When the Society for General Microbiology meets at the University of Warwick in April 1984, it will be the one-hundredth occasion on which an Ordinary Meeting of the Society has taken place and FEMS Microbiology Letters grasps the opportunity to congratulate this constituent Society of FEMS on its second notable century. For it is worth recalling that seven years ago, in 1977, the SGM's premier publication, the Journal of General Microbiology, attained its one-hundredth volume and the present writer, then occupying the Chief Editorial Chair of that Journal, was able to announce that, commencing with the next volume, the Journal, in company with its sister publication, the Journal of General Virology, would become official publications of the Federation of European Microbiological Societies. Anticipating that moment, the Journal had already in 1976 appointed its first European members to the Editorial Board. We are delighted to observe that in 1984 they will appoint their first full Editor to be drawn from the Continent of Europe. It was in January 1977, too, that FEMS Microbiology Letters came into existence as the first de novo publication of FEMS, joining the long established Journal of General Microbiology and Journal of General Virology. With a very representative Board of European editors, the vigorous infant grew exponentially and it has now attained maturity as an established international journal offering rapid publication in the field of microbiology, an activity which admirably complements those of its two sister FEMS journals. SGM Meetings have always been held in high esteem both for the quality of their programmes and for their organisational effectiveness, while the publication of their annual Symposium volumes is for many microbiologists an eagerly anticipated event. In recent years, the SGM's publication programme in relation to Group Meetings has expanded significantly, again rendering a very useful service to microbiologists thr'~ughout the world. In'offering felicitations on their hundredth Ordinary Meeting, we remember, too, the important role that the SGM played in the founding of FEMS and in the fostering of cooperation and friendship between the microbiological Societies of Europe. Long may these ideals continue to prosper!