1903 Field Clubs and Societies 267 



The Caradoc and Severn Valley Field Club have sent out their 

 Record of Bare Facts for the year 1902. This is an annual list of the 

 more noteworthy observations made by members of the Society and 

 others during the year, and forms a very valuable means of reference 

 to the fauna and flora of the localities worked. The botanical lists 

 occupy no less than 32 pages, and it is evident that there are several 

 painstaking'botanists at work on the flora. The records are completed 

 by those of zoology, geology, and meteorology. 



The Essex Field Club now issue their journal, The Essex Naturalist, 

 quarterly, in April, July, October, and January. The price is 5s. per 

 part to non-members, but free to members of the club. The April 

 issue contains, amongst other matters of interest, a proposal for carry- 

 ing out a pictorial survey of the county, by means of enlisting the 

 services of local photographers. The plan is an excellent one, and has 

 already been adopted, if we mistake not, by some other field clubs. It 

 is just one of those ways in which a field club can make records of the 

 greatest value to the future local historian. 



"The Lepidoptera of Cheshire, etc.," compiled by George O. Day, 

 F.E.S., and others. This list is the outcome of the excellent work 

 done by the members, and is published in the Proceedings of the 

 Chester Society of Natural Science, and it certainly is a vast improve- 

 ment upon that of Mr. A. O. Walker, published in the same Proceedings 

 eighteen years ago. It embraces all the moths and butterflies which 

 are known to occur in the counties of Cheshire, Flintshire, Denbigh- 

 shire, Carnarvonshire, and Anglesea, together with exact localities and 

 interesting notes on mode of capture, date of appearance, etc., the latter 

 being noticeably later than in the more southern English counties. 

 The present compilation ends somewhat abruptly at the beginning of 

 the tortrices, and we are told in the preface that, although the remain- 

 ing groups were originally intended to be included, the records from the 

 Welsh counties were so meagre that it was eventually thought better to 

 reserve their publication till more material had been compiled. We 

 think this an error, especially since those from Cheshire are said to 

 be fairly numerous, for a list of their nature can at best be but a 

 stepping-stone to future improvement, and every pebble is of assistance 

 to the student, who is almost invariably more eager to add species to an 

 existing catalogue than to build up one for himself. The bibliography 

 of the geology, climatic conditions, and flora of the district is a distinct 

 boon, and one that might be advantageously emulated in other local 

 lists ; the entries are very fully annotated ; the type good and particu- 

 larly free from printer's errors. 



The Darlington and Teesdale Naturalists' Field Cluil 

 — On 28th April Mr. T. W. Watson presided over the annual meeting, 

 held in the Mechanics' Hall, and the balance-sheet and report showed 

 the club to be in a prosperous condition. The president, in the course 



