NOTES AND NEWS. 



The ninth annual meeting of the Bradford Naturalists' Society took place on 

 the 9th of December, when a favourable condition of affairs was announced in the 

 report. The election of officers for 1885 resulted as follows :— Mr. A. I. Kershaw, 

 president; Dr. W. Hill Evans and Mr. H. T. Soppitt, vice-presidents ; Mr. J. 

 Eastwood, re-elected secretary; Mr. J. Bennett, treasurer; Mr. B. Illingworth, 

 librarian. The sectional recorders were appointed as under : — Botanical, Messrs. 

 Soppitt and West ; Entomological, J. W. Carter ; Vertebrate, Mr. J. Firth ; 

 Invertebrate, the president; Conchological, Mr. Soppitt; Geological, Mr. H. 

 S. Ward. 



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The Manchester Cryptogamic Society held its annual meeting on the 15th of 

 December. The report showed that much good work had been done by the 

 members in the elucidation of difficult points in respect of various cryptogamic 

 plants, and in extending a knowledge of their distribution. Dr. B. Carrington, 

 F.R.S.E., was re-elected president and Mr. Thomas Rogers, honorary secretary, 

 while Capt. P. G. Cunliffe and Mr. James Cash were chosen as vice-presidents, 

 and Mr. W. H. Pearson as librarian. 



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The twenty-third annual meeting of the Heckmondwike Naturalists' Society 

 was held on the 27th of December. After the adoption of the reports, Mr. J. A. 

 Erskine Stuart, L. R.C.S.E., was re-elected president, and the following members 

 to the other offices, viz.: — Messrs. J. M. Barber and Walter Exley, vice-presidents ; 

 Mr. John Fryer, secretaiy ; Mr. Thomas Exley, treasurer ; Mr. T. Simpson, 

 annalist ; and Mr. Fred. AUatt, librarian. Mr. J. M. Barber was again chosen to 

 represent the Society on the general committee of the Yorkshire Naturalists' 

 Union ; and a list of papers to be read in 1885 was announced. Arrangements 

 were made for holding a soiree early in the year. 



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The sixteenth annual meeting of the Liverpool Microscopical Society was 

 held on the 1 6th of January, the president, Charles Botterill, F.R.M.S., in the 

 chair. The Rev. H. H. Higgins, M.A., and Wm. Carter, M.D., were elected 

 vice-presidents; J. M. Williams, F.R.M.S., treasurer; Alfred Leicester, curator; 

 and Isaac C. Thompson, F.R.M.S., secretary. 



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A new society having for its object the promotion of intercourse and mutual 

 help among working botanists, particularly with regard to critical species, has been 

 founded. It takes as its title ' The Watson Botanical Exchange Club ' and 

 within a month of its formation enrolled thirty members, a proof that it was 

 needed by the class of botanists for which it was instituted. Mr. A. R. Waller, of 

 York, is honorary secretary, and Mr. P. F. Lee, of Dewsbury, treasurer, while Mr. 

 Arthur Bennett, F.L.S., fills the important office of referee. The rules lay stress 

 on the importance of sending up for authentication doubtful and critical forms. 



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From the Royal Dublin Society we have received a copy of Mr. James W. 

 Davis's monographic paper on the fossil fishes of the Carboniferous Limestone 

 series of Great Britain. This makes an imposing volume, in which the subject is 

 exhaustively treated and adequately illustrated. The magnificent collection of the 

 Earl of Enniskillen furnished the greater part of the material upon which the 

 monograph is based, and it appears that the neighbourhood of Armagh has yielded 

 a very large proportion of the known species. A tabulated list of species and their 

 place of origin is given, wherein the North of England figures as follows: — York- 

 shire (Leyburn, Richmond, Settle, and Kettlewell), 27 species, Derbyshire 13, 

 Westmoreland (Kendal) 5, and Northumberland (Lowick) 11. Much of the 

 Yorkshire material is due to the skill and energy of Mr. William Horne, of Leyburn, 

 whose services to the science are recognised by Mr. Davis dedicating a new species 

 in his honour. To Mr. Davis himself much credit is due, and it is an honour to 

 have been entrusted with the task of describing the contents of a collection so 

 complete and unrivalled as Lord Enniskillen's, which we are happy to note is now 

 the property of the nation. 



Naturalist, 



