110 GLEANINGS. 



West London Entomological Society. — On February 22ud, Mr. 

 Silcock exliibited A. pwdromaria, P. j^i^osaria, N. Iiispidaria, A. 

 (Fsnilaria, II. leucaphedrin, aud H. pro<jemmaria. March Ist, Mr. 

 H. Timms, N. hixpidaria. March 8th, Mr. Walford, N. hispidaria and 

 H. leucophearia ; Mr. Coverdide, a very d&r]s. vSjV. of H. proffemmaria, the 

 oblique lines on the fore wings being quite invisible. March loth, Mr. 

 Kussell several dark varieties of II. proyeminaria. 



Geological Society. — At the Annual General Meeting, held on 

 February 15th, H. C. Sorby, Esq., F.R.S., of Sheffield, was elected 

 President ; aud Profs. Bonney aud Judd were chosen Secretaries. The 

 medals, &c., were awarded as follows : — WoUaston Medal, Dr. T. Wright, 

 of Cheltenham ; WoUaston Fund, Mr. W. J. Sollas ; Murchison Medal, 

 Dr. Hans Bruno Geinitz, of Dresden ; Murchison Fund, Mr. Chas. 

 Lapworth; Lyell Medal, Prof. Geo. Busk; LyeU Fund, Dr. Waagen, of 

 Vienna. 



The Bapcliffe Observatory, Oxford. — The Radcliffe Observer, the 

 Rev. Eobt. Main, M.A., has just iiublished his Meteorological Observa- 

 tions for 1875. There are two sets of instruments in use in the 

 Observatory ; one of the ordinary kind, from which eye-observations are 

 taken b}' Mr. John Liicas, the excellent and careful assistant ; and the 

 other self-registering, by means of photography. The diurnal inequalities 

 of the mean monthly and j'early meteorological elements have been care- 

 fully worked out by Mr. Main, as in former years. We note that Moffat's 

 test papers are used for the detection of ozone with ajiparently good 

 results. The position of some of the instruments seems open to 

 question. Thus, the vacuum solar-radiation thermometer, with blackened 

 bulb, is stated to be " in a niche in the front of the west wing of the 

 Observatory, about oft. from the ground ; " surely the radiation from the 

 wall must affect it? Such instruments are usually placed on a jiost, over 

 grass, with the bulb at a height of -Ift. Until uniformity can be obtained 

 in the placing of all instruments, the comparison of observations taken 

 at different places luider dijf'erent coxdition.t must be misleading. Why 

 should not a general confex-ence of English Meteorologists discuss these 

 questions, and issvie rules by which all observers would, we are sure, be 

 willing to be bound? In an appendix Mr. Main gives ver%^ valuable 

 tables of barometric aud thermometric heights for the last twenty-one 

 years, and mean monthly rainfall for twenty-five years at Oxford. 

 Altogether the publication is one of great accuracy and intei'est, and 

 worthily sustains the high reputation of the Radcliffe Observatory. 



The XJkited States Survey. — I have just received from Professor 

 Hayden, of Washington, a parcel of the publications of the United States 

 Geological and Geographical Survey for 1877, comprising monographs of 

 North American Rodentia, by Coues aud Allen, (a thick ito. volume ;) 

 Annual Report of the Survey of Colorado, (a thick royal 8vo. vol., full of 

 maps and plates and woodcuts ;) monograph of the North American 

 Mustelida), by E. Coues, (with twenty plates;) Ethnogi-aphy and 

 Philology of the Hidatsa Indians, by W. Matthews ; besides several 

 thick pamphlets, published at short intervals, with outline reports of 

 the work iu progress. The immense amount of labour and expense 

 which these five volumes represent, the great value of their contents, 

 and the liberahty with which they are presented to such institutions as 

 are likely to appreciate them, deserve the most cordial recognition in all 

 scientific circles tliroughout the world. Yet it is probable that a majority 

 of the members of the Midland Union are scarcely aware of their 

 existence. I will endeavour at a future time to give some further 

 particulars of the work which is being done by Professor Hayden and his 

 numerous colleugnes, and being paid for by the American people. — 

 F. T. Mott, Leicester. 



