74 T^^^ Field NaHiralisf s Quarterly Feb. 



absence of serpents from Ireland, Mr Smartt in his speech afterwards 

 said that he could not agree with the lecturer's view of this matter, the 

 reason for this immunity being simply that " Ireland could not produce 

 anything so ugly as a snake." Mr Smartt is an Irishman, evidently. 



The lectures of the past session embraced a variety of topics, " Wire- 

 less Telegraphy," "The Track of the Moors in Spain," " The Ancient 

 Glaciers of Snowdon," " Round the World on a Bicycle," being some of 

 the titles. In addition there was a series of extension lectures by Mr 

 G. C. Henderson on "Four Mediaeval Heroes." The average attend- 

 ance at the lectures was 240. The president's retiring address on 

 the history of the society contains words of wisdom which apply to all 

 institutions of a similar character, and Mr Minor did well to urge the 

 members not to be content with " lazily listening to lectures illustrated 

 with lantern slides." These are good in their way, but should not be 

 allowed to altogether take the place of papers and debates from the 

 members themselves, and which this society could doubtless provide ad 

 libitum. We congratulate Mr Lister, the secretary, on his flourishing 

 work. 



The Transactions of the Caradoc and Severn Valley Field Club for 

 1 90 1 has just been issued by the hon. sec, Mr H. E. Forrest. It con- 

 tains many interesting notes on Shropshire fauna, and full reports of the 

 excursions and evening meetings of the club. The only new species 

 added to the county fauna in the year is the lesser shrew [Sorex inin- 

 tetus), a specimen of which was taken at Middletown last March. Four 

 nests of the tufted duck were found near Whitchurch, and were re- 

 ported in the ' Zoologist ' for November 1 900. The president in his 

 annual address made a strong appeal for more geological work to be 

 done in the county, and pointed out some problems that might engage 

 the attention of members. The evening meetings included a lecture 

 from Dr Gerald Leighton on "The Snakes of the Monnow Valley," in 

 which the lecturer dealt with the factors determining the distribution of 

 our snakes in any particular locality. He also showed that locality has 

 very little to do with the colour variation seen in adders, the variation 

 being due to age and sex. 



A feature of this society is the annual " long meeting," which extends 

 over a week, and in 1901 was in the neighbourhood of Brecon. It 

 speaks well for the club that twenty members attended. Geography 

 and archaeology were the chief subjects studied. Mr Forrest gave 

 three evening lectures on "The Fauna of North Wales," on which he 

 is writing a book, and his notes on this much-neglected area from a 

 literature point of view are of great value. The society evidently has a 

 few really good workers. 



