14 



The Naturalist. 



Stott showed a collection of fossils, including ammonites, goniatites, and 

 corals ; !Mr. H. Davis, weapons of primitive man, flint arrow heads, &c. ; 

 and ]\Ir. G. Clayton, "several interesting objects with the microscope. — 

 W. H. Stott. 



Lajstcashtre a^td Cheshire Entomological Society. — Meeting 

 June 30th, the president, IMr. S. J. Capper, in the chair. — A paper was 

 read, contributed by Mr. F. Buchanan White, M.D., F.L.S., on "The 

 Mountain Lepidoptera Britain." Groups such as these, specifically or 

 generically identical over a whole zone, and restricted to an altitude and 

 temperature which renders them peculiarly isolated, prove one of the 

 principal difficulties in the acceptance of the theory of evolution, and this 

 paper was specially directed to explain the present distribution of these 

 species, their probable birthplace, and the route by which they arrived at 

 their present habitats. Dr. White assumes on geological evidence that 

 on the close of the last glacial epoch the bed of the German Ocean was 

 elevated so as to form a land connection between England and the 

 Continent sufficient for the immigration of such species from Central 

 Europe, and that as the temperature became warmer, these forms were 

 forced up isolated mountain ranges, partly in obedience to the require- 

 ments of their physical structure, and partly as a result of the greater 

 competition for existence at lower altitudes. The usual conversazione 

 terminated the meeting. 



The Leeds Naturalists' Club axd SciENrmc Association. — 339th 

 meeting, June 24th, Mr. C. H. Bothamley, vice-president, in the chair. — 

 Mr. Emsley showed fresh-water algse of various species, and a hemip- 

 terous insect ; and Mr. W. H. Kjrtlan, cuticles of Araxicaria imbricaia, 

 aloe, leek. Iris gennanica, Sempervivum tedorum, Yucca glariosa, Equi- 

 setumfluviat'de, Hex aquifolium, Or assula punctata, epiderm of Viburnum 

 Lantaria, and leaf of Rosmarina officinalis and UHica urens. 



340th Meeting, July 1st, INIr. Edwd. Atkinson, F.L.S., president, in 

 the chair. — ]Mr. John W. Taylor exhibited Pupa ringens from Cay ton 

 Bay, near Scarborough, Zonites excavatus from Bramley Fall Wood, 

 Leeds, Helix arhustorum from Castleford, CocMicopa tridens vars. crystal- 

 Una and Nouletiana from Ilkley. It was pointed out that the last-named 

 variety is really the prevalent British form of that species, the type being 

 comparatively rare. Mr. Charles Waterfall showed Rosa pirnpiiiellifolia 

 from shores of Esthwaite Lake, and Thalictrum majus and T. Kochii from 

 shores of Windermere Lake ; IMr. H. Marsh, Chelonia villica from Hamp- 

 shire, Euplexia lucipara, Hepialus hectus, Coremia femigata, lodis 

 lactearia, &c., from Adel ; Mr. James Abbot, a slide of algse (desmids, 

 &c.,) from a prolific pond at Bramhope ; Mr. W. Barwell Turner, F.C.S., 

 slides of marine annelids ; pupae of Ephemera vulgata ; fructification of 

 CJiara ; Viva crispa ; and parasitic fresh-water algse on moss and Myrio- 

 phyllum. 



