Repokts of Societies. 



125 



and a good number of drawings were shown, those of Mr. W. Barwell 

 Turner's being remarkably well executed. Mr. C. H. Bothamley showed 

 a calorimeter, and a mass of agglomerate from a blast furnace. 



321sT Meeting, Feb. 11th, Mr. B. Saynor in the chair.— Mr. W. 

 Barwell Turner read a short paper upon the researches of Pasteur, 

 which gave rise to an interesting discussion. Large numbers of insects 

 were shown by Messrs. Tyer, Grassham, Roebuck, and Smethurst, 

 and of microscopical specimens by Messrs. Edwards, Saynor, Emsley, 

 and Turner. An extract from a letter from Mr. Robert Lee, of Thirsk, 

 was read, announcing the capture of a fine Sclavonian grebe, which was 

 shot on the river Swale at the end of January ; and also that a very fine 

 adult male golden-eye duck was shot on the 3rd February, being rare in 

 the Thirsk district. — Wm. Denison Roebuck. 



Selby Naturalists' Society. — Annual meeting Feb. 1st, the president 

 in the chair. In the report read by the secretary it was stated that the 

 number of members had been increased from 48 to 67. The excursions 

 during the year were — on May 26th, with the Goole Scientific Society to 

 Roche Abbey : on June 26th, to Byram Park ; on August 7th, to 

 Riccall Common ; on August 21 to Escrick Park ; and on Sept. 11th, to 

 Osgodby Woods. At a council meeting held on April 18th, it was 

 suggested by Dr. Parsons that recorders should be appointed to note the 

 fauna and flora of the district. This suggestion was acted upon, and has 

 borne good results. The financial position of the society is satisfactory. 

 Mr. J. T. Atkinson, F.G.S., was elected president, and Mr. Wm. Chees- 

 man secretary. — On Wednesday, Feb. 5th, Mr. Henry Crowther, of the 

 Leeds Museum, delivered a lecture on "The Invertebrate Animals." 

 After first noticing their position in the animal kingdom, — the broad, 

 easily discernable distinctions that separate dead and living matter, 

 animal and plant life, and vertebrate and invertebrate animals, — the 

 lecturer proceeded to describe typical examples from the different classes, 

 orders, &c., which together constitute the great division under consider- 

 ation : these (which were illustrated both by diagrams and specimens) 

 were treated in their scientific order, the better studied forms being 

 dwelt upon at greater length. In the short time at the disposal of the 

 lecturer upon a subject of such magnitude, a pleasant and entertaining 

 sketch was evolved in the description of forms of animal life, from the 

 simple Gregarina, a parasitical protoplasmic particle common in the 

 intestine' of the cockroach, &c., to the cuttlefishes of our seas. Of all the 

 incidents detailed, those which showed the development of protoplasm, 

 and its adaptability to the varied wants of many of the lowly forms of 

 animal life, and the marvellous evolution of free swimming jelly-fishes, 

 from gonophores or generative buds in zoophites were most striking and 

 interesting. — W. N. Cheesman, Hon. Sec. 



York and District Field Naturalists' Society. — Monthly meeting, 

 Mr. J. Harrison in the chair. — The chairman exhibited a magnificent 



