ANNUAL MEETING — GENEBAL BUSINESS. 155 



Along with this communication, Mr. Harrison forwarded another, 

 for which your Council desire to bespeak your most thoughtful considera- 

 tion ; for it seems to them to afford a way of encouraging definite and 

 useful work on the subject of the glacial drift deposits, as well as on 

 any others which from time to time may be fixed upon to engage the 

 attention of the members of this Union. Mr. Harrison says : — 



" Leicester Town Museum, May 8th, 1880. 



" To the Hon. Secretaries of the Midland Union of Scientific, &c, 



Societies. 



" Gentlemen, — A consideration of the working of our Union since its 

 commencement leads me to the conclusion that it would be desirable, 

 not only to place definite objects of work before the Members of our 

 Societies, but also to offer some recognition of good work done. 



"If the funds of the Union permit, or, if a special fund could be 

 raised for the purpose, I would suggest that a gold medal be offered 

 annually for some subject connected with the Natural History of the 

 Midlands ; the subject to be announced at least one year beforehand. 



" Subjects connected with the various Natural Histoi-y Sciences 

 might be taken in turn, and I believe that the plan would secure the 

 performance of some excellent work. Certificates of merit might be 

 awarded to all papers which gave evidence of original work. 



" The working details of a plan to carry out this scheme would be 

 very simple : The subject should be announced annually at the General 

 Meeting. Papers should be sent in under a motto, (with name and address 

 in sealed envelope,) and the Council should depute skilled experts to 

 examine and report on them. Successful papers should be published 

 in the ' Midland Naturalist.' 



" I remain, Gentlemen, 



" Obediently yours, 



" W. Jerome Harrison." 



This suggestion has the hearty approval of the Council, and they 

 strongly recommend the Union to adopt it. If the funds derived from 

 the small subscription of membership should not be sufficient for the 

 provision of such an annual reward as is proposed, a special fund for the 

 purpose would have to be raised ; but your Council do not think there 

 would be any great difficulty in obtaining the requisite money ; some of 

 the larger societies would probably be willing to vote one or two guineas 

 each annually to the medal fund, while among the three thousand 

 members it surely will not be an impossible task to find a sufficient 

 number able and willing to contribute the small balance which may be 

 required in addition to the contributions from the societies. 



Two invitations have been received for the holding of next year's 

 Annual Meeting, one from the Cheltenham Natural Science Society, the 

 other from the Nottingham Literary and Philosophical Society. Your 

 Council have unanimously agreed to recommend that the invitation from 

 the Cheltenham Natural Science Society be accepted, and that the 

 meeting for 1881 be held at Cheltenham. 



The "Midland Naturalist" has during the past year published a 

 number of important and interesting papers, and has thoroughly 

 sustained the high character which it won at the outset. It has given 

 figures of numerous additions to the freshwater fauna of England, 

 discovered, delineated, and described by members of this Union. Of 

 these may be mentioned as specially worth notice Leptodora hyalina, 



