268 
REPORTS OF SOCIETIES. 
far more limited than the view of the guide-books. The descent was 
made by Llanberis, where the glacier-scooped valleys, striations, 
moraines, and erratic blocks were described as furnishing a five-mile 
walk of surpassing interest to the geologist. The paper was illus¬ 
trated by photographs and collections of rocks, shells, &c., gathered 
by the way.—August 29th. A general exhibition, friends being invited. 
The specimens comprised collections of British birds, birds’ eggs 
and nests, British and foreign insects, fossils of the Carboniferous 
period, caddis cases, land shells, dried plants, microscopic fungi, and 
a series of objects under the microscopes. The meeting was well 
attended, and the interest shown by the visitors in the different objects 
made it an instructive and enjoyable evening.—September 5th. Mr. 
J. Madison exhibited specimens of Helix rufescens , var. rubescens, from 
Edge Hill; Mr. Deakin, eggs of quail, Cotumix vulgaris. Under the 
microscope, Mr. H. Hawkes showed a slide of five pollens ; Mr. J. W. 
Neville, auditory organs of grasshopper. Mr. H. Insley then read a 
paper contributed by Mr. C. F. Beale, on “ A Visit to the Ordovician 
Bocks of the Corndon District.” The paper described a ramble from 
Montgomery to Warrington Dingle, through Chirburv. An exposure of 
the Wliiltery ash was first met with, where a few graptolites were found. 
The Aldress shales yielded a few fossils ; by following the Spybrook 
for some distance the Spyburn grit was reached, which yielded some 
splendid fossils, notably some very large specimens of Berychia compli- 
cata. The Middleton beds, Corndon beds, and Weston grits were 
explored, and a good number of specimens secured.—September 12th. 
A paper was read by Mr. Armstrong on “Volcanoes.” The writer 
said the subject of the paper had been enveloped in mystery and 
superstition from the earliest ages, but the advances of science had 
stripped it of its supernatural elements. The paper dealt with the 
different kinds of volcanoes, their number and uses, and described 
the more important products ejected from them, concluding by 
pointing out to how great an extent the beauty of English scenery 
was owing to volcanic agency. The paper was largely illustrated by 
diagrams. 
LEICESTER LITERARY AND PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY. 
—Section D, Zoology and Botany. Evening Meeting, September 21st. 
Attendance twelve (three ladies). Mr. F. T. Mott in the chair, in the 
absence of Dr. Tomkins, chairman. ExhibitsBy Rev. T. A. 
Preston, white variety of Viola Biviniana in flower, and growing plants 
of Astrantia major for distribution. By Mr. T. Palmer, fronds of 
Nephrodium Thelypteris from Norfolk. By Mr. F. T. Mott, dried 
specimens of Asplenium viride from the Craven Hills, Yorks., for 
distribution. Mr. Mott presented reports upon the publication of the 
“ Flora of Leicestershire,” showing the cost of publication and adver¬ 
tising, and the number of copies sold ; also on Mr. Bates’s collection 
of 1,700 microscopic slides of the Freshwater Algae of the county, 
purchased by the Society ; also copies of the report of the Corres¬ 
ponding Societies’ Committee to the British Association, giving a 
Catalogue of Papers published in the Transactions of the various 
Local Societies for the past twelve months, thirteen papers read in the 
Sections of the Leicester Literary and Philosophical Society being 
mentioned; and of the report of the Provincial Museums’Committee 
of the Association, giving particulars of 211 museums in the British 
Islands, exclusive of those in London. The chairman then read a 
short paper on “ The Songs of some Leicestershire Birds,” showing 
that there were about thirty species of singing birds known in the 
county, and giving particulars of the songs of twenty with which he 
was most familiar. 
