212 REPORT OF THE COUNCIL 



1904 he had been in the Society's service as caretaker and 

 keeper of the Museum for over fifty-one years. By his 

 devotion to his duties and by his fine personal qualities he 

 had earned the respect and friendship of a long succession of 

 local naturalists, and his recollections of the distinguished 

 men with whom he had been associated, and indeed of every- 

 thing concerning the history of the Society, were always of 

 interest and frequently of much value. When illness forced 

 him to relinquish his duties, the Council, as some mark of 

 their esteem, made him honorary keeper of the Museum. 

 He died on his eighty-eighth birthday, and to the last his 

 mind was mainly occupied with the past or present of the 

 institution he had served so faithfully. 



No Transactions have been actually issued during the year, 

 though the concluding part of Volume III., New Series, will 

 be in the hands of members before this report is read. 

 Further papers have been accepted and are being printed to 

 form the first part of Volume IV. These particular papers 

 were of such high scientific value and so much local interest 

 that your Council, in spite of financial obstacles, could not see 

 their way to refuse them a place in the Transactions ; never- 

 theless it is a fact, as the Treasurer has felt obliged to point 

 out, that the Society is not really in a position to undertake 

 even such publishing as it does. It is only because the 

 publication of original work on local natural history is such 

 an essential function of the Society that the Council have so 

 far hesitated to suspend or abandon it. This is one of the 

 directions in which the need of further support is most acutely 

 felt. 



The cost of the general repair and redecoration of the 

 Museum building, referred to in the report for last year, 

 appears in this year's accounts. The work in question has 

 been completed in a thoroughly satisfactory manner, and has 

 resulted in a marked improvement in the condition and 

 appearance of the building. It is a great satisfaction to the 

 Council to have been enabled to carry out these repairs, 

 which had long been badly needed. 



