HOLMESDALE NATURAL HISTORY CLUB. 



neighbourhood, with the distance apart of the transverse lines, 

 ranging from Navicula cuspidata which has 33 transverse lines in 

 the jQQQ of an inch, to Amphipleura pellucida which has 92. Owing 

 to the indestructible nature of the silex, diatom frustules often 

 accumulate in large quantities in lakes, &c., forming deposits of 

 considerable thickness. The city of Richmond U. S. A. is built on 

 such a deposit of 18 ft. in thickness, and similar beds are met with 

 in various parts of Europe. 



Evening Meeting, Z)ce. 8th, 1876. A microscopical exhibition 

 took place, at which nine microscopes and a considerable variety of 

 objects were shown by members and their friends. 



Public Lectuee, Jan. 19th, 1877. A lecture was delivered to 

 the members of the Club and the public, by Henry Seebohm, Esq. 

 of Sheffield, entitled "A Journey of Discovery to North Eastern 

 Russia and the shores of the Arctic Sea." The lecturer stated that 

 up to 1875 there were six species of birds which were well known 

 as winter visitants to this country, but of whose eggs there were no 

 properly authenticated specimens, and whose breeding-places were 

 not certainly known. These were the Little Stint, Gray Plover, 

 Knot, Curlew Sandpiper, Bewick's Swan, and Sanderling. The 

 object of Mr. Seebohm's journey in the summer of 1875 was to 

 endeavour to trace some of these species at their breeding-grounds 

 and obtain specimens of their eggs. He travelled via Archangel 

 to the River Petchora, down which he sailed in boats to its Delta, 

 where he was fortunate enough to discover the eggs of three of the 

 above-named birds, viz. the Gray Plover, Little Stint, and Bemck's 

 Swan. In the course of his journey down the Petchora he met 

 with a bird — the Petchora Pipit — at first believed to be a new species, 

 but which, he stated, had very recently been ascertained to be 

 identical with a species obtained from the Malay Peninsula and 

 occasionally elsewhere in Asia. Mr. Seebohm also gave many very 

 interesting particulars of the natural features of the country, the 

 customs and manners of the inhabitants, and the difficulties and 

 adventures met with. 



Evening Meeting, Feb. 9th, 1877. Mr. W. H, Tyndall gave 

 an address on the subject of Rain. He alluded first to the tropics 

 as the great source of rain, owing to the large extent of ocean, and 

 especially to the great heat producing a large amount of evaporation. 

 He then spoke of the efiect of the trade-winds, and of forests and 

 mountain ranges in controlling the rainfall in various countries, and 

 explained the theories which are advanced to account for the origin 

 of the rain supply of Europe, and the course by which it is brought 



