Proceedings of Societies. 205 
ton's Fossil Flora of Great Britain ; one of the authors of which is a secretary and 
active promoter of this society ; many of the specimens figured in the work have 
been procured from the coal mines near Newcastle. British Oology is another 
work emanating from a member and late secretary of this society, Mr W. C. 
Hewitson, whose removal to a distant part of the country the society has late- 
ly had to regret. 
It is worthy of remark, that the Natural History Society of Newcastle is not a 
company of shareholders, gaining an individual ad vantage by the increase of the mu- 
seum. Each member retains an interest in the property of the society no longer 
than while he remains a subscriber. The subscription is one guinea per annum, 
without entrance fee ; and the museum, while professedly open to members of 
both societies and their friends, is virtually so to all respectable persons, resi- 
dents as well as strangers, without any charge for admission. The society has 
not hitherto suffered any diminution of its funds from pursuing this liberal course, 
and it is to be hoped that the public spirit of the inhabitants of Newcastle will 
enable it hereafter to continue the same plan ; the object of the society being 
" to diffuse more generally a taste for those refined and rational pleasures to be 
derived from the study of the works of nature." In conformity with this plan 
the museum has also been occasionally opened in an evening for the accommo- 
dation of the working-classes. 
There are some good private collections in Newcastle, the most valuable of 
which is Mr Adamson's splendid cabinet of shells, the finest in the north of Eng- 
land. Mr John Hancock has an interesting museum of British birds and other 
vertebrated animals, beautifully preserved by himself. Mr George Wailes's ex- 
tensive and valuable cabinet of British insects is well worth the attention of the 
entomologist ; and Mr J. Alder has a very good collection of British shells. In 
botany Mr Winch's fine herbarium takes the lead, but those of Mr William Ro- 
bertson and Mr R. B. Bowman also contain a very extensive series of British 
plants, to which the latter has in his late tour in Norway added many interest- 
ing plants from that country. Mr W. Hutton's collection of vegetable fossils is 
perhaps the finest extant. A few smaller collections might here be named, but 
enough has been said to indicate the state of natural history in this town, and to 
guide the scientific traveller to such objects as he may wish to investigate. 
Fauna Japonica, Ph. Fr. D. Siebold The Crustacea under the superintend- 
ence of M. De Hann, in two Fasciculi, with uncoloured lithographic plates, and 
the Chelonii by C- J. Temminck and H. Schlegel, also with uncoloured litho- 
graphic plates, have just reached us, as all which has yet appeared of this very 
important work. M. De Hann has attempted to arrange the Crustacea upon 
the principles laid down by Mr Macleay, and will be found to contain some very 
interesting information. A more extended notice will be devoted to it. 
NOTICES AND PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES LONDON. 
ROYAL SOCIETY, January 14 Dr Daubeny's paper, " On the action of 
Light upon Plants, and of Plants upon the Atmosphere," was concluded. This 
interesting paper was commenced at the concluding meeting of 1835. " The ob- 
jects of the experimental inquiries of which the author gives an account in this 
paper were, in the first place, to ascertain the extent of the influence of solar 
light in causing the leaves of plants to emit oxygen gas, and to decompose car- 
bonic arid, when the plants were either immersed in water, or surrounded by at- 
