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The Naturalist. 



map committee not having met during the year. — In conclusion, your 

 Council trust that the coming year may be one of prosperity, and that 

 their successors will, at the close be able to make a more satisfactory report 

 than the present one." — The Balance-Sheet, which showed a balance in 

 hand, was also read. There was some ' discussion as to the heavy cost of 

 some of the meetings, in course of which the secretaries explained that 

 about £4 was the minimum cost at which an excursion could be worked, 

 involving as it did the issue of 2,500 or more copies of a closely-printed 

 circular, and its postage to members, besides incidental expenses. In the 

 case of meetings costing more than this, it was caused by the failure of 

 guarantees which had been given to tea-providers. The report and 

 balance-sheet were then adopted, on the motion of Mr. Thomas Hick, 

 B.A., B.Sc, seconded by Mr. C. D. Wolstenholme, of York. The excur- 

 sion programme for 1883, as recommended by the Council, was then 

 arranged as follows : — Doncaster for Sandal Beat, Whit-Monday, May 

 14 ; ]riley for Flamborough, Monday, June 11 ; Strensall Common, 

 Saturday, July 14 ; Washburn Valley, Bank Holiday Monday, Aug. 6; 

 and Malham, Saturday, Sept. 1 ; being an excursion for each of the 

 Parliamentary divisions of the county. The sixth excursion (the fungus 

 foray), on which a sub-committee had been appointed to consider and 

 report, was left over for the decision of the Council, to whom the sub- 

 committee was directed to report. The invitation from the Barnsley 

 Naturalists' Society, for the following annual meeting to be held in their 

 town, was accepted for the first Tuesday in March, 1884. The election 

 of officers was next proceeded with. Mr. John Gilbert Baker, F.R.S, of 

 Kew, was unanimously re-elected president, on the motion of Mr. Hick, 

 seconded by Mr. John Emmett, of Boston Spa. Mr. Wm. Denison 

 Roebuck and Mr. Wm. Eagle Clarke, F.L.S., both of Leeds, were unani- 

 mously re-elected joint honorary secretaries, on the proposition of Mr. 

 Washington Teasdale, F.R.M.S., of Leeds, seconded by Mr. J. J. Stead, 

 of Heckmondwike. Auditors were also chosen, Messrs. B. Holgate, 

 F.C.S., and W. B. Russell, LL.B., both of Leeds, being re-elected. A 

 letter from Mr. John W. Taylor, of Leeds, was read, wherein he offered, 

 with the view of stimulating original investigation in Yorkshire con- 

 chology, two prizes — value one guinea and half-a-guinea — for the best 

 collections (accompanied by remarks) of Helix arhustovum, special atten- 

 tion being paid to variation and distribution ; adding that original notes 

 of any kind, whether upon embryology, anatomy, habits, food, or 

 relationship to soil and climate, would add to the merit of the collection, 

 and that neatness of arrangement of the specimens or literary finish in 

 the accompanying notes (however desirable in themselves) were to be 

 regarded as quite of subsidiary importance. Mr. Taylor's ofi'er was 

 accepted with thanks, a hope being expressed that the competitors retain 

 their collections, on the motion of Mr. J, W. Davis, seconded by Mr. 

 W^. D. Roebuck. The draft of a new prospectus, embodying the 

 constitution and practice of the Union as set forth in numerous resolu- 



