HISTORY OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF NEW SOUTH WALES. 361 
dates from 1911, that of ‘“‘Royal Society of New South 
Wales’’ dates from 1866, which is the only priority we can 
claim. 
While we cannot trace our pedigree to a Society founded 
in 1821, it will be seen that ever since 1821 there has 
always been a Society for the diffusion of information in 
regard to the resources of New South Wales. For many 
years (both here and in Tasmania) the Society has been 
often agricultural or horticultural in form, and such scien- 
tific matters were brought before the Society of the day as 
the state of knowledge and the limitations of the colonists 
permitted. It is gratifying to the compiler of these notes 
to point out how inherent, desire for knowledge of botany 
and horticulture always has been in the inhabitants of 
Australasia. 
