Referee's report by William Davidson Niven, on a paper 'On a type of spherical harmonics of unrestricted degree, order, and argument' by Ernest William Hobson Recommended for publication in the 'Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society'. The material covered is not new, but it is comprehensive, thorough and accurate. Does find the character of the subject unattractive, due to the great length of the paper. Much of the paper is composed of calculations, which cannot be easily summarised. Suggests adding a table of contents and expanding the abstract. Refers to work of Heinrich Eduard Heine. Subject: Mathematics [Published in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society 1896] 28 February 1896