent members of the Association (speciall}' I 

 may mention the general Secretary, Sir Douglas Galton); and 



