president's address. 115 



What adds to the importance of this record is the fact of 

 the discovery of both species and varieties new to science. 



Geology also has received a due share of attention ; more 

 especially the clays and other superficial deposits. True, the 

 general geology of the islands has been worked by the 

 Rev. Hill and Professor Bonn|ey, but a mass of detail has 

 been carefully got together and classified under the heads of 

 superficial deposits, rocks, raised beaches, rubble head, &c, 

 and will serve as data in the future for the solution of many 

 interesting problems. 



Most elaborate tables of details with regard to the rainfall 

 and sunshine of Guernsey and other matters meteorological 

 have been compiled by Mr. Collenette. 



Folklore and archaeology have also received attention, and 

 old customs and sayings, superstitions and beliefs — fast passing 

 into oblivion — have been recorded ere the memory of them had 

 passed beyond recall. 



The excursions made from time to time during the summer 

 have not only been a most agreeable form of recreation, but 

 have infused into many who had but little interest in the 

 various branches of Natural Science, a desire to become 

 acquainted with the wonderful variety of life around them, and 

 aroused a spirit of inquiry which in the future must bear fruit. 



While we are pleased to have such a large number of 

 subscribers to the Society, we cannot expect all to be active 

 workers, but I think it would do much to increase the number 

 of those who not only subscribe, but themselves become 

 workers, if the excursions were more frequent. 



And then the results of the labours of our local naturalists 

 have gone abroad in the Transaction* which are issued year 

 by year. And so we look back and are proud of the results 

 achieved by this little band of enthusiasts in this little corner 

 of His Majesty's dominions. Hill and valley, streamlet and 

 pool, field and meadow, bog and sandhill, hedgebank, rock and 

 old wall, ant-hill and even plant stems have been searched, and 

 not in vain : each has yielded its own particular treasure. 



But while chronicling this vast amount of successful 

 research, in every branch, we must not imagine that the Society's 

 work is at an end. We need not repine that there are no 

 worlds to conquer. Much remains to be done, much that is as 

 interesting and as important as that already accomplished. 

 To speak of the inexhaustible field of operations offered by 

 Marine Zoology, a branch practically untouched by the Society, 

 is but to re-echo an oft-expressed plaint in Secretary's reports 

 and Presidents' addresses in the past. Surely the only reason 



