1902 Field Clubs and Societies 237 



Trees in Prose and Poetry. By Gertrude L. Stone and M. Grace 

 Fickett. Boston and London : Ginn & Co. Price 2s. 

 Another of the American schoolroom books of aid to Nature Study. 

 It consists of selections from the writings of Longfellow, Lowell, Whittier, 

 Oliver Wendell Holmes, Hawthorne, Burroughs, Thoreau, Aldrich, 

 Bryant, Wordsworth, Ruskin, Hood, Rosetti, Tennyson, and others ; 

 together with a general outline for the study of trees and a reference list 

 of twenty-five historical American trees. Most of the gems of literature 

 regarding trees are here, and a chapter of explanatory notes added. The 

 selections are grouped in the natural orders of the trees — c.g.^ the 

 Maple Family, the Rose Family, the Pine Family, and so forth. A 

 good idea well carried out. 



Field Clubs and Societies. 



The Annual Report of the North Staffordshire Field Club (vol. xxxvi.) 

 testifies to a large amount of valuable work done in the various sections, 

 and a membership of 466 points to a vigorous institution. Mr Mase- 

 field, in his report for the Zoology section, gives the result of the revision 

 of the list of Staffordshire birds on which he has been engaged for some 

 time. Two new species of wild birds are added to the county list, the 

 Shore Lark and the Flamingo. Other species have been removed from 

 the list on account of doubtful authenticity, thus reducing the recorded 

 species to 214, of which 103 are believed. to be still breeding in the 

 county area. A note of a ring snake, 9 inches long, taken in August, 

 evidently refers to one recently hatched out, in all probability a week or 

 two before capture. Mr Masefield also contributes a very valuable paper 

 on the Staffordshire Mollusca, 98 species being recorded. The rufous 

 variety of the Common Partridge is the subject of another communica- 

 tion from the same writer, illustrated by an excellent coloured plate 

 from a drawing by Mr L. H. Jahn. Mr E. D. Bostock reports the 

 addition of Eupithecia satyrata and Mamestra anceps to the county list 

 of Lepidoptera, along with other Entomological records. Dr W. Hind 

 gives a list of localities where fossils occur in the Pendleside series of 

 the country round North Staffordshire, with two plates. Other note- 

 worthy contributions include " The Limes Britannicus," by Rev. T. 

 Barns ; " Meteorology," by Mr Wells Bladen ; "Our Own County," by 

 Rev. F. J. Wrottesley ; and descriptive reports of the various excursions 

 and meetings. The volume is a most interesting record of good work. 



The Wellington College Natural Science Society Report for 1901 

 gives reports of thirteen lectures, a meteorological report for all the 

 months of the year, together with the sectional reports. In the Ornitho- 

 logical section we note the appearance of a Pine Grosbeak, seen first 

 on November 17, and afterwards on several later dates. In the Geo- 

 logy report is an illustration of Eolithic Flint Implements, found on 

 Finchampstead Ridges. 



