president's address. 
623 
and that already nearly four years have elapsed since the principal 
became available. And while on the one hand the Council does 
not expect to attract an eminent European Bacteriologist to the 
Colonies— nor could Sir William have contemplated such a con- 
tingency; yet on the other hand the Council is not altogether 
without hope that it is possible to find a thoroughly competent 
and enthusiastic Bacteriologist, animated with the true scientific 
spirit, who will appreciate the prospect of carrying on original 
investigations under very favourable circumstances. 
With satisfaction may be noted the pleasing evolutionary 
development in the scope of the Society's scientific work. At 
the outset this was exclusively zoological. In the Second Annual 
Address of the first President (Sir William Macleay) the hope 
was expressed that at no distant date contributions from botanists 
and geologists would find a place in the Proceedings. Sir William 
lived to see that hope amply fulfilled. Animal morphology also 
has become an important feature of the Proceedings. One would 
be glad to see the morphology of plants commanding a portion of 
the attention it deserves, but the outlook is not a promising one 
in that direction anywhere in Australia. The subject apart from 
that of Bacteriology, languishes at present for want of students 
for the conditions for their encouragement here are wanting. It 
would be well if we had even a small edition of such a botanical 
laboratory as that at the Botanical Gardens at Buitenzorg, Java, 
so ably presided over by Dr. Treub, and so liberally provided for 
by the Dutch Government 
Since the last Annual Meeting our numbers have been dimin- 
ished by the deaths of one Honorary and three Ordinary Members. 
Professor Sven Loven, the eminent Swedish naturalist, died on 
September 6th last at the advanced age of 87. Since 1841 he 
had filled the appointments of Professor and Conservator of the 
Boyal Museum of Natural History, Stockholm. He devoted 
much study to the marine fauna of the Baltic and the North 
Seas, special attention being given to Echinoderms. Professor 
Loven was elected an Honorary Member of this Society in 1891. 
