REPORT OF THE COUNCIL 5 



thing practical might be done. The whole question was most 

 carefully considered at a special meeting on May 20th ; and 

 though a certain amount of risk is inseparable from such a 

 step, the circumstances are so pressing that the Council felt 

 justified in advertising for an assistant. From a number of 

 candidates Mr. Herbert Fletcher, of the zoological museum 

 at Birmingham University, was selected, and the work he 

 has done since his arrival seems to show that a very satis- 

 factory choice has been made. 



It may here be mentioned that an insurance against 

 employers' liability under the new Act has been effected in 

 regard to the museum staff. 



A list of the Evening Meetings held during the winter 

 session of 1906-7 is printed at the end of the report. The 

 attendances were rather uneven, and one or two small 

 audiences bring the average down to about 75 ; but on the 

 whole the interest shown in the meetings has been well 

 maintained. The Christmas holiday lectures to young people 

 were very kindly given this winter by two of the Professors at 

 the Armstrong College, and were in every way successful. 

 The attendance at the Curator's evening "museum talks" 

 shows a decided improvement on previous years. Hitherto 

 the average has been about 50, but for the past session it 

 works out to about 65, or, if one evening on an unfortunate 

 date be left out of account, to 73. The Council are glad to 

 notice that two of the "talks" were given by members who 

 volunteered to help Mr. Gill in this work; such assistance is 

 particularly valuable when, as in these instances, it thereby 

 becomes possible to introduce botany among the subjects 

 dealt with. 



Of the Field Meetings, which will be reported in full later in 

 the year, it is here only necessary to say that a full programme 

 was arranged by the Field Meetings Committee, and has been 

 successfully carried out as far as it has gone at the date of 

 this report. 



For the Hancock Prize Competition last autumn eighteen 

 essays were sent in, the largest number yet received in any 



