140 
NATURAL HISTORY NOTES. 
total values being 1-21 inches at Strelley and Henley-in-Arden, 1*06 at 
Hodsock, 0-83 at Loughborough, and 0'79 at Coston Rectory. The 
greatest fall occurred at each station on the 3rd, and the number of 
“rainy days” ranged from 11 to 15. The greater portion of the rain 
fell in the earlier days of the month, so that vegetation was not 
sufficiently advanced to suffer much injury from the frequency of 
radiation frosts. Snow fell on the 6tli, 18tli, 20th, and 21st. Sunshine 
was deficient. The wind varied in direction, and was not of so much 
force as is customary in March. The dry nature of the soil was highly 
advantageous for farming operations. 
Wm. Berridge, F. R. Met. Soc. 
12, Victoria Street, Loughborough. 
Batumi tl) is torn Botes. 
The Midland Union. —The following arrangements for the Annual 
Meeting in June are nearly completed :—on the morning of June 16th, 
the Committee will meet in the Council Chamber at the Council House; 
in the afternoon the General Meeting will be held in the Examination 
Hall at the Mason College; and in the evening there will be a Soiree 
in the Town Hall, when the electric light will be used for illumination 
instead of gas. On the 17th, there will be three excursions ; one to 
Kinver and Enville, one to Cannock Chase, and one to Bromsgrove 
Lickey. The reception room will be in the Library of the Birmingham 
Natural History and Microscopical Society in the Mason College. We 
hope to see delegates and friends from all the Societies in the CJnion. 
British Association. —Arrangements as to the accommodation of 
the British Association in Aberdeen at its meeting in September are 
now being finally made, in consonance with the suggestions of Professor 
Bonney in April last. In addition to £2,000 obtained by personal 
application, other sums have been received for the guarantee fund, in 
answer to a circular recently issued. It has been arranged that the 
Artists’ Society shall hold its exhibition during the session of the 
Association, instead of in the summer months, and that it shall be 
open free to members of the Association; natural history and 
archaeological exhibitions have also been proposed, as well as a project 
for establishing telephonic connection between the various halls placed 
at the disposal of members. 
Hermaphroditism of Germigenal Cells. —The development of ova 
and spermatozoa has of late years formed the subject of many elaborate 
researches, the latest of which by E. Van Benedenis full of importance 
and interest. The phenomenon of the separation of polar vesicles from 
the ovum has been regarded by some authorities, including the late 
Professor Balfour, of Cambridge, as simply a case of cell-division, 
and by others as the exclusion of the male element from the origin¬ 
ally hermaphrodite ovarian cell. Since the phenomenon does not occur 
in cases of Parthenogenesis the latter theory seem very probable; but, 
on the other hand, the obvious question is whether any similar exclu¬ 
sion of a female element from the spermatozoon takes place, and hitherto 
no satisfactory instance has been given. In his last paper, Van Beneden, 
who is a strong upholder of this theory, states that the male germigenal 
cell before its development into spermatozoa throws off a globule which 
he regards as the female element of the nucleus. We shall await with 
interest the confirmation or disproof of this remarkable statement. 
