May, 1889. 
REPORTS OF SOCIETIES. 
123 
Mr. Hughes, four photographs of Cingalese plants of great beauty. 
The subjects were respectively: Fan Palms, Talipot Palms in flower; 
avenue of Cocos Palms in the Peradenyia Gardens, Kandy ; and Giant 
Tree Ferns. These were received by Mr. Hughes from Mr. Councillor 
Clayton, from Ceylon. Mr. Bagnall read a long and interesting 
description of the photographs with an account of the uses of the 
plants. Mr. Grove exhibited (Ecidium lapsance, the first of the season. 
Mr. Stone exhibited microscopic preparations of Sphagnum cyrnbifolium, 
found under nine feet of gravel at Small Heath. Also drawings of 
Cotyledons of Primula, including six abnormal forms. These were 
drawn from a batch of seedlings fourteen in number, eleven of which 
were more or less abnormal, varying in five different ways.— 
March 28th. Mr. A. Browett, F.G.S., in the chair. Mr. Colbran J. 
Wainwright gave his exposition of the twentieth chapter of Mr. Herbert 
Spencer’s “ First Principles,” entitled “ The Multiplication of Effects.” 
In his paper, which was of fifty minutes’ duration, Mr. Wainwright 
discussed the subject in a very thorough and able manner, mainly in 
its connection with the previous one, “ The Instability of the 
Homogeneous,” and argued that if absolute homogeneity were 
perfectly stable, as stated by Mr. Spencer, then our reasoning must 
commence with heterogeneity of some kind in order that change may 
be assumed to take place ; consequently it was unnecessary to assume 
that homogeneity of any kind was unstable, for, given heterogeneity of 
even the simplest character, the multiplication of effects was by 
itself sufficient cause for change. A long discussion, which was 
adjourned from the lateness of the hour, followed, in which the 
Chairman, Miss Byett, and Mr. Stone took part.— Biological Section, 
April 9th. Mr. Charles Pumphrey in the chair. Mr. J. E. Bagnall 
exhibited Vaccinium intermedium, and Sphagnum cuspidatum var. 
plumosum, both new to Warwickshire; also, for Miss Gingell, 
Helleborus fcetidus, and Adoxa moscliatellina, from Dursley. Mr. Alfred 
Heneage Cocks, F.Z.S., of Great Marlow, then read a most interesting 
paper, illustrated by diagrams and specimens, “ On the Fin-whale 
Fishery off the Lapland Coast.” 
BIRMINGHAM MICROSCOPISTS’ AND NATURALISTS’ 
UNION.—March 18tli. Mr. H. Hawkes exhibited Docophorus atratus , 
parasite of rook, also Anguinaria anguina ; Mr. Dunn, Nitella trans- 
lucens .— March 25tli. Mr. Madison showed specimens of Bulla 
cylindrica, from Singapore; Mr. J. Moore, gizzard of black ant. 
Mr. A. Camm then read a paper—“Notes on Fungi.” The writer 
said fungi were generally despised as having, with a few exceptions, 
poisonous properties, but when they were better understood they 
would furnish many new dishes for the table. The sections he 
purposed dealing with were those of the Myxomycetes and 
Discomycetes, microscopic forms that would rival in beauty and 
colour many favourite objects. The writer mentioned a large number 
that were specially suitable as objects for the lower powers of the 
microscope. The latter part of the paper dealt with the collecting of 
fungi, and the importance of keeping each kind by itself, and the 
localities in the district that have proved particularly prolific in these 
objects, some of them yielding as many as twenty-six species in an 
afternoon’s work. The paper was illustrated by a collection of 
specimens, and some objects under the microscope.— April 1st. 
Mr. J. W. Neville exhibited specimens of Oleum scarabceoides, a 
Trilobite from the upper Lingula Flags, near Bala, and specimens of 
Orthis lenticularis from the same formation; Mr. C. P. Neville, a 
