284 CORRESPONDENCE—REPORTS. 
Darunia Barrpu.—Since I wrote my paper on this new Entomo- 
stracon, (see page 217,) I have been informed that the animal had been 
previously found near Berlin, and described by Schédler in his work 
entitled ‘‘ Die Branchiopoden der Umgegend von Berlin,” (Berlin, 1858,) 
under the name of Hyalodaphnia Kahlbergensis. There is no doubt, how- 
ever, that it is a true Daphnia; and since it agrees in every particular 
with the characters of that genus given by Baird, I see no reason why it 
should be placed in a separate one. Schédler’s specific name must, of 
course, take precedence of mine, by reason of its priority, and the name 
should then be Daphnia Kahlbergensis. I have the pleasure to record that 
this species has been found not only in Olton Reservoir, but also in 
Edgbaston Pool and Spurrier’s Pool, and we may, therefore, hope to keep 
it amongst us not as an ‘illustrious stranger,” but as a familiar friend. 
H. H. Forrzsr. 
ScartetT Runners.—I have noticed but few rows of this useful 
vegetable during the present year which have borne anything like a 
moderate crop of pods. I presume itis primarily due to the abnormal 
character of the year, in the course of which we have had such a large 
number of wet days. This insalubrious weather also accounts for the 
absence of bees, which are necessary for the fecundation of scarlet 
runner bean flowers. The following extract from Dr. Darwin’s ‘ Cross 
and Self Fertilisation,” p. 150, will, perhaps, prove interesting. He 
says: ‘‘ The flowers of Phaseolus multiflorus are so constructed that hive 
and humble bees, which visit them incessantly, almost always alight on 
the left wing petal, as they can best suck the nectar from this side. 
Their weight and movements depress the petal, and this causes the stigma 
to protrude from the spirally wound keel, and a brush of hairs round the 
stigma pushes out the pollen beforeit. The pollen adheres to the head 
or proboscis of the bee which is at work, and is thus placed either on the 
stigma of the same flower or is carried to another flower. This plant 
grows well and flowers in Nicaragua, but as none of the native bees visit 
the flowers not a single pod is ever produced.” Mr. Belt mentions a case 
(‘ Nature,” 1875, p. 26) of a late crop of P. multiflorus, near London, 
which was rendered barren by the humble bees cutting, as they frequently 
do, holes at the bases of the flowers instead of entering them in the 
proper manner.—H. W. B. 
Aeports of Societies, 
BIRMINGHAM AND MIDLAND INSTITUTE SCIENTIFIC SOCIETY. 
—September 24th. Mr. A. J. Shilton gave a very interesting paper upon 
“‘ Tiluminating Gas.”’—October 8th. Mr. C. B,. Caswell, F.C.S., read a paper upon 
“ Alkalimetry.”—October 18th. The members visited the new railway now 
being made between Halesowen and Northfield. 
BIRMINGHAM NATURAL HISTORY AND MICROgcopicaL 
SOCIETY.—Microscorican GENERAL Mezrinc.—September. 16th—Mr. T. 
Bolton exhibited a living specimen of Ophiocoma neglecta, the gray Brittle-star, 
from Llandudno. Mr. Wright Wilson exhibited a section of diseased liver stained 
with an aniline dye, which acted differently on the healthy and diseased parts so 
as to produce two colours. He also made some remarks on Calveria hystria, a 
species of Sea Urchin found by Sir Wyville Thompson, at a depth of 445 fathoms, 
and presented to the Society the part of the Transactions of the Royal Society 
which contains figures and descriptions of the only perfect specimen yet found. 
Mr. J. Levick exhibited a new rotifer, Anurewa longispina, (see page 241.)— 
GroLocicaL Sectron.—September 23rd.—Mr. R. M. Lioyd mentioned the diffi- 
culty he had found in keeping alive the new Entomostracon, Leptodora, and 
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