MISCELLANEOUS. 227 



Berkeley has also expressed a similar opinion {Field, March 16, 1861). With 

 the greatest deference to these authorities, my own idea is that the birds so 

 denominated have descended from the wild duck [Anas boschas, Linn.) and the 

 teal ( Querquedula crecca, Steph.), as has already been suggested by Mr. Tomes 

 and Mr. Bartlett {Zoologist, p. 1698) ; and I have arrived at this conclusion not 

 only from repeated examinations of the specimens described by Mr. Vigors 

 (Linn. Trans, xiv. p. 559), which are now in the British Museum, but also from 

 having seen several other birds of the same kind in different collections. 



The principal distinctions observable between the subject of the present notice 

 and the so-called jlnas bimaculata are in the greater size o*^ the former, and ia 

 the comparative obsoleteness of the dark patch which, in that supposed species, 

 separates the light-coloured spots on the sides of the head. In the bird I now 

 submit to your notice, this patch is reduced to a mere line, scarcely perceptible 

 until looked for. The breast also wants the well-defined dark spots which are 

 characteristic of the hybrid known as the " Bimaculated Duck." 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



We copy from a recent number of a very promising new scientific periodical, 

 The Popular Science Review, a notice of the "Fiftieth Anniversary of the Liver- 

 pool Literary and Philosophical Society," one of the oldest and most important 

 of its class. 



THE FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE LIVERPOOL" LITERARY AND PHILOSOPHICAL 



SOCIETY. 



Liverpool possessed a Literary and Philosophical Society in 1'790 ; not the one 

 which has just celebrated its fiftieth natal day, but another, with which was con- 

 nected the name of Edward Rushton, the founder of the " School for the Blind," 

 an institution which still calls forth the admiration of all strangers who visit 

 Liverpool. 



The present Literary and Philosophical Society was foundf^d on the 13th 

 March, 1812, when fifty-six gentlemen enrolled themselves as members ; but it 

 was not until December, 1817, that the Society rendered its name permanent by 

 the election as member, and on the same evening as its president, of William 

 Roscoe. 



Here is Mr. Roscoe's letter to the secretary, accepting office : — 



" My Dear Sir, — May I beg that you will take an early opportunity this 

 evening to express my respectful thanks to the Literary and Philosophical So- 

 ciety for the honour they have done me, and which you so obligingly announced 

 to me, in admitting me a member and nominating me to the distinguished situation 

 of their president, — a situation the duties of which I shall be happy to discharge 

 to the utmost of my power. If it will not be informal for me to make my ap- 

 pearance amongst you this evening, I will be in attendance in the ante-room, 

 and will wait their pleasure. 



" I am, my dear Sir, most faithfully yours, 



" Wm. Roscob." 



