2 



The Eleventh General Meeting. 



The President then called upon tho Rev. A. C. Smith, one of the 

 General Secretaries, to read the Report. 



REPORT FOR 1865. 



"The Committee of the Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural 

 History Society has again the satisfaction of recording, on this, 

 the 12th anniversary of its formation, the continued prosperity of 

 the Society. At the same time, it hqs to lament the loss of an 

 unusual number of former members by death, withdrawal, or 

 removal from the county : a loss, however, which it trusts is coun- 

 ter-balanced by the enrolment of a long list of new names amongst 

 its supporters. The number of names now on the books of the 

 Society, amounts to 350. 



" With regard to finance : A balance sheet, comprising the 

 accounts of several years past, has so recently been circulated 

 amongst the members of the Society, that it need only be remarked 

 that while its income is sufficient to cover the annual expenditure, 

 it is not in a condition, financially, to incur any extraordinary 

 expense in the way of exploration, restoration, or otherwise, as it is 

 frequently invited to do. 



" With reference to the work of the past year, two more numbers 

 of the Magazine have been issued, of whose merits the Committee 

 must leave the members of the Society to judge. Here, how- 

 ever, they desire to explain that the delay which occurred in the 

 issue of the last number was occasioned by the loss of their pub- 

 lisher and printer, Mr. Bull, who had, from the first, with great 

 satisfaction to the Editors, conducted the Magazine through the 

 press, and whose son now occupies his father's place. 



" The Library and Museum have been enriched with many do- 

 nations, several of which are of considerable value as illustrating 

 the typography, antiquities, and natural history of the county. 



"For these, the Committee desires cordially to thank all the 

 contributors, and at the same time to urge on Wiltshire generally 

 the importance of preserving, in some central Museum, such as the 

 very excellent one at Salisbury, for South Wilts, and that of the 

 Society at Devizes, objects, of little value indeed when scattered 

 and in private hands, but of the highest interest when collected 

 and classified for purposes of observation and study. 



