64 



NORTHERN NEWS. 



Mr. T. H. Nelson, M.B.O.U., of the Cliffe, Redcar, would be glad to 

 receive information respecting' the weight, plumage, and dimensions of any 

 Grey Geese shot in Yorkshire, as well as dimensions and colours of bills 

 and legs. He would also be glad to receive entire heads of freshly-killed 

 Grey Geese. 



Mr. W. Pickstone contributes a paper ' On Sections of the South Lanca- 

 shire Coalfield in the Township of Pilkington and the Parish of Bury ' to 

 a recent issue of the ' Transactions of the Manchester Geological Society ' 

 (V^ol. 27, Part 10). The sections are most interesting to the author, as all 

 the seams of the Lancashire coalfield are exposed in the area, and have 

 cost him ;!^7o,ooo. 



We regret to have to record the death of the Rev. Prof. T. Wiltshire, 

 formerly Professor of Geology and Mineralogy at King's College, London, 

 and Secretary of the Palseontographical Society from 1863. Yorkshire 

 geologists will recollect that so long ago as 1859 Prof Wiltshire contributed 

 a valuable paper ' On the Red Chalk of England ' to the Geologists' 

 Association, in which several Yorkshire specimens were figured. 



' Sea-birds and Plovers noticed in Lancashire and Cumberland ' is the 

 title of a paper by Thomas Hepburn in the October Zoologist. The following 

 birds are referred to : — Ringed Plover, Golden Plover, Lapwing, Oyster- 

 catcher, Common Snipe, Common Sandpiper, Redshank, Common Curlew, 

 Sandwich Tern, Common Tern, Lesser Tern, Black-headed Gull, Herring 

 Gull, Lesser Black-headed Gull, and Guillemot. 



At the annual meeting of the Lincolnshire Naturalists' Union, held at 

 Lincoln on nth December, reference was made to the proposed establish- 

 ment of a museum in the Grey Friars. Lincoln, by the City Council. It is 

 a pity that a public museum was not in existence long ago, as many most 

 valuable local relics have been removed from the county. The Rev. A. 

 Thornlev, M.A. , delivered an address on 'The Equipment of the Field 

 Naturalist,' and Mr. H. Preston, F.G.S., was elected President for 1903. 

 The field meetings held in 1903 will be at Huttoft and Panton. 



We regret to announce the death of Mr. George Dent, of Harrogate, 

 wiiich took place on the evening of 23rd December with most painful 

 suddenness. The deceased gentleman, who has always enjoyed the best 

 of health expired without a moment's warning. Mr. Dent was passionately- 

 fond of the country and its pursuits, and during the last few years had 

 devoted himself to the study of ornitholog}'. He possessed a very good 

 collection of eggs. He was an enthusiastic angler all his life, and few 

 excelled him in this sport. He was a most unassuming and unselfish 

 man ; indeed, it is doubtful if it would be possible to find one who could put 

 himself so much in the background to assist others. His early decease, he 

 being only 40 years of age, is deeply regretted by all his friends. 



Mr. N. F. Dobrt^e, F.E.S., of Beverley, an occasional contributor to these 

 pages, has presented his valuable collection of European Xoctua? to the 

 Hull Municipal Museum, where it finds a home with the Swailes' collection of 

 eggs and other important natural history collections. The Dobree collec- 

 tion, which is well known to Yorkshire entomologists, is arranged in a 

 cabinet of 52 drawers, and contains over 5,000 specimens. It is also 

 interesting as it includes a large number of preserved larvae — Mr. Dobree 

 being probably the first in this country to preserve larvfe with their natural 

 colours. The collection is perhaps the best of its kind in the country, and 

 contains species not represented in the national collections at tbe British 

 Museum. It will be especially useful as a reference collection to Yorkshire 

 lepidopterists, as it contains continental representatives of man}' of our 

 county noctua; of forms totally different in appearance to them. 



Naturalist, 



