REronTs OF Societies. 



29 



many of our most beautiful cultivated plants have been produced in this 

 way, including the roses and geraniums. He concluded by giving a long 

 list of our cultivated plants with the wild from which they are derived, 

 and the locality where the wild plant grows. Mr. Soppitt showed a 

 specimen of Botrychium lunaria from Shipley Glen. E-ambles to Esholt 

 and Ilkley were decided to be added to the syllabus for the next session. 



Meeting on July 11th. — Mr. Wm. West gave a lecture on "Peat 

 mosses," and fully explained their structure, uses, and distribution, as 

 well as the characters used in differentiating the species. A large number 

 of species and their varieties were shewn in illustration of the lecture, 

 together with a number of drawings shoAving their beautiful microscopical 

 structure. The genus Sphagnum is a very characteristic one, the plants 

 are always found in watery places, and it is almost entirely to their remains 

 that we owe our peat formations. They are of great use also in the 

 cultivation of our orchids and the transportation of living plants during 

 long voyages. On our extensive moors they are of great use in preven- 

 ting both floods and droughts. Mr. Bennett exhibited Cakile maritima 

 and Eryngium maritimum from Skegness ; Mr. Soppitt showed Glaucium 

 lutenm, Calamintha acinos and the Hollyhock fungus Puccinia malvina- 

 cearum from Arnside ; Mr. Stirling showed a number of fresh-water 

 shells, among which were three species of Planorbis including P. corneus, 

 carinatus, and alhus ; Mr. Firth reported having heard the grasshopper 

 warbler, at Girlington ; Mr. Rogers showed a photo-micrograph of the 

 diatom Arachnoidiscus ornatus, magnified 400 diameters. 



Meeting July 25th. — Mr. W. D. Roebuck, of Leeds, read a paper on 

 " The Order Cheiroptera, or Bats." He said that bats are the only mam- 

 mals that can really fly, as in the case of the flying squirrel, and others, 

 the supposed flight is merely a leap. He described how the developement 

 of all the organs of the bats is especially suited to their habits, and said 

 that the most striking proof that they were really quadrupeds was their 

 way of walking, which he described as shuffling along the ground with 

 their thumb and hind-feet, and in some species the tail is also used in 

 crawling on the ground or up the rough surfaces of trees. There are 

 fifteen British micro-cheiroptera and all are insect feeders. He described 

 the pecularities of all the British species, and showed specimens of the 

 following ; — The lesser horse-shoe bat ( Rhinolojjhus hipposideros) from 

 Evestone, near Ripon ; the noctule or great bat (Vesperugo noctula) ivom 

 Masham, the pipistrelle or common bat (V. pipistrellus) from Harrogate, 

 the long-eared bat (Plecotus auritus) from Pateley Bridge, the whiskered 

 bat (Vespertilio mystacinus) from various Yorkshire localities. Mr. 

 Bennet showed B. callunoe,' &c-, from Tliorne and Rombald Moor. Mr. 

 Terry exhibited C. imhutata, A. fumata, &c., from Witherslack. Mr. 

 Firth, the following insects, taken in this locality, P. comitata, M. galiata 

 and N. mundava. Mr. Carter shewed Cramhus margaritellus, from Rom- 

 balds Moor, and H. nymphcealis, P. stratiotalis, S. cemhrcdis, and E. sam- 



