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SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



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TRANSACTIONS 



Royal Meteorological Society. — The las 

 meeting of this Society for the present session was 

 held at the rooms of the Royal Astronomical 

 Society, Burlington House, on the afternoon of 

 June 16th, Mr. E. Mawley, F.R.H.S., President, 

 in the chair. A paper by Mr. R. C. Mossman, 

 F.R.S.E., on "The Non-instrumental Meteorology 

 of London, 1713-1896," was read by the secretary. 

 The author has gone through the principal 

 meteorological registers and weather records kept 

 in the metropolis, and in this paper discusses for a 

 period of 167 years the notices of thunderstorms, 

 lightning without thunder, fog, snow, hail and 

 gales. The average number of thunderstorms is 

 9'7 per annum, the maximum occurring in July 

 and the minimum in February. The average 

 number of fogs is 24-4 and of " dense " fogs 58 per 

 annum. The decadal means show that there has 

 been a steady and uninterrupted increase of fog 

 since 1841. The average number of days with 

 snow is 13 6 per annum. The snowiest winter 

 was that of 1887-88 with forty-three days, while 

 in the winter of 1862-63 there is not a single 

 instance of a snowfall. The mean date of first 

 snowfall is November gth and of last snowfall 

 March 30th. Hail is essentially a spring phe- 

 nomenon, reaching a maximum in March and 

 April ; the minimum is in July and August. The 

 average number of days with hail is 59 per annum. 

 Mr. C. Harding gave an account of the hailstorm 

 which occurred in the south-west of London on 

 April 27th, 1897. This accompanied a thunder- 

 storm in which the lightning was very vivid. The 

 hail lasted only about twenty minutes, from 6.30 

 to 6.50 p.m., and in that short space of time the 

 melted hail and rain amounted to about an inch of 

 water. The districts affected by the hail were 

 Tooting, Balham, Streatham, Tulse Hill and 

 Brixton. The ground was quite white with the 

 • hailstones, which in some places remained un- 

 melted the whole of the next day. Much damage 

 was done to fruit-trees and shrubs. 



The South London Entomological and 

 Natural History Society. — June 10th, 1897, 

 Mr. R. Adkin, F.E.S., President, in the chair. 

 Mr. Jas. N. Smith, 28, Eastdown Park, Lewisham, 

 was elected a member. Mr. Mansbridge exhibited 

 a larva of Tcphrosia crcpuscularia beaten from yew, 

 and a short series of imagines bred as a second 

 brood from larva taken at the same place last year. 

 He stated that the larva of T. biundularia from both 

 Yorkshire and Epping were quite distinct from the 

 larva of T. crcpuscularia in marking and colouration. 

 Mr. Tutt remarked that the young larvae of both 

 species were similar to the young larva? of the 

 Ennomids in being black with more or less complete 

 white rings, but said that such similarity did not 

 necessarily always show close relationship. Mr. 

 Malcolm Burr, a few insects from the Island of 

 Socotra, and said that at a casual glance the fauna 

 seemed to represent a transition from the Palearctic 

 to the Ethiopian region. Mr. Turner, flowers of 

 the bogbean (Menyanthidis palustris) and of the 

 cinquefoil (Potentilla comarum) from the neighbour- 



hood of Woolmer Forest. Mr. Lucas, ichneumons 

 which had emerged this year from last year's 

 cocoons of Zygaena tnfolii, and also an' earwig 

 (Chelisochcs morio) from Java, of which species two 

 examples have recently been taken at Kew. In the 

 discussion several curious instances of parasitism 

 were noted. Mr. Tutt mentioned a parasite on the 

 lava of Melitaea aurinia, which had three separate 

 emergences during life of its host. Mr. Hall said 

 that a particular ichneumon was entirely confined 

 to the young stage of Cucullia verbasci. Mr. Adkin, 

 a series of both captured and bred specimens of 

 Taeniocampa gothica, from Loch Laggan. The 

 captured examples were largely the gothicina forms, 

 while the latter were very typical, although the 

 ova were from females of the former variety. — 

 Hy. J. Turner, Hon. Report Sec. 



North London Natural History Society. — 

 At the meeting of March nth last, Mr. Battley 

 reported that he had found mistletoe growing 

 plentifully on whitethorn and crab-apple in 

 Ickworth Park, near Bury St. Edmunds. The 

 paper at this meeting was by Mr. Bacot on the 

 Liparidae, which led to an interesting discussion. 

 One of the facts mentioned was the increasing 

 rarity of the brown-tail moth (Porthesia chrysorrhoea), 

 which can hardly be attributed to over-collecting. 

 Mr. Frost mentioned that it was common enough up 

 to 1874. — The meeting of March 25th was well 

 attended, and many exhibits were made. Mr. 

 Harvey had seen a glow-worm at Chingford the 

 previous week which was doubtless in the larval 

 condition, that being luminous, though not so 

 intensely so as the female imago. Mr. Woodward 

 read a paper on the Picidae, or woodpeckers. 

 Mr. Simes also contributed notes on the same 

 family. — On April 8th reports of the Iepidopterists 

 were received on collecting at Sallows, near 

 London, which seemed to have been productive of 

 success. Mr. Dadd had taken as many as fifty 

 Taeniocampa miniosa at Oxshott. Mr. R. \V. 

 Robbins opened a discussion on " The Ferns 

 of Britain," and remarked on their style of 

 reproduction by sori and prothallus. He then 

 reviewed the British species. Several members 

 followed, and made remarks of interest. — 

 Thursday, April 22nd, 1897. Mr - C. Nicholson, 

 F.E.S., President, in the chair. Exhibits: Mr. 

 Battley, a fungus (locally known as the "Jew's 

 ear "), which he believed to be edible and similar to 

 the truffle. Miss Martin, a most interesting lot of 

 botanical specimens, including fern prothalli ; 

 Marchantia polymorpha and Lunularia vulgaris (nat. 

 ord., Hepaticeae); Lathroca squamaria, the toothwort, 

 a root parasite with thick, fleshy scales (nat. ord. 

 Orobanchaceae), this plant, Miss Martin said, is 

 also partly insectivorous ; an aquatic species of 

 Aroideae ; flowers of the ash (Fraxinus excelsior), 

 showing polygamous flowers (nat. ord. Oleaceae) ; 

 Claytonia ahinordes (nat. ord. Oleaceae); Alchcmilla 

 vulgaris, the lady's mantle, small green flowers with 

 no petals (nat. ord. Rosaceae) ; Deutzia (nat. ord. 

 Saxifragaceae, sub. ord. Philadelpheae) ; Dioecious 

 flowers of Aucuba japonica (nat. ord. Connaceae) ; 

 Primus lauro-cerasus, the common laurel (nat. ord. 

 Rosaceae). Mr. Austin exhibited some eggs of the 

 Corvidae, and similar exhibits were shown on 

 behalf of Mr. Wm. Bayne. Messrs. Bacot, E. M. 

 Dadd, Bishop and C. B. Smith also exhibited. 

 Records were given of the occurrence of a swallow 

 on April 4th at West End Common, near Esher, 

 and of a martin, nightingale and cuckoo on April 

 17th. Mr. Simes also recorded a wheatear redstart 

 from Epping Forest on April 17th. Mr. Battley 



