464 Lieut.-Gen. Strachey. Effect of the Limitation [May 12, 



collect them from the records of the Society, are embodied in the 

 Tables annexed to this communication, for the proper appreciation of 

 the significance of the figures in which a few preliminary explana- 

 tions are necessary. 



The Anniversary of the Society being fixed for the 30th November 

 in each year, the customary record of the number of Fellows for any 

 year refers to the number on that date. I have throughout regarded 

 the date to which this number applies as being the 1st January of the 

 following year. 



The annual election of Ordinary Fellows usually takes place in the 

 first or second week of June in each year. I have considered the 

 date to be the 1st January of the same year. 



The lapses, whether from death or other causes, have been treated 

 as having occurred at the end of the calendar year in which they take 

 place. 



These assumptions have been made to simplify the various com- 

 putations that the investigation required (which have been sufficiently 

 troublesome as it is), and owing to the considerable period dealt with, 

 forty-three years, the results will not, I believe, be sensibly affected 

 thereby. 



Unless it is otherwise specifically stated, the numbers refer ex- 

 clusively to the Ordinary Fellows, elected at the regular Annual 

 Meetings fixed for the purpose. 



So far as I have been able to ascertain (for the earlier records in 

 many particulars are defective), the number of Ordinary Fellows 

 elected since 1848 has been 15 in each year, except on four occasions ; 

 in two years the number having been 14, and in two years 16 ; the 

 average, therefore, is 15 yearly. 



During the period since 1848, the number of Royal and Honorary 

 Fellows has been about 5, and the Foreign Members about 50 ; these 

 are included in the total number of Fellows shown in the Annual 

 Reports of the Council, but will not be further considered in what 

 follows. 



The rules under which certain privileged classes have been ad- 

 mitted as Fellows, in addition to the Ordinary Fellows, have varied 

 somewhat since 1848, but at present, apart from the persons eligible 

 for the classes of Fellows above excluded, the only persons so privi- 

 leged are Privy Councillors. The total number of Privileged Fellows 

 elected since 1848 seems to have been 75, which for 43 years gives an 

 average of 1*75 per annum. 



Table I contains a summary of the available data relating to the 

 total number of Fellows since 1848. 



The total number, excluding Royal, Honorary, and Foreign Fellows, 

 at the commencement of 1848 was 768. I am not able to say how 

 many of these were Fellows elected in the ordinary way, and how 



