122 BEPORTS. 



Hadley exhibited some specimens from the sinking for coal at Hamstead. — Mr. 

 Cotterell read an interesting paper on the mineralogy of Cornwall, and exhibited 

 a large number of beautiful specimens.— On Easter Monday, March 29th, about 

 forty members of the Society made a very pleasant excursion to Evesham, where 

 they were met by Mr T. J. Slatter and Mr. J. T. Burgess, under whose guidance 

 they visited the banks of the river Avon, Wood Norton, the grounds of the Due 

 D'Aumale, and other places in the vicinity. On the roots of the willows, grow- 

 ing in the first mentioned locality, many interesting microscopic specimens 

 were found. General Meeting. — March 30th.— Mr. W. Phillips, F.L.S., of 

 Shrewsbury, was elected a corresponding member of the Society ; and the 

 concluding portions of his paper on the study of Lichens were read by Mr. 

 Bagnall and Mr. Badger. The paper will be published in future numbers. 

 — Mr. H. W. Jones exhibited a female Arctic Stone Crab, Lithodes arctica, 

 from Aston Aquarium. — Mr. H. E. Forrest exhibited, on behalf of Mr. Doeg, of 

 Evesham, a cluster of flies about three inches in diameter, which when first 

 found was much larger. It was discovered at Blockley, near Evesham, in a 

 hawthorn bush, about four feet from the ground, but the cause of its formation 

 was unknown. Mr. Forrest suggested that they might have been drawn together 

 by some attractive, but poisonous food, which had killed them on the spot. Mr. 

 W. G. Biatch said that the hawthorn was covered with the web of the larva of one 

 of the ermine moths, and thought that the cluster of flies was artificially produced 

 by their getting entangled in the web. — General Meeting. — April 6th. — Mr. W. 

 B. Hughes read a letter from Mr. H. J. Carter, F.B.S., promising to give the 

 Society a report on the sponges dredged during the Falmouth expedition last 

 year. Mr. Montagu Browne gave a short description of the whale now being 

 exhibited in Birmingham. The species is the common Rorqual, and it measures 

 nearly 70ft. in length. He also exhibited the stomach of an Owl, which had 

 been shot on account of the destruction it was supposed to have wrought among 

 some pigeons kept in a loft. When opened, however, it was found to contain, 

 not feathers, but the skulls, &c, of several mice and rats, which were, no 

 doubt, the perpetrators of the crimes for which the Owl had paid the penalty. 

 Mr. W. Graham presented to the Society a new Microscope Lamp, by Parkes ; 

 and a cordial vote of thanks to the donor was passed unanimously. Mr. H. E. 

 Forrest exhibited living specimens of the beautiful little Gonophores, or 

 Medusiform larvte of a species of Obelia, (plicata ?) growing attached to the 

 Arctic Crabs (Lithodes arctica) in the Aston Aquarium. They hatched out in 

 a bottle after he had removed the colony from the Crab. Specimens of the 

 polypidom of the same Obelia were exhibited by Mr. Bolton, with a Folli- 

 cularia attached of a different species from that figured by Mr. Saville Kent 

 opposite page 73. He also showed a very rich gathering of Rotifers, com- 

 prising several members of the genera Asplarchna, Anursea, Brachionus, and 

 Polyarthra. Mr. Forrest also exhibited spawn of the common Perch. The 

 embryos were in active motion, and the albuminous sheath was full of curious 

 radial markings. Mr. J. E. Bagnall exhibited Pellia calycina, Riccardia 

 multifida, ditto var. ambrosioides, and R. sinuata, all new to Warwickshire ; a 

 very rare moss, Mnium, rostratum ; and a Confervoid Alga, Yaucheria 

 geminata, showing formation of the spores. Mr. W. G. Biatch exhibited a 

 beetle, Coccinella ocellata, new to the district, found at Coleshill. Mr. B. W. 

 Chase read an interesting paper on " The Changes of Plumage in some of the 

 British Birds," with special reference to the Plovers and Sandpipers, of which 

 he showed many beautiful specimens in various states of plumage. After 

 describing the changes which they undergo periodically, he said that many 

 theories had been advanced to account for these changes, but none of them 

 would stand thorough investigation. As a rule, birds assume their brightest 

 coloured plumage at the commencement of the breeding season, and this 

 disappears very rapidly, owing to the partial or entire moulting of these 

 feathers. His own idea was that the brightness of the colours was owing to 

 the fact that, at the season in question all the vital functions of the bird were 

 performed more vigorously than at other times. The paper was listened to 

 with great interest and attention, and at the conclusion elicited from Mr. 

 Montagu Browne a promise that he would shortly give a paper in continuation 

 of and answer to Mr. Chase's. Adjourned Annual General Meeting. — 

 April 12'b. — The retiring President, Mr. Walter Graham, delivered his address 



