REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE. 4I 



NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY 



OF 



NORTHUMBERLAND, DURHAM, AND NEWCASTLE- 

 UPON-TYNE. 



REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE 



FOR 1902-1903. 



It is with pleasure that the Committee are able to report 

 several encouraging features in the year's work of the Society. 

 In the first place there is a substantial increase in the member- 

 ship to be recorded. One hundred and eleven new members 

 have joined the Society during the course of the year, and 

 this, with a loss of fifteen through death and resignation, 

 leaves the present membership at 327, as against 231 at the 

 close of the last year. The Committee wish to express their 

 indebtedness to Mr. N. H. Martin, to whose energy as joint 

 Hon. Secretary of the Society this gratifying increase is 

 mainly due. 



During the past year also a considerable development has 

 taken place in connection with the evening meetings, which 

 form such an important department of the Society's work. 

 These have been more prominently brought before the public, 

 and during the past session have taken rather more definitely 

 than before the form of lectures. They have been held in 

 the library of the museum, and on several occasions this 

 room proved inadequate to accommodate the audiences which 

 assembled. As before, the meetings have been open to the 

 pubhc on payment of the usual museum entrance fee; and 

 their attractiveness and success have been largely added to 

 by the use of the excellently fitted lecture lantern presented 

 by Mr. Martin. Abstracts of the lectures, in some cases 

 kindly furnished by the lecturers themselves, will appear in 

 the Transactions : a list of the subjects taken is given below. 



