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REPORTS OE SOCIETIES. 
|vcpoi'ts of Societies. 
BIRMINGHAM NATURAL HISTORY AND MICROSCOPICAL 
SOCIETY.—The Session of this Society was inaugurated on Tuesday, 
October 4th, by a most successful Conversazione, held in the 
Examination Hall of the Mason College. The attendance numbered 
nearly 200, including no less than eight past-presidents of the Society, 
viz., Messrs. W. R. Hughes, F.L.S. (1864-6 and 1873), W. P. Marshall, 
M.I.C.E. (1869), G. Deane, D.Sc., F.G.S. (1874), Lawson Tait, F.R.C.S. 
(1876), Edmund Tonks, B.C.L. (1877-8), J. Levick, F.R.M.S. (1882), 
T. H. Waller, B.A., B.Sc. (1883-4), and R. W. Chase (1885-6). 
Amongst those present were Professors Tilden, F.R.S. (President of 
the Birmingham Philosophical Society), Allen, Lapworth, and Hill- 
house ; Dr. Anthony, Mr. Horace Pearce, F.G.S. (President of the 
Dudley Geological Society), Mr. J. B. Stone (Mayor of Sutton 
Coldfield), Mr. E. de Hamel (Tamwortli), Mr. Councillor Barclay, 
and many others. There was a very fine collection of exhibits :—A 
large number of zoological specimens, from the Museum of the Mason 
College, shown by Professor Bridge ; a very beautiful exhibit of British 
Birds, mainly albinos and downy birds, from the private collection of 
Mr. R. W. Chase; an extensive series of negatives of photographs of 
Alpine scenery, by Mr. C. Pumphrey, and of flowers, &c., by Mr. C. J. 
Watson, who also exhibited a number of “nature-printed” British 
ferns; a collection of minerals and fossils from the College Museum, 
by Professor Lapworth, including rare and valuable specimens; a 
complete collection of the sedges of Warwickshire, by Mr. J. E. 
Bagnall, A.L.S. ; a gigantic puff-ball (Ly coper don giganteum), and a 
considerable number of vegetable monstrosities, by Professor Hillliouse; 
many fungi, including numerous edible species, by Mr. W. B. Grove, 
B.A.; the spectrum of chlorophyll and blood, by Mr. E. F. J. Love, M.A.; 
living mosses, &c., by Mr. S. Walliker; Miss Taunton, photographs 
and specimens, mainly from Sicily ; and a long list of microscopic 
specimens, by various exhibitors, including specimens illustrating the 
Hessian fly, by Mr. W. P. Marshall. The rooms were tastefully decorated 
with plants, lent by Mr. W. Spmks (of Messrs. Hans Niemand and Co.). 
In the course of the evening, the President (Professor Hillliouse, M.A., 
F.L.S.), gave a brief address, congratulating the members and 
associates on such an auspicious commencement of what he hoped 
would be a most successful Session, and commenting on the presence 
of so many former presidents of the Society. He had hoped that an 
address on the relations between Natural History Societies and the 
scientific work of Colleges and Universities (in that building so 
appropriate a subject) would have been delivered by Professor Bayley- 
Balfour, F.R.S., of Oxford, but, unhappily, pressure of work had 
caused an illness, which rendered it impossible for him to undertake 
the task at present. From a letter which Professor Balfour had sent 
him, Professor Hillliouse read a long extract, drawing attention 
to the strong necessity which exists in the present stage of biological 
teaching in England for systematic attempts to cultivate a love 
of nature in the earlier portion of the student’s life, so as “ to 
make that blend between field naturalists and laboratory workers 
which is so important at the present critical juncture.” 
Biological Section. —October lltli, Mr. R. W. Chase in the chair. 
A paper was read by Mr. W. P. Marshall, on “ The Dredging 
