July, 1890 . 
REPORTS OF SOCIETIES. 
167 
a paper for Mr. A. E. Wright on “ Comets.” The occasional appear¬ 
ance and irregularity of the motions of comets caused them to be 
regarded by the ancients as precursors of disaster and calamity. A 
description was given of some of the more dreaded forms recorded in 
early times. Though the orbits of comets varied immensely, yet 
calculations concerning their reappearance demonstrated the fact 
that they obeyed laws similar to those of the solar system. Owing 
to their extreme tenuity, comets could not occasion alarm, even if 
they collided with the earth. The life of a comet was said to be 
limited and its death sure. The splendour of their visits to the sun 
wasted their substance, and thus perished these strange visitors to our 
system, shedding their dust in the inter-planetary space. The paper 
was illustrated by drawings.—June 16th. Special: Botany. Mr. H. 
Hawkes recommended the careful working of small botanical areas 
and exhibited a collection of mounted plants from the foot of the 
Chesil Bank, also a specimen of Tragopogon pratensis infested with 
three fungi, an AEcidium, Puccinia, andUstilago; Mr. J. Collins, a 
collection of mosses containing twenty species of Hypnum ; under the 
microscope, Mr. H. Hawkes, Glosterium lunula ; Mr. J. W. Neville, 
capsules of Funaria hygrometrica ; Mr. J. Moore, gizzard of Phyllobius 
argentatus. _ 
DERBYSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY 
SOCIETY.—May 13. A meeting of the Natural History Section of 
this society was held in Smith’s Rooms, Victoria Street, Dr. Greaves 
in the chair, when a paper was read by the Rev. J. M. Mello, M.A., 
F.G.S., on “ The Dover Coalfield and its Connections.” In the course 
of his remarks the lecturer stated that many years ago Col. G. Austen, 
and afterwards Professor Prestwich, came to the conclusion that pro¬ 
ductive coal measures very possibly existed concealed beneath newer 
strata in our south-western counties, but that it would have been 
found to have been connected before the breaking up of tlie measures 
into the separate basins in which they now lie with the South 
Wales and Somerset coalfields to the west, and with those on the other 
side of the English Channel in France and Belgium. Many things, 
the lecturer said, pointed to this conclusion, and there could be little 
doubt but that they once formed part of one great undivided area of 
coal bearing rocks, which, by subsequent earth movements, had been 
broken up into now isolated patches. A discussion followed the 
lecture, and the proceedings concluded with votes of thanks. 
SEVERN VALLEY FIELD CLUB.— Excursion to the Corndon. 
—The first field meeting of the Club for 1890 was held on Tuesday, 
May 20th. The weather being unpromising, only twenty-six members 
were present. The route was from Shrewsbury to Minsterley by rail, 
and from Minsterley to Corndon by carriages. After leaving Minsterley, 
the first point of interest was the quarry at Hope, where Silurian rocks 
rest unconformably upon the Ordovician. The President (Dr. Ch. 
Callaway) pointed out the horizontal stratification of the Silurian 
sandstones, and showed that in the lower part of the section the Ordo¬ 
vician shales were dipping at an angle. Further along the road, the 
Ordovician strata were seen in a very clear exposure to be highly con¬ 
torted. At the Roman Gravels Mine the party was met by Captain 
Arthur Waters, who most kindly placed his services at their disposal, 
showing them first over the old workings of the Romans, and then 
explaining the different processes of crushing and washing by which 
the galena (lead ore) and the blende (zinc ore) were separated from 
their gangue, which consisted mainly of calcite (carbonate of lime), 
