Reports of Societies. 



31 



on the Yorkshire side we have to traverse mile after mile of wild heather- 

 clad moorlands of millstone grit, and only come across coal strata at 

 Halifax — a distance of ten miles from the apex of the ridge. 



Yorkshire Naturalists' Union. — The tifth meeting for 1879 was 

 held at Doncaster on Bank Holiday, August 4th, and was very 

 largely attended. The district proved extensively rich and full 

 of interest, and the operations of the day yielded good results to 

 all the Sections. The entomologists spent their day in the rich hunting 

 grounds of Edlington Wood and Loversall Quarry, while several of 

 the botanists explored Potteric Carr, Sandal Beat, and the sur- 

 rounding country. At the general meeting, which was held at the 

 Reindeer Hotel, Doncaster, the chair was occupied by the president, Mr. 

 H. Clifton Sorby, LL.D., F.R.S., &c., of Sheffield. A vote of thanks was 

 passed to the new subscribers, namely, Messrs. Jno. Marshall of Sowerby 

 Bridge, John Potts and John Hawley of Doncaster, and the Rev. H. 

 Thomas of Warmsworth. A similar vote was warmly accorded to the 

 local secretary, Mr. Thomas Birks, jun., of Goole, for very efficient 

 arrangements. The Sectional Reports were then given as follows : — Mr» 

 W. E. Clarke, of Leeds, secretary to the Vertebrate Section, reported : 

 The localities visited by the members of this Section were Sandal Beat, 

 Cantley, Black and Potteric Cars, Conisbro', Edlington Woods, Darfield, 

 Ickleton, Brodsworth, Marthwick, and Melton-on-the-hill. The animals 

 observed were the mole, squirrel, fox, shrew, and common bat. The 

 birds were numerous, 48 species being reported, representing 38 residents 

 and 10 migrants. The principal species in these divisions were among 

 the residents — the sparrow-hawk, kestrel, jay, green woodpecker and 

 young, hawfinch and young, goldfinch, bullfinch, and great bunting ; 

 among the migrants, the whinchat, willow wren, whitethroat and young, 

 spotted flycatcher, yellow wagtail, martin, sand martin, swallow, and 

 swift — the most noteworthy species being the hawfinch and young, and 

 the goldfinch, both observed by Mr. Wm. Talbot during a long walk from 

 Wakefield. The president of the Section (Mr. Thos. Lister) made some 

 remarks on the abundance of certain species of the warblers this season, 

 notably the chifi'-chafi'. — Mr. Joseph Wilcock, of Wakefield, reported 

 on behalf of the Conchological Section. — Mr. S. D. Bairstow, of Hud- 

 dersfield, secretary of the Entomological Section, reported as follows : — ■ 

 The Section had had one of its most successful days in connection with the 

 Union. Messrs. W. Prest, G. T. Porritt, and Hinds had come across a 

 colony of the very local Scoparia basistrigalis, and had taken it in 

 abundance in an area of perhaps a hundred square yards in Edlington 

 wood. A dozen or more were repeatedly found on the trunk of a single 

 large tree. They had also found fine larvae of Notodonta chaonia 

 crawling up the oaks on the same ground. Other good species, taken 

 either as larvae or imagos by various members of the section, included — 

 Thecla W-album, Ennomos f uscantaria, Phorodesma bajularia, Timandra 



