Northern News. 
153 
During the plague no increase in the number of birds has 
been noticed, except that during the last two swarms many 
rooks and starlings led their broods of fledglings to the wood 
and fed them upon the larvae, of which they must have des- 
troyed large numbers. 
The only result of these deplorable devastations that has 
given any pleasure is that many fine varieties of some of the 
lepidoptera have been obtained. 
Professor E. J. Garwood has been elected a Fellow of the Royal 
Society. 
Lord Dudley has presented a number of Mammals and Reptiles to 
the Sunderland Museum. 
Part 5 of Volume XII. of The Records of the Past is a valuable index 
to the twelve volumes of that Journal. 
We regret to notice the death of Mrs. Huxley, widow of the Rt. Hon. 
Thomas Henry Huxley, whick took place at Eastbourne, on April 5th. 
Mrs. Huxley was in her 89th year. 
We are glad to see that a Derbyshire Entomological Society has been 
formed. An inaugural meeting was held in March. The President is 
the Rev. R. C. Bindley (Vicar of Mickleover), the Treasurer Dr. St John, 
and the Secretary is Mr. G. Hanson Sale, of Littleover. 
We have received a remarkable account of the geological features of 
the Culm of South Devon, Exeter District, by Messrs. F. G. Collins and 
G. C. Crick, from which it would appear that these beds are much more 
prolific in organic remains than has usually been thought. 
The Rt. Hon. Lord Sudeley favours us with a copy of his address on 
the Educational Value of Museums, recently delivered to a large number 
of London School Teachers at the invitation of the London Countv Council. 
In the same pamphlet are several favourable press comments on the 
subject. 
The members of the Vertebrate Section of the Yorkshire Naturalists' 
Union are congratulating themselves that one of their nominees for 
membership has recently tried his luck with the French champion boxer 
of the world. It is suggested that he might be of practical service in 
connection with the work of the Wild Birds and Eggs’ Protection Com- 
mittee. 
The extensive collection of objects made from lead, together with 
numerous ‘bygones,’ etc., formed by Mr. James Backhouse of York, while 
visiting the various Yorkshire Lead Mines, has been added to the collec- 
tions in the museum at Hull. Mr. Backhouse, who is the author of the 
chapter on Yorkshire Lead Mining in the Victoria History, etc., has made 
a special study of this subject, and his collection is one of exceptional 
value. 
The Selby Educational Museum, which the late Sir Jonathan 
Hutchinson left to his trustees to dispose of in their absolute discretion, 
and was generously offered to the town by them, has been accepted by 
the Urban Authority, and terms have been settled under which the 
freehold of the property is acquired from Lord Londesborough. The 
property has hitherto been held on lease from the Lord of the Manor. The 
lease had yet to run some 27 years. The Museum buildings include 
the large hall used for public meetings. 
1914 May 1 
K 
