Eeports of Societies. 



173 



Mr. W. H. Hay showed a large bird supposed to be from Norway, which 

 was considered to be an immature example of the great black-backed 

 gull ; Mr. John Grassham showed a number of lepidoptera, and gave an 

 interesting account of the introduction into Canada in 1859, and subse- 

 quent dispersal in North America, of the small garden white butterfly 

 {Pieris rapoe) ; Mr. Henry Pollard showed a number of shells collected at 

 Ardsley, also a curiously maKormed example of Helix nemoralis, which 

 appeared to have met with an accident in early youth ; Mr. Benj. Saynor 

 (microscope) section of stem of Begonia, and section of coal from Low 

 Moor Bed, Osmondthorpe pits, showing vegetable structure. He 

 described his method of grinding coal fossils by a novel process of 

 imbedding in plaster of Paris. Mr. J. S. Peat siiowed stalagmite, 

 carbonate of lime, a formation of 100 years from an old lead mine at 

 Matlock, in Derbyshire ; Mr. S. Scholefield showed mica-quartz rock 

 from New Jersey State, U.S.A. ; Mr. Washington Teasdale spoke upon 

 Lissajou's curves. 



245th Meeting, May 1st, Mr. Henry Pocklington, F.R.M.S., in the 

 chair. — -Mr. Washington Teasdale exhibited a flowering branch of almond 

 and made some general remarks on the influence of smoke on plants, and 

 climatology in its bearings on the acclimatization of plants. He also 

 exhibited a small micrometer gauge, graduated from l-8000th to l-20th 

 of an inch, which was of simple construction, based on the principle of 

 lever of contact. Mr. Grassham showed Antherma Pernyii, the oak- 

 feeding silk-moth from North China, and a series of the British sphinges. 

 Mr. Henry Pollard brought specimens of Helix nemoralis. taken near 

 Woodlesford, showing the great amount of variability occasionally found 

 in one district. Mr. W. H. Hay showed the eggs of twelve species of 

 birds, some of them rare. 



246th Meeting, May 8th, Mr. F. Greenwood, V.P., in the chair. — 

 Mr. Henry Pocklington, P.P. M.S., gave the first of two lectures on 

 " Flame," in which, after having referred to the old myths respecting 

 the origin and nature of fire, he proceeded to describe the present 

 theories of heat, combustion, and light, and illustrated his remarks by 

 various striking experiments. 



247th Meeting, May 15th, Mr. W. Nelson, V.P., in the chair.— Mr. 

 Langley Kitching exhibited a living specimen of a curious horned reptile 

 from Texas ; Mr. J. P. Murdoch the pensile nest of one of the African 

 weaver birds, and seeds of exotic plants ; Mr. Charles Smethurst showed 

 Tephrosia hiundularia, Paris quadrifolia, and Orchis mascula, from Bishop 

 Wood ; Mr. Washington Teasdale, a very convenient form of demonstra- 

 ting microscope for class use ; Mr. Wm. Denison Roebuck, living beetles 

 and larvae of Bhagium hifasciatum, from Scarcroft (see note at p. 168). 

 Mr. B. Saynor showed with the microscope . a most interesting subject, 

 the circulation in a desmid, Closterium striolatum ; Mr. James Pickles, 

 several cases of insects in splendid condition, including Dicrcmura 



