206 
MEETING OF NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETIES. 
Flora of Warwickshire , which has appeared monthly in the “ Midland 
Naturalist,” will also, we trust, be completed during the present 
year. 
As signified last year, Mr. W. Jerome Harrison, the General Hon. 
Secretary of the Union, now retires from the office which he has filled, 
more or less continuously, since the formation of the Union. As his 
successor the Council has much pleasure in recommending Mr. T. H. 
Waller, B.A., B.Sc., of Birmingham. 
In concluding this report, the Council wish to thank the officers 
and members of the Peterborough Natural History and Scientific 
Society for the very admirable arrangements which they have made, 
and the great pains which they have taken to secure the success of 
the present meeting. 
ILfuntl if)istoni Bates. 
Correction.— In our June number (p. 170) the description of the 
arrival of large flocks of swallows on the east coast should have been 
marked as communicated by Mr. de Hamel, the actual observation 
having been made by a friend. 
Mr. Herbert Spencer. —Admirers of the synthetic philosophy will 
be interested to hear that there is a bust of the author in this year’s 
exhibition of the Royal Academy. The Hanging Committee, who 
seldom give universal satisfaction, appear to have placed the bust in a 
very appropriate position. It is in the Lecture Room, against the 
south wall, and is situated between two very graceful compositions 
of “Ariel,” by Mr. Walter Ingram, and a “Portrait of a Lady,” 
by Count Gleichen. The bust of Mr. Herbert Spencer, which 
is by the eminent sculptor, Mr. J. E. Boehm, R.A., is of terra 
cotta, and although, from the nature of the material, it is somewhat 
“sketchy,” it must be regarded as a very admirable likeness, although 
it lacks—as all conceptions of this nature unavoidably lack—that 
sunniness which brightens and animates the countenance of the 
Master when in conversation. It is to be hoped that copies of the bust of 
a smaller size will be published so that Mr. Herbert Spencer’s many 
friends and admirers may obtain this interesting souvenir. There is 
also a most effective bust of Darwin, by Mr. Robert Stark, in the same 
exhibition.—W. R. H. 
METEOROLOGICAL NOTES.— May, 1884. 
The barometer was inclined downwards at the commencement of 
the month, and continued to fall until the 4th, when it reached its 
lowest point, 29.250 inches, at 8 a.m., after which it rose rather rapidly 
to the 10th. After a fluctuating movement, it again rose rapidly to 
30.450 inches, on the 22nd, thence falling in an undulatory manner to 
the end of the month. Temperature was decidedly low until the 8tli, 
