196 MIDLAND UNION OF NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETIES. 
Medal.” “ Evincing great industry in an important, although, at the 
present time, somewhat unpopular branch of the Science.” But one 
of the five did not consider that the work came under the head of 
“original work,” and so did not venture to recommend the award of 
the Medal. 
In accordance with the opinions received the Council has awarded 
the Darwin Medal for this year to Mr. J. E. Bagnall, A.L.S., for his 
“ Flora of Warwickshire,” and various other papers bearing on parts 
of the same subject. 
“ Midland Naturalist.” 
The “ Midland Naturalist ” has been published regularly, and the 
papers which have appeared in it have been of great interest and value. 
Some of the principal papers are as follows :— 
On the Measurement of the Magnifying Power of Microscope Objec¬ 
tives, and a Note on the Recent Riviera Earthquake, by W. P. Marshall, 
M.I.C.E. ; Colour Reaction, with special reference to Botanical and 
Microscopical Investigations, by W. H. Wilkinson; Passages from 
Popular Lectures, by F. T. Mott, F.R.G.S.; Volition, by Constance 
C. W. Naden; Botanical Notes and Concliological Notes from South 
Beds, by Jas. Saunders ; Notes on a New Zealand Rock, and on the 
Dust Ejected in the Eruption of Tarawera in June, 1886, and a Note on 
the Occurrence of Gold at Mount Morgan, in Queensland, by Thomas 
H. Waller, B.A., B.Sc. ; Notes on the Valley of the Warwickshire 
Stour and its Flora, and a New British Moss, by J. E. Bagnall, A.L.S.; 
The Discomycetes of the Birmingham District, by W. B. Grove, B.A.; 
The Fungi of Warwickshire, by W. B. Grove, and J. E. Bagnall; 
The Recent Landslip at Zug, by William Pumphrey; On some Aids 
rendered by Photography to Geology, by W. J. Harrison, F.G.S. ; 
Some Investigations into the Function of Tannin in the Vegetable 
Kingdom, by Professor W. Hillhouse, M.A., F.L.S. ; Individualism 
in Art, by W. K. Parkes ; The Present and Future of Science Teaching 
in England, by Professor W. Hillhouse, being his retiring address as 
President of the Birmingham Natural History and Microscopical 
Society ; Notes on the Climate of South Queensland, by Clement L. 
Wragge, the Government Meteorologist of Queensland, to whose 
labours the “Midland Naturalist” was for some years indebted for 
Meteorological Notes ; William Mathews, M.A., has been publishing 
a History of the County Botany of Worcester, and B. Thompson, 
F.C.S., F.G.S., has continued his paper on the Water Supply from the 
Middle Lias of Northamptonshire. 
At the last Annual Meeting the Council adopted a resolution 
appealing to the various Societies of the Union for more support for 
the “ Midland Naturalist ” in the way both of getting more subscribers, 
and also in the furnishing of papers. They believed that, even for 
those Societies which publish their own transactions separately, 
abstracts of papers read and notes of observations recorded would, in 
many cases, be of great value if published in the “ Midland Naturalist,” 
and would increase the general interest in the Union among the 
members, as well as facilitate their studies. 
The Societies composing the Union differ considerably in character. 
Some of them are Field Clubs only, or, at any rate, the meetings for 
the reading and discussion of papers and exhibition of specimens are 
quite subordinate to the excursions, although at these explanatory 
papers are frequent. Others have meetings for papers and exhibitions, 
but have no published record of them. Two of the Birmingham 
Societies give abstracts and reports of their meetings in the “Naturalist,” 
while the Birmingham Natural History and Microscopical Society use 
