REPORTS OF SOCIETIES. 



345 



^^port^ ox ^QcMxtn. 



High Wycomhe Natural History Society. 

 The third evening meeting of this society- 

 was held on Friday, Feb. 9th, at the house 

 of the President, the Rev. T. H. Browne, 

 F. G. S. As usual the members partook of 

 tea at six o'clock, and then proceeded to 

 view the objects laid out for them. Most 

 of these had been lent by the President 

 from his magnificent collection ; among 

 them were some very fine fossils from the 

 Greensand and Tertiary formations, con- 

 sisting of nautili, ammonites, fishes, sponges, 

 &c., with elephant bones and teeth , a col- 

 lection of British beetles, and British bees 

 with their allies ; and a large number of 

 microscopical objects. The following 

 stuffed birds were exhibited : — Spotted 

 Crake, Crex porzana, that had killed itself 

 by flying against the telegraph wires in the 

 neighbourhood ; Lapwing, Vanella crista- 

 tus, shot on Amersham Hill ; Teal, Anas 

 crecca, shot at Penn ; Stormy Petrel,' 

 Thalassidroma procellaria, and Spotted 

 Woodpecker, Picus major. The Crake is 

 in the possession of A. Lucas, Esq., and 

 was lent to F. Wheeler, Esq., for the 

 evening ; the Petrel and Woodpecker were 

 exhibited by Dr. Bowstead, who also 

 brought a specimen of the caterpillar of 

 the New Zealand Swift, He2nahcs virescens, 

 remarkable for the curious fungoid growth 

 upon it, giving it the appearance of having 

 a very long tail. Miss Chandler sent the 

 local species of Labiatce and Primulacece, 

 which were much admired. W. R. Tate, 

 Esq., of London, had promised to come and 

 read a paper on British Keptiles, and the 

 members were greatly disappointed to find 

 that he was not present, the secretary 

 having only that morning received a letter 

 from him apologising for his inabilty to 

 attend, but promising to do so at a future 

 meeting. As it was too late to ask any 

 other gentleman to prepare a paper, the 

 Secretary had put together a few notes that 

 he had by him on the Reasoning Faculties 



of Animals, and the P-resident now called 

 upon him to read these. The question, 

 which evidently was not a new one to the 

 majority of the members present, was after- 

 wards warmly discussed, and the balance of 

 opinion was decidedly on the affirmative 

 side. The microscope occupied the atten- 

 tion of the members for the rest of the 

 evening, and a vote of thanks having been 

 accorded to the President and the -writer 

 of the paper, the meeting broke up. It 

 may be said to have been the most success- 

 ful meeting the society has had. 



Todmorden Botanical Society. — Meeting , 

 Monday, Feb. 19., the president in the 

 chair. — This, the first of the intermediate 

 series, was well attended, and was inaugu- 

 rated by an address from the president. 

 All the society's officers mustered on the 

 occasion, with the exception of Mr. Pat- 

 man, the annalist, who was prevented 

 attending by an unfortunate, but happily 

 not serious accident on the railway. After 

 the drawing up of certain necessary rules, 

 the president proceeded to address the 

 meeting. The address may be summarised 

 as follows : Men of science, technically 

 so called, were men who, above all others^ 

 sought to arrive at truth ; sought to come 

 to an exact knowledge of the things around 

 them. With that object their society had 

 been formed, with that object the present 

 meeting was held. It was not through any 

 stirrings of ambition, or any motives of 

 personal aggrandisement on the part of 

 members that the present series of meetings 

 had been instituted. It was sought, only 

 to give fuller opportunity and facility for 

 the interchange of ideas and observations, 

 among the members, on botanical, horti- 

 cultural, and cognate subjects. He had 

 confidant hopes that this interchange 

 would always be made in the spirit of 

 courtesy. He thought it the duty of every 

 member of a society to try and contribute 

 his quota of knowledge or observation for 

 the general benefit of the society with 

 which he was connected. ]\lr. Abraham 

 Stansfield, jun., on being called upon to 



