NOTICES OE SERIALS. 
135 
Club; Alnwick Botanical Society, by the report of which we are glad to see 
that it is proposed to publish its transactions annually, commencing at the close of 
the present year with a “ Flora of Alnwick,” a step which ought to be followed by 
similar societies, one of whose first objects should always be the careful prepara¬ 
tion of local faunas and floras, as in that way can w r e alone hope to form a correct 
estimate of the distribution of species. Natural History Society of Glasgow, con¬ 
taining a very interesting note, by C. W. Peach, Esq., of Wick, in answer to the 
ordinary assertion, that “ the large Medusa preyed on fishes for food;” from his 
observations made on Cyanea aurita and C. capillata , or C. inscripta , of Peron, 
it would appear that the small fishes rush, when attacked or alarmed, under the 
umbrella among the tentacula, taking shelter in the large folds connected with the 
ova, and remaining there till the danger had passed, when they would emerge, and 
sport and play about their sheltering friend. So closely would they lie when under 
the umbrella, on seeing danger, that some young "whiting were, at different times, 
taken into a bucket with their shelter, and when permitted to rest for a short 
time, they would come out and sport again as in the sea. These observations 
would cause us to doubt the fish-eating propensities ascribed to these water- 
framed creatures, and open up a most interesting field of observation for our 
sea-side naturalists, which, no doubt, they will avail themselves of. Retrospect; 
Querist. 
No. 39, May, 1854 :—Man attacked by Polecats ; Feathered Residents in, or 
Visitants to, the grounds of Terrick House ; Birds occurring near Richmond, 
Yorkshire; Birds, local names of, in North Riding of Yorkshire; Ornithological 
Notes ; British Evergreens; Miscellaneous ; Proceedings of Societies—Royal 
Society of Edinburgh; Observations and Discussions on the Structure of the 
“ Torbanehill Mineral, as compared with various kinds of coals,” by Professor 
Bennet. Dr. B. was clearly of opinion that the Torbanehill mineral was a sub¬ 
stance distinct from coal, and not to be confounded with it by any one who paid a 
strict attention to the microscopical character of the two substances. Coal, he 
believed to be formed by coniferous wood, and the structure which coal exhibited 
under the microscope accorded with this idea, but in the Torbanehill mineral the 
wood fibres of Conifera were not seen. He particularly referred to certain bodies 
of a circular form, which were seen in transverse sections of all true coals, when 
examined under a high magnifying power. These bodies he considered to form 
the true marks of coal, and he never found them wanting in any specimens of true 
coal. But in the Torbanehill mineral they did not occur, and their absence 
showed it not to be a kind of coal, but a mineral having a different origin.” In 
the discussion which followed, several members took an active part. Professor 
Balfour, who spoke at considerable length, was of opinion that the Torbanehill 
mineral was “ a cannel coal nearly allied to brown Methill, formed from Acro- 
genous plants, containing scalariform tissue, and an abundance of yellow gas, 
giving matter apparently the altered contents of cells.’’ Professor Gregory ap¬ 
proved generally of the observations of Professor Balfour, and proceeded to the 
chemical aspect of the question, and expressed his conviction that the general 
chemical characters of the mineral did not differ in any essential particular from 
Methill, and, perhaps, some other kinds of undoubted coals. Dr. Wilson called 
attention to the affinity that existed between the Torbanehill mineral and bitumi¬ 
nous shale. Dr. Douglas Maclagan inquired of Dr. Bennett, with regard to the 
