NATURAL HISTORY NOTES. 
299 
as the producing force has been exerted in a given direction, the 
cracks take for each district a fairly well-defined direction. 4. There 
appears to be good evidence that the bearings of the lines of rupture 
through the rocks materially influence the deposition of ores within 
them. Whether this is due to magnetic or to some other polar force 
has not been determined. 5. These fissures are the channels through 
which gases, vapours, or fluids are forced from vast depths, bringing 
with them metalliferous compounds, which are deposited on the sides 
of the rents under the influence of mechanical attraction or of crystal- 
logenic force. 6. The ever-varying conditions of subterranean tem¬ 
perature, of electrical currents, of chemical action, and probably of 
other forces as yet unknown, are constantly producing variations in 
the phenomena of ore deposits which seriously complicate the inquiry 
into their formation .”—The Athenceum , in a review of “A Treatise on 
Ore Deposits,” by J. Arthur Phillips, F.R.S. (Macmillan and Co.) 
of ^otidifs. 
BIRMINGHAM NATURAL HISTORY AND MICROSCOPICAL 
SOCIETY.— General Meeting, September 2nd, Mr. T. H. Waller in 
the chair. 1 -—Mr. J. E. Bagnall exhibited Linarici spuria, Galaviintha 
mentliifolia, Nitella fiexilis, Nepeta cataria, and other plants from near 
Stratford-on-Avon ; also, on behalf of Mr. S. Walliker, Lycopodium 
alpiuum, L. clavatum, Cladonia cornucopioides, Hypnum crista-castrense, 
and other lichens and mosses from Norway. Mr. W. B. Grove, B.A., 
exhibited Torula stilhospora , Phoma hederce, Phyllosticta cytisella, 
Glceosporium cytisi, Cladosporium fasciculare, Protomyces macrosporus 
Marasmius rotula, all from Hampton-in-Arden. Biological Section, 
September 9th, Mr. R. W. Chase in the chair.—Mr. T. Bolton exhibited 
a new rotifer, a campanulate floscule with only two lobes. Mr. W. B. 
Grove, B.A., Mortierella candelabrum, a species of fungus new to Britain; 
Lentinus lepideus, and Fuligo varians (The Flowers of Tan) from a tan 
yard at Selly Oak ; also Valonia and Divi-divi, materials used in tanning, 
and PeniciUium grown from the mothering of the tanning liquor. Mr. 
J. E. Bagnall, Pimpinclla viagna from near Matlock Bath. General 
Meeting, September 16tli, Mr. T. H. Waller in the chair.—Dr. Cooke 
was elected a corresponding member of the society. Mr. J. E. Bagnall 
exhibited for Mr. W. Southall a fine example of Lycoperdon giyanteum, 
an edible fungus from his garden at Edgbaston. Also for Mr. R. W. 
Chase, Colchicum autumnale, from Hamstead. Mr. T. Bolton exhibited 
Hydrodictyon utriculatum , found lately near Birmingham. Mr. W. H. 
Wilkinson, Spiranthes autumnalis, Geranium sanguineum, Helianthemum 
canum, and other plants from the Little Orme’s Head, North Wales. 
Geological Section, September 23rd.—Mr. Waller exhibited micro¬ 
sections : a Phonolite from among Canadian Apatite, showing a crystal 
of nosean, preserved by being enclosed in a crystal of felspar; pitch- 
stone from Arran, showing skeleton felspar crystal, with a fringe of 
hornblende microliths. For Mr. W. R. Hughes, rocks from Bettws 
and Penmaenmawr, N. Wales. Mr. W. B. Grove, Hypoxylon 
concentricum, a fungus found during the last Banbury excursion ; H. 
coccineum with its supposed conidial state, Isaria umbrina, forming a 
curious object something like a mite, and formerly called by Sowerby 
on that account ycoperdon acariforme; also one of the most curious of 
British mites, Tegeocranus latus (nymph and larva), from Sutton. Mr. 
Josiali Lowe, foraminifera from chalk: the chalk bought in the 
