HARD WICKE'S S CIENCE- G OS SIP. 



ioj 



SCIENCE IN THE PROVINCES. 



VARIOUS Reports and " Proceedings" of Pro- 

 vincial Societies have accumulated, and have 

 been awaiting a due recognition of their merits. It 

 is surely but few schools that can shew such a record 

 as that contained in a book issued from Marlborough 

 College, the result of twenty years' observations in 

 Botany, Entomology, Ornithology, and Meteorology, 

 1S65-84. The bulk of it consists of tables of figures, 

 which could doubtless be made the basis for much 

 induction of an interesting character. The first set 

 shows the earliest observations of plants, in which 

 Eranthis hiemalis heads the list with Jan. 23 as an 

 average, and Hedera helix comes at the end (Sept. 27). 

 Last notices are not shown, nor how long the plants 

 lasted, and it is evident that more is required to be 

 known than the date of first appearances in comparing 

 a plant which lasts all the season with one which 

 lasts a month or two. Other tables follow for Insects 

 and Birds (93 kinds), and the last entry, after the 

 meteorological tables, gives the heaviest fall of rain, 

 presumably in 24 hours, as 2*32 inches, which is set 

 down to July 14th, 1875, the hour of observation 

 being apparently nowhere given. The labour repre- 

 sented by these tables, both in making the observa- 

 tions and in arrangyig the results, must have been 

 very considerable. 



The Proceedings of the Liverpool 'Naturalists' 

 Field Club contains, besides the presidential address, 

 an account of the field meetings, with resumes of 

 their botanical results and lists of the plants found ; 

 accounts of the botanical exercises and prizes, and a 

 list of books useful in the study of Natural History, 

 with prices and publishers. The club is a large one, 

 with over 400 members, and its work seems to be 

 largely botanical. It is to be hoped that its 

 authorities will keep in view the question of the 

 preservation of rare plants, which forms the subject 

 of a note in another column ; and, indeed, some 

 remarks by Mr. John Vicars show that the subject 

 is not wholly overlooked. 



The work of the Hackney Microscopical and 

 Natural History Society, of which the eighth annual 

 Report is published, is more general, to judge by the 

 notices of papers read or lectures delivered. Among 

 the subjects of these are Insects and Flowers, The 

 Food of Man, Natural History Notes in a Town 

 Garden, The Formation of Chalk, Microscope work, 

 and local Geology. A list of Field Excursions for 

 the present year is given, and a Catalogue of the 

 Books in the Library. The meetings of the Society 

 are held at the Morley Hall, Hackney, the President 

 being Dr. M. C. Cooke, M.A. 



The Fifteenth Annual Report of the Wellington 

 College Natural Science Society contains notices of 

 numerous lectures delivered at the open meetings of 

 the society, and lists of plants, insects, and birds, 

 which seem to want further explanation to make 

 them comprehensible. Monthly meteorological tables 



follow, and brief entomological and zoological reports 

 conclude the volume. 



The twenty-seventh Report of the East Kent 

 Natural History Society shows a membership of over 

 seventy, and gives titles of papers, addresses and 

 notes presented, and the names of objects exhibited. 

 A very important feature of the Society is its extensive 

 and valuable library. 



The Louth Naturalists' Society has held its first 

 annual meeting, and has issued a report, balance 

 sheet, &c. The number of ordinary members is at 

 present small, but if they are all working members 

 that may not be of much consequence. Mr. H. 

 Wallis Kew is the hon. secretary and treasurer. 



The Journal of Proceedings of the Essex Field 

 Club, now published separately from the Transactions, 

 though only recently issued, is concerned almost 

 entirely with the year 18S3. It contains reports of 

 ordinary and Field meetings, and also of papers read, 

 among these being an interesting note, by Mr. W. 

 White, on an abnormality in the flowers of fuchsia, 

 with illustrations. The Transactions of the same 

 club contains the Presidential address by Professor 

 Boulger in January 1884, and other papers mostly 

 read in 18S3, including Notes on Deneholes, by Mr. 

 T. Vincent Holmes, F.G.S., illustrated. The club 

 is fortunate in having Epping Forest as a hunting 

 ground, and the Proceedings contain evidence of 

 work done by them in opposing the extension of the 

 railway to High Beach. 



The lately formed East of Scotland Union of 

 Naturalists' Societies has issued a volume of Reports. 

 It contains the address of the president, Dr. F. 

 Buchanan White, at the first annual meeting, in 

 which he gives some very useful hints as to the work 

 of such a local union. This is followed by a number 

 of preliminary reports, which have been drawn up on 

 the state of knowledge of the various departments of 

 Natural Science in the district. It was suggested 

 that the reporters should say, as far as possible, 

 whether the subject in question had been investi- 

 gated ; what parts of it more especially required 

 further investigation, both as regards the district and 

 the subject ; what was the probable richness of the 

 district as to number of species ; and_whether any 

 important works had been published on the subject, 

 as regarded the district ; and also to offer suggestions 

 for immediate work. Reports based on such lines as 

 these should be very useful to those members who 

 have a fund of scientific energy, and only want to 

 know in what direction best to turn it. 



The Transactions of the Chichester and West Sussex 

 Natural History and Microscopical Society is also to 

 hand. This society numbers no members and 

 associates, and its Transactions contain, besides the 

 ordinary business material, several papers on various 

 Natural History subjects, including a very interesting 

 one on the Hymenofitera {aculeata) of West Sussex, 

 by Mr. Edward Saunders, F.L.S. 



