58 



The Naturalist. 



son. — Black-throated diver {Colym- 

 bus arcticus), found on the south 

 beach, Bridlington Quay, in nearly 

 full summer plumage, by G. Bayes, 

 1870. — Glaucous gull {Lmms glau- 

 cus), old bird, winter plumage, by 

 J. Watson, Dec. 21st, 1871. — Long- 

 tailed duck (Fuligula glacialis), shot 

 by S. Fox, Esq., in a pond at a 

 place called Besengby, Dec. 23rd, 

 1872. — Greenshank, shot by G. 

 Walkington, Aug. 26th, 1873.— 

 Hobby (Falco subbuteo), shot by G. 

 Banks, gamekeeper, Grindale, June 

 18th, 1874.— T. Machen. 



Birmingham Natural History 

 AND Microscopical Society. — 

 Botanical Section. — Tuesday, 

 Sept. 11th. — Mr, Bagnall exhibited 

 an abnormal flowering branch of a 

 cultivated Clematis, from Mr. A. 

 W. Wills. It consisted of a perfect 

 flower at the end of the axis, with 

 light blue sepals, and about one 

 inch lower down the peduncle was 

 a single sepal, the same colour as 

 those on the perfect flower. A 

 discussion ensued. Mr. Bagnall 

 said that he thought it was an 

 instance of arrestment of develop- 

 ment — an abortive attempt on the 

 part of nature to form another 

 flower, but owing to the absence of 

 nutrition, or some other cause, only 

 one solitary sepal was produced. 

 — Dr. Hinds agreed to that opinion. 

 Mr. Morley said he thought it was 

 a case of excessive developement, 

 that the solitary sepal did belong to 

 the flower above, but by some 

 cause or other the internode be- 



tween the sepal and the flower 

 became very much elongated, in 

 the same way as the clover some- 

 times produced two or three whorls 

 of flowers, then the peduncle 

 (rachis) elongates quite an inch 

 before it completes the inflores- 

 cence. — Mr. Bagnall then exhibited 

 the following plants for the Rev. 

 A. Bloxam, M. A. : — Bosa puheru- 

 lenta, new to Warwickshire ; also 

 Bosa arvatica and B. decipiens (rare 

 in this county), and Malva borealis, 

 from Hastings — a plant supposed 

 by Mr. Babington to have been lost 

 from this country. — From Dr. 

 Braithwaite, a number of rare 

 mosses from Scotland, Ireland, and 

 Switzerland ; and from Mr. H. Bos- 

 well, of Oxford, a number of rare 

 mosses collected recently in Ross- 

 shire. — Mr. Bagnall then exhibited 

 the following plants, collected by 

 himself : — Utricularia minor and 

 Spagnv/m awiculatum, from Sutton 

 Park — ^both new to Warwickshire ; 

 S. papillosum and S. cymbifolium 

 (in fruit) rare in that condition in 

 our county ; Bubus foliosus, from 

 Ansley coal-field, a very rare bram- 

 ble ; Bosa Beuteri, rare in the 

 Midlands ; Stachys arvensis, from 

 Hartshill, rare in Warwickshire ; 

 and other rare plants. — J. Morley, 

 Jun., Hon. Sec. of B. Section. 



Cryptogamic Society of Scot- 

 land. — First Annual Conference 

 AT Perth, 29th September to 

 1st October. — The first day was 

 devoted to excursions in the sur- 

 rounding districts for the purpose 

 of collecting specimens. One party, 

 under the leadership of Sir Thomas 

 Moncreiffe, Bart., and including 



