REPORTS OF SOCIETIES. 



217 



study of Botany, and the benefits 

 which resulted from it, especially to 

 the emigrant in distant lands, who 

 would be able to judge whether a 

 plant which he gathered for the first 

 time was good for food or medicine, 

 or was to be avoided on account of 

 its probable poisonous qunlities. 

 He impressed upon his bearers the 

 necessity of studying Botany in the 

 field, by the dissection of living 

 specimens, instead of being content 

 with the examination of dead plants, 

 or with simply amassing a large 

 collection. 



Peter Inchbald, Esq., also ad- 

 dressed the meeting on the desira- 

 bility of studying nature in a fair 

 and candid spirit, and not being led 

 away by specious theories without a 

 rigid examination of their truth. 



The Gymnasium Hall, in which 

 the Exhibition was held, is an oblong 

 room 90 feet long by 33 broad. The 

 walls of the room were entirely hid 

 to a considerable height by cases of 

 Birds, and below these a narrow 

 Table running round the room was 

 covered with drawers of Birds' Nests 

 and Eggs, Coleoptera and Lppidop- 

 tera ; a broad Table ran down the 

 centre of the room on which were 

 pLiced the Botanical and Geological 

 specimens, with reserved spaces for 

 articles of a miscellaneous character, 

 and upon a Table on the Platform 

 were placed the Mammalia and Rep- 

 tilia in cases against the wall, and 



Conchological specimens in drawers 

 upon the Table. By far the most 

 imposing portion of the Exhibition 

 was the Birds, numbering upwards 

 of 560 cases among 36 exhibitors, 

 and including some very rare birds. 

 British Ornithology was exceedingly 

 well represented, 200 out of 352 

 recorded species being shown in the 

 room. The President exhibited a 

 very fine series of British Birds ; the 

 excellency of the stuffing, and the. 

 neat uniform appearance of the cases, 

 making them particularly conspicu- 

 ous ; among them was a fine White 

 Tailed Eagle {Falco albicilla) the 

 Pied Flycatcher (Muscicapa atricnpil- 

 la), recorded in "The Naturalist" p. 

 26, a White's Thrush {Tiirdus Whitei) 

 shot at Almondbury Bank, near 

 Huddersfield, a Bee Eater, (Merops 

 apiaster), from Cornwall, and the three 

 Divers ; this collection was also par- 

 ticularly rich in Terns and Gulls, 

 containing among others Sterna cas- 

 pia, S. arctica, S. fullg'uiosa, Larus 

 Sabini, L. Rossii, L. minutus, L. Buo- 

 napart'd, L. glaucus, Liestris pomarina, 

 L. Biiffonil, Puffinus ohscurus, Thal- 

 assldroma Wilsoni, T. Leach'd. Mr. 

 John Burgess also exhibited a fine 

 collection of Birds, beingparticularly 

 rich in Warblers and Tits, among 

 which were Sylvia titlujs, S. luscinoi- 

 des, S. turdoidcs, Regidiis ignicapillus, 

 &c. The Society exhibited an im- 

 mature Golden Eagle and Great 

 Shearwater, both presented by Thos. 



