16 



The Naturalist. 



a poor compliment. Mr. Emmet's amendment was, however, lost, several 

 members not voting ; and the original motion that the address as drafted 

 be endorsed, was put to the meeting and carried. The time left for 

 making sectional reports was now limited, and such as were presented 

 were very brief. The weather had alike prevented attendance and 

 hindered investigation. No Geological Report was made, and, beyond 

 viewing the upper limestone and Plumpton grit in juxtaposition at St. 

 Helen's quarry, little had been seen. The Entomological tale was soon 

 told: a few ''blues" (Polyommatus alexis) and a five-spot burnet 

 (Z. Lonicerse), none the better for their bath, seen at rest upon grass 

 culms, and a few common Geometrse disturbed from the bushes, made 

 a miserable total that afforded no index of the insect productions of the 

 district. Neither the president nor secretary of the Conchological 

 Section was present, but Succinea putris, Pisidium cinereum, Planorbis 

 spirorbis, and Clausiha rugosa were reported, amongst others, as having 

 been gathered. For the Botanical Section Dr. Lees observed that only a 

 portion of the route it had been planned to travel had been actually 

 traversed. Amongst plants (not localised in the circular) at present 

 blooming in the district may be mentioned Hyoscyamus niger (CoUing- 

 ham), Orobanche minor (Collingham bank), Scirpus multicaulis (White 

 Carr wood), Glyceria plicata (bog below Etchell Crags), Verbena offici- 

 nalis (Wetherby), Rhamnus Frangula (Moss Carrs and Wharton Spring 

 wood), and Epichloe typhina (Aketon Bog) — the last a well-named 

 microscopic fungus infesting grass sheaths, and mimicking on a small 

 scale the reedmace of our ponds. Mr. Slater reported having seen several 

 rare mosses ; the localities of all, however, have already appeared in the 

 Naturalist. Amongst the liverworts, Scapania nemorosa and Junger- 

 mannia affinis, Wilson ( turbinata E-addi), had been gathered in Jackson's 

 quarry, Deighton. Of algse, Yolvox globator, Chroolepus aureum, 

 Nostoc commune, and Lemania fluviatilis were the chief species observed. 

 Altogether, unpropitious as the elements proved, 362 species of plants 

 were registered : 280 phanerogams and vasculares, 56 mosses, 8 hepaticai, 

 8 lichens, 4 fungi, and 6 algse. For Vertebrate Zoology Mr. Clarke 

 reported that not alone from the conformation of the district, but also 

 from certain information received, he felt considerable doubt respecting 

 the " category of citizenship " — native or alien — in which to class the 

 badger killed under a tree at Bramham in 1880. It appears that a pair 

 were imported into the district, not long ago, from Wentworth ; of these 

 the female was killed, and the male escaped into the woods. The weight 

 of this was known, and it was a male of not incompatible bulk which was 

 some time later shot by Mr. Fox's head keeper, in a situation most 

 unlikely for a wild badger to take shelter in. A nest of the sedge 

 warbler (with eggs) was observed by Bardsey pool. This concluded the 

 meeting. At the Marsden gathering on August 2nd, the form (whether 

 engrossed on vellum or otherwise) the Darwinian memorial shall take, ; 

 will come up for decision. ' 



