26 
NATURAL HISTORY NOTE. 
Batumi pistor]) Bote. 
Nais Hamata (A. Fresli Habitat for).—Lately I have again found 
this interesting annelid, first discovered by Mr. T. Bolton in Sutton 
Park last year (1885), and described by him in the “ Midland Naturalist.” 
I mention this fact because Mr. Bolton describes it as rare. However, 
it has turned up this last October in considerable numbers in a well- 
known boggy pool near the town, and as was the case in Sutton Park, 
it was accompanied by a large number of beautiful forms, both animal 
and vegetable, amongst which I may mention, just as an example, the 
following:— Conochilus Volvox , Volvox Globator, Anurcea serrulata, and 
many other free-swimming rotifers, a large variety of the testaceous 
Rhizopoda, Amoeba princeps (this in abundance), desmids, including 
Micrasterias, Closteriums, Peniums, Euastrums, Spirotaeniums, and an 
abundance of that pretty typical palmellaceous Alga the Eremosplicera 
viridis. I shall be glad to find Nais hamata very common if it is 
alicays found in such good company as the above seems to indicate.— 
E. H. Wagstaff. 
|k])oi'ts of .Societies. 
-_—^—- 
BIRMINGHAM NATURAL HISTORY AND MICROSCOPICAL 
SOCIETY. —General Meeting, December 7th.—Mr. W. B. Grove, B.A., 
exhibited Rosellinia mammceformis , from Sutton (new to the district) ; 
for Mr. H. T. Soppitt, Ag. licmophorus, with a photo of the same; 
Geoglossum glabruvi and G. viscosum, from Yorkshire ; for Mr. J. 
Hamson, Xylaria polymorplia, Ag. proboscideus (new to Britain), from 
Bedford ; for Mr. W. H. Wilkinson, Crucibulum vulgare, from Weinyss 
Bay, and Peziza purpurascens, from Crieff. Mr. Blakemore exhibited 
an egg shell showing a kind of fungous growth inside the shell. Mr. 
W. H. Wilkinson then read a paper entitled “ A Ramble amongst the 
Lichens,” in which he described the results of a ramble on the Island 
of Bute, in search of these interesting, although lowly, plants. He 
exhibited nearly thirty specimens collected on that occasion, the chief 
characteristics of which he described, with the “habitat” in which 
each was found. His remarks were further illustrated by sketches on 
the blackboard and sections under the microscopes. 
BIRMINGHAM MICROSCOPISTS’ AND NATURALISTS’ 
UNION.—November 22nd.—A paper was read by Mr. Wagstaff on 
“ Old and New Forms of Fine Adjustment.” The writer described the 
subject as one of great and growing importance to every microscopist, 
and one that was felt in proportion to the number of high powers 
used, and it ranked as one of the three essentials of every good instru¬ 
ment. The paper mentioned the weak points of many fine adjust¬ 
ments, one of the commonest being the apparent lateral motion of the 
object. Various movements were then reviewed, including the old side 
bar, side lever, Zentmayer’s, Swift’s patent climax, Campbell’s, 
Royston Pigott’s, said to read off the 400,000th of an inch, and Nelson’s 
