142 



The Naturalist. 



323rd Meeting, Feb. 25th. — The inaugural address wa,B delivered hy 

 the new president, Mr. Edward Atkinson, F.L.S, F.Z.S. 



324th Meeting, March 4th. — Mr. W. Barwell Turner (in the chair) 

 exhibited the skin of a long-eared bat {Plecotus auritus), and a number of 

 slides of the wings of various lepidoptera, some of them showing the 

 plumules. Mr. John Grassham brought a number of lepidoptera, 

 including Argynnis adippe, var. cleodoxa, Adel specimen of Vanessa 

 polychloros, and Leeds and Doncaster examples of Vanessa antiopa. Mr. 

 Walter Raine showed a number of birds' eggs, British and foreign, 

 especially a pair of the Australian emu, which from their large size and 

 dark green colour were very noticeable. With the microscope Mr. B. 

 Saynor showed the spermatozoa of the common frog : Mr. Washington 

 Teasdale, Schultz's artificial diatom-sHdes, also slides of cracked silica 

 film from Mr. H. J. Slack, Pres. R.M.S., also a series of line and curve 

 rulings (by himself) on glass, as dark-field test objects. Mr. Jas. Abbott 

 gave a short description of the work done at the monads by Rev. W. H. 

 Dallinger, F.R.M.S., and Mr. D.'s method of examination. 



325th Meeting, March 11th.— The chairman (Mr. B. Holgate, F.G.S., 

 v.p.,) showed a number of specimens of the sandstones found in the 

 neighbourhood of Leeds, and gave a short address on their adaptability 

 to building purposes. A discussion thereupon arose as to the causes of 

 decay of public buildings in Leeds and elsewhere, in which several 

 members joined. Insects were shown by several members, including 

 Cymatophora flavicornis, taken on the 10th March in the Meanwood 

 valley by Mr. Smethurst, who also showed a nice dark variety of 

 P. pilosaria, taken recently at Shipley. The microscopists discussed an 

 excursion they had made two days before to Roundhay Park, at which 

 many objects were collected, including stentors, diatoms, hydrse, vorti- 

 cellae, &c. Mr. F. W. Edwards showed the circulation of chylaqueous 

 fluid in the branchiae of May-fly larvae ; Mr. E. Thompson, a small 

 triplet lens for use as a diatom finder ; Mr. W. Barwell Turner exhibited 

 Spirogyra, diatoms (in the frond) and Ascoholus, all in glycerine jelly, 

 from Roundhay ; and Mr. F. Emsley Cladophora glomerata and zygnema, 

 also from Roundhay. — W. D. R. 



Manchester Cryptogamic Society. — Monthly meeting, 17th March, 

 Mr. J. Whitehead, president, in the chair. — The Rev. J. Fergusson was 

 unanimously elected an honorary member of the society. With reference 

 to the proposed collection of British mosses for the Free Reference 

 Library, the secretary, Mr. Thos. Rogers, read letters from Dr. Braith- 

 waite, Mr. A. Stansfield (Todmorden), Mr. H. Boswell (Oxford), Mr. 

 Davies (Brighton), Mr. J. Barnes (Milnthorpe), and Dr. Wesley 

 (Wetherby), offering to contribute rare species, and stated that he had 

 already received from the above-named and other gentlemen a consider- 

 able stock, but the arrangement of them would necessarily be a work of 



