REPORTS OP 



WaeE'INGton Field Naturalists' So- 

 ciety. — Thied Annual Meeting. — The 

 third annual meeting of this society was 

 held in the news-room of the Mechanics' 

 Institution on Wednesday evening last, 

 under the presidency of T. G. Rylands, 

 Esq., F.L.S., &c. The objects exhibited 

 consisted of ferns, — chiefly British — sup- 

 plied by Mr. Green, gardener to Colonel 

 Wilson Patten, M. P. ; dried plants from 

 the society's herbarium, and the more in- 

 teresting ones found in flower at the present 

 season ; a collection of wood-boring insects, 

 and several cases of birds 's eggs, kindly 

 lent, the former by Mr. Noah Greening, 

 and the latter by Mr. E. Milner. Amongst 

 the most attractive objects was an aquarium 

 containing fishes and aquatic insects ; one 

 of these was the water spider, with its 

 curious nest, which has lately been added 

 to the list of curiosities found in the neigh- 

 bourhood by Mr. Peers, the society's hono- 

 rary secretary. A collection of fresh water 

 shells was also presented by Mr. Peers. 

 Microscopes, showing numerous objects, 

 attracted considerable attention ; they were 

 lent by Mr. Beck, Mr, Eedmayne, Mr. 

 Hepworth, and Mr. Cash. After some time 

 had been spent in examining the varied 

 and beautiful objects exhibited on every 

 hand, ,the proceedings of the meeting 

 commenced. After a short address by 

 the President, the secretarj^, Mr. Peers, 

 read the report, which, after noticing 

 the number of meetings held during the 

 past year, said there had been no falling 

 off in the number of members, the blanks 

 left by death or removal having been filled 

 by new ones. There were forty now on the 

 list, besides five honorary members, against 

 a total of thirty-five in last report. He 

 read a paper, the object of which was to 

 invite members and friends of the society 

 to join in the compilation of a list of 

 natural objects of the Warrington district, 

 and pointed out how such a work would 

 tend to the extension and better prosecu- 



SOCIETIES. 37 



tion of the study of natural history in 

 Warrington. Mr, Paterson read an exceed- 

 ingly interesting paper on the geology of 

 the district. A paper on the Desmidiacese, 

 with special reference to local species, and 

 illustrated by figures, was next read by Mr. 

 Cash. 



High Wycombe Natueal Histoet 

 Society.— The members met on Saturday 

 afternoon April 26, for their first field day. 

 It was arranged that they should go over 

 Keep Hill and Dane Garden Wood so as to 

 gain some idea of the natural productions 

 of these places. Mr. Thurlow had brought 

 to show them two young specimens of the 

 trout that had not long been hatched. As 

 these little creatures are at first "too feeble 

 to employ the mouth in obtaining subsist- 

 ence, they bear a portion of the egg still 

 adhering to the abdomen like a transparent 

 amber-coloured sac, flecked with tiny blood 

 vessels," this is gradually absorbed as the 

 fish becomes able, to provide for itself. The 

 pulsations of the heart could be seen 

 through this sac, with the naked eye, A 

 short time was spent in picking up some ot 

 the fossils that lay scattered about the floor 

 of a quarry, and in listening to explana- 

 tions by the President on the formation of 

 chalk and flints ; after which the m.embers 

 started across the hill. Fortunately the 

 day was very fine, but scarcely warm enough 

 for many kinds of insects, especially as it 

 was late in the afternoon, but several were 

 to-and,—Cic'indela campestris, Timcircha 

 loevigata, T. coriaria : one or two female 

 specimens of the Mcloe majalis, were also 

 seen just about to deposit their eggs. The 

 larva of Bomhyx Quercus M^as taken ofi" the 

 hawthorn, and an empty cocoon of the 

 same from underneath a projecting tuft of 

 grass. Vast numbers of the Tineina were 

 flying about, and a few of the Theda ruhi 

 and Thanaos Tagcs. Among the birds 

 some beautiful specimens of the Stonechat 

 Sylvia ruhicola were noticed. The Early 

 Purple Orchis, Orchis mascula, was in 

 flower on the hill. Veronica montana, wa.? 

 found in flower by Mr, Britten, who had 



