Museum Neivs. 29 



MAMMALS, 



Otters in Nidderdale. — Otters are not at all uncommon 

 in Nidderdale, and traces of them are frequently seen, generally 

 these are the partially devoured body of a chub or other coarse 

 fish. It is, however, seldom that seven are seen together. 

 This event occurred just above the bridge at Birstwith, on 

 December nth, when seven Otters, two old and five young 

 ones, were seen endeavouring to breast the rush of waters 

 below the weir, but as the weir was in heavy fiood, the task 

 proved too great for the younger members of the party. They 

 eventually turned round and went down the river. — R. Fortune. 



— : o : — 

 ENTOMOLOGY. 



Cumberland Trichoptera. — Some time ago the Rev. 

 E. N. Bloomfield, M.A., sent me a number of Trichoptera for 

 determination, which had been taken in Cumberland. As they 

 may not have been previously recorded for that county, I 

 append list : — From St. Bees — Hydro psyche instabilis, H. 

 angusiipemiis, Leptocents bilineatus, Limnophilus extricatus^ 

 Pledrocnemia conspersa, and Goera pilosa. From Eskdale — 

 Limnophilus marmoratus, L. luridus, and Odontocerum albicorne. 

 From Eel Tarn : — Phryganea varia and Limnophilus centralis. — 

 Geo. T. Porritt, Huddersfield, December 13th, 1909. 



♦♦ 



MUSEUM NEWS. 



The Louth Antiquarian and Naturalists' Society has received a gift of 

 £2^0 towards the erection of a museum for its treasures, and an appeal has 

 been made for a similar amount in order that a suitable building may be 

 erected. 



A list of books published before the year 181 5, relating to British 

 Birds, from the library of ]Mr. W. H. Mullens, has been published by the 

 Hastings Museum. It is a valuable bibliography, and contains fac-simile 

 title-pages of many of the volumes enumerated. 



The Report of the Warrington Museum contains details of the many 

 additions made to the collections during the year just closed. There was 

 a ' record attendance, largely due to the interest excited by the capture of 

 the Grey Seal at Paddington Lock in 1908, which was placed in the 

 museum in August 1908.' This report contains a histor}- of ' The Founda- 

 tion of the Warrington Museum,' by Mr. C. Madeley, the Director. 



The seventeenth report of the Leicester Museum contains a record of 

 the work accomplished during the past year. Amongst the more interesting 

 features we notice that Dr. F. W. Bennett has presented an extensive 

 collection of Charnwood Forest rocks ; and a collection has been arranged 

 to shew the evolution of the present-day rail ' track.' It is pointed out 

 that it ' is not generally known that the gauge of our modern railway lines 

 is the direct outcome of the distance between the two parallel lines of stones 

 (called ' stone roads ' ) laid down on the highways b\- the Romans to ease 

 traction over rough or soft ground.' 



jgiojan. x. 



