196 
MEETING OF NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETIES. 
Flora of Leicestershire, which will no doubt be welcomed by botanists, 
and is an example of the useful work which enthusiastic naturalists 
may undertake in many branches of knowledge. 
The Meeting of the British Association in Birmingham last year 
was naturally attended by many of our members, and several papers 
on the local Natural History were contributed by them both to the 
Handbook to the Birmingham district, which was prepared for the use 
of the Association, and to the Sectional Meetings. Among these, we 
may mention the papers on Heredity in Cats with an extra number 
of toes, and on the Artificial Production of a Gilded Appearance in 
certain Lepidopterofis Pupse, by E. B. Poulton, M.A.; Preliminary 
Notes on the Autumnal Fall of Leaves, by Professor W. Hillhouse, 
M.A., F.L.S.; on the Geology of the Birmingham District, by Professor 
Charles Lapworth, LL.D., F.G.S.; on a Deep Boring for Water in 
the New Bed Marls, near Birmingham, by W. J. Harrison, F.G.S. ; 
The Bocks between the Thick Coal and Trias, North of Birmingham, 
and the old South Staffordshire Coalfield, by Frederick G. Meacham, 
M.E., and H. Insley ; on the Halesowen Coalfield, by W. Mathews, 
M.A., F.G.S.; and A Beport on the Erratics of the Midlands, by Bev. 
H. W. Crosskey, LL.D.; the Fossiliferous Bunter Pebbles contained m 
the Drift at Moseley, &c., by A. T. Evans ; the Extension and Prob¬ 
able Duration of the South Staffordshire Coalfield, by H. Johnson ; 
the Ordovician Bocks of Shropshire, by Prof. C. Lapworth, LL.D. ; 
Provincial Museums : their Work and Value, by F. T. Mott. 
The Societies of the Union were also invited by the Secretaries of 
the various Committees of the British Association to render to these 
Committees any help which they might find in their power, and, we 
believe, a considerable number of our members responded to the 
request. 
During the winter a beginning was made, though in a very tentative 
manner, with a scheme for the delivery of lectures, or the reading of 
papers among the Societies of the Union by visitors from other towns. 
A few visits were thus arranged for, but the season was already too 
far advanced when the subject was brought before the notice of the 
members, and the replies which did come in were in several cases too 
late to do anything with for the present. We believe that such an 
inter-visiting of members of the various Societies in the Union would 
be found to stir up an interest in Natural History among the younger 
members, to whom we must look to take the places of those who, as 
the years go by, must in the course of nature pass away, whose 
removal in so many cases so seriously cripples the work of local 
Societies, especially where these are small. 
In reviewing the whole course of the Union for the year, we are 
confident that there is no need for despondency as to the work that is 
being done. There is abundant evidence that in spite of the heavy 
pressure on mind and body, which is so increasingly exerted by 
business engagements at the present day, possibly even in some cases 
as a relief from this pressure, many turn to the study of Nature with 
eagerness, and find still as ever that “ Nature never doth betray the 
heart that loves her.” Our office as a Union is to make it easier for 
anyone who is attracted to such study to discover what has been and 
is being done in the same field; to place, as far as possible, the 
knowledge and experience of all at the disposal of each one. 
The Treasurer’s report showed a balance in hand of 
£22 Os. 9d., as against £18 2s. 2d. last year, so that the 
financial position of the Union was considered very satis¬ 
factory. 
