74 
ANNUAL REPORT. 
attendance of 14-25 members. The meetings have been 
mainly devoted to the exhibition of specimens, by which, and 
the discussions following thereon, their interest has been 
well sustained. Amongst the exhibitors, special mention has 
already been made of Mr. W. JB. Grove, and Mr. J. E. Bagnall; 
the very beautiful ornithological specimens exhibited by 
Mr. Chase were made specially interesting by notes on habits, 
habitats, and other features of bird-life. Many specimens of 
North American plants, and mosses from various parts of 
Great Britain and the Continent have been exhibited from 
the collections of Mr. J. B. Stone, J.P., greatly enhancing 
the interest of the meetings. Mr. W. H. Wilkinson has 
exhibited many lichens and other plants ; Mr. Fred. Enoch 
has exhibited and presented to the Society several beautifully 
prepared slides of insects and spiders ; and other members 
have actively assisted in the work of the section. 
Geological Section, (President, T. H. Waller, B. Sc.; 
Secretary, J. Udall).—Eight meetings of this section have 
been held during the year, with an average attendance of 
fifteen members. The section has to express its indebtedness 
to Mr. T. H. Waller, B. Sc., and Mr. Horace Pearce, F.L.S., 
F.G.S., for the exhibition of various rocks and volcanic dust 
from New Zealand, and of granites, and micro-sections of 
them, from Aberdeen and Peterhead ; also to Mr. W. P. 
Marshall for the fine diagrams with which he illustrated his 
paper on “ Glacier Motion,” and to Mr. T. Evans for the 
exhibition of many beautiful specimens of fossils contained in 
the pebbles of the Drift. 
Sociological Section (President, W. B. Hughes, F.L.S. ; 
Secretary, A. Browett).—During the year twenty-one meet¬ 
ings of this section have been held, nineteen being ordinary 
meetings and two excursions. The average attendance at the 
former has been nine. The main subject of work has been 
the continuation, through Parts IV., V., and YI. of Mr. 
Herbert Spencer’s “ Principles of Biology.” This important 
study was commenced by Dr. Alfred Hill, F.1.0., at a meeting 
of the section on October 4tli, 1888, and was concluded by 
the same gentleman in an able and lucid address on the 
“ Multiplication of the Human Race,” and “Human Popula¬ 
tion in the Future ” at the meeting on December 16th last. 
The exposition, discussion, and illustration of this division of 
Mr. Herbert Spencer’s “ Synthetic Philosophy” has given great 
gratification to those who have joined in it, and it is probably 
the first time that the systematic and combined study of a 
work on the principles of the doctrine of Evolution has been 
thus carried out by any Natural History Society. Eight 
