NOTES AND NEWS. 



nearly all the very hairy-glandulose types, such as Bloxami, scaber, hystrix, dwne- 

 toru77i, and glandiclosiis are absent, as well as the common and well-marked 

 southern form of thyrsoideiis ; lowland sandstone levels being richest in these. In 

 the Dog-Roses. too, it seems strange to be told that the Hispida should be so 

 markedly scarce ; whilst those of the series with erect sepals, persisting on the 

 fruit (delayed maturation and decay?" should be characteristically developed in 

 abundance. The Hawkweeds, apparently, exemplify the same thing in a less 

 degree : imiroriini (we are informed) rare, pallidum frequent, Iricum. prenanthoides 

 and the abundant Yorkshire-dale tridentatiun either quite or almost wanting. 



The work is very well printed, on good paper, and well bound ; its size, large 8vo, 

 alone prevents it from slipping easily into an ordinary coat pocket. 



NOTES AND NEWS. 



We shall be glad to give in our next issue the dates of arrival of the spring migrant 

 birds this season throughout the Noith of England, if our readers in all parts of the 

 Northern Counties will furnish us with notes of their observations upon the subject. 



>co< 



The officers of the Stockport Society of Naturalists for 1885 are : Mr. Thomas 

 Kay, president; Dr. Bahin. M.A., Mr. F. Hudson. Mr. G. W. Davies, F.C.S., 

 Mr. Alfred Willett, and Mr. T. Entwistle, vice-presidents ; Mr. T. H. Rathbone, 

 treasurer; and Mr. S. Wakefield, secretary. 



>oX 



We hear, with great regret, of the death of Mrs. Burdon, of Parklands, Castle 

 Eden, Co. Durham, widow of the late Mr. Rowland Burdon, J. P. Mrs. Burdon, 

 who was an excellent botanist, died on the loth of March last. For nearly half a 

 century she was the faithful guardian of the Lady's Slipper Orchis ( Cyp?'ipediii>n 

 calceolus L. ) in one of its last-remaining British habitats. Her collection of living 

 alpine plants was one of the finest in the North of England. 



>co< 



At the anniversary meeting (Feb. 20th) of the Geological Society of London 

 the balance of the proceeds of the Wollaston Donation Fund was given to 

 Dr. Charles Callaway, F.G.S., who was at one time curator at the Sheffield 

 Public Museum, as a recognition of the value of his researches among the older 

 British rocks. The balance of the proceeds of the Lyell Donation Fund was at the 

 ■same time awarded to Mr. A. J. Jukes-Browne, whose Lincolnshire work is well- 

 known, in recognition of the excellent work he has done on the Cretaceous rocks 

 and on glacial geology. xcx 



The Manchester Microscopical Society, one of the most vigorous and progressive 

 organisations of its kind, held its fifth annual meeting on the 26th of February. The 

 report was highly satisfactory, and showed that the membership had risen from 120 

 in 1881 to 196 in 1884. and 233 at the present time. The Mounting Section, a most 

 useful feature of the Society, w^as referred to as having an average attendance at its 

 meetings of 32 out of a nominal roll of 69 members. Its work was now not merely 

 confined to demonstrations of the processes of preparing and mounting objects, but 

 had been extended to the exhibition and explanation of the accessory apparatus used 

 for illumination. The curator reported that 126 slides had been presented during 

 the year, and the librarian that the books had been freely used. The election 

 of officers resulted in the election of Dr. Tatham as president for a second term. 



>co<— 



We are glad to note that Dr. M. C. Cooke's ' British Freshwater Algae' is now 

 completed. It is a work which will be found extremely useful — and it will be in- 

 dispensable to all cryptogamic botanists, who will now have the pleasure of con- 

 sulting its pages along with their old friend Rabenhorst's ' Flora Europsea Algarum.' 

 The work includes no less than 130 coloured plates, comprising a large number of 

 figures, with which but little fault can be found. The descriptions are well written, 

 and the larger genera are clavically divided. The weak point is in the notices 

 of distribution and habitat, to which apparently but little attention is paid by 

 Dr. Cooke. We have pleasure in printing in the present number some remarks on 

 these points by a well-known student of the group, whose criticisms are, however, 

 by no means to be taken as being in disparagement of the work, but rather as hints 

 given in a friendly spirit to show where books of this kind can by a little attention 

 be readily improved. 



May 1885. 



