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The Naturalist. 



nifolium from Styal, and Zygodon conoideus from Barmouth. Mr. Cash 

 gave a brief account of a recent visit along with Captain Cunliffe 

 to the valley af the Wharfe, and described the finding of such rare 

 mosses as Encalypta streptocarpa in fruit ! and Orthodontium gracile and 

 Tetraphis pellucida in the same interesting condition ; specimens of the 

 latter species he kindly distributed. The rest of the evening was spent 

 in examining a fine collection of European mosses, which had been 

 presented to the Manchester Free Reference Library by the executors of 

 the late John Windsor. The collection had been made by the late Prof. 

 Schimper, and was in excellent condition, the specimens being very 

 ample, and a large number of them rare as British species : fruiting 

 specimens of Lescuroea striata, Mnium spinosum, M. stellare, Mypnum 

 Halleri, and others equally represented. The members were much 

 pleased with the examination, and expressed their gratitude towards the 

 donors for their generous gift to the town. — T. Bogers, Hon. Sec. 



Wakefield Naturalists' and Philosophical Society. — Meeting 

 June 1st, Dr. Crowther, v. p. occupied the chair, and exhibited two living 

 species of German and Italian snakes of the genus Lepidonotus, in allusion 

 to which he made some remarks upon the habitat, life, and method of 

 locomotion common to each species. Mr. Thomas Mason showed the 

 whipcord snake from Java, and the spotted snake from India, both in 

 spirits.— E. B. W. 



Yorkshire Naturalists' Union. — Hornsea, Whit-Monday, 6th June. 

 — Favoured with a bright sun and an unclouded sky, the members of the 

 Union had a very pleasant day. The collections obtained were valuable 

 and numerous. Due attention was paid to the natural beauties of the 

 neighbourhood, and the various objects of interest with which it abounds, 

 these including the broad band of loose, heavy, sloping sands, stretching 

 beneath a line of clayey clifis upon which the sea is making rapid and 

 serious inroads ; the ancient church, built upon a vaulted crypt, used, it 

 is said, at one time, as a receptacle for smuggled goods, and containing 

 an alabaster tomb of 1430 of A.nthony St. Quintin ; and the hollow lands 

 known as "The Carrs " — once a region of bog and water, covering the 

 remains of an ancient forest. Amongst other spots around which the 

 naturalists lingered was Hornsea Mere, with its reeds, shallows, and wild 

 fowl — its wooded islands, and, at one end, its belt of thickly growing 

 trees, forming an agreeable shade from th^ almost tropical heat of the 

 sun. Permission to visit the Mere estate had been obtained from Mr. 

 Constable. The Mere, it may be mentioned, is of special interest to 

 ornithologists, and has produced some of the rarest Yorkshire specimens. 

 Several rare species of beetles have also been found. As yet the district 

 around Hornsea has been but little explored by conchologists, but there 

 is little doubt that careful research would considerably extend the list of 

 species. Pisidium roseum has been taken in the Mere, and much variety 

 of form exists in the Anodons from the same place. It was four o'clock 



