REPORTS OF SOCIETIES. 
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BIRMINGHAM MICROSCOPISTS’ AND NATURALISTS’ 
UNION.—June 21st. Mr. H. Insley showed specimens of Cotyledon 
umbilicus and Saxifraga tridactylites, from Maxstoke ; Mr. J. Madison, 
a collection of land and freshwater shells, made during a visit to 
Scotland, including specimens of Linnaa peregra , var. Burnetti, from 
Loch Skene, so far its only habitat; Mr. C. P. Neville, Trigonia 
costata, T. incurva, and other fossils, from Portland; Mr. H. Hawkes, 
specimens of Thalictrum alpinum , Saxifraga nivalis, Lycopodium 
alpinum, and L. annotinum, from Snowdon; Mr. A. T. Evans, fossil- 
iferous pebbles from the drift, containing Cyathophyllum, Atrypa, and 
Orthis. Mr. C. F. Beale, a complex thorn of Univaria procumbus, from 
South Africa. Under the microscopes: Mr. Mulliss, leg of mining 
bee, with pollen ; Mr. H. Hawkes, section of stem and fruit of Lyco¬ 
podium alpinum ; Mr. J. W. Neville, larvse of an Australian tettigonia, 
found on the eucalyptus tree.—June 28tli. Mr. Deakin exhibited a 
specimen of English adder; Mr. J. Madison, a collection of land and 
fresli-water shells from the Continent; Mr. Jerome Harrison, jun., a 
Palasolithic implement from a gravel bed in the north of France, and 
two of neolithic age from Loughborough, and the peat beds, Denmark ; 
Mr. Corbet, a spider crab, Mata squinado. Under the microscope : 
Mr. J. W. Neville, leaf of an Australian sundew, with captive insects ; 
Mr. H. Hawkes, a section of dock, showing the natural colouring. A 
paper was read by Mr. C. F. Beale, on “ Ancient Flint and Stone 
Implements.” The writer said it would be impossible to find a use 
for all the implements that had been found. They were classed in 
two sections, the Palaeolithic and Neolithic. The former were almost 
always made of flint, and were associated with the remains of the 
mammoth ; the latter were made of all kinds of material, from sand¬ 
stone to jasper, obsidian, and chalcedony, and were associated with 
the remains of animals found living at the present time. Arrow 
heads were of three kinds—triangular, lozenge, and leaf-shaped, 
sometimes finished with serrated edges. Stone hammers were either 
grooved or bored, when they were fixed to the handle either by thongs 
or in the ordinary way. The writer called attention to the strong 
resemblance between stone implements from different parts of the 
world, and the superstitions that had surrounded them from the 
earliest times, and concluded by expressing a hope that members 
would use their eyes in this neighbourhood, that some of these inter¬ 
esting relics might be brought to light. The paper was illustrated by 
a large assortment of implements of different kinds, from roughly 
chipped to highly finished specimens, and some were contrasted with 
spurious ones—the work of “ Flint Jack.”—July 5th. Mr. C. P. 
Neville exhibited a specimen of the long-eared bat, Plecotus auritus ; 
Mr. Deakin, Trichobasis suaveolens and Puccinia variabilis ; Mr. Corbet, 
Uromyces ulmaria ; Mr. J. W. Neville, Helix erronea and H. rivolii, 
from Ceylon.—July 12tli. Mr. A. T. Evans showed cast of a caly- 
mene, amethystine quartz, &c., in pebbles from the Moseley drift; Mr. 
J. Madison, specimens of Limnaa stagnalis, var. fragilis variegata, from 
Malliam Tarn; Mr. J. Harrison, jun., skull of a Siluroid fish, Doras 
maculatus , from South America. Under the microscopes: Mr. Wag- 
staff, a new annelid, Nais Hamata , from Sutton Park ; Mr. Mulliss, 
palate of Trochus zizyphinus. Mr. Sanderson then read a paper on 
“ Birds I have met with in the Yorkshire Dales.” The writer described 
the fauna as very different from that of the Midlands, and gave a list of 
birds common with us yet only rarely met with in Yorkshire. Lists 
were given of the various species, with notes of observations on them, 
the writer regretting that birds adding so much to the beauty of the 
solitude as the raven and heron, should be constantly sacrificed by 
the gamekeeper, the former to grouse, the latter to trout. 
