SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



27 



Royal Meteorological Society.— The usual 

 monthly meeting of this society was held on 

 Wednesday evening, February 20th, at the Institu- 

 tion of Civil Engineers, 25, Great George Street, 

 S.W., Mr. R. Inwards, F.R.A.S., President, in 

 the chair. Mr. W. Marriott gives an account of 

 the thunderstorm and squall which burst over 

 London so suddenly on the morning of January 

 23rd. It appears that this storm passed across 

 England in a south-south-easterley direction at the 

 rate of about forty-seven miles an hour, being over 

 Northumberland at 4 a.m., and reaching the 

 English Channel by 11 a.m. Thunder was first 

 heard in the vicinity of Leeds, and accompanied 

 the storm in its progress across the country. One 

 of the most remarkable features of the storm was 

 the sudden increase in the force of the wind ; for 

 in .London it rose almost at one bound from 

 nearly a calm to a velocity of thirty-six miles 

 an hour. This sudden increase of wind caused 

 considerable damage, and at Bramley, near 

 Guildford, twenty-eight trees were blown down 

 along a track 1,860 yards in length. Mr. E. 

 Mawley presented his "Report on the Pheno- 

 logical Observations for 1894." Between the 

 third week in March and the third week in May 

 plants generally came into blossom in advance of 

 their usual time, and towards the end of April the 

 dates of first flowering differed but little from those 

 recorded at the same period in the very forward 

 spring of 1893. The cuckoo made its appearance 

 even earlier than in the previous year. The year 

 1894 was a very productive one, and both the hay 

 and corn crops proved unusually heavy ; but much 

 of the latter was harvested under very trying con- 

 ditions as regards weather. The frosts of May 21st 

 and 22nd entirely destroyed the previous prospect 

 of a glorious fruit season. Indeed, the only really 

 good crop was that of pears, which were singularly 

 abundant throughout nearly the whole of England. 

 Mr. A. B. Macdowal read a paper on " Some gradual 

 weather changes in certain months at Greenwich 

 and Geneva." 



The South London Entomological and 

 Natural History Society. — January 24th, 1895, 

 annual general meeting, T. W. Hall, Esq., F E.S., 

 Vice-President, in the chair. The council and 

 treasurer's reports were read, and the officers and 

 council for the year were elected as under : 

 President, T. W. Hall, F.E.S. ; vice-presidents, 

 C. G. Barrett, F.E.S. , and J. Henderson; treasurer, 

 R. Adkin, F.E.S. ; librarian, H. J. Turner, F.E.S. ; 

 curator, W. West (Greenwich) ; hon. secretaries, 

 Stanley Edwards, F.L.S. (corresponding) and Hy. 

 J. Turner, F.E.S. (report). Council: T. R. Billups, 

 F.P.S., C A. Briggs, F.E.S., J. H. Carpenter, 

 C. Fenn, F.E.S., F. E. Filer, W. Mansbridge, F.E.S., 

 and W. A. Pearce. In the absence of Mr. Step, 

 the retiring president, Mr. Hall read the Annual 

 Address. — February 14th, 1895, T. W. Hall, Fsq., 

 F E.S., President, in the chair. Mr. W. Furneaux, 

 F.R.G.S., of Omany Road, New Cross, was elected 



a member. Mr. C. A. Briggs exhibited on behalf 

 of Mr. Carringfon, to whom it had been sent by 

 Mr. J. C. Eccles, the fruit of Euonymus japoniui, 

 from Ventnor. This species of shrub very rarely 

 flowers in this country. Mr. Peach, a specimen of 

 the genus Xanthia, from Wimbledon, said to be 

 X. ocellaris, but which all present considered merely 

 a var. of X. gilvaco. Mr. Atkin, Vanessa urttca, 

 var. from Sutherland and North Ireland, and 

 commented upon the similarity of these to the 

 Japanese form called V. connexa. He also exhibited 

 series of Trygcena filipenduhr, from Sutherland, taken 

 2,000 feet above the sea. A discussion ensued. 

 Mr. Williams, series of Enchl'de eardanunes, with 

 forms which some authorities term A . albert!, and 

 read notes thereon. — Hy. J. Turner, Hon. Report See. 

 The Annual Dinner of this Society was held at 

 the Bridge House Hotel, London Bridge, on the 

 evening of February 26th, the President, Mr. T. 

 W. Hall, being in the chair. There was a 

 numerous attendance, and the speeches showed 

 the great interest taken in the Society by the 

 members, who, not unfavourably, criticised its 

 present prospects and meetings. A suggestion 

 was made that the Society should acquire a lantern 

 and screen for use of the members when reading 

 papers or making exhibits. It is to be hoped that 

 at an early meeting some arrangement may be 

 made for carrying out this suggestion, if possible 

 without encroaching on the funds of the Society. 

 These dinners, and the exhibitions, have proved an 

 advantage to the Society by introducing new 

 members. 



Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists' Society. 

 — The monthly meeting of the above society was 

 held on January 28th, in the committee-room of the 

 Castle Museum, Mr. T. Southwell (ex-president) in 

 the chair. The Chairman congratulated the society 

 on the change of their place of meeting to the com- 

 modious and spacious committee-room of the Castle 

 Museum, and, alluding to the intimate relations 

 which had existed between the Norfolk and 

 Norwich Naturalists' Society and the old Museum 

 for a period of twenty-six years, trusted that for 

 many years to come they might work in concert 

 with the Castle Museum greatly to their mutual 

 advantage. Mr. Southwell referred to the active 

 part which the society had taken in promoting the 

 passage of the amended Wild Birds' Protection Act 

 of 1894, in the form in which it finally became law, 

 and said that there was a motion before the County 

 Council as to the best method of • putting its 

 provisions into effect. After explaining that the 

 Act gave the County Council authority to recommend 

 to the Home Secretary either the prohibition of the 

 taking of the eggs of certain " named species," or 

 the taking of any eggs within certain "specified 

 areas," he dwelt on the difficulties attending the 

 carrying out of the first proposal, owing chiefly to 

 the practical impossibility of identifying the eggs of 

 some of the birds which require protection whereas 

 the protection of " areas," which, as a rule, would 

 be private property, was both easy effectually to 

 define, and devoid of hardship to anybody. He 

 concluded by moving a resolution, respectfully 

 suggesting to the committee of the County Council 

 the desirability of recommending the later course. 

 This was seconded by Mr. E. H. J. Eldred, and, 

 after some discussion, during which letters, 

 approving the " area " principle, were read from 

 Sir Edward Newton, Mr. John Cordeaux, and 

 Mr. Cresswell, of Lynn, was duly carried. 

 Mr Stacey Watson, of Yarmouth, read a paper on 



