REPORTS OF SOCIETIES. 
118 
The Geological Survey.— The year 1883 witnessed the completion 
of the one inch to a mile geologically-coloured map of England and 
Wales. Commenced by De La Beclie in 1835, the work was 
continued by Murchison and Ramsay, and has been completed 
under Geikie. But although the map is nominally completed, much 
remains to be done. Some of the staff have been transferred to Scot¬ 
land, but Mr. H. B. Woodward is engaged in Dorsetshire—preparing 
an important memoir on the Oolite—and others are revising, correcting, 
or adding to the work previously done in other districts. The fact is, 
we want (1) a re-survey of the country on the six-incli scale; for we 
have learnt much since the West of England and Wales was mapped— 
thirty to fifty years ago—and the old maps are partly obsolete : (2) the 
preparation of an independent set of diift maps, showing the surface 
deposits so important to the agriculturist; and (3) the issue of des¬ 
criptive memoirs which shall treat fully of the nature and contents of 
the rocks. 
The Ordnance Survey.— Having completed the map of Scotland, 
on the scale of six inches to a mile, the officers and sappers of the 
Royal Engineers have for the last year or two been very busy in the 
Midland Counties of England. Their poles and marks are conspicuous 
objects on every liill-top, and already numerous maps of various 
parts of the district have been issued by the agents—Longmans, Stan¬ 
ford, Ac.—for the sale of Government publications. Maps of the whole 
country on the scale of six inches to a mile, and of towns on the scale 
of twenty-five inches to a mile, are being executed. The immense value 
of the six-incli maps to all engaged in scientific pursuits need not be 
indicated. The detail of these maps is such that they show the out¬ 
line of every field and the position of every tree. The geologist will, 
for the first time, be able to lay down accurately on a large scale map 
the results of his observations, and the archaeologist and the botanist 
will derive equal benefit. It is hoped that the entire Survey will be 
completed by 1890. 
BIRMINGHAM NATURAL HISTORY AND MICROSCOPICAL 
SOCIETY.— General Meeting, February 17th. Mr. Wm. Pumphrey, 
of Bath, displayed a series of photo-micrographs, and read a paper in 
which he gave a description of the apparatus, and method by which 
they w r ere produced. He called attention to the great advantage 
obtained by the use of parallel rays—such parallelism being obtained 
by causing the light (in this case the light from a powerful paraffin lamp) 
to traverse two apertures, placed 1 £ inches from each other, interposed 
between the lamp and the object. By this means the intervention of 
a condensing lens is dispensed with, and a much finer definition 
attained. Mr. Pumphrey concluded by a display on the screen of a 
great variety of objects. The selection embraced portions of insects, 
such as the head appendages of gnats, flies, bees, crickets, &c. ; 
sections of wood, bone, and shell ; perfect insects, as Trombi ilium, 
Pulex, Pedicvlus, &c. In order to illustrate the subject more fully, 
the objects were shown on the screen, in both the positive and negathe 
condition, by which the company were enabled more fully to appreciate 
the details of the process and the results. It was explained that the 
lens used was one of Swift’s new 40° lin. objectives, and that the plates 
were the extra sensitive (XXXXX) of the Paget Plate Company. The 
reproduction of those parts of the objects in which the natural colour 
is inactive excited great attention. At the conclusion a lively conver¬ 
sation ensued, in which many of the members present took part.— 
