144 YORKSHIRE NATURALISTS UNION AT DEWSBURY. 



primary object of the Union is systematic and persistent investigation directed 

 towards a sound and accurate knowledge of the natural history and the physical 

 features of the county. To the results of these investigations are the transactions 

 exclusively devoted, and to the furtherance of this end the excursions are planned. 



The Meetings held during the year have been four in number ; the places 

 visited being : — Askern, Thursday, 20th May ; Flamborough, Whit-Monday, 

 14th June; Pateley Bridge, Saturday, 17th July; and Pickering, Bank Holiday 

 Monday, 2nd August. [We omit the detailed description of the excursions, 

 which have all been reported in our pages.] On each of these occasions the 

 Union was placed under great obligation to the landed gentry of the county for 

 the kind and generous manner in which its investigations were facilitated and 

 encouraged, and in this connection it is a source of gratification to record that 

 during the whole series of about sixty excursions which have been made during the 

 past decade, there has been but one solitary instance of a refusal to grant the 

 permission applied for. 



A fifth meeting had been planned for the end of September, to take the form 

 of a Fungus Foray, but an unfortunate clashing of dates with those arranged by the 

 Scottish Cryptogamic Society, and other unforeseen circumstances, rendered it 

 desirable to postpone it for another year, when your Executive have every 

 confidence in its proving a more than ordinarily successful gathering. 



The Societies which constitute the Union now number 32, being a decrease 

 of two from last year. Two societies— the Rastrick and Brighouse Naturalists' 

 Society and the Scholes Botanical Society — have severed their connection with 

 the Union by resignation, and two others — the Scarborough Scientific Society and 

 the Selby Naturalists' Society — are reported as having practically ceased to exist. 

 On the other hand, two strong societies — the Cleveland Naturalists' Club with 61, 

 and the Harrogate Naturalists' Society with 54 members — have been admitted, 

 and it may be observed that applications have been received from two other 

 societies for admission for the coming year. 



The statistics which the secretaries of the various local societies have been 

 good enough to furnish in accordance with precedent show that the number of 

 associates is now 1,915, which, added to the members, makes a total for the 

 Union of 2, 290 members and associates. 



The Membership of the Union, as distinguished from that of the local 

 societies it includes, stands at about the same figure as last year, 375. With the 

 view of facilitating an increase, a nomination-form has been printed on the blank 

 page of the circular of the present annual meeting, and it is hoped that this will 

 be extensively used. The number of members is not as large as it ought to be 

 for so' important a county or as the utility of the researches undertaken by the 

 Union demands, and the Executive would be glad to have assistance from all who 

 feel interested in promoting the work for which the Union exists, in raising the 

 number of members to a considerably higher figure than that at which it now stands. 



Finance. — The financial statement will show that the position of the Union 

 is in a sound and healthy condition. 



The Local Treasurers have proved themselves to be. as in former years, 

 a much valued help to the Central Executive, in giving members a convenient 

 method of discharging their obligations to the Union, and the best thanks of the 

 Union arc due to these gentlemen. 



The Publications of the Union have been as heretofore. 



The Transactions. — Part 9, referred to in the last report, has been issued 

 to the members, and Part 10 is in the printer's hands. It will contain some 

 instalments of the lists of Yorkshire Birds, Coleoptera, and Mollusca, of more 

 than usual interest and value. 



Lees' West Riding Flora In accordance with agreement, the manuscript 



and copyright of the West Riding Flora were placed in the han('.:; of the 

 Union by its author last April. The manuscript was immediately put in the 

 printer's hands. The work of correcting the proofs has been actively proceeded 

 with during the year, and is now drawing near a conclusion. Circulars asking 

 for subscriptions to the book will shortly be issued, and it is expected that the 

 Flora itself — which will extend to more that 600 pages, and which includes lists. 



Naturalist, 



