52 
the Couneil in their letter which appeared the following day in the Daily 
Post. The hoax was childish, weak, and wicked ; weak, because such a 
statement was only calculated to put even fresh energy into the officers of 
the Society ; and wicked, because the author was endeavouring to diminish 
the usefulness of a Society which had already done a great deal of useful 
work, and would doubtless accomplish much more. 
The minutes of the last Annual Meeting were then read, after which the 
following report of the Council was read by Mr. W . Lant Carpenter. 
REPORT OF THE COUNCIL. 
For the fifth time it has become the duty of the Council of the Bristol Natu- 
ralists' Society to lay before the members an account of the doings and progress of 
the Society during the past year, as well as their estimate of its present condition and 
future prospects. They feel that the real benefit of such a Report can only be 
ensured by business-like simplicity of statement, as well as by a perfectly candid 
expression of their opinion as to the general mode in which the affairs of the Society 
have prospered. 
In the first place, then, the Council would congratulate the Society upon having 
accomplished a considerable amount of good work at its various meetings, general, 
sectional, and excursion. There has been no lack of papers at the general 
monthly meetings, and the discussions which have taken place upon the subjects 
brought forward have tended to the interchange of a considerable amount of in- 
formation, and have also evinced the lively interest taken in the proceedings by 
the various members who attended. Numerous short communications have also 
been made, both written and verbal, frequently of very great interest, and indi- 
cating a laudable desire on the part of the authors to increase the general stock of 
knowledge by the addition of their observations. It has been well said that 
Science consists of facts arranged and explained, and a Society like this yields one 
of the best means for collecting and placing-on-record facts and observations, in 
such a form as will afford great facilities for the necessary inductions to be drawn 
from them. 
The business of the various sections, also, has been carried on very satisfactorily, 
though, on account of the small number of working members in each, as well as 
the extraordinary severity of the weather during a part of the winter, there has 
been occasionally a difficulty felt by the Sectional Officers not only in providing 
subjects for the evening's consideration, but also in inducing a sufficient number 
of members to attend the meetings, and they wish, therefore, to take this oppor- 
tunity of impressing upon the members of sections the necessity of occasionally 
making some little sacrifice of personal convenience, in order to keep up the spirit 
of the Sectional Meetings. The Council, and especially the Sectional Officers, 
would frequently be glad of suggestions and hints on the management of various 
departments of the Society, expressed either through individual members of the 
Council, or through their Secretary, in order that they may be informed as to the 
feelings of members upon these subjects, and may then, as far as possible, act in 
accordance with the information so obtained. 
Although it has been customary, in former reports, to notice briefly the subjects 
and authors of papers read at the Society's meetings, the Council do not consider 
