4A REPORT —1905. 
they might expect to find a rare plant or insect, or for a particular 
geological purpose, and visiting a different division of the county at each 
excursion. They thought the picnic element was very strongly to be 
deprecated. As the group of Affiliated Societies consists of such Societies 
as undertake local investigation and publish their results, Mr. Marsh 
said he would like to ask whether the Committee had any condition as 
to the length of time which should elapse before the publication of such 
results. The Society he represented did not always consider it advisable 
to publish immediately, but held over anything of interest they might 
have until they had a sufficient number of papers to make a volume. 
Mr. E. R. Sykes (Dorset Field Club) said he felt that his Society had 
become rather too much of a picnic society, but they were bent on mend- 
ing their ways. 
The Rev. W. Lower Carter (Yorkshire Geological Society) explained 
that the Yorkshire Naturalists’ Union had a membership numbering 400 
members and 3,000 associates. One important thing connected with the 
Society was the circular which it sent out. It contained notes on all the 
various branches of natural history of the district, given in a very brief form, 
with suggestions for looking for any plants, insects, &c., which have at 
some time been found but have not been seen for a number of years. 
Mr. W. Whitaker (Vice-Chairman), referring to the question asked 
by Mr. Marsh as to the length of time given for the publication of reports 
of the different Societies, said he did not know that there was any definite 
rule on the subject, but his own idea was that they looked forward to some- 
thing every year. But if a Society published a number every two years, 
and that was its method of publication, the. Committee would not expect 
more. What they wanted to do was to keep the Societies in touch, and 
they would be inclined to look leniently on a little lapse in publication. 
Mr. William Martin, M.A., LL.D., introduced the following subject : 
The Law of Treasure Trove, especially in relation ta local Scientific Socreties. 
The law of treasure trove has hitherto been the recipient of much 
condemnation. It is customary to find attributed to it the loss of valuable 
and, indeed, irreplaceable relics of bygone times. Defence of the existing 
system which allocates to the Crown, or the Crown’s assignees, ownerless 
gold and silver accidentally discovered, or exhumed after search, is rarely 
heard. In fact, treasure trove is often, perhaps usually, considered as 
synonymous with ‘melting-pot.’ Thus, a maintenance of the law of 
treasure trove, we are told, ‘is the best way to ensure that no such dis- 
coveries are made known, and to drive the finder to put all such treasures 
in the melting-pot.’! While but few submit practical suggestions for the 
amendment of the existing system—suggestions which the Government 
might have no hesitation in accepting—in many quarters a drastic altera- 
tion of the existing provisions is demanded. 
Now a radical amendment of the law of treasure trove may, in view 
of the difficulties attendant upon legislation, not to mention the deep- 
rooted conservative instinct of lawyers and landed proprietors, be con- 
sidered as almost ‘beyond the range of practical politics.” May it not, 
then, be well to examine closely the present system, and to seek for 
amendment whereby, without offence to the susceptibilities of the various 
1 Methods and Aims in \echeology, by W. M. Flinders Petrie (1904), p. 183. 
