NORTHERN NEWS. 



An excellent portrait of the late Dr. Bowdler Sharpe appears in British 

 Birds for February. 



Dr. Henry Woodward favours us with a reprint of an obituary notice 

 of the late W. H Hudleston, with portrait. 



There is a good paper on the ' Breeding Habits of the Mole,' by 

 Iv. E. Adams, in the Memoirs and Proceedings of the Manchester Literary 

 and Philosophical Society, recently issued. 



The Liverpool Geological Society has recently celebrated the jub'Iee 

 of its first meeting. Prof. J. W. Judd gave an address on ' The Triumph 

 of Evolution : a Retrospect of Fifty Years.' 



A lengthy paper on ' The Zones of the Lower Chalk of Lincolnshire,' 

 with a list of new records from the Red Chalk of the County, by the Rev. 

 C. R. Bower and J. R. Farmery, appears in the Proceedings of the Geologists' 

 Association, Vol. XXL, Part 6, just published. 



TJie A nnals of Scottish Natural History for January contains an excellent 

 coloured plate of the Eastern Pied Chat (Saxicola pleschanka), a new British 

 Inrd, from the Isle of May. In the same journal INIr. J. R. Malloch gives 

 tables of all the British species of Phoridce. 



The following is one of a number of questions recently placed before 

 junior librarians, and possibly accounts for the fact that in some towns the 

 chief librarian is also the curator of the Museum, Art Gallery, etc. :— 

 ' Describe the arrangement of any mtaseum known to you, and state where 

 the arrangement might he improved.' 



Mr. R. Standen favours vis with a copy of his notes on the blind Wood- 

 louse {Platyarthrits hoffmaiiseggii) in West Lancashire. The species has 

 hitherto, with one exception, been reported from England in the extreme 

 south only. The species only occurs in ants' nests, and doubtless, as the 

 author points out, further search will reveal it in many other areas. 



INIr. J. W. Jackson kindly sends us copies of two valuable papers, by 

 himself, which appeared in the Lancashire Naturalist for December. The 

 first records the remains of Lemmings in Dog Holes, Warton Crag ; and 

 the second is a report on the Mollusca from this same cave. Amongst the. 

 records are Pyramidula rudevata, \\\\.\\cvto only recorded from the Pleisto- 

 cene deposits of the South of England, and the Continent. 



At a recent meeting of the Hebden Bridge Scientific Society Messrs.. 

 J. Greenwood and S. C. Moore reported that sections in the ' Mytholmroyd 

 Moraine' (see Simpson & Low in ' P. Yorks. Geol. Soc.', Vol. XIV., part II.) 

 were exposed in connection with the excavations for the laying of a main 

 drain. Many hundreds of boulders have been thrown out. The sections 

 are of considerable interest, and it is hoped that they will throw some light 

 on the manner in wiiich the deposits were laid. 



Few writers have contributed so much to ornithological literature as. 

 tiic late Dr. R. Bowdler Sharpe. A list of his papers and books has been 

 publis'ned in a special number of the Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' 

 Club. From this it appears that Dr. Sharpe's first paper was contributed 

 to our journal, ' The Naturalist,' so long ago as 1866. This was entitled, 

 ' Notes on Birds collected bj^ E. M. Young, Esq., in the Vicinity of the 

 Nile and in Palestine.' 



We are glad to see that at the recent annual meeting of the Halifax 

 Scientific Society, the members shewed their appreciation of Mr. Fred 

 Barker's twenty-one years' services as Secretar^^ by presenting him with 

 an " Empire ' typewriter. Speaking generally, we consider that it is in 

 tlie interests of a society to retain the services of one Secretary as long as 

 possible, so long as he answers the purpose. With regard to Presidents, 

 however, we agree with Mr. W. B. Crump, who has just been elected to the 

 chair at tlie Halifax Society for the tenth year, that it is in the interests of 

 natural historj', etc., societies for the President to be changed periodically. 

 Mr. Crump's excellent work at Halifax doubtless accounts for the length 

 of time he has held office. 



Naturalist, 



