96 



The Natue-alist. 



egg of the sooty tern {Sterna fuliginosa), from Pewaukee, Woukesha 

 county, Wisconsin, U.S. 



409th Meeting, Dec. 7th, the president in the chair. — The eleventh 

 annual report and balance-sheet were read. They showed the state of 

 affairs to he satisfactory. The membership had increased from 157 to 

 161 during the year. The rejDorts having been adopted, the scrutineers 

 reported that the balloting for the new council had resulted in the 

 election of the following :— Mr. W. Barwell Turner, F.C.S., F.R.M.S., 

 president; Messrs. W. E. Clarke, M.B.O.U., H. Lupton, M.E.S., 

 Washington Teasdale, F.R.M.S., and Edward Thompson, as vice- 

 presidents ; IMr. W. Denison Roebuck as treasurer, Mr. Walter Raine as 

 librarian : Mr. H. Pollard as secretary, &c. ; Messrs. B. Holgate, F.G.S., 

 and Edwd. Atkinson, F.L.S. , are also vice-presidents in virtue of being 

 the two last presidents. The president then delivered his valedictory 

 address, after which he was thanked for his services during the year. A 

 vote of thanks to Mr. Roebuck on the occasion of his retirement from a 

 nine years' tenure of the secretaryship, was also passed. — W. D. P. 



OvEisDEJ?" I^ATURALiSTs' SodETY. — Annual meeting, November 27th. — 

 The following mosses were exhibited by Mr. Spencer, having been 

 collected in the district during the last two months, and chiefly during 

 two rambles — one in Ogden Clough, and the other in Luddenden Dale : — ■ 

 Eypnum elegans (? Borrerianum), H. Jiliciniim, H. pahostre, H. rivnlare, 

 jF7. p^(i?nosw?7i, Bryum pseudo-triquetnim, B. argenteum, Mnium cusin- 

 datum, Bartramia pomiformis, Webera nutans, W. albicans, Gymnostomnm 

 rupestre, Plagiotheciurn denticulatum, Dicranella squarrosa^ D. crispa, 

 D. heteromaUa, and Racomitrium acicidare — nearly all of which have been 

 taken in fruit. Mr. Spencer also showed two fossil ferns new to science, 

 obtained from one of the coal balls of the Halifax coal measures. They 

 are both .well defined species. Mr. T. Hirst exhibited the following 

 birds : — a pair of merlins, a great shrike, and a pair of jays ; also a 

 leopard which, when killed, measured 5ft. Sin. in length, and 2ft. 6in. 

 in height. The officers for the ensuing year were elected ; Mr. Spencer 

 was appointed president, and Mr. Joseph Ogden secretary. 



Wakefield Field JSTatuPvAlists' Society. — Monthly meeting, Dec. 1st, 

 the president (Mr. J. Wainwright, F.L.S.) in the chair. Mr. Marson 

 reported that the short-eared owl had been taken at Stanley, on 'Nov. 5th ; 

 the little grebe {Podiceps minor) at Normanton Common, Nov. 18th ; 

 and the great spotted woodpecker (Picus Major) on the 22nd inst. Mr. 

 Wrigglesworth showed a number of coleoptera from Denby Dale, some 

 fossil teeth from the London clay, and some shells from the lias limestone. 

 On the motion of Mr. Wrigglesworth, seconded by Mr. Pichardson, it 

 was resolved that the society should be called the Wakefield Naturalists' 

 and Philosox:)hical Society. The president read the first of a series of 

 papers, on the "Peculiarities of Plant Life," his remarks being chiefly 

 confined to the motion of plants. 



