22 
REPORTS OF SOCIETIES. 
Jan., 1890. 
The late Miss Constance C. W. Naden.— It is with the 
deepest regret we announce the death of this lady, which 
occurred at her residence in London, on Monday, December 
28rd. The deceased lady was the daughter of Mr. Thomas 
Naden, architect, of Birmingham. After completing her 
ordinary education, Miss Naden became a student at the 
Mason Science College, where she was most successful and 
popular. She devoted much time to artistic and literary 
work, and has given great promise as a writer on philo¬ 
sophical and kindred subjects, as the pages of this magazine 
give abundant proof. Miss Naden took great interest in 
sociological questions, and was an ardent member of the 
section of the Birmingham Natural History Society which 
devotes itself to the study of the Spencerian philosophy. 
In our February number we hope to print the last paper 
she read before this section on the 29th October last, entitled 
“ The Principles of Sociology.” She published two volumes 
of poems which have attained considerable popularity. 
leports of Studies. 
BIRMINGHAM NATURAL HISTORY AND MICROSCOPICAL 
SOCIETY.— Microscopical Section Meeting, December 3rd, 1889. 
The President, Mr. W. B. Grove, M.A., in the chair. Mr. W. H. 
Wilkinson exhibited the fruit of Pyrus ( Gydonia) japonica, 
which was similar to an apple in form, and measured 2 inches in 
length, and inches in circumference ; also an abnormal branch from 
the same tree, the wood of which was three times the diameter and 
many times longer than the normal branches, and the bark of lighter 
brown colour. Also the following fungi growing on a currant branch : 
Sphceria pulvis-pyrius and Agaricus velutipes , of which Mr. Grove said 
the latter was one of the few not injured by frost, and was common 
on dead wood during the winter months. 
BIRMINGHAM MICROSCOPISTS’ AND NATURALISTS’ 
UNION.—November 18th, Annual Exhibition. The exhibits, which 
were too numerous for the room, included a collection of local plants 
by Mr. J. Collins ; fungi, by Mr. Camm ; land and fresh-water shells, 
with foreign varieties and photographs of local scenery, by Mr. J. 
Madison ; minerals and coal measure fossils, by Mr. Corbet; Silurian 
fossils, by Mr. Lassetter ; Eocene fossils and butterflies and moths, by 
Mr. P. T. Deakin ; a large collection of caddis cases, also a series of 
seaweeds, and British, African, and New Zealand ferns, by Mr. H. 
Hawkes ; butterflies and moths, by Mr. C. P. Neville ; birds, including 
specimens of night-jar, heron, and snowy owl, the latter from North 
America, by Mr. J. Betteridge; British reptiles, by Mr. F. Shrive; 
marine shells, &c., by Mr. Linton. There was a good show of 
microscopes, under which many interesting objects were placed. In 
the course of the evening, the President, Professor Hillhouse, M.A., 
F.L.S., delivered a short address, in which (after giving a hearty 
welcome to visitors) he spoke of the importance of developing the 
faculties nature had endowed us with, faculties that were often less 
developed in us than similar ones in the lower animals, and that no 
