Proceedings of Provincial Scientific Societies. 335 



Lincolnshire Naturalists' Union Transactions, 1908 [publ. 1909]. Louth, 

 pp. 219-322. 



Though there is no indication of this being part of any particular 

 volume, it is evident from the paging that this is a continuation of 

 the publication issued by the Lincolnshire Union, which we are glad 

 to find has more money than it knows what to do with. Personally,, 

 however, we would rather have seen the spare funds handed over to the 

 needy and deserving county museum than have seen them wasted 

 in printing papers that were not worth the expense, or which had already 

 previously been printed — in the same Society's Transactions, in fact. 

 That the first volume was not, perhaps, quite up to the standard of the 

 present series has nothing to do with it. The present part opens with a 

 charming portrait of a past president of the Lincolnshire, as well as of the 

 Yorkshire Naturalists' Union, the Rev. Canon W. Fowler ; and the photo- 

 grapher seems to have caught him just as he was telling the story about 

 ' Are you drawin' t'cat or am I ? ' The Rev. F. L. Blathwayt writes some 

 useful ' Notes on the Birds of a Ballast Pit,' and Mr. G. W. Mason con- 

 tributes part II. of ' Lincolnshire Lepidoptera,' which, together with 

 ' Lincolnshire Cclecptera,' by Rev. A. Thornley and Dr. W. Wallace, are 

 exceedingly valuable contributions to the insect fauna of the county. 

 Mr. W. Denison Roebuck, the President of the Union, gives a valuable 

 ' Census of Lincolnshire Land and Freshwater Mollusca to end of 1908.' 

 Mr. F. M. Burton's paper, though interesting, was read to and published by 

 this same society fifteen years ago. The Rev. A. Hunt's paper, being a 

 Presidential address, presumably had to be printed ; though if the practice 

 of prefacing papers by lists of pamphlets previously written by an author 

 becomes universal, there will be some interesting developments. There are 

 some shorter notes by other writers. The publication includes ' Field 

 Meetings, 1908,' which (fortunately) are anonymous. A reviewer last year 

 drew attention to the carelessness as regards proof-reading, but, apparently 

 without avail. Not only are the misprints many, but the composition 

 is really shocking. * In four lines we find ' iheeolian sands,' hippo- 

 tamus and rhinocerus ; Cwicus, hederocews, Low for Sow, etc., etc. ' All 

 these are confined to limited areas and rare.' The Wild Birds' Eggs' Act 

 is apparently not in force in Lincolnshire, as ' Mr. Coward was highly 

 complimented on the splendid work [collecting eggs] he had done, for he 

 had only been collecting a few seasons ' ! ' It formed an interesting exhibit 

 until they developed into the perfect insect ' ; ' Mrs. and Alderman Jessop 

 conducted his visitors ' ; ' an habitat,' etc. At Sleaford ' the Rev. W. W. 

 Mason " /ooA " the list of plants' ; we hope he's returned it. We were not 

 previously aware that a well-known Leeds conchologist was ' F.G.S.,' and 

 there are some peculiar ' officers,' though they are ' sectional.' Amongst 

 these are ' Boulders,' ' Fungi,' and ' Phoenogamic [sic] Secretary.' — R. 



We have received the Thirty-second Annual Report and Proceedings 

 of the Lancashire and Cheshire Entomological Society. St. Albans, 1909, 

 price 2/-. 



Besides the usual rules, list of members, balance sheet and report 

 of the Society's year's work, (which is a very good one), it contains ' A 

 Preliminary Catalogue of the Hemiptera-Homoptera of Lancashire and 

 Cheshire,' by Oscar WTiittaker, in connection with which we are glad to 

 see that B. Cooke's list of sixty-four species, printed in ' The Naturalist ' 

 for 1882, has proved exceedingly useful. There is also a list of ' Additions 

 to a Preliminary Catalogue of the Hemipetera [sic] Heteroptera ' of the 

 same area, published in 1907. This includes four species. There is a 

 photograph of Mr. B. H. Crabtree as frontispiece, but we can find no refer- 

 ence to it in the text. 



* In fairness to the Hon. Secretary, we should state that he informs us fresh arrange- 

 ments are to be made next year. — Ed. 



1909 Sep. I 



