Reports of Societies. 



31 



found at Goole among dyewoods imported from San Domingo, W. I. 

 A discussion ensued respecting tarantulas and bird-eating spiders. 



392nd Meeting, Aug. 10th, the president in the chair. — The principal 

 object of interest was a full-grown living larva of Attacus atlas, belonging 

 to Mr. H. Marsh, which had been reared by Mr. W. H. Taylor. It was 

 hatched on the 22nd August, and spun up Aug. 17th. Mr. Washington 

 Teasdale, F.R.M.S., showed a type slide of 60 species of foraminifera 

 mounted by Mr. J. D. Siddall of Chester ; Mr. W. L. Teasdale, various 

 slides of lepidopterous scales ; Mr. W. B . Turner, foraminifera from Lough 

 Foyle and County Down, and slides of mosses. 



393rd Meeting, Aug. 17th.— The president, Mr. B. Holgate, F.G.S., 

 who was in the chair, exhibited for the Rev. R. ColUns a stuffed specimen 

 of the smallest known deer {Moschus Meminna) from Ceylon ; he also 

 mentioned some curious facts with respect to the elephant in Ceylon, on 

 Mr. Collins' authority, whereby there appeared to be a correlation 

 between the height of the animal and the number of its toes. A young 

 Kandyan chief named Dunnwille informed Mr. Collins that there are in 

 the same herd various sizes of elephants, and that, when young, the 

 number of their toes is an indication of the height which they will attain 

 at maturity. The largest have 18, the smallest 16, while medium-sized 

 elephants have 17. Mr. H. Marsh exhibited living larvae of Orgyia pudi- 

 hinda from Windermere Lake side. Mr. H. Pollard brought a fine 

 specimen of the pearl mussel ( Unio margeritiferus) from the river Esk, at 

 Whitby, where they are common in the shallow parts ; Mr. Jas. Abbott, 

 showed Polypogon monspeliensis, which he had found on rubbish-heaps 

 near Leeds ; Mr. W. Denison Roebuck specimens of Bombus lucorum, 

 which had been found dead under lime-blossom at Monkstown, Dublin 

 County, under precisely parallel circumstances with those recorded in the 

 Naturalist for 1877, vol. iii., p. 40, by Mr. Yarley, near Huddersfield. 



OvENDEN Naturalists' Society. — Monthly meeting, 31st July, Mr. J. 

 Spencer in the chair. — The following botanical specimens were exhibited : 

 Geranium pratense, Linaria Cymbalaria Pyrola minor , Sanguisorba offici- 

 nalis, Chelido7iium majus, Circoea lutetiana, Empetrum nigrum, Andromeda 

 polifolia, Drosera rotundifolia, and others more common ; also the 

 following ferns, &c. : — Foly podium Phegopteris and Dryopteris, Scolopen- 

 drium vidgare, Lastrea cristata, L. Oreopteris, Hookeria lucens, &c. — 

 J. Ogden, Sec. 



Yorkshire Naturalists' Union. — The fifth meeting for 1880 was 

 on the Bank Holiday Monday, August 2nd, at Marsden. Two main 

 parties were formed. One, led by Mr. C. P. Hobkirk, F.L.S., and Mr. 

 John Hirst, F.R.M.S., of Dobcross, started from Greenfield, over the 

 moors, past Bill's o' Jack's, Diggle, Saddleworth, and Standedge by Red- 

 brook reservoir, Mr. Hirst giving very good descriptions of the physical 

 geology of the country traversed. The other party was led by the other 

 local secretary, Mr. S. L. Mosley, from Lockwood, over Crosland Moor, 



