Botany at the British Association. 391 
After flowering plants, fossil research made a good second. 
Amongst other papers may be noted that of H. Hamshaw 
Thomas on a new type of Ginkgoalian leaves from the Jurassic 
plant-bed of Cayton Bay, Scarborough, and one of the Com- 
mittee reports deals with investigations in the plant-beds at 
Roseberry Topping and Gristhorpe, during which twenty-two 
new species have been obtained. 
The cryptogamic contributions included a histological study 
on the leptoids (or sieve-tube elements) in Polytrichum, the 
apothecium of the lichen Peltigera, germination of the spores 
of Coprinus, and the biology of the apple canker-fungus 
Nectria ditissima. 
The preservation of the British flora. was put forward as 
a subject for discussion by A. R. Horwood as representative 
of the Selborne Society, and several very radical suggestions 
were made, but Section K was distinctly conservative, and 
objected to certain measures suggested for interfering with 
natural phenomena on the ground that these were more 
likely to be harmful because of the imperfections of humanity, 
and there was a strongly-voiced protest against giving land- 
owners the power to arrest anyone gathering a few flowers. 
In short, the feeling was that expressed in the Editorial Notes 
in September. There was, however, considerable sympathy 
with the general object of plant protection, and local societies 
were suggested as important agencies in any such work. 
Excursions are always a strong feature of Section K, and 
those at Birmingham maintained the tradition. Mr. Groves, 
among others, placed his knowledge of the district at disposal, 
and any preconceived ideas as to lack of botanical interest 
were dispelled during the excursions to the oakwood vegetation 
of Wyre Forest and the heaths and ponds of Sutton Park. 
Hartlebury Common was also visited by the members of the 
British Ecological Society, which held a meeting before the 
British Association opened. 
The Birmingham Meeting was altogether a great success, 
and we speak from experience of about a dozen British 
Association meetings. Such success does not come without 
someone working hard for months before. The readers of 
The Naturalist will be gratified to hear that the ‘someone’ 
mainly responsible for the successful organization at Birming- 
ham was Professor G. S. West, and the success of the outdoor 
excursions was materially enhanced by the presence of his 
father, Mr. W. West, of Bradford. WieGes: 
(I 
As a result of a weekly examination of rooks sent to him for the pur- 
pose, Mr. H. F. Witherby has a paper in British Birds for October, on 
‘The Sequence of Plumage of the Rook, with special reference to the 
Moult of the “‘ Face.’ It is illustrated by several plates. 
1913 Nov. 1. 
