432 
PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 
The Forty-second Annual Report of the Public Libraries, etc., of Roch- 
dale, for 1912-3, contains a reference to the Museum and its recent im- 
provements. 
Journal and Transactions of the Leeds Astronomical Society for the 
year 1912, No. 20, Edited by Ellison Hawks. London: W. Wesley & 
Sons, 2s. This publication bears still further evidence of the various 
activities of the members of this Society. Besides full reports of the 
meetings and notes of various kinds appertaining to the Society’s work, 
there are papers on the Milky Way and the Zodiacal Light by Ivo. Gregg ; 
“Cosmology in Early Poetry,’ by Geo. Thorp, and ‘ The Solar Eclipse 
of 17th April,’ and ‘Stellar Occultation,’ by the President, Mr. C. T. 
Whitmell. There are several shorter notes, by members, reprinted from 
other sources. 
The Transactions and Proceedings of the Dumfriesshire and Galloway 
Natural History and Antiquarian Society for 1912-3 are better printed 
than usual. In his presidential address, Mr. H. S. Gladstone gives a his- 
tory of the fifty years’ existence of the society, with portraits of the 
presidents. Among other contributions we notice a list of the Macro- 
Lepidoptera of Wigtownshire, notes on Tumuli, French prisoners, and a 
ghost story. The society seems to have been seized by the prevailing 
epidemic for enlarging the size of its publication, though in the present 
case the main difference between this part and its predecessors is in the 
unnecessarily large margins. 
Mr. W. R. Ogilvie Grant and his colleagues have given further evidence 
of their enthusiasm in the cause of science by the appearance of Volume 
XXXII. of the Bulletin of the British Ornithologists’ Club. It has been 
published by Witherby and Co., and contains no fewer than 336 pages. 
It contains a report on the immigrations of summer residents in the spring 
of 1912, and notes on the migratory movements and records, received from 
lighthouses and light vessels during the autumn of 1911. The volume 
contains a remarkable classification of thousands of records and is illus- 
trated by numerous maps showing the date and places of appearance 
of the important species of birds. Whenever, if ever, the problems of 
bird migration are finally settled, these ‘ Bulletins’ will certainly have 
played an important part therein. 
The Transactions of the Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists’ Society, 
Vol. IX., pt. IV., for 1912-3 are largely devoted to a continuation of the 
Society’s record of the natural features of its district. Mr. Robert Gurney’s 
Presidential Address deals with ‘ The Origin and Conditions of Existence 
of the Fauna of Fresh Water.’ Professor F. W. Oliver and Mr. E. J. 
Salisbury give an unusually valuable memoir on ‘The Topography and 
Vegetation of Blakeney Point, Norfolk,’ Mr. A. W. Preston contributes 
meteorological notes, and notes on the great flood in August, r912; Mr. 
Claude Morley gives a list of Norfolk Ichneumons; the Rev. M. C. H. 
Bird deals with the attempted acclimatisation of Wild Rice in East Norfolk. 
There are ornithological notes by Mr. C. B. Ticehurst, botanical notes by 
Messrs. W. H. Burrell and W. G. Clarke; The Herring Fishery of 1912, 
by Mr. T. J. Wigg, and Norwich Museum Notes by Mr. F. Levey. 
-O:; 
The Beginner’s Guide to the Microscope, by C. E. Heath. London: 
Percival Marshall & Co., 120 pp., 1s. net. This book is what it professes to 
be by its title, and by the aid of numerous illustrations the various parts of 
a microscope are described, as well as various accessories. There is also 
a ‘section on mounting slides.’ 
Naturalist, 
