July, 1892. 
REPORTS OF SOCIETIES. 
165 
neighbourhood of Minchinhampton, on the Cotswolds: Geranium 
lucidum, the shining crane’s bill; G. pyrenaicum, the mountain crane’s 
bill ; Aquilegia vulgaris, the columbine ; Lithospermum arvense, corn 
gromwell ; L. officinale, common gromwell ; Habenaria chlorantha, 
great butterfly orchis ; Monotropa Hypopitys, the bird’s nest; Epipactis 
grandiflora, lielleborine ; Paris quadrifolia, Herb Paris ; Hippuris 
vulgaris, mare’s tail; Euphorbia, with fungus, Lecythea Euphorbia. 
Mosses : Mnium undulatum, Hypnum brevirostre, both in fruit. Mr. 
Marshall, rock specimens from Giant’s Causeway, including 
weathered basalt (red to grey), zeolites in basalt, and an exceedingly 
hard chalk ; Mr. Pumplirey, Anemone sulphurea, A. alpina, and Geum, 
in seed ; Potentilla, white and yellow ; Veronica spicant ? and Phyteuma, 
purple and blue (Swiss); Aconite, yellow; Dianthus atrorubens, and Rosa 
alpina, Hyacinthus plumosus (Swiss), Adiantum Capillus Veneris (from 
Co. Clare, Ireland). Professor Lapworth, LL.D., F. R. S., exhibited and 
described a collection of Stromatopora (presented to Mason College by 
H. J. Carter, Esq., F.R. S.). A very hearty vote of thanks to Professor 
Lapworth was carried with acclamation. 
BIRMINGHAM MICROSCOPISTS’ AND NATURALISTS’ 
UNION.—April 25th. Special Holiday Exhibits. Mr. H. Hawkes 
showed some of the rarer algae of the Weymouth district, also some 
richly covered with parasitic diatoms. Mr. J. W. Neville, a gathering 
of foraminifera from the same locality. Mr. G. H. Corbett described 
the geology of Weymouth and Portland, and showed a number of 
septarian nodules from the Oxford clay, many of them sliced and 
polished, and also enumerated the leading fossils observable in the 
Portland quarries. Messrs. Madison and Linton, a collection of shells 
made during a conchological ramble in Gloucestershire. Under the 
microscope : Mr. W. J. Parker, a rotifer, Hydatina senta ; Mr. Hawkes, 
Ptilota plumosa and Ceramium with tetraspores.—May 2nd. Mr. H. 
Hawkes showed a series of photo-micrographs of diatoms by Mr. 
Ward, of Manchester ; Mr. G. H. Corbett, a series of fossils from the 
Oxford clay of Weymouth, including some rare specimens ; Mr. J. 
Madison, photographs of an exposure in the Oolite beds of Gloucester¬ 
shire. Under the microscope, Mr. Hawkes showed a rare zoophyte, 
Plumularia pennatula .—May 9th. The President, Professor Hillhouse, 
M.A., F.L.S., gave the second lecture on “The Geographical 
Distribution of Plants.” The lecturer said three problems would 
present themselves to those who thought out this subject:—First, 
every plant required certain conditions under which it could live, 
and although you might gradually induce some plants to live 
under different conditions, yet too sudden a change would often 
prove fatal to them. Second, that plants have certain methods 
of distribution. Third, the great obstacles plants have to 
contend with, even when climatic conditions are suitable. The 
chief obstacles were mountain chains and water; the breadth 
of the latter was of small importance if the winds and currents 
favoured them. Islands were of two kinds, some were only fragments 
of a continent; our own was a case in point. We have absolutely no 
plants that exclusively belong to us; they are all European plants. 
Next we have oceanic islands. The Galapagos Archipelago, though 
situated on the equator, has a climate modified by antarctic currents. 
The vegetation of these islands is poor ; one half of the plants belong 
to the islands, the other half are American plants. The island of 
Madeira had been largely altered by man ; of all the plants, about one 
