IS 



THE BRITISH NATURALIST. 



[January 



introduced by the Culdees, the followers of Columba, but the dreadful 

 irruptions of the Norsemen in the ninth century overwhelmed both 

 the original inhabitants and their religion in utter ruin, and the Picts 

 were swept away. About a.d. 863 Mythology ceases, and we are able 

 to follow with greater accuracy the fortunes of the Kings of the 

 Main. Norway, which was composed of numerous petty states with 

 kings and governments acting independently of each other, now 

 became united under the rule of Harold Harfragi, which caused great 

 dissatisfaction amongst them, and, driven from their country by the 

 cruel oppression of Harold, the outlawed Princes now swarmed into 

 the Orkney Islands, and, writhing under injuries sustained, organised 

 piratical excursions against the mother country. 



{To be continued?) 



REPORTS OF SOCIETIES. 



LANCASHIRE AND CHESHIRE ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



The annual meeting of the Lancashire and Cheshire Entomological 

 Society was held on Monday, January 8th, in the class-room of the 

 Free Public Library, William Brown Street, Liverpool, Mr. S.J. Capper, 

 the president, in the chair. The following officers were appointed : 

 President, Mr. S. J. Capper ; vice-president, Dr. J. W. Ellis ; secretary, 

 Mr. F.N.Pierce; treasurer, Mr. C. E. Stott ; and librarian, Mr. H. 

 Lock. The President, in the course of a short address, thanked the 

 members for the honour they had bestowed upon him in re-electing him 

 as president. This was the seventeenth time he had acted in such a 

 capacity. He congratulated the Society upon its continued success. 

 They were now entering on their seventeenth year, and it was most 

 gratifying to state that they had never been in a more prosperous con- 

 dition than at present. The sudden death a few months ago of the 

 Rev. H. H. Higgins deprived them of one of their most prominent 

 members. They always welcomed his kind face among them at their 

 gatherings, and listened with attention to his ever pertinent remarks. In 

 the Rev. H. H. Higgins they had lost a member whom it was impossible 

 to replace, and few men were such lovers of natural history as was their 

 late friend. The retiring Vice-president, Mr. W. E. Sharp, delivered 

 the annual address. The subject was " The New Entomology," and the 

 writer, after briefly sketching the origin and historical development of 

 Entomology, drew attention to the manner in which this study had been 

 influenced by the modern methods of scientific inquiry, showed how 

 great a revolution had been effected in the estimation of Nature by the 

 general acceptance of the theory of Evolution, and how wider, fuller, 



