REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE. It 



The Committee have pleasure in being able to state that 

 the attendance of members and the public generally has been 

 much the same as in former years, the fees for admission 

 showing a slight mcrease of visitors compared with last year. 

 There is also an increase in the amount of subscriptions 

 received, but this arises from the payment of arrears, and not 

 from an actual increase of membership. During the past 

 twelve months seven new Members and twenty-one Associates 

 have been elected, but this small increase, the Committee 

 regret, is counterbalanced by the loss of four of the older 

 members by death and by several resignations. 



Obituary. — Among the older members of the Society whose 

 loss we have to deplore must be mentioned our esteemed 

 member of Committee, Mr. John Philipson, who for many 

 years took an active interest in the welfare of the Society. 

 Though not practically engaged in any Natural History 

 pursuit himself, he ever took a lively interest in the labours of 

 others, and from his youth was accustomed, whenever oppor- 

 tunity afforded, to associate with the Naturalists of this 

 Society and those of the Tyneside Club in their Field 

 Excursions ; whose work he fully appreciated, and whose 

 company he preferred in rambling over the moors or along 

 the sea-shores of these Northern Counties. As president of 

 the Field Club, or chairman at any of the Society's meetings, 

 his aim was to encourage the younger members in pursuits 

 which were dear to himself, and to foster a love of nature 

 which can only be fully gratified by outdoor excursions to 

 some of the wilder and less populated parts of the country. 



The most important donations received since the last report 

 consist of volumes of books and fasciculi of important groups 

 of British Plants. The Rev. Principal Gumey kindly presented 

 twenty volumes of the Journal of the Geological Society of 

 London. The number of volumes and parts of transactions 

 received in exchange from other Societies has been much the 

 same as in former years. The Rev. Canon Norman presented 

 several fasciculi of the more difficult groups of British Plants, 

 such as the Rubi, Salices and Hieracia, and many additions 



