300 
REPORTS OF SOCIETIES. 
Mr. Madison specimens of Solen siliqun and S. ensis; Mr. Hawkes, 
Parncissia palustris; Mr. Rodgers, an ichneumon fly, Ophion luteum. 
A paper was then read by Mr. W. Dunn on “Rotifers: their habits 
and habitats,” in which lie described a typical rotifer, and the views 
of early microscopists respecting them; the two kinds of rotifers— 
free swimming and fixed—the attachment of their eggs, their great 
fecundity, the general scarcity of males, and their modes of progres¬ 
sion were severally dealt with, and types of the various kinds 
described. The paper, which was illustrated by diagrams, concluded 
by giving a few plain directions to their habitats, and the best modes 
of viewing them. 
LEICESTER LITERARY AND PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY.— 
Section D.— Zoology and Botany. —Chairman, F. T. Mott, F.R.G.S.— 
Monthly meeting, Wednesday, September 16th. The Chairman 
reported that at the Field Day, on the 19th August, six members went 
to Brooksby Station, examined the River Wreake and the fields 
adjoining, and visited the prettily situated village of Hoby. In the 
river were found abundantly the water plants (Enanthe fluviatilis , 
Potamogeton pectinatus , P. Jlabellatus, P. lucens, P. perfoliatus , &c. ; in 
the adjoining fields and on the river banks, Tanacetum vulgare and 
several other plants not hitherto recorded for that district. Also 
fifteen species of land and freshwater shells, including Anodonta 
cygnea, A. anatina , Unio tumidus, XJnio pictorum, and Dreissena 
polymorplia. These five, the only species of large -bivalves which 
inhabit the waters of the Midlands, were all taken together within one 
square yard. The Chairman proposed, as w’ork for the Section during 
the autumn and winter, the preparation of a large number of drawings, 
magnified from three to twelve times, of the floral organs ^f various 
plants, both native and exotic. It would be a work of very considerable 
value and one in which the ladies could render great assistance. He 
presented a set of written instructions for the preparation of such 
drawings. Miss Catherine Hewitt was elected a member of the Section. 
Among the objects exhibited were some very fine specimens of 
Anodonta and Unio, dredged from the lake at Wistow Hall, one example 
of A. cygnea measuring six and a half inches in length ; also specimens 
of the microscopic fungi, JEcidium compositarum and Coleosporium 
tussilaginis, on the leaves of the common colt’s-foot, by Mr. Quilter. 
Several numbers of Cole’s microscopic studies and slides, by Mr. 
Grundy. Fronds of the fern Cystopteris bulbifera bearing an abundance 
of its curious bulbils, by Mr. Thorp. Fruiting branch of Bubns 
laciniatus, the cut-leaved bramble, a variety which lias been in cultiva¬ 
tion for many years, being figured and described by Loudon in 1829, 
though rarely mentioned in more recent works, and which has lately 
been sold as an “American blackberry,” by Miss Noble. A collection of 
thirty-five rare species of plants from Ben Lawers, by Mr. Carter, who 
promised a paper on the flora of that remarkable mountain. The 
fifteen species of shells collected by members of the Section at the 
last Field Day, cleaned and named; also a copy of Rimmer’s “Land 
and Freshwater Shells of the British Isles,” illustrated by photography, 
by the Chairman. The Chairman read a paper on “ The Wild 
Geraniums of Leicestershire,” explaining the distinguishing characters 
of the three genera, Pelargonium, Geranium, and Erodium; stating that 
out of about one hundred known species of Geranium , twelve were 
British, and that eight of these were found in Leicestershire, six 
being certainly indigenous. The paper was illustrated by dried speci¬ 
mens of all the British species. 
