2 REPORT OF THE COUNCIL 



Society has sustained, though not actually from among its 

 members, must be recorded here, namely the death of Mr. 

 J. E. Robson of Hartlepool. At the time of his death Mr. 

 Robson was seeing through the press the concluding part 

 of his excellent catalogue of the local Lepidoptera, This 

 has been published by the Society, and is well worthy 

 to take its place in the authoritative series of catalogues 

 of local natural history which are contained in the Trans- 

 actions. The death of the author while the work was still 

 uncompleted is most regrettable ; but through the good 

 offices of Mr. John Gardner, the help of Mr. Eustace R. 

 Bankes, the chief British authority on the Microlepidoptera, 

 has been secured, Mr. Bankes having very kindly undertaken 

 the necessary revision of the manuscript and proofs. 



The completion of the late Mr. Robson's catalogue will 

 bring to an end the old series of Transactions, which has had 

 to be left unfinished while the new series was proceeded with. 

 Of this new series two volumes have now been issued. The 

 part sent out during the past year has brought Vol. i to a 

 close. Vol. 2, issued in one part the previous year, consisted 

 of the Rev. W. J. Wingate's work on the Diptera. These two 

 volumes have been noticed much more fully than usual in the 

 scientific press, and it will be gratifying to members to know 

 that this side of the Society's activity has met with such wide 

 and favourable recognition. 



As explained in the last annual report, the amount of 

 valuable material offered for publication by the members 

 during the preceding year had been so large that it was im- 

 possible to meet the cost of printing and issuing it out of the 

 ordinary funds, and the Council had been compelled to 

 appeal for the raising of a special Publication Fund. The 

 sum received in response to the appeal was ;^228 12s. 

 Finding that this sum had been subscribed from among a 

 comparatively small proportion of the membership, and 

 chiefly in considerable amounts, the Council issued later a 

 further circular to those who had not already contributed, in 

 the hope of persuading all to help the fund to however small 



