208 . Annual Report of the Council. 



Mr. Hargreaves died on April 7th. He was appointed to 

 the office of housekeeper in November, 1887, and proved 

 himself an obliging and reliable officer. 



It will, consequently, be seen that the ordinary income oi 

 the Society has not been keeping pace with the current ex- 

 penditure, while much necessary work in the Library, both as 

 regards book accommodation and binding, has been brought 

 to a standstill. The exigence of the finances has obliged 

 your Council to begin to charge to the Natural History 

 Fund the cost of printing the botanical and zoological 

 papers in the Memoirs and Proceedings, which Fund has 

 hitherto not been used for this purpose, but has been 

 devoted to the purchase of natural history works and 

 defraying the cost of plates for the Memoirs ; and, as will 

 be seen from the summary balance sheet herewith, the 

 expenditure this session has been £70. 8s. iod., while the 

 income has been £$g. 5s. 5d. 



No appropriation has been made from the "Joule 

 Memorial Fund," the origin of which was set forth in the 

 last report. A balance of £7. 7s. oxl. lies at the credit of 

 this account. 



The Council had the extreme gratification of learning 

 from the President, Mr. Henry Wilde, F.R.S., his intention 

 to endow the Society with the munificent sum of ,£8,000 

 in order to put the Society in a sounder financial position. 

 The details of this gift, with the purposes for which it is to 

 be employed, have already been fully stated in the Memoirs 

 and Proceedings. The thanks of the members have 

 been accorded to Mr. Wilde for this recognition of the 

 work and aims of the Society, and your Council would 

 express the fervent hope that this noble generosity may not 

 only secure the permanence of the Society itself, but stimu- 

 late original investigation in years to come. It may be 

 added that Mr. Wilde's benefactions to the Society now 

 amount to upwards of ;£ 10,000, the large extension of the 



