COREESPONDING SOCIETIES. 33 



geologist was not inclined to add to the weight which he had to carry. 

 The appliances for taking good photographs need not, however, be verj' 

 heavy, as he had been experimenting with an ordinary hand camera, 

 weighing five pounds, which he h;id carried over some of the rockiest 

 parts of Scotland. He had contribated a short paper to the ' Photo- 

 graphic Quarterly ' for January 1891, showing what could be done with 

 one of these smyll cameras. Mr. Reid exhibited a print taken from one 

 of these quarter-plate negatives, which he considered quite good enough 

 for preparing larger diagrams from for teaching and lecturing purposes. 



Mr. Holgate expressed his regret that the Committee could not under- 

 take the care of the negatives, as he was of opinion that many photo- 

 graphers would be willing to take two negatives of any section, one for 

 the use of the Committee, for the purpose of supplying prints at some 

 fixed charge to the societies or individuals requiring them. 



The Chairman stated that the Meteorological Photographs Committee 

 had never experienced any of the difficulties referred to with respect to 

 the negatives ; those who took the photographs were in all cases willing 

 that free use should be made of them by the Committee, and he expressed 

 the hope that in the interests of science it might be the same with kindred 

 subjects. 



Sea Coast Erosion. — Mr. Topley said that a mass of information had 

 been accumulated by this Committee, and it had been decided to conclude 

 their work this year. For some parts of the country the records were 

 fairly full, but for other parts very meagre. He mentioned that the 

 French Government had appointed a commission to do similar work, 

 which had adopted the form of questions circulated by this Committee. 



Section D. 



Disappearance of Native Plants. — Mr. D. Corse Glen reported that 

 two papers on this subject had been sent in to the Committee by the 

 Perthshire Society of Natural Science, but these had apparently not been 

 made use of. 



The Rev. E. P. Knubley explained that the Committee probably 

 intended to confine their report this year entirely to Wales and the 

 adjoining counties in the West of England. In view of the meeting 

 being at Edinburgh next year, it was likely that the Perthshire lists 

 would be taken for the next report. 



Destruction of Wild Birds' Eggs. — Dr. Vachell said that the Cardiff 

 ^Naturalists' Society had taken up a case in 1890 with respect to the 

 destruction of birds and eggs on the island of Grassholme, in the Bristol 

 Channel. A Bill had been introduced into Parliament last year by Mr. 

 Pease, but this had unfortunately not been proceeded with. The pro- 

 tection of the birds, and of the eggs during the breeding season, was a 

 very important matter, and he would be very glad if the Delegates would 

 give some practical aid with the object of furthering the Bill. 



The Chairman suggested that a recommendation from the Committee 

 of Section D, backed up by a similar recommendation from the Confer- 

 ence, might be sent up to the Council through the Committee of Recom- 

 mendations. 



Dr. Garson concurred with this suggestion ; he thought that the 

 recommendation might be referred to the Council directly by the Sec- 

 tional Committee. 



1892. » 



