Northern News. 



227 



CORRESPONDENCE . 

 Dates of Publication. 



To THE Editors of the ' Naturalist.' 

 Dear Sirs, 



Let me hasten to remove Dr. Bather's sadness, if not his 

 surprise, by informing him that it is m}^ intention to adopt his 

 suggestion in future issues. 



I was not aware that any such circular as the one to which 

 he refers had been issued, or that any correspondence had passed 

 between him and my predecessor on the subject. 



As regards my interpretation of the date placed on the cover, 

 Dr. Bather is correct in assuming that it was in his third sense 

 that I employed it, and I must acknowledge in this connection 

 that about one-sixth of the part was occupied by the Secre- 

 tary's report relating to the previous year, but, as regards the 

 original papers about which alone questions of priority could 

 arise, the date was a correct one, in the sense in which it was 

 employed. 



I may perhaps be forgiven for assuming that your reviewer 

 referred to grievances on the part of authors whose papers 

 appeared in the Proceedings in question, inasmuch as he singled 

 out one of these authors for special mention in this connection 

 in the paragraph to which my previous letter referred. 



Yours etc., 



Arthur R. Dwerryhouse. 



NORTHERN NEWS. 



The Manchester Geological and Mining Society has issued an Index to 

 the first twenty-eight volumes of its transactions. This will prove a valu- 

 able addition to the publications of their society. 



Some time ago we ventured to differ with the Editor of a certain paper, 

 who thought that the word * mammals ' was improper, and he stated that 

 in future he would refer to ' animals ' instead. He has now gone to the 

 other extreme, and under ' mammals ' includes the Peregrine, Harrier, 

 Willow-Tit, White-winged Larks, and Raven ! 



A visitor to the Public Museum at Mansfield recently noticed that the 

 collection was very ' strong ' in birds — probably the Curator is a taxider- 

 mist. Amongst the specimens arranged in rows on shelves, he noticed 

 eight green woodpeckers, four great-spotted woodpeckers, nine long-eared 

 owls, six barn owls, five ptarmigan, four quails, twelve corncrakes, nine 

 black-headed gulls, six lapwings, five razorbills, eight jays, and sixteen 

 kingfishers ! The birds were not selected to show varieties of plumage, 

 etc., but apparently represent the trophies of the local ' sportsmen.' There 

 were twelve pairs of ' Pinna rudis, the largest known British specie of 

 shell,' and over thirty examples of Gryphoea incurva ! 



1908 June I, 



