Proceedings of Societies. *205 



ton's Fossil Flora of Great Britain ; one of the authors of which is a secretary and 

 active promoter of this society ; many of the specimens figured in the work have 

 been procured from the coal mines near Newcastle. British Oology is another 

 work emanating from a member and late secretary of this society, Mr W. C. 

 Hewitson, whose removal to a distant part of the country the society has late- 

 ly had to regret. 



It is worthy of remark, that the Natural History Society of Newcastle is not a 

 companyof shareholders, gaining an individual advantage by theincrease of the mu- 

 seum. Each member retains an interest in the property of the society no longer 

 than while he remains a subscriber. The subscription is one guinea per annum, 

 without entrance fee ; and the museum, while professedly open to members of 

 both societies and their friends, is virtually so to all respectable persons, resi- 

 dents as well as strangers, without any charge for admission. The society has 

 not hitherto suffered any diminution of its funds from pursuing this liberal course, 

 and it is to be hoped that the public spirit of the inhabitants of Newcastle will 

 enable it hereafter to continue the same plan ; the object of the society being 

 " to diffuse more generally a taste for those refined and rational pleasures to be 

 derived from the study of the works of nature." — In conformity with this plan 

 the museum has also been occasionally opened in an evening for the accommo- 

 dation of the working-classes. 



There are some good private collections in Newcastle, the most valuable of 

 which is Mr Adam son's splendid cabinet of shells, the finest in the north of Eng- 

 land. Mr John Hancock has an interesting museum of British birds and other 

 vertebrated animals, beautifully preserved by himself. Mr George Wailes's ex- 

 tensive and valuable cabinet of British insects is well worth the attention of the 

 entomologist ; and Mr J. Alder has a very good collection of British shells. In 

 botany Mr Winch's fine herbarium takes the lead, but those of Mr William Ro- 

 bertson and Mr R. B. Bowman also contain a very extensive series of British 

 plants, to which the latter has in his late tour in Norway added many interest- 

 ing plants from that country. Mr W. Hutton's collection of vegetable fossils is 

 perhaps the finest extant. A few smaller collections might here be named, but 

 enough has been said to indicate the state of natural history in this town, and to 

 guide the scientific traveller to such objects as he may wish to investigate. 



Fauna Japonica, Ph. Fr. D. Siebold The Crustacea under the superintend- 

 ence of M. De Hann, in two Fasciculi, with uncoloured lithographic plates, and 

 the Chelonii by C- J. Temminck and H. Schlegel, also with uncoloured litho- 

 graphic plates, have just reached us, as all which has yet appeared of this very 

 important work. M. De Hann has attempted to arrange the Crustacea upon 

 the principles laid down by Mr Macleay, and will be found to contain some very 

 interesting information. A more extended notice will be devoted to it. 



NOTICES AND PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES LONDON. 



Royal Society, January 14 — Dr Daubeny's paper, " On the action of 

 Light upon Plants, and of Plants upon the Atmosphere," was concluded. This 

 interesting paper was commenced at the concluding meeting of 1835. " The ob- 

 jects of the experimental inquiries of which the author gives an account in this 

 paper were, in the first place, to ascertain the extent of the influence of solar 

 light in causing the leaves of plants to emit oxygen gas, and to decompose car- 

 bonic acid, when the plants were either immersed in water, or surrounded by at- 



