GLEANINGS—REPORTS. 131 
museum by T. Fielding Johnson, Esq. The fragment is 3 inches in 
diameter, and 24 inches in height. It represents rather less than 
one-half of the upper portion of the entire vessel. Ona panel, 18-inch 
in depth, are seen the figures of two gladiators, armed with helmet, 
shield, and short sword, apparently wearing greaves on their legs, and 
clothed in short tunics. One lies prostrate on his back, and the other 
stands near him, in a threatening attitude. The figures are about 
1} inches in height, and the scene was evidently repeated, perhaps all 
round the bowl, as a portion of the erect figure can be seen again near 
the broken edge. On the upper margin of the vessel, above the figures, 
is the following inscription :—* SPICVLVS COLVMBVS CALM.....VS.” 
The two last letters appear on the left hand side of the fragment, and 
appear to be the termination of the whole inscription, which probably 
ran round the entire vessel. In this vessel we probably have the record 
of some famous gladiatorial contest, the names of the combatants 
being very likely those recorded on the margin of the vessel. The glass 
itself is of a greenish blue tint, and is now beautifully iridescent. It 
must have been blown in a mould, as the figures are in relief on 
the exterior, with corresponding hollows within. A description of this 
interesting fragment, together with an excellent drawing by A. H. Paget, 
Esq., appears in, the number lately issued (Vol. IV., Part 4) of ‘The 
Transactions of the Leicestershire Architectural and Archeological 
Society.” 
Acports of Societies, 
BIRMINGHAM NATURAL HISTORY AND MICROSCOPICAL 
SOCIETY.—Gerotocican Srction.—March 25th—Mr. T. Bolton exhibited 
embryo salmon covered with embryo swan mussel. Mr. Crick exhibited pollen 
of mistletoe. Mr. Lawson Tait presented to the Society a photograph of the 
birthplace of Dr. Charles Darwin, for which the best thanks of the Society were 
tendered to him. Mr. Atkins exhibited a specimen of apparently vegetable 
matter from a depth of 20ft. in the drift sand, just above a bed of clay, in a 
cutting on a new line of railway near Birmingham. Mr. ©. J. Watson exhibited 
a series of rocks from Charnwood Forest, sent by Mr. W. J. Harrison. of 
Leicester, as a typical collection for comparison in boulder examination. 
Genera Meerine.—April 1st.—Mr. T. Bolton exhibited Paludicella Ehrenbergi 
showing the hybernaculum or winter-bud; Cristatella mucedo emerging from 
the statoblast; Anurea squamula, a free-swimming Rotifer; and Stentors 
Epistylis, Ophrydia, &c., from Barnt Green. Mr. GC. E. Crick exhibited the 
mistletoe, showing male and female flowers; Daphne laureola ; and a fasciated 
stem of Dogwood. Mr. J. E. Bagnall exhibited Plagiochila asplenioides from 
Wylde Green, Grimmia apocarpa from near Wolverhampton, and Chiloscyphus 
polyanthus from Sutton Park; also, on behalf of Dr. Braithwaite, Blasia 
usilla, collected by Jensen in Jutland, showing the gemma-like bodies in situ. 
r. C. Pumphrey exhibited Glyciphagus plumiger, and some foraminifera from 
a marsh near Cambridge. The Rev. H. W. Crosskey read a very interesting 
paper on “The Glacial Phenumena of the Vosges Mountains.” Bronocican 
Secrion.—April 8th.—Mr. J. Levick exhibited a Stentor of a pink colour, which 
he believed to be of an undescribed species. Mr. E. W. Badger exhibited a 
beautiful series of hybrid Primroses (Primula altaica and P. auriculiflora ) and 
a number of duplex cowslips from Mr. R. Dean, Ealing, and read some notes 
from that gentleman on the specimens. Mr. J. E. Bagnall exhibited a mosg 
Physcomitrium fasciculare, from Marston Green ; also sections of the capsules, 
shewing columella and band of primary mother-cells, and another section in a more 
advanced stage, showing the spore mother-cells én situ. Mr. T. Bolton 
exhibited some zoospores of an alga in early stages of development. Mr. W. G 
Blatch exhibited several beetles belonging to the Pselaphide. Mr. J. E. Bagnall 
exhibited Hierochloe borealis, and gave some notes on its geographical distribu- 
tion ; he also exhibited a number of wild flowers sent from Algiers to Mr. 
Derrington. Muicroscorican GeneraL Mzerine.—April 15th.—Mr. J. Levick 
