THE BRITISH NATURALIST. 



Proceedings of the Chester Society of Natural Science and Literature, 

 No. IV. (pp. 139 to 351). Chester, 1894. — We are not told why this Society has allowed so 

 long a time as ten years to elapse between the dates of the third and fourth issues of its 

 proceedings. It has not been altogether for want of materials, as some of the papers in the 

 present part were read so long ago as 1884, but the recent date and practical character of 

 the majority of its contents indicate that the Society has now fairly entered upon a period 

 of great activity, and we are consequently not surprised to hear that it is in a very flourish- 

 ing condition, and has a roll of over 600 members. 



Two of the earlier contributions are from the pen of Prof. T. McK. Hughes, a former 

 President- of the Society, one of which describes the Silurian Rocks of North Wales in 

 some detail. The other is a lecture on Caves and Cave Deposits, with particular 

 reference to the well-known examples in the Vale of Clwyd, and the question of their pre- 

 glacial age. The subject is brought down to date in an appendix to the paper. Mr. W. 

 Shone has a series of contributions, in part supplementary to work which has appeared in 

 the Journal of the Geological Society of London and elsewhere, on Subterranean 

 Erosion and some of its effects, in which he shows good cause for attributing to this 

 hitherto neglected principle of geology the production of the phenomena of submerged 

 forests, which form such a characteristic feature of the Cheshire shore, as of many other 

 lowlying parts of our coasts. The immediate effect of subterranean erosion is lateral 

 subsidence of the surface, hence in some cases landslips such as the recent catastrophe 

 at Sandgate. Mr. Shone suggests other effects of this action, in the production of the 

 cup-shaped hollows common in sand-dunes, and other rocks. 



One generally, if not already an enthusiast, fights shy of meteorological observations, 

 but we found the three papers by Mr. A. O. Walker not only valuable, but actually 

 interesting. In The Climate of the North Coast of Wales, he summarizes the 

 observations and experience of the quarter of a century which has elapsed since he set out 

 the lines upon which the Society ha.s since chiefly travelled, and shows that the variations 

 of climate in so limited an area as that comprised in the Society's district may form the 

 basis for much suggestive speculation, and have a bearing even upon the Home Rule 

 question. The exceptional weather of last year is the subject of several papers, in one of 

 which Mr. Walker records the date not only of his first violet, but also, still with an eye to 

 practical questions, of his first gooseberry-tart and his last load of barley. 



The part is particularly strong in zoological articles, the study of this subject having 

 received considerable impetus in Chester by the establishment and rapid development of 

 the Grosvenor Museum, in the management of which the Society has a controlling 

 influence. The catalogue raisonne of the Birds of West Cheshire, Denbighshire, and 

 Flintshire, by Dr. W. Henry Dobie, is a most carefully compiled list of records, in which 

 is summarized the existing information, with full reference to the authority in each case, as 

 to the actual occurrence of each bird found in the district. It also includes many tacts 

 bearing upon the comparative rarity and distribution of the species. It is remarkable, as 

 Dr. Dobie says, considering the great variety of the land surface of the district, that 

 the number of species recorded should not be larger. 



Brockholes' list of ,; Birds observed in Wirral," which was published by the same 

 Society in 1874, mentioned 163 good species. The present list includes some 60 more, 

 giving a total of 223 species. Making every allowance for doubtful records, the inclusion 

 or omission of which is always a matter of opinion, this is considerably below the average 

 of the adjoining counties, Lancashire and Derbyshire. But the publication of this list 

 cannot fail to result in the accession of much scattered information, and more careful 

 observation in the future. With this in view we may mention that West Cheshire is 

 defined, for the purposes of the Society, to be so much of the county as lies west of a line 

 drawn south from Warrington. The list is accompanied by a map of the district, showing 

 most of the places referred to, and the species of which specimens are to be found in the 



