99 
OFFICEBS’ BEPOKTS FOB 1948 
The Council met three times during the year and there was much 
activity among the Committees, especially the Publications Committee. 
A Meeting for members in and around London to meet the President 
and Officers was held at my Flat on February 3rd, 27 members attending. 
Details relating to the Membership Register are given by the Hon. 
Assistant Secretary at the end of my Report. I would, however, just 
like to mention the loss that the Society has sustained in the death of 
Miss E. Vachell, one of its " oldest ” and most active members. Dur- 
ing the many years she had served on the Council and Committees she 
had been a most regular attendant, and had rarely missed a Council 
meeting. Mr A. E. Wade kindly represented the Society at.her funeral. 
Members may like to know a little of the administrative side of the 
Society. Although the address, through the kindness of Dr Ramsbottom, 
is c/o Dept, of Botany, British Museum (Nat. Hist.), most of my 
Secretarial work is done in my Flat, where I have furnished a private 
office to house temporarily the Society’s effects other than stock of 
publications. 
Most of the Committee meetings and one of the Council have been 
held in my Flat. I either collect letters from the Museum, where I deal 
with the identifications, or they are forwarded by Mr Wilraott or Mr 
Bangerter, to both of whom I am very grateful. From time to time I 
have the services of an experienced shorthand typist, for wffiom the 
Society pays. I have also a special desk for the Society’s business in 
my cottage in Perthshire. 
All new members receive a personal letter from me, and I deal with 
all, enquiries and general correspondence. 
Through the kindness of Professor Osborn, we have a room in Dr 
Druce’s old house (Yardley Lodge, Oxford), where our publications stock 
is stored. All orders come to me and are triplicated (one for customer, 
one for Hon. Treasurer and one for Secretary), and passed once a week 
to Mr J. H. Burnett, who acts as our representative, and whose two 
assistants wrap up the parcels. (They each receive a small honorarium 
for their services.) 
Mr Price keeps all the membership records, makes notes for the 
Minutes of General and Council Meetings, does nearly all the duplicat- 
ing, and sends out all notices to members of Council. 
In the past it was customary tor the Hon. Secretary to give an ac- 
count of his Field activities. I do not propose to go into details, but 1 
think it may be of interest to report that I spent ten days in the Isle of 
Harris with a small and industrious party, mostly members of the 
Society, and a week in Ardnamurchan. In September I was in the 
Valais in Switzerland for eleven days as assistant to the Director of the 
Institute of Sociology, our member Mr A. Farquharson. I hope some 
time to write a short account of my botanical work there, as it is of some 
interest as being the “ off season ” for botanists. 
With the increase in the Society’s activity, and the absence of earned 
income, the time is rapidly approaching when I can no longer carry on 
the dual role of Hon. General Secretary and Field Secretary (the latter 
