NATURALISTS SOCIETY 
SECTIONAL MEETINGS. 
From the " Bristol Daily Post" of Nov. 2\st, 1864. 
Geological Section, Oct. 28th. — Mr, W. Sanders, 
president, in the chair. Mr. J. Keal contmued the discus- 
sion of the last meeting respecting the Lias beds of the 
neighbourhood, and gave an interesting account of his 
endeavours to discover the point of junction of the New Red 
Sandstone and the Lias, describing minutely the beds and 
fossils on Bedminster Down, the most noticeable of which 
■were Terebratula psilonoti, at Colliker's brook, an evidence 
of Lower Lias, and Ammonites planorbis at Yanley-lane. 
Mr. Keal went at great length into the question at issue 
between Mr. C. Moore, of Bath, and Dr. Wnght, of Chelten- 
ham, and concluded by proposing as a problem for solution 
the range ol the Saurians in the Bristol district, and their 
relation here to the Ammonites planorbis, which he was 
satisfied occurred above the white Lias. Mr. Sanders con- 
firmed the last remark, and said that he did not consider the 
Saurians to be confined to any one zone; he pointed out the 
desirability of making a great number ©f accurate sections to 
scale of all the lias beds, and correlating them, taking the 
Gotham, or Landscape marble, as a good landmark from 
which to reckon vertical distances of beds, which should all 
be numbered, and notice taken of the fossils occurring in 
them. The Saltford section might be used as a moc-iel. Mr. 
W. W. Stoddart exhibited a large collection of fossil 
Entomostraca, or water fleas, which he had obtained from all 
formations, Silurian' to Postpliocene. In the living state 
they were all aquatic, with two valves, and achitinous shell, 
moulted yearly, which was the cause of the great abundance 
of their remains. With the exception of the well-known 
Trilobites, which he believed to belong to this class, they 
were all microscopic, and were obtained from the beds they 
occurred in, by disintegrating the stone by mere heat, or heat 
and cold water, passing the powdered mass through sieves 
of various fineness, and picking out the minute fossils under 
a microscope. 
Entomological Section, Nov. 8th, Mr. Jacques in the 
chair. Mr. G. Harding exhibited Acronycta Alni. L., 
Lucania Elymi Gn., Crambus falsellus, taken at Stapleton, 
and Diasemia literalis Scop., only two specimens of which 
have been taken in this district. Mr. John Barber stated 
that ivy-beating had not been as profitable as usual this 
year, butexbibited thefollowing : Orthosealota and macilenta, 
Xanthia ferruginea, Auchocetis rufina, pistacina, and lituria, 
Polia flavocincta, several varieties of niselia Oxyacantbae, 
Xylina rhizolitha, semibrunnea, and petrific ata. Mr. Reed 
stated than the two last species were peculiar to the South- 
West of England, and were much more rare than they were 
six years ago. Mr. A. E. Hudd exhibited a curious variety 
of Agrotis corticea W.V., Crambus furcatellus, Zett., 
Eupithecia denotata, E[ub. and E. dodoneata Gn., with 
Pteroxia cundella L. The hon. secretary, Mr. E. C. Reed, 
exhibited several hundred specimens of Coleoptera and 
Hemiptera, collected during the preceding month in the 
Bristol district, including Diphyllus lunatus Fab., Dictyop- 
terus minutus Fab., Carpophilus hemipterus, Philonthus 
splendens Fab., P. intermedius Lac. and P. laminatua Cr. 
Mr. Reed also explained and practically demonstrated the 
manner of preparing parts of insects for microscopical 
examination, the determination of specific differences often 
requiring ihe dissection of parts ot the mouth, in which 
magnifying power was almot-t always a great assistance. 
