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THE YORKSHIRE NATURALISTS’ UNION AND ITS WORK.* 
THE Yorkshire Naturalists’ Union can be safely said to occupy the fore- 
most position amongst the provincial scientific societies in the country, 
At the present time it has over four thousand members and associates. 
and has the co-operation of nearly fifty affiliated societies. By the aid 
of its various committees and sections, it secures the assistance of the 
leading naturalists in almost every branch of science, quite a large pro- 
portion of whom are resident in the county. By the aid of field excursions 
and indoor meetings, the natural history and physical features of every part 
to the broad-acred shire are thoroughly investigated. For these meetings 
elaborate programmes are drawn up, and circulated amongst the members. 
Not only is a careful census made of the fauna and flora, their changes, and 
the causes thereof, but the Union takes active steps towards the pro- 
tection of animal and plant life. Other committees keep a careful record 
of the coast changes, the discoveries made in coal mines or in railway 
cuttings, or other geological exposures. There is also a committee of 
suggestions for research, which gives advice as to the many directions in 
which useful work may be accomplished. These committees meet 
periodically, and draw up their reports on the year’s work, which are printed 
in the Union’s annual report. This report itself is a very substantial 
contribution to Yorkshire natural science. In addition, the Union pub- 
lishes natural history memoirs from time to time ; an annual volume of 
transactions, and its Monthly Illustrated Magazine, ‘The Naturalist,’ 
which now occupies a foremost place in the scientific literature of Great 
Britain. The management of the whole of this vast organisation, and the 
editing of its various reports and publications, and the compiling of its 
excursion programmes, is in the hands of Mr. Thomas Sheppard, F.G.S., 
F.R.G.S., of the Municipal Museums at Hull. Mr. Sheppard was elected 
the Hon. Secretary and Editor about ten years ago, since which date the 
Union, in addition to its reports, programmes, transactions, and volumes 
of ‘The Naturalist,’ has published ‘The Birds of Yorkshire,’ by T. H. 
Nelson, R. Fortune, and F. Boyes (2 vols.) ; ‘ Yorkshire Lepidoptera ’ 
(second edition), by G. T. Porritt; ‘The Fungus Flora of Yorkshire by 
C. Crossland and G. Massee; ‘ North Yorkshire,’ by J. G. Baker; and 
there is other work in hand. This is a record of which any society might 
be justly proud. Certainly no society outside London has accomplished 
a quarter of this amount in the same time, and in view of the absurdly 
small subscription to the Yorkshire Naturalists’ Union (half-a-guinea per 
annum), the result is all the more astounding. From the annual report 
for 1910, recently issued, it is found that notwithstanding its great numeri- 
cal strength, further new members are urgently required in order that its 
work may not be impaired. We trust the society will be successful in its 
efforts. 
A former secretary of the Union, Mr..W. Denison Roebuck, F.L.S., in 
1903, took as his presidential address the ‘ Salient Features in the History 
of the Yorkshire Naturalists’ Union,’ which, unfortunately, was issued 
separately, and not in either of the Union’s publications. In this Mr. 
Roebuck points out that there were local naturalist societies in Yorkshire 
in the first half of the nineteenth century, though the records of some are 
meagre. 
The principle of federation was not long in following the establishment 
of local societies, and it was in the year 1861 that the Association of 
Societies, which is now known as the Yorkshire Naturalists’ Union, had 
its birth. Heckmondwike was the place, and William Talbot, of Wake- 
field, was the founder. Mr. William Talbot, with whom the idea of a 
confederation of societies originated, was one of the ablest and soundest 
field naturalists of the district, and one whose kindly and genial disposition 
* Reprinted from the ‘ Yorkshire Weekly Post.’ 
Naturalist, 
