REPORTS. 207 



departs d Sratb, 



BIRMINGHAM NATURAL HISTORY AND MICROSCOPICAL 

 SOCIETY.— Geological Section, June 22nd.— Professor T. G. Bonney, F.R.S., 

 of Cambridge, gave a lecture on " The Older Rocks of Charuwood Forest." 

 Beginning by remarking upon some of the difficulties in the way of a perfectly 

 satisfactory determination of the geology of the district, Professor Bonney 

 described in detail the appearance, both in the field and microscopically, of 

 the various rocks met with. These consist principally of slates and quartzites, 

 coarse ash bed and agglomerates, of which many have been mapped by previous 

 observers as greenstone, felstone-like rocks which have been supposed to be either 

 actually lava flows, or at least to represent the extreme of metamorphism ; and 

 the coarse-grained syenites and hornbleudic granites, which appear in isolated 

 patches. Of these, the felstones of Peldar Tor and of Sharpley appear, from 

 a variety of evidence, to be fragmeutal, and the same applies to the so-called 

 "greenstone" of Bardon Hill, which probably belongs to the same series. The 

 latest researches have resulted in the discovery of beds on the east side of 

 the anticlinal axis, which are apparently of the same horizon as those at Peldar 

 Tor on the west of it, although composed of finer materials ; also, in a tolerably 

 well-defined horizon, of volcauic breccia, and another of a slate breccia, 

 which appears at Bardon Hill. As to the age of the rocks, Professor Bonney, 

 from considerations of their constitution, strike, &c, inclines to the belief 

 that they are pre-Cambrian, like the Shropshire district near the Wrekin. 

 As to the syenites and granites, several observed junctions prove their intrusive 

 character. A hearty vote of thanks was given to Professor Bonney for his lecture. 

 General Meeting, June 29th. — Mr. Montagu Browne exhibited two albatrosses, 

 (Diomedea exulansj young and old, and the giant peta - el (Ossifraga gigantea.) 

 Mr. W. Southall exhibited three curious flowers, (Ceropegiaj one of them 

 entirely roofed over by a canopy. Mr. H. E. Forrest exhibited Botryllus 

 polycyclus, a marine compound Ascidian, remarkable for its circulatory system, 

 the heart first driving the blood in one direction, then reversing, and driving it 

 in the opposite one. Mr. W. G. Biatch exhibited Diphyllus lunatus and 

 Plegaderus dissectus, two beetles found in a fungus, (Hypoxylon concen- 

 tricum.) from Kuowle ; and Donacia comari, from Sutton Park ; all new to the 

 district. Mr. J. Levick exhibited Leptodora hyalina, from the canal at Tam- 

 werth and the Earlswood Reservoir, showing the young in various stages of 

 development within the carapace, in one the organs being scarcely discernible, in 

 another the legs and antennae being much larger, the latter with the two branches 

 at the end fairly formed, the young animal closely resembling a Daphnia. Also 

 a living male specimen, showing the method of propulsion through the water. 

 This it accomplishes by bending the plumed branches downwards, when it raises 

 the antennae, thus offering very little resistance to the water ; but when it lowers 

 them, during the downward stroke, these plumed branches are straightened out, 

 and brought to bear in their fullest expanse upon the water. Mr. W. R. Hughes 

 read a paper by Mr. H. J. Carter, F.R.S., on " Sponges," which appears at 

 page 190. Specimens were shown in the microscopes, twelve in number, several 

 of which were lent for the occasion by members of the Society. Mr. Hughes 

 also showed several diagrams of sponges. A vote of thanks to Mr. Carter closed 

 the proceedings, (-eneral Meeting, July 6tb. — Mr. J. Levick exhibited 

 young of Leptodora hyalina, in a more advanced stage than at the previous 

 meeting, and almost resemb iug the miture animal. Mr. T. Bolton exhibited 

 a marine PolyzooD, Boirerbanhia gracillima, and a species of Follicularia, from 

 Weymouth ; also Paludicella Enrenbergii, Fredericella Sultana, Plumatella 

 repens, Cbaetospira, Opbrydium, und other Infusoria, with several Rotifers, all 

 from the River Avon at Evesham. Mr. J. E. Bagnall exhibited Myriophyllum 

 spicatum, Orchis pyramidalis, and other plants from Stratford-on-Avon ; also 

 some large woody Galls, growing on leaves of the elm tree. Biological 

 Section, July 13th.— Mr. Montngu Browne exhibited a beautiful Moth, Saturnia 

 Pyri, captured in a timber yard in Lionel Street, but not hitherto recorded as 

 British. It is probable, from the situation in which it was found, that it was 

 .mported in some foreign timber, in the pupa state, and developed afterwards. 



