Proceedings of Provincial Scientific Societies. 313 



Mr. P. Fox Lee adds that the following plants were observed 

 by Mr. Elgee, of Middlesbrough, and himself. In the upper 

 part of Hob Holes, a fine wooded gorge opening to the coast 

 at Runswick, is a flat expanse of marshy ground covered with 

 a vigorous growth of Carex acutiformis Ehrh. Here and in 

 other parts of the Hob Holes were Valeriana dioica L., Veronica 

 officinalis L., Pedicitlaris sylvatica L., and Ranunculus hederaceus 

 L., besides an abundance of Equisetum maximum Lam. There 

 were also mushrooms, puff-balls and fairy rings of other fungi 

 in the adjacent grass lands. 



T. S. 



The Report and Proceedings of the Manchester Field Naturalists' 

 and Archaeologists* Society for 1908 has just been received. It contains 

 details of the various excursions of the Society, from January iith to 

 December 19th. These are chiefly botanical. There is also the Annual 

 Report, List of Members, etc. More care than usual has been exercised 

 in the selection of blocks to ilhistrate these reports ; and amongst them 

 is a portrait of the President, Sir William H. Bailey. There are 100 pages 

 of closely-printed matter. The report is largely spoilt with advertisements 

 of pianos, fire-grates, etc. We hope that the pretty lady in the fearful 

 hat, with its firework-like feathers, inserted in the advertisement on the 

 cover, is in order to warn Manchester lady naturalists what not to wear ! 



The Proceedings of the Cleveland Naturalists' Field Club, 1907-8, 

 Vol. II., part 3 (2/-) has just been issued. They are edited by the Rev. 

 J. C. Fowler, and may be obtained from the Secretary, at the Dorman 

 Museum, JMiddlesborough. There are illustrations of the more important 

 objects described, one of which we are permitted to reproduce (see p. 211). 

 Mr. F. Elgee writes at length on his favourite theme, ' The Fauna of Cleve- 

 land, Past and Present,' giving an excellent summary of the zoological 

 history of the area ; the Rev. G. Lane writes on the local jurassic plants ; 

 the editor describes a large boulder of shap granite, an Edward III. counter, 

 and ' An interesting geological discovery ; ' and there are notes on local 

 coleoptera and lepidoptera by Messrs. M. L. Thompson and T. A. Loft- 

 house respectively. The ' geological discovery ' is unfortunately vague. 

 It appears the stool of a tree, in position, was found under six feet of 

 ' glacial ' drift, ' deposited under torrential conditions, and the tree was 

 evidently overwhelmed.' The tree was found ' as it grew in one of the 

 mild inter-glacial seasons,' etc. The tree ' appears to be oak.' Cannot 

 some local botanist identify the wood, and some local geologist give a more 

 definite date to the overlying drift ? And then, with regard to the Edward 

 III. counter found at Whorlton, which * may have fallen out of the doublet 

 of one of the royal retainers, who might have been sent to the castle on 

 some royal errand,' etc. ; the editor has been to infinite pains to ascertain 

 whether Edward III. was ever at Whorlton, and has even searched at 

 the Public Record Office. At present he cannot find that that king was 

 ever there. But surely many coins of Edward VII. are found in situations 

 where that monarch never was ? Our Cleveland friends are to be con- 

 gratulated on their publication. 



The Annual Report and Transactions of the North Staffordshire Field 

 Club for 1908-9 (Vol. XLIII.) has just been issued. It contains many 

 interestmg papers, as well as an excellent account of a good year's work. 

 Amongst the contributions we notice ' The Evolution of the Cetacean Tail 

 Fin,' by F. W. Ash ; ' Lilleshall Hill,' by Dr. Wheelton Hind, and ' The 

 Life History of the River Trent,' by A. M. McAldowie. 



1909 Sep: I 



