NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY 



OF 



NORTHUMBERLAND, DURHAM, AND NEWCASTLE- 

 UPON-TYNE 



REPORT OF THE COUNCIL 



FOR 1907-I908 



In their report for last year your Council had regretfully to 

 record a decrease in the membership of the Society. This 

 decrease had been slowly in progress for three years, and 

 during that time the membership had fallen by 30. It is 

 therefore with pleasure that the Council are this year, able to 

 state that there has been a check in this disquieting decline; 

 the loss by death and resignation has been 19, and 30 new 

 members have been elected, the consequent gain of 11 bringing 

 up the total membership at the'fend of the year to 420. Several 

 members of the. Council and others have exerted themselves 

 with some success to bring in fresh subscribers ; and in so 

 doing they have made use of a card which has been printed, 

 giving a few leading facts concerning the Society and its work. 

 Copies of this card will gladly be sent by the honorary 

 secretaries to any members who are prepared to make use of 

 them. 



The pressing need for a larger membership and further 

 support will be sufficiently evident from the balance sheet. 

 For the first time for a very long period there is a considerable 

 deficit. The greater activity of the last few years, in the 

 direction of publishing papers, organizing lectures, and dealing 

 with the museum work, has naturally involved an increased 

 annual expenditure. The increase has been comparatively 

 slight, but in spite of all the efforts that have been made the 

 roll of subscribers has not been sufficiently enlarged to meet it. 

 The result has been a gradually dwindhng balance, which this 



