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SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



Chakles Stuart Geegson.— There floiuished 

 in Lancashire during the later middle years of 

 this century a company of vigorous field natiu-alists, 

 who did much collectively and individually towards 

 the elucidation of the flora and faiina of the 

 northern counties of England. Most of these 

 were known to us, and, alas ! they have nearly all 

 passed away. Among them were Ed-\\'in Biu-chall, 

 the brothers Benjamin and Nicholas Cooke, Noah 

 Oreeuiug, J. B. Hodgkinson, Ashworth, Sidebot- 

 ham, Edleston, Carter, and Joseph Chapell, all 

 close observers of Nature and learned in species 

 and their life-histories. The last of these to leave 

 is Gregson, most acute and, sha.ll we say it, most 

 belligerent of them all. When one comes to pass 

 them in review, they were indeed a remarkable 

 association, and one which Avell shows how varied 

 were, in those days, the types in the republic of 

 science. All earnest workers ; some rich, others 

 living by their daily toil, and practising science 

 in hoirrs stolen from repose. Fatigue had no 

 terrors for botanist, entomologist, or other self- 

 educated student of Nature. In general education 

 they varied as much as in worldly riches ; but all 

 met on common ground, and no matter how miich 

 some disagreed, at heart each respected the other. 

 "What collections they made, and what exertion 

 and ability wei-e squandered on them. Charles 

 Stuart Gregson was born at Lancaster on May 29th, 

 1817. He was brought up to the trade of a 

 plumber, and prided himseU' upon the fact that 

 ne had assisted in building the present Houses of 

 Parliament. Always possessed with a taste for 

 observation of living things, he rapidly became an 

 authority in lepidopterology, ox-nithology, and some 

 branches of marine shells. His quaint old house 

 was a veritable museiun and well worth visiting, 

 for one invariably came away ^\ath the feeling of 

 having learned something from the host's rugged 

 personality or his siu-roun dings. For some time 

 past Mr. Gregson had felt the approach of senility, 

 especially in regard to failing eyesight. Conse- 

 •<:j[uently he disposed of his remarkable collection 

 of butterflies and moths, which was acquired 

 several years ago by Mr. Sidney Webb, of Dover. 

 Among his collecting gi'ounds, Gregson greatly 

 favoured the "Mosses" of Lancashire and the 

 coast sandhills of that county and Cheshire. 

 North Wales, with its ranges and ridges of 

 mountain limestone, and the precipitous cliffs of 

 the Isle of Man, were to him most fascinating. 

 His chief quarry in the former was the moth 

 Agroiis ashworihii, whilst the latter produced the 

 local lepidoptera occurring there. Age had rather 

 separated Gregson in later years from the natu- 

 ralists of his county, but he occasionally appeared 

 among them. As a recounter of anecdote and 

 reminiscence, he was not only amusing, but at 

 times astonishing. He died on the 31st of last 

 January, without serious ailment, other than 

 failure from old age, passing away quietly in his 

 •eighty-second year. — J. T. C. 



The South London Entomological and 

 Natural History Society. — Annual Meeting, 

 January 26th, 1899, Mr. J.W. Tutt, F.E.S., president, 

 in the chair. — A very satisfactory balance sheet 

 was adopted, and the council's report, giving a 

 r(^sum4 of the past year's work, having been read, 

 the following gentlemen were declared elected to 

 fill the various offices in the society. A. Harrison, 

 F.L.S., F.E.S., &c.. President ; Dr. Chapman, F.E.S., 

 and J. W. Tutt, F.E.S., Vica-Presiclents; T. W. 

 Hall, F.E.S., Treasurer; H. A. Sauze, Librarian; 

 W. West, Curator; Stanley Edwards, F.L.S.,F.E.S., 

 and Henry J. Tui-ner, F.E.S., Hon. Secretaries; 

 E. Adkin, F.E.S., F. Clark, H. S. Fremlin, F.E.S., 

 M.R.C.P., W. J. Lucas, B.A., F.E.S., H. Moore, 

 A. M. Montgomery, and E. South, F.E.S., Council. 

 Mr. Tutt then read an admii-able presidential 

 addi-ess, which dealt with the value of field work 

 to the science of Biology. February 9th, 1899, 

 Mr. A. Harrison, F.L.S., pi'esident, in the chair. — 

 Mr. Eussell exhibited a specimen of Plusia moneta, 

 taken at Southend, near Catford, in July, 1898 ; 

 it was noted how rapidly the species was spreading 

 its range of habitat. Mr. Adkin, a series of Hadena 

 2nsi, from Aberdeenshire, with southern English 

 forms for comparison ; the former were of a 

 blackish brown or dull purple, showing a strong 

 contrast to the red English form. Mr. Lucas, a 

 series of Ehyparohia (Fanchlora) maderise) taken 

 at Kew Gardens in a package received from the 

 Belgian Congo, and contributed notes on its 

 distribution. Mr. Main, specimens of the brilliant 

 Coleopteron, Aspidomorpha sancte-crinums, from 

 Bombay, which had been preserved in a dilute 

 solution of formalin ; a discussion ensued as to the 

 amount of formalin in the solution, and also as to 

 its action ; it was thought that no more was 

 necessary than just sufficient to sterilize the 

 water, say 1 per cent. Mr. Harrison, series of 

 varieties of the egg of the blackbird, including 

 one having a deep brown blotch completely 

 covering the larger end, and also a bred series of 

 Pseudoterpna pruinata (cyiisaria) from. New Forest 

 larvae. Mr. Fremlin read a note received from 

 Mr. Chadwick, of Devonshire, giving an account 

 of an observation of Amphipyra pyramidea swim- 

 ming across a stream at least thirty j'ards Avide ; 

 in the discussion which ensued, Mr. Tutt and 

 others gave various instances of the s\\'imming 

 capabilities of several species of Lepidoptera. 

 Dr. Chapman then read a paper, entitled " Some 

 Points in the Evolution of the Lepidopterous 

 Antennae," illustrating his remarks by blackboard 

 diagTams and numerous figures of antennae sculp- 

 ture. A discussion took place, and it was 

 considered that the paper was one of the most 

 important of the series of evolutionary studies 

 which Dr. Chapman had for some time been 

 contributing to various societies and magazines. — 

 H. J. Turner, Hon. Report Sec. 



North London Natural History Society. — 

 Thursday, March 2nd, 1899.— Exhibits : Mr. Frost, 



