session 1909-1910. 
lv 
that with another similar year its funds would be exhausted. 
One had an adverse balance of =£52, and the Report stated that 
the work of its Museum was much crippled for want of adequate 
funds ; its expenditure included interest on Bank overdraft. 
The fifth showed a deficiency of £73. Thus five out of the 
twelve appeared to be in a critical position from want of funds. 
The figures given are approximate only.” 
He then gave, as best known to him, a brief history of the 
Hertfordshire Natural History Society, and a statement of its 
present financial position, too well known to most of our members 
to require repetition here. It is printed in the Report of the 
British Association for 1909, pp. 337-339. 
A long discussion followed, in which very diverse views were 
expressed by the twenty who took part in it, and the following 
resolution was then carried:—“That, in view of the opinions 
elicited during this Conference, the question of the advisability 
of taking further action be referred for consideration by the 
Corresponding Societies Committee.” 
7. “ Report on the Darwin Celebration held at Cam¬ 
bridge, 22nd to 24th June, 1909.” By John Hopkinson, 
F.L.S., F.G.S., F.Z.S., etc. 
The Hertfordshire Natural History Society having received 
an invitation from the University of Cambridge to appoint 
a Delegate to represent it at this Celebration of the Centenary 
of the birth of Charles Darwin and the Fiftieth Anniversary 
of the publication of the ‘ Origin of Species,’ and the Council 
having appointed me, it is my duty to give a brief report of the 
proceedings on that memorable occasion. 
But first, I may remark, our Society was highly honoured by 
this invitation, being one of only four provincial Societies in 
England, outside of Cambridge, invited to take part in the 
Celebration. On notification of my intention to be present, 
the invitation was kindly extended to my wife, both of us being 
hospitably entertained by Mr. H. Rackham, a Fellow of Christ’s 
College, and Mrs. Rackham. 
The proceedings commenced with a reception in the evening 
(Tuesday, 22nd June) by the Chancellor of the University, 
Lord Rayleigh, F.R.S., in the Fitzwilliam Museum, from which 
we passed into the gardens of Peterhouse College. 
On Wednesday morning the Chancellor delivered an Address, 
after which speeches were made by Prof. Oscar Hertwig 
(Berlin), Prof. Metchnikoff (Paris), Prof. Osborn (New York), 
and Sir E. Ray Lankester (London), and Addresses were 
presented, first by Delegates from foreign countries and then 
by those from our own Colonies and the British Isles, that of 
your Delegate being a handsomely bound copy of his Presidential 
Address on Charles Darwin delivered before the Society in 1893, 
with a brief inscription inserted. The Addresses are preserved 
in the University Library. 
