Mar., 1890. natural history society's report. 
49 
THIRTY-FIRST ANNUAL REPORT 
OF THE 
BIRMINGHAM NATURAL HISTORY AND MICROSCOPICAL 
SOCIETY, 
Presented by the Council to the Annual Meeting, 
February 4th, 1890. 
The Council have the pleasure of reporting the favourable 
position of the Society. The number of members has been 
maintained, and the surplus income has enabled the Council 
to pay off one-lialf of the loans that were contracted by The 
Society two years ago. 
The Annual Conversazione was held on October 29tli in 
the Examination Hall, Mason College, and resulted in more 
than usual success. The President, Mr. W. B. Grove, M.A., 
provided a collection of curious and beautiful fungi for exhi¬ 
bition, and a liberal supply of esculent kinds, chiefly Agaricus 
ostreatus , cooked and served with the refreshments, as a novel 
dish for the visitors. Amongst the exhibits were the fine 
original coloured drawings of British shells, “ Gibsone’s 
Conches,” exhibited by Rev. B. W. Gibsone, of Hinckley ; 
working models, illustrating the mode of flight of birds and 
insects, by Mr. E. Catchpool, of Sheffield ; photographs of 
foreign scenery, by Mr. Councillor Clayton ; collections of 
animals, insects, butterflies, and birds, including the rare 
bunting, Emberiza cioides, a unique British specimen, by Mr. 
R. W. Chase; a collection of lepidoptera from the neighbour¬ 
hood of Birmingham, by Mr. F. Shrive ; nests of living ants, 
by Mr. E. Catchpool; and nests of the trap-door spider, by 
Dr. Sankey, of Oxford. Also a number of photographic 
lantern slides, including some by Mr. E. H. Jaques ; and 
a large collection of microscopes exhibited by members of 
the Society. 
The Treasurer’s animal financial statement shows the 
receipts of the Society for the past year to have been 
£150 9s. 8d., and the payments £153 13s. 4d., including the 
repayment of two of the £10 loans, and leaving a balance due 
to the Treasurer of £4 9s. Id., instead of £1 5s. 5d. at the 
end of the previous year. There are now only three of the 
£10 loans remaining to be paid off, and the Council appeal 
earnestly to the members for their assistance in effecting this 
object by increasing the income of the Society by means of 
obtaining additional members. 
The total number of members for the year 1889 is 202, 
being 1 more than in the previous year ; of the total, 7 are 
