194 
MEETING OF NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETIES. 
medal in any year when, as unfortunately in this, the majority of the 
Adjudicators decide that none of the papers sent in are of sufficient 
merit to warrant the award of the medal. 
The Committee appointed at the Birmingham meeting to bring the 
appeal as to the destruction of wild plants before the public took 
considerable pains to do the work entrusted to them effectually. They 
obtained the insertion of the appeal in many of the leading journals of 
the country, and articles were also published in several of them, 
drawing attention to and enforcing the appeal. It was also circulated 
extensively among the leading Natural History and other Societies of 
the country, and in many instances promises were sent in reply that 
these would do all in their power still further to spread the appeal and 
to carry out the suggestions contained in it. 
The Council feels that the Committee deserve the hearty thanks of 
the Union for the thorough and painstaking way in which they have 
conducted the work, and hopes that as time goes on we may see the 
result of their labour in an increased abundance of the rarer plants of 
our country. 
In conclusion, the Council, while regretting the apathy as regards 
the Union of so many of the members, feels that the circumstances 
of many of the component Societies are at present exceptionally 
difficult, and that it is only by tlie^efforts of those who can bring to 
the task the necessary energy, and can devote to it the necessary time 
and attention, that the Union can be preserved for better times. 
THE CONVERSAZIONE. 
The Conversazione was held in the large room of the Music Hall 
on Tuesday evening, when there was a large company present, 
including delegates from Birmingham, Malvern, Tamworth, and 
Peterborough, in addition to representatives from various parts of 
Shropshire. Principally through the kindness of local ladies and 
gentlemen, an unusually interesting collection of curiosities was 
displayed upon tables arranged round the room, whilst upon the walls 
many objects of interest were exhibited. The chief attraction, however, 
appeared to centre in the microscopical instruments, the marvellous 
specimens of life, as seen when magnified, obviously affording an 
interesting and instructive lesson for the majority of those present. 
The microscopes and specimens of organisms were kindly lent by Mr. 
Bolton, of Birmingham, the Rev. W. Houghton, Mr. H. E. Forrest, 
Mr. W. E. Harding, Mr. W. Beacall, and Mr. F. W. Richards. During 
the evening a couple of scientific lectures, which were made exceedingly 
interesting by the respective lecturers, were delivered by Dr. Callaway, 
of Wellington, and Mr. Luff, of Shrewsbury. 
The former gentleman, in the course of his discourse upon the 
formation of the Wrekin, said that the view first held by the Geological 
Survey in respect to the formation of this mountain was that it was 
composed of a mass of intrusive green-stone. The first to throw doubt 
upon the view was Mr. Allport, of Birmingham, a man who had 
rendered great service to geological science, and who, by the application 
of the microscope, had introduced quite a revolution into that science. 
Mr. Allport applied the microscope to the strata rocks of the Wrekin, 
and ascertained that they were composed of volcanic rock lavas and 
volcanic ashes, which had been erupted at the surface like ordinary 
volcanic rocks. The next step was to ascertain the age of this volcanic 
series, and it was found that these lavas and ashes were several 
