lvi 
PEOCEEDINGS OF THE 
was appropriated to exhibits by members of the Society. There 
was a good collection of microscopes, and an interesting display of 
natural objects, including a number of living reptiles exhibited by 
Mr. Stradling, amongst them being five pythons from Zululand, a 
sun-devil from Ashantee, and a Paranese tree-snake from Brazil. 
The new library catalogue announced in the last report as then 
being in preparation, is now in the press ; the catalogue itself being 
already in type. The Council having decided that a subject-index 
should be added to it, this is now being prepared by your Editor, 
and as soon as it is completed, the catalogue will be issued. The 
number of volumes now in the Society’s library is about 1000, of 
which nearly half are botanical works. 
The Council regrets that your Editor has decided to abandon the 
editorship of the late Mr. R. A. Pryor’s ‘ Flora of Hertfordshire.’ 
He has devoted a considerable amount of time and labour upon it, 
in preparing a portion of it for the press, and in the subsequent 
revision of this portion, comprising the orders Ranunculacese, Ber- 
beridacese, Nymphseacese, Fumariaceae, and Cruciferae. The first 
sheet of sixteen pages is complete, carrying the work to the end of 
Hymphaeaceae, but, judging from the labour involved in achieving 
this inconsiderable result, your Editor considers that the limited 
time at his disposal will be better bestowed upon other work for 
the Society. The thanks of the Society are due to Mrs. Pryor for 
the donation of £20 towards the cost of editing her son’s work. Of 
this a small amount has been expended in the purchase of a few 
necessary books and the ordnance maps of the county. The Council 
will endeavour to secure the services of a botanist competent to 
carry on the work, and who will bring it out in a manner which 
will do credit to its author, who had an almost unequalled critical 
knowledge of British plants, combined with a most extensive 
acquaintance with botanical literature, British and foreign, from 
before the time of Linnaeus to the present day. 
The Society’s library is in a satisfactory condition. There have 
been several donations of books during the past year, in addition to 
about fifty numbers of Transactions and Proceedings, received in 
exchange from other societies. A new book-case is being made 
which will greatly facilitate the arrangement of the books. 
The financial position of the Society is as satisfactory as in former 
years. The balance in hand is about the same as at the end of the 
year 1883, but during the present year it will probably be reduced, 
owing to the expenditure which the catalogue of the library and 
the new book-case will necessitate. 
In conclusion the Council has to express the thanks of the Society 
to the Committee of the Watford Public Library for the accommo¬ 
dation afforded for your library and the Watford meetings, and 
also to the members of the Hertford Literary and Scientific Institu¬ 
tion for the continued free use of their rooms for the Hertford 
meetings. 
