176 MEETINGS. 



pleased to say there has been during the year a substantial 

 increase in the roll of members, twenty-six having been elected 

 since the last annual meeting. The number now on our list 

 is seventy-six. The Transactions for the year 1891 have been 

 published and issued to members, and Mr. E. D. Marquand's 

 valuable paper on the " Flowering Plants of Guernsey " has 

 also been reprinted in separate form. Of the latter, which is 

 much appreciated by both English and Continental botanists, 

 a considerable number of copies have been sold. Our best 

 thanks are due to Messrs. Guille and Alles for their kindness 

 in freely placing at our disposal the room in which our meet- 

 ings are held. During the year the Society has received and 

 is grateful for the Eeport of the Smithsonian Institution for 

 1889, the Keport of the National Museum (U.S.A.) for 1889, 

 and the Transactions of the Penzance Natural History and 

 Antiquarian Society for 1891-2." 



William Sharp, Hon. Sec. 



Mr. W. A. Luff, Hon. Treasurer, then read a financial 

 statement, from which it appeared that there was a balance in 

 hand of £1 lis. lOJd. 



The Secretaries of the various sections next read their 

 respective reports as printed below : — 



REPORT OF THE BOTANICAL SECTION. 



At a meeting held in November of last year, the 

 Committee of this Society decided to establish a Botanical 

 Section, and did me the honour of appointing me its secretary. 

 Accordingly, at the opening of the botanical season, after due 

 consultation with those members of the Society interested in 

 the subject, I called the first meeting of the Section, which 

 was held on May 4th. At this meeting the question of our 

 further proceedings was discussed, and it was decided that the 

 most immediately urgent and important work to be under- 

 taken was the formation of a Reference Collection of Guernsey 

 Plants, properly dried, mounted and catalogued, for the use of 

 the Society, and to form the starting point for further investi- 

 gations and enquiry on the subject of our local Flora, and a 

 sub-committee was appointed to carry out the details. As a 

 result of this action a commencement has been made in the 

 work, and by the contributions of individual members and the 

 collections made by the Section during the excursions of this 

 summer, 362 species have been got together and dried, and 

 are now ready to be mounted, this latter work being usually 

 done in the winter. The work of the Section has been much 



