NATUEAL HISTOUY SOCIETY 



OF 



NORTHUMBERLAND, DURHAM, AND NEWCASTLE- 

 UPON-TYNE 



REPORT OF THE COUNCIL 



FOR 1908-1909 



The work of the Natural History Society has now for some 

 years proceeded upon more or less uniform lines, these 

 having proved to be the most practicable upon which the 

 Society, with its present means, can further the aims for which 

 it exists. Li presenting their report for the year, your Council 

 have therefore to refer in the first place to certain usual 

 features of the Society's work : the upkeep and development 

 of the museum, the organization of meetings, lectures, and 

 outdoor excursions, and the publication of scientific papers, 



A short account of the year's work in the museum is 

 appended as usual to this report, and renders unnecessary any 

 detailed reference to it here. But the Council would like to 

 call the attention of members to the steady improvement that 

 is taking place year by year, and in particular, at the present 

 time, to the gradual transformation of the zoology room. The 

 most striking of the recent changes has been that undergone 

 by the collection of fishes ; instead of being as before one of 

 the poorest sections of the museum, this is now one of the 

 most attractive. Your Council feel that the Society is much 

 indebted to the staff at the museum, and particularly to their 

 curator, for the wholehearted way in which the duties of the 

 institution are discharged in face of having to work under 

 disheartening conditions. The donations made to the museum 

 during the year are referred to in detail in other sections of 

 the report ; it will be seen that they include some of great 

 interest and value. 



