LINNEAN SOCIETY OF LONDON. 



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they indicate species, varieties, or individual differences. Let us 

 adopt for the insects and plants of our islands the nomenclature and 

 classification the most convenient for study, and devote our attention 

 to their economy and development, to the complicated structures dis- 

 closed by the microscope, and to those innumerable influences which 

 we term accidental, but which appear all to form part of one general 

 plan for the balance of power in the natural world. If, at this time 

 next year, I am still honoured by a seat in this Chair, I hope to lay 

 before you a sketch of the state of those branches of our studies 

 which I have now been unable to touch upon; and it will be a 

 matter of great gratification to me, if I have to report that many a 

 Fellow of the Society may have taken a leaf out of Mr. Darwin's 

 book, and commenced a series of observations on some of the subjects 

 I have alluded to. 



OBITUAKY NOTICES. 



The Secretary then read the following Notices of deeeased 

 Honorary Members, Fellows, Foreign Members, and Associates. 



Of the three illustrious names enrolled as Honorary Members of 

 this Society, we have to lament the loss of two within the last 

 twelvemonth, both in the prime of life, and both more than usually 

 distinguished, not only for their sincere and earnest endeavours to 

 promote the cause of science, but also for their extensive knowledge 

 and liberal minds. 



Of his late Royal Highness the Prince Consort, whose death we 

 have all so deeply mourned, and whose memory will ever be so 

 dear to the community he loved to serve, it is scarcely necessary on 

 the present occasion to say more than that we, as a scientific body, 

 have in him more especially to lament the loss of one who at all 

 times evinced the most earnest desire to promote science, and 

 was enabled to do so from his wide-spread acquaintance with almost 

 every branch of it. 



The memory of his Majesty Don Pedro V., King of Portugal, 

 demands more than a mere passing notice. Irrespective of his ex- 

 alted station, his individual character as an earnest worker and 

 munificent patron of science, and more especially of natural history, 

 requires that I should offer some account of his brief but useful 

 career. 



Though many monarchs have deservedly been known as the 



