Annual Meeting. 41 



respect for the Society, and he joined Dr. Hamilton in hoping 

 that it would maintain its position for many years to come. It 

 would be a disgrace to the City if it was not properly supported 

 and enabled to continue its good work. There was a field open 

 to the Society independent of making a collection in which they 

 had been so successful up to the present, and now the time had 

 come when it might be judicious to separate the two interests — 

 Natural History Society proper and the collection. He did not 

 think that with all the surroundings the Society could be expected 

 to maintain efficiently the collection of which they had now 

 charge, and there should be some effort on the part of the public 

 outside to come in and relieve them to some extent of that 

 •responsibility. 



Mr. John H. Davies, in supporting, said it might be of interest 

 to mention that when recently on a visit to Kew he met there 

 some distinguished botanists, one of them being his old friend 

 Mr. J. G. Baker, F.R.S., and the latter informed him that the 

 high standing of Mr. S. A. Stewart — who was so well known to 

 them all — as a systematic botanist, and the value of the wide 

 service he had rendered to the knowledge of Irish Botany, were 

 fully recognised. AVhen his name was brought before the 

 Linnaean Society for election for the distinction of associate the 

 proposal was received with the utmost cordiality and approval 

 and it was considered that the name of no one more worthy of 

 the honour could have been submitted. He thought it would 

 be gratifying to Mr. Stewart's many friends in Belfast to know that. 



The resolution was carried. 



On the motion of Mr. W. Gray, seconded by Mr. Nevin H. 

 Foster, the five retiring members of the Council were re-elected — 

 Sir James Henderson, and Messrs. John Brown, S. F. Milligan, 

 R. Patterson, and W. Swanston. 



Sir James Henderson, in moving a vote of thanks to the 

 chairman, said he wished to endorse all that the President of 

 Queen's College had said regarding Professor Symington. They 

 were all so pleased with the way in which he had assisted in 



