THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
Tlios. Jas. Cottle, Pulteney 
Villa, Cheltenham 
W. H. Holcombe, Campden, 
Gloucestershire 
George Cooper, Ward End, 
Birmingham 
296 
Henry Herbert, Powick, Wor¬ 
cester 
John Herbert, Leigh Par¬ 
sonage, near Eeigal 
James Leighton, 1N3, High- 
st., Cheltenham 
To this Memorial the following reply has been re¬ 
ceived :— 
“ TO CHAS. PUNCHABD, ESQ., HAVERHILL. 
“ Birmingham , June 2~)lh, 1853. 
“ Dear Sir,—I beg to acknowledge the receipt of your 
favour of the 13th instant, enclosing a memorial on the 
subject of the time during which the Birmingham Ex¬ 
hibition of Poultry is kept open, and I have taken the 
earliest opportunity of submitting the same to the 
General Purposes Committee of the Council. 
“ I am instructed in reply to inform you that it is 
quite impossible that any change can be made in the 
regulations to which the Memorialists refer. In order 
to carry on the exhibition efficiently, and to accomplish 
all the council have in view, it is absolutely necessary 
that they should have large funds at their disposal. It 
is now purposed to add a new compartment to Bingley 
Hall, which shall be used solely for the poultry show, 
and this addition will involve considerable expense in 
new and improved fittings; the council have moreover 
increased the amounts offered for prizes in the several 
departments of their exhibition, the prizes for poultry 
this year exceeding those awarded in December last, by 
about .£80. 
“ You will thus perceive that the council cannot con¬ 
sent to any alterations which would lead to a diminution 
of the society’s revenue. (The private view which takes 
place on Tuesday, produced last year no less than ±‘427, 
exclusive of subscriptions ; and many of the subscribers 
only visited Bingley Hall on that day.) 
“Were the proposition of the memorialists to he 
adopted, the amount named would he almost entirely 
lost, and the subscription list seriously diminished: 
while it is found that the four days are scarcely suffi¬ 
cient to enable all who are interested in the exhibition 
to make a careful examination of the specimens. 
“ At the same time, the council are most anxious to 
take every possible care of the fowls sent to the show, 
and to adopt the best modes of feeding, and managing 
them, while in confinement. A committee was appointed 
so early as the 27th of January last, ‘To ascertain if 
any and what alterations can he made in the arrange¬ 
ment of the pens, so as to facilitate the inspection of the 
specimens by the visitors; to decide upon the best mode 
of conducting the sales ; to engage a poultry salesman, 
and other assistants ; and to make such regulations with 
regard to feeding and the kinds of food which are to be 
used, as shall, in their opinion, be calculated to insure 
the preservation in good health of the birds sent for 
exhibition.’ 
“ This committee will be glad to receive and consider 
any suggestions which you, or your friends, may be pre¬ 
pared to make; and I believe it is their intention to 
perfect such arrangements as will enable them to send 
off the fowls on Friday night, or early on Saturday, so 
July 21. 
that they may be received by their owners on the latter 
day. 
“ From inquiries which have already been made, there 
is no reason to suppose that birds which are sent to the 
show in good health will suffer any material injury. 
“ Should it be your intention and that of the other 
subscribers to publish the memorial, I am instructed to 
request that the same publicity may be given to this 
letter. “ I am, &c. 
“ John Morgan, Jun., Sec.’’ 
As the proceedings of the London Entomological Society 
often possess considerable interest both to agriculturists 
and horticulturists, independently of their general claim 
to notice as connected with the most numerous, ubiqui¬ 
tous, and, in many respects, singular tribes of animals, 
we have resolved to give Reports of the Meetings of 
this Society in our columns, trusting that by that means 
the attention of many of our readers may be directed to 
the subject, and that some of them, at least, may be 
induced to add to their previous pursuits that of the 
examination of the insect tribes with which they are so 
extensively surrounded. It is not for us, in this place, 
to write an encomium upon the study of Entomology, 
because our pages have, from time to time, sufficiently 
proved the deep interest with which the subject is 
capable of being invested when a proper direction is 
given to the mode of study, and when, instead of getting 
together a oase full of dried specimens of, it may indeed 
be true, very beautiful butterflies, moths, or beetles, the 
attention is directed to the investigation of their habits, 
the examination of their economy, or the elucidation of 
their natural relations with each other, or with the 
world around. 
The Entomological Society has now been established 
nearly twenty years. It is not of great extent as regards 
the number of its members, but this is amply made up 
by their activity. It holds its meetings on the first 
Monday of every month throughout the year; it pos¬ 
sesses an excellent collection of insects, both British 
and Exotic, as well as an excellent library; and it 
publishes its Transactions quarterly, consisting of the 
Memoirs read at the meetings, generally illustrated with 
coloured plates. The President holds his seat for two 
years consecutively, and among the past Presidents are 
Messrs. Spence, F.R.S.; W. W. Saunders, F.R.S.; G. II. 
Waterhouse; and J. 0. Westwood. The present Pre¬ 
sident is Mr. Newman, author of various works on 
Entomology, as well as upon British Ferns, and Editor 
of the “ Zoologist,” and “ Botanist.” 
The meeting for July was held on the 4th instant, at 
the Society’s new apartments in Bedford Row, with the 
President in the chair. A number of Entomological 
works, presented since the last meeting, were upon the 
table, and a great number of rare insects, recently cap¬ 
tured, were exhibited by different members. Amongst 
these was a box filled with rarities, both of Coleoptera 
(Beetles) and Lepidoptera (Butterflies and Moths), col¬ 
lected in Perthshire by Mr. Foxcroft, and intended for 
