Patten : Dimorphism in the Eggs of the Honsc-Sparroiv. 303 



shows a muddy whitish-brown ground-colour diffused with pigment 

 markings. 



Measiremknts. (Nat. size). 



h 



Fig. 2. 



Two 'False-Clutches' of Eggs of the House-Sparrow 



In the upper row, / is markedly different from the other three ; in the 

 lower row, m and n are very similar but strikingly unlike 6 ; m is tilted to 

 show on its broad end the zonular band of finely-dusted grey markings on a 

 clear white ground ; n is marked similarly, and both eggs are practically 

 free over the rest of the shell from any other pigment-markings. 



The Journal of the Torquay Natural History Society (Vol. I., No. 2, 

 pp. 49-86, i/-) has been received from the Museum, Torquay. It contains 

 a continuation of Mr. H. J. Lowe's ' Historical Notes ' relating to the 

 Society, short abstracts of papers on various subjects, read to the society 

 (including a lengthy one on ancient earthquakes and crust movements in 

 Devonshire, by Mr. A. Somervail), and a list of the Marine Mollusca of the 

 Torquay District, by Mr. A. J. Jukes-Browne. The subjects discussed by 

 the Society include Water Fleas and Dante's ' Purgatorio.' 



The Annual Report and Transactions of the North Staffordshire Field 

 Club for 1909-10, (\'ol. XLIV., 227 pp., edited by Mr. W. Wells Bladon), 

 contain a record of the Society's work, abstracts of various papers on as 

 varied subjects, zoolog}*, entomology, botany, meteorology, microscopy, 

 archfeology, etc., all of which appear to have a bearing upon the Society's 

 .sphere of work. The principal paper seems to be ' On some of the Rarer 

 Birds of Staffordshire and their Migration across the County, with notes 

 from adjoining counties,' by Mr. F. Coburn. This is illustrated by numer- 

 ous blocks from photographs of stuffed specimens. 



The Leeds Astronomical Society has just issued its Journal and Trans- 

 actions (No. 17) for the year 1909. (Leeds : R. Jackson & Sons. 78 pp., 

 2/-). The publication is edited by Mr. Ellison Hawks, and besides con- 

 taining abstracts of papers, original contributions, a record of the Society's 

 meetings, etc., includes reprints of the various letters on astronomical 

 subjects, written by the members to the Yorkshire Post and other papers. 

 These are thus in a much more convenient form than a newspaper cutting 

 book. Amongst the contributions we notice ' Some recent Observations of 

 the Moon,' made, appropriately enough, by Mr. Mann ; ' Some recent 

 Observations of Mars,' made with the eagle eye of Mr. E. Hawks ; and 

 ' Star-Drift,' by A. Burnet, who thinks that researches in the not distant 

 future will ' throw a great amount of light ' upon the problem. Mr. 

 Whitmcll takes Mars as a view-point, and Mr. Edwards deals with Creation 

 from a Maori standpoint. 



1910 Aug. I. 



