118 (MEANINGS — REPORTS. 



Eozoon Oanadensb. — The controversy as to the organic nature of 

 this, the oldest-known fossil, is not yet ended. Not long since an 

 eminent German Professor (Mobius) gave an elaborate verdict against 

 its animal origin, and now Profs. King and Rowney announce the 

 early publication of their work on Rock Metamorphism, in which they 

 will attempt to show that the (so-called) Eozoon is simply a result of 

 iiK'tainorphic action simulating organic structure. 



Inclusions in Minerals. — In the " American Journal of Science," Mr. 

 Hawes and Prof. Wright describe some remarkable specimens of 

 smoky quartz from Branchville, in Connecticut. The quartz is so full 

 of cavities containing condensed gas, that a repori like the explosion 

 of a percussion cap takes place when a fragment is knocked off with a 

 small hammer ; when heated, it decrepitates with such violence that 

 bits fly whistling through the air to a distance of twenty feet. Analysis 

 shows the contents of the cavities to be carbonic acid (in both the liquid 

 and the gaseous states) water, and a trace of nitrogen. 



Xeports of Societies. 



BIRMINGHAM NATURAL HISTORY AND MICROSCOPICAL 

 SOCIETY.— Geological Section.— March 22nd. Mr. W. J. Harrison, F.G.S., 

 exhibited and described a collection of Liassic fo.-^shs, giving a brief resume 

 of the life of the period. Mr. G. T.Cashraore exhibited, on behalf of Mr. C. J. 

 Woodward, P. Si'., a quartz crystal, which hud been treated with hydro-fluoric 

 acid. Three of the faces were more acted on than the others, showiug that 

 there are three planes of symmetry, and not seven, as usually supposed. 

 Mr. Cashmore also exhibited a piece of mountain lira' stone from North 

 Derbyshire, having the appearance of a conglomerate Mr. Wright Wilson 

 placed under the microscope F.chinvrynchus protcus, from the intestine of the 

 edible frog. Mr. Bolton showed Syncoryne eximia, nearly every polype of 

 which had swallowed a zoea crab ; and A! r. (ireeuway a specimen of Cristatella 

 Mucoid, recently bars) from the statoblast. Mr. Levick then re-opened a discus- 

 sion which had been commenced at the previous meeting, on the nature of Vol vox 

 Globator. He asserts that it is not a hollow sphere, as generally supposed, but 

 that the contents are solid enough to retain their spherical form after the 

 greeu covering membrane has i»> o removed. H ■ exhibited some specimens 

 under the microscope in proof of the theory; and an animated discussion on 

 tbe subject followed. — March 29th. Mr. J. E. Baguall exhibited some mosses 

 from Sutton Park, and an abnormal state of Polyporus fomentarius, a fungus 

 found on decaying wood in a Birmingham manufactory. Mr. W. B. Grove 

 exhibited three fungi, from Sutton Park. Professor T. W. Bridge exhibited 

 a photoeraph of the second specimen of Archseopteryx, which was found in the 

 course of last year, at Soleuhofen. The Professor then read a paper on the 

 "Scope of a Provincial Museum," in which he developed his views as to tbe 

 plan on which the Biological Museum at the Mason College is to be formed. 

 In the first place, it must be a teachiugmuseum. To take one group, for instance, 

 that of birds, he would have a specimen of each order, concerning which he 

 would collect all the available materials for showing its morphology, its 

 distribution in time and space, and its embryology. All the objects relating 

 to one type would be combine 1 together, either in one or in adjacent cases; 

 we ought not to find the skin in one part of the museum, the skeleton in 

 another, ami the allied fossil Bpecies io another. The ecological department 

 of the museum should be confined to a collection, stratigraphically arranged, 

 illustrating the peculiar palsBontological and penological characters of the 



mi issive formations. But a complete provincial museum had another side. 



It should aim at representing the fauna and flora of the country, but primarily 

 of the district in which it was Bituated. The living forms of our island are 

 undergoing slow but continual mo lificatious through \X\: agencies of modern 



