138 Committee of Suggestions for Research. 



requirements of a controlling staff. There is, however, the 

 argument that the officers of the executive have too much 

 to do, and to have a dual control of some other official con- 

 cerned in the research questions would introduce an element 

 which might lead to discord. The formation of this latest 

 committee is all the more necessary because important ques- 

 tions relating to the natural history of the county do not 

 fall conveniently within the sphere of any single committee. 

 Another reason is that there are many members in the societies 

 of the Union who feel that they have not the leisure and oppor- 

 tunity to do work on the lines of the Research Committees, but 

 who might be able to take up some of the suggestions for 

 research in other directions. 



At this early stage it is impossible to define accurately the 

 scope of the Committee of Suggestions. The chief object is to 

 promote co-operation of members in dealing with questions 

 involving knowledge of several branches of science. The fol- 

 lowing suggestions may serve as illustrations of work which 

 the committee could carry out, and may also evoke other 

 suggestions for research : — 



I. — The investigation of the peat deposits of Yorkshire is 

 a subject which merits attention from the Yorkshire Naturalists' 

 Union. The county possesses in its extensive upland and low- 

 land peat mosses a magnificent opportunity for investigations 

 on peat. It may almost be said that every naturalist in York-' 

 shire lives near enough a peat deposit to permit of frequent 

 visits to it. At the same time no single society is in a position 

 to investigate all the peat deposits of the county. The task 

 need not be a difficult one if carried out on an organised plan, 

 and a monograph on the subject could be made a publication 

 second to none of those already issued by the Yorkshire 

 Naturalists' Union. It would also be unique in Britain. The 

 new committee would be the agent for the collection of the 

 necessary observations. The workers would be drawn from 

 every society and every section in the Union. A provisional 

 phui of work is given below : — 



(^/) Records of the occurrence of peat deposits including (i) 

 exact position and extent of the part observed ; (2) its altitude 

 above sea level (both these could be determined at once by 

 reference to the Ordnance Survey maps, and a complete map 

 could be prepared by the committee ; (3) depth of peat and 

 nature ot the soil or deposit beneath the peat ; (4) composition 

 ot the peat. The determination of the composition would 



Naturalist, 



