YORKSHIRE NATURALISTS’ UNION—ANNUAL REPORT. 221 
admitted—the Scarborough Naturalists’ Society with thirty-seven 
members, and the Ravensthorpe Naturalists’ Society with 124. 
The statistics which the Secretaries of the various Societies 
have again been kind enough to furnish, show a slight increase in 
the number of Associates, the aggregate membership of the thirty- 
nine Societies now amounting to 2,580, an increase of sixty-three. 
Adding to this the number of direct members, the total numerical 
strength of the Union is 
e Membership now stands at 430, an increase of twenty 
on the previous year. During the year, 43 new members have been 
elected. 
The Union has been unfortunate in losing by death several good 
supporters in Messrs. Jas. Backhouse, F.L.S., Wm. Aldam, D.L., J.P., 
Edward Hailstone, F.S.A., John Grassham, Walter W. Booth, 
Francis H. Potter, and E. B. Wrigglesworth, the latter of whom was 
at one time a Secretary of the Entomological Section. The most 
serious loss has been that of a member of the Executive Committee 
in Mr. S. A. Adamson, F.G.S., who had for several years been the 
life and soul of the Geological Section and a most energetic member 
of the committees concerned with geological research. 
he Financial Position of the Union has been a subject of 
some anxiety to the Executive during the year, as the very heavy loss 
which the Union sustained in the matter of the publication of the 
West Yorkshire Flora and difficulty in recovering some of the 
arrears of subscriptions, have much embarrassed the Treasurer in 
paying off the Union’s liabilities. The number of copies of the 
Flora which are left in stock is quite sufficient to clear off the liability 
incurred for its publication, and members could do the Union good 
service by providing themselves with the work; but so long as the 
unsold copies remain in hand, the Union’s work in publishing 
Transactions will be somewhat srestricted. 
Much credit is due to the various members who act as local 
Treasurers for the service which they render to the Union, many 
of them keeping the subscriptions in their district regularly and 
systematically collected, and thereby avoiding the accumulation of 
€ arrears which in certain instances form so serious an incon- 
venience. 
It is satisfactory to note the increasing number of members who 
avail themselves of the convenient method of instructing their 
bankers to pay the subscription on its falling due. 
The Publications of the Union have been as in former years. 
The Transactions.—Part 14 was issued in September of wn 
year, and was devoted to a ene by Mr. Robert Kidston, F.R.S 
July 1891. 
