198 
REPORTS OF SOCIETIES. 
complement of the “ Illustrations,” and the two combined will 
render comparatively easy in the future what has always been the 
hardest task of a British mycologist, the satisfactory identification 
of the members of the vast and polymorphous genus, to which the 
common mushroom belongs. The descriptions, which are founded 
chiefly on those in Fries’s “ Monographia Hymenomycetum Sueciae,” 
are fuller and more comprehensible than have ever been at 
our command before. Dimensions are given in nearly every 
case, with the colours of the pileus, the size of the spores, and other 
means of identification—a most blessed change from that curt 
Linnaean style in which some of the early mycologists believed. 
Besides this, all the sub-genera and some of the smaller sub-divisions 
are illustrated by wood-cuts engraved in his well-known effective style 
by Mr. Worthington G-. Smith. W. B. G. 
iUports of Societies. 
BIRMINGHAM NATURAL HISTOKY AND MICROSCOPICAL 
SOCIETY.— Biological Section, June8th. Prof. W. Hillhouse,M.A.,in 
the chair. Mr. J. E. Bagnall, A.L.S., exhibited Bromus secalinus , 
Arenaria leptoclados, Trifolium striatum, Pyrus communis var. Pyraster , 
Thlaspi arvense , Montia fontana , Trifolium filiforme, from the Arrow 
district, the last three plants being new as records ; for Mr. Wm. 
Mathews, M.A., the very rare Carex Boenninghauseniana; and presented 
on behalf of Mr. Fred. Enock, F.E.S., beautifully prepared slides of the 
Fairy Fly, Anagrus incarnatus, and head of Ground Bee, Colletes 
Daviesava, which were accompanied with carefully executed lithographic 
drawings and descriptive letterpress also by Mr. Enock. Mr. W. B. 
Grove, B.A. (for Mr. Hawkes), Fungi, (Ecidium tragopogonis and Ustilayo 
receptaculorum on Tragopoyon minor from Great Barr.— Microscopical 
and General Meeting, June 15tli. Prof. W. Hillhouse, M.A., gave an 
interesting account of the growth of the cocoa-nut ( Cocos nucifera), and 
exhibited specimens cut in different sections to show the various parts. 
He referred to the nut being formed from three altered leaves or 
carpels, as shown by the shape of the husk and the three holes in the 
shell. After describing its structure and the manner of the growth of 
the young plant, and the ingenious way in which it escapes from the 
hard shell, he described the sweet albuminous fluid called “milk,”and 
its use to the plant; and concluded his lucid and instructive lecture by 
a facetious reference to the juice taken from the flowers, and known as 
“ palm toddy.” Mr. J. Edmonds exhibited, under the microscope, 
living specimens of Polyzoa, Entomostraca, and Crustaceans sent by 
Mrs. Rabone, from Tenby. Mr. W. H. Wilkinson exhibited Trientalis 
europcea, and a collection of minute plants from the top of a hill in 
Scotland. 
BIRMINGHAM MICROSCOPISTS’ AND NATURALISTS’ 
UNION.—May 17th. Mr. J. Moore exhibited specimens of the mason 
wasp, Odynenus murarius, and their nests ; also cuckoo flies, Chrysis 
ignita, reared from the same. Under the microscopes : Mr. Wagstaff, 
two polyzoa, Alcyonella fungosa and Prcdericella Sultana , and a thrips, 
