196 



The Naturalist. 



Marine botany produced one object only. The chairman remarked that 

 Mr. W. West, of Bradford, the secretary for cryptogamic botany, had 

 been obliged to resign his position, owing to pressure of business. — It 

 was resolved to accept his resignation, and to forward a vote of thanks to 

 him for his services. Mr. W. B. Russell, secretary of the geological 

 section, said the only strata in the neighbourhood were the glacial and 

 post-glacial. It seemed that the common boulder clay was characterised 

 by being very densely crammed with blocks of rocks. They found the 

 carboniferous limestone, the millstone grit, the permian rocks, the red 

 chalk, &c. An enormous block of chalk was seen — 21 yards long and 6ft. 

 thick — in the midst of post-glacial gravel. Amongst other things were a 

 great amount of roots of various trees and the seeds of plants. — The Rev, 

 H. H, Slater reported on the vertebrate zoology section, stating that thirty 

 birds — twenty-one resident and nine non-resident — had been noticed. 

 The list is as follows : r denoting Resident ; v Summer Visitor and 

 h breeding. — Thrush, r and b ; missel-thrush, r; robin, r ; garden -warbler, 

 V ; white-throat, v ; reed warbler, v and h, abundant ; pied wagtail, r, 

 probably in small numbers ; meadow pipit, r, in small numbers ; hedge 

 sparrow, r and b ; greenfinch, r ; chaffinch, r and b ; house sparrow, r 

 and b ; reed bunting, r and b, abundantly by Mere ; starling, r ; rook, r ; 

 carrion crow, r and b ; swallow, v ; house martin, v ; sand martin, v ; 

 skylark, r, probably in small numbers ; swift, v ; ringdove, r ; waterhen, 

 r and b ; coot, r, though to some extent migratory in autumn ; common 

 gull, r ; herring gull, r ; pochard, r and b, unusually abundant ; mallard, 

 r and 6 ; great-crested grebe, r, doubtless breeding ; miite swan, r and b. 

 In addition to this list, the heron, which was believed to breed at 

 Hornsea Mere, was conclusively proved not to do so, and it is probable 

 that it has not done so for nearly ten years. The quail has nested at 

 Ulrome near here, on the authority of Mr. Boynton ; and the shoveller, 

 which did not exhibit itself to the Union on June 6th, breeds there 

 annually in small numbers, according to Mr. Boys. Mr. W. D. Roebuck 

 stated that the conchological section had met with the best success of any 

 of the sections. Thirty species had been found, of which eleven were 

 new to the district, and one species, Planorbis lineatus, was recorded for 

 the first time in the East Riding. It was abundant at Askham Bog, near 

 York. Only five species of land shells were observed, the members of 

 the section having devoted their attention specially to the fresh-water 

 species of the INIere, which seems to be particularly rich in the rarer kinds. 

 The following is the list : — Spha3rcum corneum, S. lacustre (new), Pisidium 

 (roseum?), Anodonta oygnea, Bythinea tentaculata, do. var. decollata 

 (new), B. Leachii (new), Valvata piscinalis (new), V. cristata (new), 

 Planorbis lineatus (new to E. R.), P. nautileus (new), P. albus (new), 

 P. vortex, P. carinatus, P. complanatus, P. contortus (new), P. corneus 

 (new), Physa fontinalis, Limn«ja peregra, do. var. ovata,? L. palustris, 

 L. stagnalis (new), L. truncatula, Ancylus lacustris (new), Arion ater, 

 Limax agrestis, S. putris, Z. nitidus, H. caperata, do. var. ornata. 



B. BROWN, 



PLACE CORNKR, HUDDEB3FIELD. 



9 ''-HO 



