Reports op Societies. 



31 



— having spent a day in one of the 

 most beautiful dales in the West 

 Riding. 



TODMORDEN BOTANICAL SOCIETY. 



— The monthly meeting of the 

 above Society was held on Monday 

 evening, August 2nd, at the White 

 Hart Hotel, the President, Mr. 

 Stansfield, in the chair. The 

 Assistant-Secretary laid before the 

 meeting a prospectus of a new 

 publication entitled the "Yorkshire 

 Naturalist and Journal of the West 

 Riding Consolidated Naturalists' 

 Society," and the Secretary was 

 requested to order it for the Society. 

 Mr. Green again favoured the 

 Society with the plant he brought 

 to the last meeting, respecting 

 which there had been some doubts. 

 The President said the Linnsean 

 genus Cactus, to which the plant 

 belonged, consisted of several hun- 

 dreds of species ; De CandoUe and 

 others had broken it up into five 

 genera, viz. : — Opimtia, Echino- 

 cactus, Mammillaria, Cereus, and 

 Epiphyllvm. The one on the table 

 belonged to the genus Opuntia. 

 The plants of this genus furnished 

 food for the cochineal insect which 

 yielded the cochineal of commerce ; 

 the fruit was also eaten under the 

 name of Indian fig. He pointed 

 out the characteristics of the other 

 genera, the general structure of the 

 plants, and the analogy of the 

 order, which he said was near 

 the CfrossulariacecB, or gooseberry 

 tribe. He thought the plant on 

 the table was the Opuntia Tuna of 

 De CandoUe (Cactus Tuna of Lin- 

 naeus), but from the small portion 

 exhibited he could not be certain. 

 Mr. Law showed a collection of fossil 



bones from Derbyshire, which were 

 very interesting, and appeared to 

 be in every way analogous to the 

 osseous deposits of caverns in 

 various parts of England. 



West RiDiisro Consolidated 

 Naturalists' Society's Meeting 

 AKD Ramble at Knottingley. — 

 The fifth ramble and general 

 meeting of the season in connection 

 with the West Riding Consolidated 

 Naturalists' Society, took place on 

 Saturday, Aug. 7th. The country in- 

 vestigated during the day comprised 

 the neighbourhood of Pontefract, 

 Askern, Campsall, Smeaton, Smea- 

 ton Craggs, Wentbridge, Darrington, 

 Norton, Womersley, and Knotting- 

 ley. The early part of the day 

 proved favoiu-able, but from about 

 one o'clock to five a heavy and 

 continuous thunderstorm swept 

 over the district, the rain for hours 

 pouring down almost incessantly. 

 A break in the storm, from four to 

 seven o'clock, allowed the members, 

 who had arrived at Knottingley 

 during the afternoon, the opportu- 

 nity of rambling over the more 

 immediate neighbourhood and 

 making such local collections as 

 time permitted. The meeting was 

 held in a large room adjoining the 

 Swan Inn, which had been prepared 

 for the occasion. The collections 

 of the day having been arranged 

 on the table, the president (J. 

 Wainwright, F.L.S., of Wake- 

 field), took the chair, and G. T. 

 Porritt, F.L.S., of Huddersfield, 

 the vice-president, the vice-chair. 

 The following Societies were 

 represented : — Huddersfield, Heck- 

 mondwike, Ovenden, Wakefield, 



