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THE YORKSHIRE NATURALISTS' UNION 

 AT WHITBY. 



The fourth meeting for the present year was held at Whitby, for the investiga- 

 tion of the beautiful valley of the Yorkshire Esk and the noble cliffs of the coast line 

 near Kettleness and Whitby. The date was the bank holiday (or as it will in 

 future be the fashion to call it) Lammas Monday, the 3rd of August. Thanks to 

 the co-operation of the local scientific men, the circular issued was a very attractive 

 one. It set out four routes, which were duly carried out. One party, consisting 

 mainly of cryptogamic botanists, spent the day, under the leadership of Mr. M. B. 

 Slater (than whom no one knows Eskdale better), in investigating the upper valley 

 of the Esk about Arncliffe Wood, a locality famous for mosses and hepatics. 

 A smaller party — of conch ologists — also worked the Esk valley, and found its 

 speciality, Unio margaritiferus, the Pearl Mussel, in great plenty in the river at 

 Lealholm Bridge. Mr. Thomas Newbitt, of Whitby, led a party of botanists, &c., 

 to Mulgrave Woods. Parties of ornithologists and naturalists of more indefinite 

 hue visited the cliffs at Kettleness. The geologists, in charge of the Rev. E. Maule 

 Cole, M.A., worked (and walked) along the coast from Whitby Pier to Sandsend 

 and Kettleness, returning by train, as indeed did most of the other parties. All 

 parties converged upon Whitby by about half-past four of the clock; and at 

 Longhorne's Station Hotel tea was served and all the meetings were held. At the 

 general meeting there was a large muster of members — about seventy or eighty — 

 representing sixteen societies, viz. : — Barnsley, Bradford (Nat. Soc), Dewsbury, 

 Driffield, Goole, Halifax, Hull, Ilkley, Leeds (3), Malton, Ovenden, Rotherham, 

 Scarborough, and York. The chair was occupied by the president of the 

 Geological section, the Rev. E. Maule Cole, M.A., of Wetwang. The minutes of 

 the previous meeting having been taken as read, Mr. H. Snowden Ward, of Ilkley, 

 proposed, and Mr. W. Denison Roebuck seconded, a motion for the admission into 

 the Union of the Practical Naturalists' Society (so far as regards its Yorkshire 

 members, about 50 in number), which was adopted by an unanimous vote. 

 Three new members were elected, viz.: — Mr. J. W. Addyman, B.A., Starbeck ; 

 Mr. Thomas Newbitt, Whitby ; and Mi". John Stears, Hull. A vote of thanks to 

 the Marquis of Normanby for permission to investigate Mulgrave Woods, and to 

 Messrs. Foster for similar permission for Arncliffe Wood ; and to Messrs. Thomas 

 Stephenson, J. T. Sewell, Thomas Newbitt, M. B. Slater, and Rev. E. M. Cole, 

 for their services in guiding parties during the day or in furnishing information for 

 the circular, was unanimously adopted, on the motion of the Rev. W. C. Hey, M.A., 

 of York, seconded by the Rev. R. M. Norman, M.A., of Malt by. Thanks were 

 also voted to the Leeds Philosophical and Literary Society for a gift for the 

 Union's Library of 63 volumes of the Annals and Magazine of Natural History. 

 The Sectional Reports were then taken as follows : — 



For Vertebrate Zoology, the report was given by the secretary of the section, 

 Mr. James Backhouse, jun., M.B.O.U., of York, who stated that though the 

 neighbourhood of Whitby is exceptionally well adapted to the reseai-ches of the 

 zoologist, the records for the day were not so numerous as might be expected, 

 probably due to the fact that most of the members interested in Vertebrate Zoology 

 were attracted by the sea coast ; consequently the list of migratory birds was small, 

 whilst several interesting resident species were noted, including Rock and Stock 

 Doves, Greater Spotted Woodpecker (near Grosmont), Rock Pipit, Kestrel, Com- 

 mon Heron, Blackheaded and Herring Gulls, and Cormorant. The extensive colony 

 of the last-named species at Kettleness was visited by a few members, and several 

 young birds in an interesting state of plumage were noticed sitting upon the ledges 

 of the cliff. This colony, and that on the Speeton Cliffs, near Filey, are the only 

 ones at present on the Yorkshire coast. The total numlDcr of birds seen during 

 the day was 43, whilst only 5 were found nesting. Nothing worthy of note was 

 observed among the other vertebrata. 



For the Conchological section the report was given by its president, the 

 Rev. W. C. Hey, M.A., of York, who stated that 19 species only of land and 

 freshwater mollusca had been observed, viz. : — six water-shells — Pisidiwn pusillum, 

 Whitby, Unio margaritiferus , the Pearl Mussel, abundant in the Esk at Lealholm 

 Bridge, this river being the only one in Yorkshire in which it occurs, Planorbis 



Naturalist, 



