REPOKT OF IHE COMMITTEE. 195 



their duties to a Sub-Committee of not less than three 

 persons, who may or may not be members of the said 

 I^atural History Society. 



4. The prizes, each of which shall be known as the " John 



Hancock Prize," shall be awarded for the acknwledg- 

 ment of field observations in E'atural History, whether 

 Eotany, Ornithology, Entomology, Molluscan or other 

 forms of life, or Geology. 



5. The object of the Fund is not to form a passion for col- 



lecting but to stimulate observation and consequent 

 research. The prize shall therefore be offered for the 

 best account of a ramble, with special reference to the 

 common objects noticed in the fields, in the woods, or 

 by the sea-shore. 



6. It shall be a direction to the examiners that the prize 



shall be awarded not for technical knowlodge or literary 

 research, but for observation such as can be exercised by 

 persons of ordinary education without special training. 



7. The competitors shall be residents for the time being of 



the Counties of Northumberland, Durham, or Newcastle- 

 upon-Tyne. 



Tour Committee have, in accordance with the above Regula- 

 tions, advertised the existence of this Fund, and they have also 

 printed circulars with the conditions under which the essays are 

 to be sent in, and they trust that the announcement and dis- 

 tribution of this prize annually may in some way act as an 

 encouragement to and stimulate the outdoor study of Natural 

 History, for which the late Mr. John Hancock, whose name is 

 associated with this Fund, was so strong an advocate. 



It seems desirable to mention that the subscriptions to the 

 Hancock Prize Fund were given chiefly by Mr. Hancock's per- 

 sonal friends and a few others to whom he was well known as 

 an enthusiastic Ornithologist and Naturalist. 



The Committee have also to state that during the past year 

 they have had applications for the loan of specimens for teaching 

 purposes from several teachers, and have thus been enabled to 

 lend some of their duplicate specimens to teachers of public and 



