REPORTS OF SOCIETIES. 67 



Orchis maculata, var. alba, Potentilla 

 fruticosa, Equisetum variegatum, Lastrcea 

 al'pina, a Viola — probably new to Britain 

 — &c. &c. Mr. Patman gave a sbort 

 account of the Cliviger excursions on 

 Saturday last, wben one of the party 

 had the good fortune to meet with a mag- 

 nificent plant of the very rare and curious 

 Athyrium filix-foemiim YdiX. stipatuin ; and 

 which, so far as we can ascertain, has only 

 been collected once previously, and that 

 near DolgeUy, North Wales. The variety 

 of Lady Fern under consideration, though 

 wanting in the charming gracefulness of 

 some of the more lax and slender forms, is 

 yet full of interest in other respects ; it 

 seems, in fact, as if to compensate for 

 somewhat abbreviated stature, Dame 

 Nature had succeeded in the endeavour to 

 condense and concentrate the material at 

 her disposal to the thickness and density 

 of several fronds, but maintaining the 

 while all the symmetry and proportion of 

 outline for which she is so pre-eminently 

 remarkable. Another very curious Athy- 

 rium was collected on the same excursion. 

 In this plant the points of all the pinnae, 

 as well as most of the pinnules, were 

 curiously contracted and incised ; the 

 extreme apex of all the fronds, too, was 

 similarly affected, giving the plant a pecu- 

 liarly fringed and altogether singular ap- 

 pearance, quite unlike anything we had 

 previously seen. Should this form prove 

 permanent it will add another to the very 

 many beautiful varieties of Lady Fern 

 which have been collected in this neigh- 

 bourhood. "We must not omit to notice a 

 frond of another Lady Fern brought to the 

 meeting, and collected within the last few 

 days, near Bolton Woods, by T. Staley, 

 Esq., of Rochdale. This variety gives 

 every promise of being quite identical with 

 the charming Athyrium known as Vet- 

 nonic&y only one plant of which has been 

 recorded as found growing wild. We con- 

 gratulate Mr. S., as well on his good 

 fortune as his perseverance. Apropos of 

 the excursionists it may be stated that two 



of the society's members (Mr.A.Stansfield, 

 jun., and Mr. J. Horsfall, of Rochdale) 

 have had a tour of several weeks' duration 

 in the Scottish Highlands. The former has 

 not yet returned. Several most interest- 

 ing letters have been received, but there 

 was no time to read them to the meeting. 

 They have forwarded a goodly number of 

 the more rare Scottish plants. An account 

 of the journey may form a subject of a 

 paper at some subsequent meeting. The 

 excursion to Bolton Woods will take place 

 on Saturday, September the 1st, and not 

 on the 28th of August as notified on the 

 cards. 



( Communicated.) 



Norwich Naturalists' Society. — Reports 

 of Meetings. At a meeting held on June 

 4th, 1866. Mr. J. Perry in the chair. Mr. T. 

 E. Gunn, exhibited a female example of 

 the Golden Oriole, Oriolus galhula, killed 

 on the 28th of April last, at Chediston, 

 near Halesworth, in Suffolk. Also, speci- 

 mens of the Smooth-tailed Stickleback, 

 Gasterosteus leinrus, which he obtained by 

 disection from the throat and stomach of 

 the Spoonbill captured on the 2nd of May 

 last, on Breydon Water, Great Yarmouth, 

 See Zoologist, for May 1866, page 264. He 

 also read a communication from Dr. J. E. 

 Gray of the British Museum, relative to 

 this species of Stickleback in which it 

 appears he considers it only one of the 

 many varieties of the common Three- 

 Spined. Mr. J. J. Rice exhibited a case 

 of minute Coleoptera. Mr. Gunn exhi- 

 bited several specimens of the Swallow 

 tail, Fapilio machaon^ shewing very irre- 

 gular markings on the wings. 



June 18th. Mr. J. Perry in the chair. 

 Mr. T. E. Gunn, exhibited a very curious 

 specimen of an hybrid between a Bantam 

 and Baldpate Pigeon, bred in Norwich ; it is 

 supposed to be the first example recorded. 

 Boxes of fresh captured specimens of Cole- 

 optera, Lepidoptera, and Hymonoptera 

 were exhibited by Messrs, J. Perry, J. J. 

 Rice, H. Hickling and T. E, Gunn. 



