SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



223 



abundant supply of stored food, and there undergo 

 the changes, thus enabling it to take at once to a 

 new environment, hiding itself at the most critical 

 part of its life, it gives the metabolous insect an 

 enormous advantage in its competition with other 

 insects. It is even greater than that enjoyed by 

 the merely winged insect over the apterous, there 

 being winged insects before metabolous, and has 

 ended in its becoming numerically the most 

 successful type of life in existence. In the dis- 

 cussion which ensued, reference was made to 

 the change to a putty colour undergone by Cossus 

 at hibernation ; and Mr. Dadd seemed to think 

 that the pupal form, so similar in many cases, was 

 more likely to indicate the primitive insect than 

 the larval form. — H. A. Sauze, Hon. Sec. 



Lambeth Field Club and Scientific Society. 

 — The twenty-seventh Annual Soiree and Exhibition 

 of Natural History Specimens took place on October 

 24th, at the Lambeth Wesleyan Schools. The 

 attendance was large, despite sharp showers at the 

 time of commencement. The exhibits were very 

 varied, conchology being well represented. Mr. 

 Harvey-Piper delivered an exceedingly interesting 

 ten minutes' chat on shells, and exhibited some 

 splendid specimens of sea-melons and top-shells. 

 The President's exhibit comprised land and fresh- 

 water shells, including specimens of Physa hypnoruvi 

 taken in a stream at Mitcham Common ; also a 

 reversed specimen of Helix aspevsa taken in a garden 

 at West Dulwich. Lepidoptera was represented 

 by Messrs. Barker and E. J. Crow's collections, 

 coleoptera by Mr. T. L. Barnett. In a collection 

 of minerals by Mr. W. T. Howse were some fine 

 specimens of copper ore from British Columbia. 

 West Australian flowers and photographs by Mr. 

 J. F. Bursill were very interesting. The Society's 

 exhibit of fungi, owing to the prolonged drought, 

 was this year very limited. The room containing 

 the apparatus for demonstrating with Rontgen 

 rays was filled during the greater part of the 

 evening with persons anxious to see through their 

 hands and arms. Thanks are due to Mr. Ettrick- 

 Thomson for his treatment and explanations. 

 Music and a humorous lecturette on " Zoomy- 

 thology," by Mr. Yeatman-Woolf, formed part of 

 the programme. 



Greenock Natural History Society. — The 

 twentieth annual meeting of this society was held 

 on October 6th in the M'Lean Museum, Kelly 

 Street, the President, Mr. M. F. Dunlop, in the 

 chair. The report of the treasurer, showing the 

 funds to be in a satisfactory state, was submitted 

 and approved. The report of the secretary was 

 also read and adopted. During the session 1897-8 

 five meetings were held, at which ten papers were 

 read as follow : Mr. G. W. Niven, " Baron Mun- 

 chausen's Mineralogical Discoveries in Scotland"; 

 Mr. M. F. Dunlop, " Notes on a New Rotifer 

 (Metopidia pteryoida) " ; Mr. G. W. Niven, " Episodes 

 in the History of ' Blackwood's Magazine ' " ; Mr. 

 JohnBallantyne, "The Hornet Saw Fly " and "Fern 

 Structure" ; Mr. M. F. Dunlop, Exhibit of Rotifers ; 

 Mr. H. D. Lusk, " Insect Structure " ; Mr. T. 

 Montgomery, "Solar Heat"; Mr. Thomas Rennie, 

 " The Gyr Falcon " ; and Mr. G. W. Niven, " The 

 Arms, Standard, and Union Jack of the British 

 Empire : a Suggestion for Colonial Representa- 

 tion." During the summer session an enjoyable 

 excursion was made to Rothesay and Kilchattan 

 Bay. The annual election of officers then took 

 place for the year 1898-9. — G. W. Niven, Hon. Sec., 

 23, Newton Street, Greenock. 



NOTICES CF SOCIETIES. 



Ordinary meetings are marked t, excursions * ; names of 

 persons following excursions are of Conductors. 



South London Entomological and Natural History 



Society. 

 Dec. 8. — t" Dragonflies." Lecture and lantern. W. J. 



1899. Lucas ' BA - 



Jan. 12. — t" Orthoptera." Stanley Edwards. 



,, 26. — tAnnual Meeting. Chair taken at 7 o'clock. 



Tunbridge Wells Natural History and Philosophical 



Society. 

 Dec. 2. — 1" Honeycombing and other forms of Weathering 



18 jq of Stone." Lantern. Geo. Abbott, M.R.C.S. 



Jan. 12. — t" The Lances of Heaven." Lantern. Sir Robert 

 Ball, F.R.S., LL.D. 3 p.m. 

 ,, 20. — t" Timepieces — Created and Made." Mr. Herr- 

 mann. 

 Feb. 3. — f" The Fallaciousness of the Senses." Miss Cooke. 

 ,, 17. — tSpecimen and Microscopical Meeting. " Some 

 Movements of Plants " ; R. R. Hutchinson. 

 Mar. 8.— t" Wonders and Romance of Insect Life." Lan- 

 tern. F. Enoch, F.L.S., F.E.S., F.R.H.S. 3 p.m. 

 ,, 24. — t"The Chaldean Genesis." H. S. Roberton, 

 B.A., B.Sc. 

 April 7.—+" British Vegetable Gall Formations." E. T. 

 Connold. 

 ,, 21. — tSpecimen and Microscopical Meeting. "Insects' 



Metamorphoses," H. de C. Child. 

 Hon. Assist. Sec.,R. R. Hutchinson, Bel.nont, Princes Street. 



Selborne Society— Croydon and Norwood Branch. 



Dec. 14.— t" Dogs and Dog Stories." Lantern. E. A. 

 Martin, F.G.S. Temperance Hall, 6.30 p.m. 

 1899. 



Jan. 15. — t" About Frogs and Toads." H. S. M. Grover. 

 Telegraph Messengers' Institute, Upper Nor- 

 wood, 8.15 p.m. 



Mar. 23.—+" Birds and Bird Protection." E. A. Martin, 

 F.G.S. Croydon Liberal Association Rooms, 

 8.30 p.m. 



April — tAnnual Meeting, 8 p.m. Lecture, 8.30 p.m. ; 

 Fred W. Ashley, F.Z.S. 



Hull Scientific and Field Naturalists' Club. 

 Dec. 7.— t" Variation of Species in a State of Nature." W. 

 Hewitt, F.E.S. 

 ,, 21. — t" The Organization of an English Manor." J. R. 



Boyle, F.S.A. 

 1899. 

 Jan. 11. — t" Alpine Plants in a Highland Glen." Lantern 

 slides. Rev. A. E. Shaw, M.A. 

 ,, 25. — t" The Structure of Fishes." H.M.Foster. 

 Feb. 8. — t" Wireless Telegraphy," with Experiments. T. 

 W. Ireland, M.A. 

 ,, 22. — t" The Mosses of the East Riding." Lantern 

 views. J.J.Marshall. 

 Mar. S. — t" Shooting Stars." J. A. Ridgway. 

 ,, 22. — t" Electrical Measurements," with Experiments. 



J. T. Riley, D.Sc, A.R.C.Sc.I. 

 The Meetings are held at 72, Prospect Street, Hull, at 8 p.m. 

 T. Sheppard, Hon. Se.c. 

 Streatham Geological and Natural History Society. 

 Dec. 3. — t" On a Geological Trip from London to Brighton." 

 J. P. Johnson. 

 ,, 17. — tAnnual Exhibition. 

 1899. 

 Jan. 7.— t" Some British Birds." G. White. 



,, 21.— t" Geology of Caterham Valley." L. W. J. 

 Costello. 

 Feb. 4. — t" The Inhabitants of a Pond." H. K. Hunter. 

 ,, 18. — t"On the Excursion to Heme Bay." J. P. 

 Johnson. 

 Mar. 4. — tShort Papers on Summer Excursions. 

 Hon. Sec, L. W.J. Costello, 



Callington, Stanhope Road, Streatham, S.W, 

 Yorkshire Naturalists' Union. 



The date of the Annual Meeting at Scarborough has been 

 altered to December 17th. 

 W. Denison Roebuck, Hon. Sec, 259, Hyde Park Road, Leeds. 



Clapham Junction Y.M.C.A. Natural Science Circle. 

 Dec. 14. — t" The Occupiers of Space." C. Nicholson, F.E.S. 

 ,, 28. — t" Art in Nature and Nature in Art." J. Miller- 



Carr. 

 1899. ■ 

 Jan. 11. — t" The Microscope" and Microscopic Demonstra- 

 tion. Arthur Newton. 

 „ 28.— t" The Light of Olden Days." E. Lovett. 

 Feb. 8. — -(-Geological Lecture. Prof. J. Logan Lobley, F.G.S. 

 ,, 22. — t" Interesting Features of Plant Life." Lime-light 

 views. W. H. Griffin. 

 Mar. 8. — fLecture on " Chemistry," with experiments. W. 

 G. Whiffen, F.I.C., F.S.C.I. 

 ,, 22.— t" South Africa." Lime-light views. Duncan 

 Milligan, F.R.A.S. 



