io 4 
NORTHERN NEWS. 
Mr. J. Buckland sends us a copy of his paper on The Plumage Bill 
the Duty of the Hour, in which he makes a strenuous protest against 
the extermination of rare birds for the sake of their feathers. 
The Transactions of the North of England Institute of Mining and 
Mechanical Engineers, Vol. XLIV., Part i, contains a paper on the 
lead mines and works of the Vieille Montagne Zinc Company at Nenthead, 
on Alston Moor, Cumberland. 
Sir Herbert Maxwell writes to The Times to the eSect that as a 
fisherman of over fifty years' experience of the habits of salmon in many 
rivers, and as an observant naturalist, he has failed to detect the slightest 
preference on the part of salmon for one pattern of ‘ fly ’ over another. 
Part 3 of the Transactions of the Entomological Society of London 
contains a number of interesting papers, including ‘ The Urticating 
Properties of Porthesia similis,' by H. Eltringham, and ‘ Illustrations of 
Specific Differences in the Saws of $ Dolerids,’ by the Rev. F. D. Morice. 
The Annual Report of the Libraries, Art Gallery, and Museums of 
Bradford contains a lengthy list of additions to the museum, including 
a somewhat unexpected item : — * Sixty-six species of dried trees and 
shrubs grown in Great Britain.’ We presume there will soon be necessity 
to enlarge the Cartwright Hall. 
We learn from the Whitby Gazette that the prevailing epidemic has 
reached the Whitby Museum, and that ‘ it has been regarded and rightlv 
and proudly so as one of the best little museums in the British Isles.’ 
It also possesses “ one of the finest zoological collections in any similar 
institution.” The point of the article seems to be that the latter has been 
sadly neglected. 
We have received A Short Guide to the Meynell Museum, Denstone 
College, by Messrs. A. A. Armstrong and A. C. A. Brett, which is sold 
at threepence. It contains an interesting history of the collections, and 
long ago a catalogue of thirty-four printed pages was published, which 
at that time was such a serious financial drain that a proposal was brought 
forward to sell the contents of the museum in order to defray the printing 
of the catalogue! 
The Report of the Corresponding Societies Committee and of the Con- 
ference of Delegates held in Birmingham, at the British Association 
Meeting, can be obtained at Burlington House for one shilling. It 
contains Dr. P. Chalmers Mitchell’s address on ‘ Utility and Selection ’ ; 
a discussion in reference to plant extermination ; together with a useful 
bibliography of the contents of the various affiliated societies’ publications, 
classified under subjects. 
The large collection of geological, zoological, and botanical specimens 
formed by the late Dr. Franklin Parsons, have been offered to the Croydon 
Museum, and we notice that the proposal of the Roads Committee, 
(which has the care of the park in which the Grange Wood Museum is 
situated), that the gift be declined, was referred back so that the collection 
might be examined by experts before a final decision is arrived at. It 
is also suggested that the Museum should be transferred to the Libraries 
Committee, with a grant. 
The Rochdale Museum is emulating other similar institutions in 
publishing a series of handbooks, in this case reprinted from the Trans- 
actions of the Rochdale Literary and Scientific Society. We have before 
us Publications Nos. 2, 3, and 4, the first-named being twopence and the- 
others one penny each. No. 2 is an account of the Flora of the Rochdale 
District, and is a careful compilation by Mr. F. Williamson, the Curator. 
No. 3 is an account of the Birds of the Rochdale District by Messrs. 
Williamson and W. Lord ; while No. 4 is entitled ‘ Querns and other 
Com-grinding Stones in the Rochdale District,’ and is by Mr. J. L. Maxim. 
Naturalist, 
