Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 14, 1903.djvu/20

8 The Society has issued during the year the 13th volume of its new transactions, Folklore, and the Council desire once more to place on record the sense of their indebtedness to Miss Burne for the great assistance she has rendered the Society by editing the volume. This volume is smaller by four sheets than that for 1901, partly owing to the omission of the Bibliography, for which on the other hand it will probably be necessary to provide more space next year. The Council have again to thank Mr. A. R. Wright for the Index, but they have not received any gifts of plates during the year, and the illustrations have consequently been fewer. The pages of Collectanea continue to attract an increasing number of contributors, but it is to be regretted that more papers in the nature of theses or short studies are not submitted to the Society, It will be noticed that the majority of papers read at the meetings, which form the bulk of the contents of Folklore, have been collections, not studies. Important as is the record of carefully verified evidence, the work of discussion and consideration of evidence must go hand in hand with that of collection, in order to obtain satisfactory scientific results.

The Council have to report that no progress has been made with the work on the proposed Bibliography of Folklore during the past year. In fact the Bibliography Committee has not met owing to the difficulty in finding anyone to undertake the chairmanship. Under these circumstances the Council do not propose at present to reappoint the Committee. For the annual Bibliography a small sum has been placed at the disposal of the editor, and this Bibliography will appear in the March number of Folklore.

The Council have also to report that partly owing to Mr. G. F. Black's absence in the United States, and partly to the necessity for revising in his absence the MS. of his Orkney and Shetland collection of Folklore, the extra volume for 1901 has not yet been published. They trust, however, that the volume may ere long be in the hands of