Skip to main content

Full text of "Midland naturalist"

See other formats 


pyryy 
‘ y 
NL Ss foranias 4 s 
AN x Narain § ee s » - 
XS ve NG RR 


Me 2 hin . 
ae vat 
yA Bea) 7 > é . 


oF 
ONE 


RENO xh) 


=e 


yi hy M RR 
PAN 
is Sy 


es 
ae Ee 
= — 

Soca 
Cre een’ 


ee 


i 
Nan 
a8 
a 


PSUS SEN, ? 
Na x EAN Ay By Oe) 
He aN i SN 


ty) Ni) ¢ ny yeh is 

NANA YEN sk) AYA 

veins ai SHAN : Me Ws : . : . . ne a 
AAR * GON ie te aN ) ve a nN ay 


By) : Xf 
PAYA WON 
* RAG " N bey sy a 
ARR ae x a . oe 
Q ; x} _ nN ‘ . . & i a ) 
NY <M NN R Nay . BA i y a 
s RH a Ra Re aw , u AS Ni ~ 
MON Sas Rt aN Ny Sof \ ey) SAY ANN 
N AAR ’ ‘i a . Hi i a 
AN aN SY Ny 3 oS Say ‘ We PREG 
oe CANN ne . - SRG Ke 
nh ae yas wy a ee a ENS 4 as An Sag 
x ; i ah 


ay ek Ash 
SAPS YS aA 
SEEN 
ONS yi an HR a 
Nv 


ee 
a5 
Ss 


*: 
3 
GAS 


< 


‘3 af > 
NRE aay) 
ON USN TUR 
RESO UARR URSIN MS TN ‘ 
Se ho - ‘ - RAMANA an 
ORGAN NSN SANDRA iN 
4 vibe NS G Ag thn OW 
a 
. vn Kipst % i creat S 
SSAC SHARRES 
2 us 


‘i ; 
GE 
Ny Ws NH 
at Ye 7 


oe 
oN iy 


Hh 


‘ ’) 
i: Cony iy A . 
A Bay 


7. 


Td 
0 
ey 
Raye 


wy an ay 
Aah i 


\ 
MN Ni RY) aay , 
%) SOAS AN 
i RAT k ae 0) SN NAH 
—. . ee 
\ Aah Ne 1 APO Yi >) \ 
4 ‘i LAA 
NR WK SAR 
‘ Ate 


Wet RON in 
us Aa 
AS 
Bk _ ae 
wae y NO 
ne) AN ay e 
ANS ‘ x 


Ae MK * 
on a WAY 
SK St . - “ 


7 
. ue 


a Ny ae 
RAE . AY 
“ a aM 
a 


aN 


a 


3 R oO tea) 
ROY ae 
. we 
7 

\\ 


Safe 


/ 
foe 
/ 


rl 


~ WW Fe ae e 
LIBRARY Se___ 
2a = eee 


=) 
Ls 


——_ 
ee 


Vee) 


AZ = oe 
PR WaGibsons|ay 45d ae 
ee D 


“NATURALIST 


THE JOURNAL OF THE 
AssociaTeEp NATURAL History, PHILOSOPHICAL, 
AND ARCHA OLOGICAL Societies AND FIELD Clues 
OF THE MIDLAND COUNTIES. 


EDITED BY 
| BE. W. BADGER & W. J. HARRISON, F.G.S. 


““Come forth into the light of things, 
Let Nature be your teacher.” 
Wordsworth. 


NOvLa Me: 
1882. 


— —" \ S 


London: David Bogue, 3, St. Martin’s 
Place, Trafalgar Square, W.C. 


Birmingham: Cornish Brothers, 
37, New Street. 
— 0 —. 


\ | PRINTED AND PUBLISHED AT THE 
HERALD PRESS, UNION §'., RI} RMINGHAM. 


LULMLT, \p a 


= 2S 


es 


PREFACE. 


The undoubted merits of the very able Report on the 
Pennatulida which occupies something like one-fourth of the 
present Volume have been recognised by the award of the 
Darwin Medal to the authors, Professor A. Milnes Marshall, 


‘M.A., M.D., D.Sce., Professor of Zoology in Owens College, 
and Mr. W. P. Marshall, M.I.C.E. To the liberality of the 


Committee of the Birmingham Natural History and Micro- 
scopical Society the Editors are indebted for the excellent 
reproductions of the authors’ exquisite drawings illustrating 
the Report, which have been done at the sole cost of the 
Society. 

The Editors beg to thank their band of regular contributors 
for the valuable assistance they have rendered during the 
past year, and solicit a continuance of their help in the 
future. They will also gladly welcome contributions from 
other competent naturalists, to whom the pages of the 
Magazine will always be open. 

Space will be set apart for questions from inquirers 
seeking information, and no pains will be spared to obtain 
replies from reliable authorities. 

The Darwin prize in 1883 being limited to Archeology, 
the Editors will be glad to receive suitable papers not later 
than the 31st of March next. 


PRINCIPAL CONTRIBUTORS TO THIS VOLUME. 


O. V. Arrry, Bodicote, Banbury. 

E. W. Baneer, Birmingham. 

J. E. Bacnatt, Birmingham. 

Montacu Browne, F.L.S., Leicester. 

GC. Canuaway, M.A., D.Sc., F.G.S., Wellington. 
Rev. J. CaswELu, Oscott. 

G. C. Drucs, F.L.S., Oxford. 

F. Enock, Ferndale, Woking Station. 

Rev. O. M. Frernpen, M.A., Frankton. 

W. B. Grove, B.A., Birmingham. 

Eepert DE Hamen, Tamworth. 

W. J. Harrison, F.G.S., Birmingham. 

C. T. Hupson, M.A., LL.D., F.R.M.S., Clifton. 

T. Macavnay, M.R.C.S.L., Kibworth, Leicester. 
Hueu A. Macpuerson, B.A., Oxford. 

A. Miunes Marsnatn, M.A., M.D., D.Sc., Manchester. 
W. P. Marsuatt, M.1.C.E., Birmingham. 

Rey. H. Mitnes, Winster. 

W. Patures, F.L.S., Shrewsbury. 

J. SaunDeErs, Luton. 

G. SHerrirr Tye, Birmingham. 

J. Suipman, Nottingham. 

Worruinetron G. Suiru, F.L.8., London. 

W. Sovran, F.L.S., Birmingham. 

JOHN Sprnuer, F.C.S. 

AppLEBY STEPHENSON, M.D., Nottingham. 

B. Tompson, F'.C.S., F.G.S., Northampton. 

Rev. C. F. THornewini, M.A., Burton-on-Trent. 
W. Warraker, B.A., F.G.S., H.M. Geological Survey. 
Sitvanus Wiixins, Birmingham. 

K. Wiuson, F.G.S., Nottingham. 

C. J. Woopwarp, B.Sc., Birmingham. 

H. B. Woopwarp, F.G.8., H.M. Geological Survey. 
C. L. Wracesr, F.M.S., F.R.G.S., Farley, near Cheadle. 


ILLUSTRATIONS IN VOLUME YV. 


PAA ABs 


PAGE 

Funiculina quadrangularis.. 1c ae Plate I., toface 1 

i 5 is = ofa Plate I1., 3a) 22 

The Myxomycetes.. Ae a ae Plate Gis, Fe tT 

Pennatula phosphorea te ae ee Plateshiit > teen 

Virgularia mirabilis ~ a Be ais Plate IV., ase LT. 
CORRECTIONS. 


Page 1, 25—The date of the Oban Marine Excursion should be 


9 


July (not August) 1881. 
34—Transfer bottom line to page 35 and insert it above second 
line from bottom of page. 
36—Lines 9 to 11, read 0:014in. by 0.001in., 0-003in. by 0-002in. 
45—Delete heading ‘‘ Review.” 
77—Line 9, for ;4,th read zhoth. 
97—Note at foot of page, for Plate III. read Plate Ila. 


INDEX. 


AXcidium or Gcidium ? 142, 167 

Adders in Sutton Park, 118 

Address by Appleby Stephenson, M.D., at 
Annual Meeting of Midland Union of 
Natural History Societies, 169-178 

Afternoon, An, in the Catacombs on the 
Appian Way, 215 

Agates, 281 

Agrostis nigra, With., as a Warwickshire 
plant, 19 

Amblystegium riparium, 261 

Ambulacra, The, of the Earthworm, 72 

Anatomical Description of Funiculina 

quadrangularis, 4-9, 25-36, 49 
Description of Pennatula phos- 
phorea, 123-128 

Description of Virgularia mira- 
bilis, 220-227, 241-250, 265-268 

Aplin | Oliver V.), Summer Migrants, Notes 
on the Arrival of Migratory Birds in 
North Oxon in the spring of 1882, 181- 


183 
On the Breeding of the Great 
Crested Grebe in North Oxford- 


‘ shire, 275-276 

Ascobolus, New, 238 

Atkins (A. H.), Warwickshire Minerals, 13 

Aveline (W. Talbot’, The Geology o 
the Country around Nottingham 
(Review), 67 


Bagnall (James E.:, on the Flora of 
Warwickshire, 14-16, 39-43, 57-59, 
82-85, 108-112, 136-139, 153, 178-181, 
207-208, 253-257 

Botanical Rambles in Warwick- 
shire, 227-228 

Banbury Streets, Geology of, 144 

Beavers, 141, 279 

Beavers and the Bute Beavery. Notes on, 

100-104, 161-167 
Bedfordshire, Dicranum montanum in, 
279-280. 

Bilharzia hematobia, 20 : 

Birds—of Leicestershire: Part I1—Our 
Winter Migrants,9-1!. PartIIl. 
—Our Residents, 36-39. Part IV. 
—Our Visitors, 61-65, 77-80 

Goldfinch (Carduelis elegans), 
The, 131-133 

Grebe, Great Crested,the Breeding 
of, in North Oxfordshire, 275-276 

House Martin, late Nesting of, 279 

Leach’s Petrel in Oxfordshire, ‘8 

Observed on the Western Coast of 
Scotland and the East Coast of 
England, 284 

Osprey in Leicestershire, 261 

Pochard, Curious Capture of, 18 

Reed Warbler, Letter on, by 
Montagu Browne, 38-39 

Stormy Petrel in Oxfordshire, 18 

Summer Migrants — Migratory 
Birds in North Oxon in the 
Spring of 1882, 181-183 


TIT | 


Birmingham Free Library, 70, 157 
Fungi of the Neighbourhood of, 
183-185, 224-235, 250-252, 273-274 
Blatch :W. G.), Remarks upon the Ento- 
mology of the Midlands, 283-284 
Bohadsch, the discoverer of Penna del 
esc: povone \feather of the Peacock 


Bombyx Mori, 189 

Bopyrus squillarum, correction, 24 

Botany—Aicidium or Gcidium? 142 

Amblystegium riparium, 261 

Ascobolus, New, 238 

Botanical Notes from South Bed- 
fordshire, 91 

Botanical Rambles in Warwick- 
shire, 227-228 

British Moss Flora, The (Reviews), 


Dates of Flowering, &¢., around 
Nottingham, 92 
Dicranum montanum, 187; in 
Bedfordshire, 279-280 
Early Flowers, 47 
Edelweiss 47 
Flora of Leicestershire, 153 
of Nottinghamshire, 176-177 
of the Clent and Lickey 
Hills and Neighbouring 
Parts of the County of 
Worcester (Review), 87 
of Warwickshire, 14-16, 39- 
43, 56-59, 82-85, 108-112, 136- 
139, 153, 178-181, 207-208, 253- 
257 
Fontinalis antipyretica, 210 
Fungi of the Neighbourhood of 
Birmingham, 183-185, 234-235, 
250-252, 273-274 
Late Flowering, 18 
Mercurialis Perennis, 18 
Mosses New to the Warwickshire 
Flora, 310 
Oak and Ash, Leafing of the, 
211-212 
@cidium, 167 
(@nanthe Lachenalii |Gmel.), as 
a Warwickshire Plant, 238 
of Malvern, 18 
Paris quadrifolia, 188, 210 
Pilobolus, New British, 279 
Plants in Bloom First Week of 
January, 1882, 91 
Practical Botany, 46 
Primula Vulgaris, 90 
Rare Warwickshire Plants, New 
Localities for, 238 
Saxifraga granulata, 167 
Silene Anglica, 187 
Warwickshire Grasses, 187 
Bowen (Rev. C. J.), account of “ An After- 
noon in the Catacombs on the Appian 
Way,” 215 
Braithwaite (R.), The British Moss-Flora 
(Reviews), 88, 276 


PB MH Leis 1 


ll INDEX. 


Breeding of the Great Crested Grebe in 
North Oxfordshire, 275-276 

Bridge (Prof. T. W.), on Deep-Sea Fishes, 
93-94 

British Fossils, 70 

British Moss-Flora, The (Ji eviews), 88, 276 

British Museum, an illustrated Guide to 
the Exhibition Galleries of the de- 
partment of Geology and Palzon- 
tology in the (Review), 276-277 

Brodie |Rev. P. B.), Warwickshire Min- 
erals, 13 

Brood of Hedgehogs in a Town Garden, 
238 

Browne '!Montagu), Letter on the Reed 
Warbler, 38-39 

Burnishers, 281 

Burton-on-Trent Natural History and 
Archeeological Society, 112-113 


Calcium Chloride, Occurrence of Native, 
at Guy’s Cliffe, Warwickshire, 60-61 

Callaway (Dr.:, Shropshire Minerals, 13 

Cambrian Rocks in Warwickshire, 142, 189 

Cambridge Coprolite Beds, 71 

Carbonic Acid inCrystals,Occurrence of ,93 

Castleton, North Derbyshire, 81 

Caswell (C. B.), on the Value of Literary 
Culture to the Student of Science, 
239-240 

Cheltenham Natural Science Society, 113 

Coal Measures, 171 

Comet, The Menacing, 70 

Conchology, 141 

Contrast between :1) Virgularia mirabilis 
and (2) Pennatula and Funiculina, 224 

Coprolite Beds, Cambridge, 71 

Correspondence, 18, 46-47, 90-92, 118-119, 
141-142, 167, 187-189, 210-213, 237-238, 261, 
279-280 

Curious Capture of a Pochard, 18 


Darwin (Charles), Death of, 119 

Prize, 154-155, 170 

Dates of Flowering, etc., around Notting- 

ham, 92 

Decoy in Boro’, Fen, 191 

Deep-Sea Fishes, 93-94 

Denudation, a New Agent of, 47 

Derbyshire Land and Freshwater Shells, 
105-107 

Minerals of, 202 

Dicranum montanum, 187 

in Bedfordshire, 279-280 


Dowker Bottom Cave, Yorkshire, Explora- | 


tion of, 22 
Dragon-fly, on a, 228-234 


Dudley and Midland Geological and | 


Scientific Society and Field Club, 113 


Earthworm, The Ambulacra of the, 72 

Edelweiss, 187 

Elementary Schools, Science in, 70, 157 

Enock, F., on the capture of ‘Macropis 
labiata, 212, 

Entomology of the Midlands, Remarks on 
the, 283-284 

Eozoon Canadense—Is it a Fossil ? 92 

Errata, 96, 97 

Evesham Naturalists’ Field Club, 113 

Exchange, 192 


Flora of the Clent and Lickey Hills and 
Neighbouring Parts of the 
County of Worcester (Review), 
87 


Flora of Warwickshire, The, 14-16, 39- 
43, 57-59, 82-85, 108-112, 136-139, 
178-181, 207-208, 253-257 
Floscularia regalis, 252 
Flowers, Early, 47 
Fontinalis antipyretica, 210 
Foraminifera in the Trias, 118 
Fossiliferous Pebbles in the Bunter, 118 
Fossil Fishes, Discovery of, in the New 
Red Sandstone of Nottingham, 45-46 
Fossils, British, 70 
Fossils in Meteors, 92 
Fungi of the Neighbourhood of Birming- 
ham, 183-185, 234-235, 250-252, 273-274 
Funiculina Forbesii, 8-9 
Funiculina quadrangularis (Zllus.), 1, 2-9, 
25-36, 49-56 
— Anatomical description of, 4-9, 
25-36, 49:—1. The Stalk and 
Rachis, 4-5; 2. The Stem, 5—6; 
3. The Polypes and Zooids, 6-9; 
4, Anatomy of the Polypes, 25- 
36 (a. The Body-wall, 26-27; b. 
The Calyx, 27-28; c. The Tenta- 
cles, 28-30; d. The Stomach, 
30-31 ; e. The Mesenteries, 31-32; 
f. The Mesenterial Filaments, 
B2-35; g. The Reproductive 
Organs, 35-36); 5. Anatomy of 
the Zooids, 49 
General Account of, 3-4 
Geographical Distribution of, 54- 
55 


History and Literature of, 51-54 

Notes on Specimens of, in other 
Museums, 55-56 

Species of, 8-9 

Table showing the actual dimen- 
sions in inches of the large 
Oban Specimen, and of the 
largest Specimens recorded 
from other localities, together 
with the Museums in which 
they are preserved, 56 

Zoological position and affinities 
of, 50-51 


Galena in the Lower Keuper Sandstone, 


General Account of Funiculina quadran- 
gularis, 3-4 

Pennatula phosphorea, 122-123 

Virgularia mirabilis, 218-220 

Geographical Distribution of Funiculina 
quadrangularis, 54-55 

of Pennatula phosphorea 202 

of Virgularia mirabilis, 271-273 

Geology Aeris 281 

Sketch of the Geology of 

* 7 eengHiee (Review), 115-116 

British Fossils, 70 

Burnishers, 281 

Calcium Chloride, Occurrence of 
Native, at Guy’s Cliff, Warwick- 
shire, 60-61 

Cambrian Rocksin Warwickshire, 
142 

Cambridge Coprolite Beds, 71 

Coal Measures, 171 

Denudation, A New Agent of, 47 

Discovery of Cambrian Rocks in 
the Midlands, Lecture on the, 
189 

Eozoon Canadense—is it a Fossil? 


7 i 


92 
Exchange, 192 


INDEX. 


Geology—Exploration of Dowker Bottom 
Cave, Yorkshire, 22 

Foraminifera in the Trias, 118 

Fossil Fishes, Discovery of, in the 
New Red Sandstone of Notting- 


Geological Survey, 19 

of the Counties of England and of 
Northand South Wales(Revier), 
86-87 

of the Country around Notting- 
ham (Heview , 67 

of the Neighbourhood of Chester, 


and the Geology of the Country | 


around Prescot, Lancashire : 
Memoirs of the Geological Sur- 
veyor :/. eview), 258-259 

of the Nottingham District, 171- 


173 
Glacial Drift Deposits, 170 
Glacial Drift, The Problem of, 
153-154 
Guide to the Geological Collections 
in the Uakversiiy Museum, 
Oxford \Review), 88 
Local Geology, 70 
Minerals of Derbyshire, 202 
— Northamptonshire, 203 
Shropshire, 203-204 
Staffordshire, 204 
the Midlands, 11-13, 59-61, 
142, 202-207 
Warwickshire, 204 
Worcestershire, 204-207 
Permian Formation, 171-172 
Quartzite Pebbles, 18 
—— inthe Drift, Lecture on the, 
119 
Glacial Drift Deposits, 170 
Glacial Drift, The Problem of, 153-154 
Gleanings, 19, 70, 92-93, 141-142 
Goldfinch, The, 131-133 
Grebe, Great Crested, Breeding of the, in 
North Oxfordshire, 275-276 
Grove (W. B.), The Myxomycetes, 73-77, 
97-100, 132-136 
—— Fungi of the Neighbourhood of 
Birmingham, 183-185, 234-235, 
250-252, 273-274 
Guide to the Geological Collections in 
University Museum, Oxford (Rev'/ew), 
88 


Hamel :Egbert de), Notes on Beavers and 
the Bute Beavery, 100-104, 161-167 
Harrison \W. J.', ASketch of the Geology 

of Lincolnshire (Rerew), 115-116 
Geology of the Counties of 
England and of North and South 
Wales (Review), 86-87 
On the Quartzite Pebbles in the 
Drift, 119 
Hedgehogs, a Brood of, in a Town Garden, 
238 


History and Literature of Funiculina 
quadrangularis, 51-54 

Holl, (Dr. Harvey B.), Minerals of Wor- 
cestershire, 13 


lil 


ham, 45-46 
Fossiliferous Pebbles in the 

Bunter, 118 

Galena in the Lower Keuper 

Sandstone, 280 

Geological pees of varied 

Scenery, 9 

Golde eaibccora for 1878( /:eview), 

257-258 


Houghton (F. T. §.), On the Cambridge 
Coprolite Beds, 71 

House Martin, late ‘Nesting of, 279 

Hudson C. T.), on Floscularia regalis, 252 

Hybernation of Molluses, 210-211 


Is Fertilisation necessary to the indefinite 
Perpetuation of a Species ?, 282 


Journal of the Northampton Natural 
History Society, 70 


Keuper Sandstone, Galena in the Lower, 


280 
Kolliker, Classification of Pennatulida, 
proposed by, 1, 2 


Land’s End District, 24 
Lapworth (Prof. C.,) on the Discovery of 
Cambrian Rocks in the Midlands, 189 
Late Flowering, 18 
Leach’s Petrel in Oxfordshire, 18 
Leafing of the Oak and Ash, 211-212 
Leicester Literary and Philosophical 
Society, 114 
Leicestershire, Flora of, 153 
The Birds of. II. Our Winter 
Migrants, 9-11; III. Our Resi- 
dents, 36-39; IV. Our Visitors, 
61-65, 77-80 
Letter onthe Reed Warbler, by Montagu 
Browne, 38-39 
Lincolnshire, A Sketch of the Geology of 
(Review), 115-116 
Lismore Point and Lismore Island, 3 
Literary Culture, The value of, to the 
Student of Science, 239-240 
Local Geology, 70 


Macaulay (Thomas), The Birds of Lei- 
cestershire : II. Our Winter Migrants, 
9-11; III. Our Residents, 36-39; IV. 
Our Visitors, 61-65, 77-80 

Macpherson (Hugh A.), The Goldfinch, 
131-133 

Birds observed on the Western 

Coasts of Scotland and the 
East Coast of England, 284 

Macropis labiata, 212 

Malvern, Botany of, 18 

Marine Organisms, Supply of, 19 

Marshall (A. Milnes & W. P.), Report on 
the Pennatulida collected in the Oban 
dredging excursion of the Birming- 
ham Natural History and Microsco- 
pical Society, July, 1881, 1-9, 25-36, 
49-56, 121-128, 145-151, 193-202, 217-227, 
241-250, 265-273 

Mason Science College, The, 156 

Specimen of Funiculina quadran- 


gularis in the Zoological 
Museum of the, 9 
Mathews (William), The Flora of the 


Clent and Lickey Hills and neigh- 
bouring Parts of the County of Wor- 
cester (Review), 87 

Mediterranean Sea, Species of Funiculina 
in,8 

Mercurialis perennis, 18 

Merionethshire, Notes from, 212-213 ~ 

Meteorological Form, New, for Observers, 


45 
Notes by Observers, 16, 68, 90 
Meteorology of the Midlands, 16, 17, 43, 45 
68-69. 88-90, 116-117, 167, 185-186, 208-210 
235-237, 259-261, 277-278 


iv 


INDEX. 


“Midland Naturalist,” The, 154 
Midlands, Minerals of the, 11-13, 59-61, 142, 
202-207 
Midland Union of Natural History Socie- 
ties: Meeting at Nottingham, 81, 
112, 129-120, }51-161, 169-178 
~—— History of Societies in the Union, 
J12-114, 139-141 
Societies not in the Union, 158 
Migration of birds, 144 
Milnes (H.), Derbyshire Land and Fresh- 
water Shells, 105-107 
Minerals of Derbyshire, 202 
Northamptonshire, 203 
Shropshire, 203-204 
Staffordshire, 204 
— the Midlands, 11-13, 59-61, 142, 202- 
207 
Warwickshire, 204 
Worcestershire, 204-207 
Minor Planets, The, 92 
Mollusca of Nottingham, 173-175 
Molluses, Hybernation of, 210-211 
Moore (Charles), Death of, 19 
Morton |G. H.), Shropshire Minerals, 13 
Mosses new to the Warwickshire Flora, 
210 
Moss-Flora, The British (Review), 88, 276 
Mutilation of Specimens of Virgularia 
mirabilis, 223-227 
Myxomycetes, The, (Iilus. , 48, 73-77, 97- 
100, 133-186 
Description of, 75 
Development of a Spore, 97-100 
List of, of the Neighbourhood of 
Birmingham, 135-136 
Affinities of the, 133-135 


New Localities for Rare Warwickshire 
Plants, 238 
Northampton Natural History Society, 
Journal of the, 70 
Northampton, Minerals of, 11-12, 203 
Natural History Society and Field 
Club, 114 
Notes from Merionethshire, 212-213 
Notes on Beavers and the Bute Beavery, 
100-104, 161-167 
Nottingham, Discovery of Fossil Fishes 
in the New Red Sandstone of, 
45-46 
District, The Geology of, 171-173 
Geology of the Country 
around (lieview), 67 
Literary andPhilosophicalSociety 
139-140 
Naturalists’ Society, 140 
Nottinghamshire, Minerals of, 12 


Oak and Ash, Leafing of the, 211-212 

Oban, 3, 7 

(Gcidium, 142, 167 

Ginanthe Lachenalii (( mel.), as a War- 
wickshire Plant, 238 

On a Dragon-fiy, 228, 234 

Ornithological Notes, 47 

Ornithology of Nottingham, 175-176. 

Osprey in Leicestershire, 261 

Oswestry and Welshpool Naturalists 
Field Club and Archeological Society, 

Otter, a Large, in the Trent, 46 

Oxfordshire Natural History Society, 140 


Paris quadrifolia, 188, 210 
Pebbles, Quartzite, 18 
Penna del pesce pavone (feather of the 
peacock fish), name given to Funicu- 
lina by the Neapolitan fishermen, 4 
Pennatula phosphorea (Illus.), 1, 121-128, 
193-202 
Anatomical Description of, 123-128 
1. The Stalk and Rachis, 123-127 ; 
2. The Stem, 127-128 ; 3. The Poly- 
pes and Zooids, 145-147; 4. Ana- 
tomy of the Polypes, 147-151, 193- 
197; 5. Anatomy of the Zooids, 
198 
General Account of, 122-123 
Geographical Distribution of, 202 
Habits of, 199-202 
Sexes of, 195-197 
Zoological Position and Affinities 
of, 198-202 
Pennatulida, Order of, 2 
Report on the, collected in the 
Oban dredging excursion of the 
Birmingham Natural History 
and Microscopical Society, 
August, 1881, 1-9, 25-36, 49-56, 121- 
128, 145-151, 193-202, 217-227, 241- 
250, 265-273 
Permian Formation, The, 171-172 
Peterborough Natural History, Scientific, 
and Archeological Society, 140 
— Roman Remains of, and other 
Neighbourhoods, Lecture on the, 
22-94 
Petrel, Leach’s, in Oxfordshire, 18 
Stormy, in Oxfordshire, 18 
Phillips (W.), On the Breaking of the 
Shropshire Meres, 282-283 
Pilobolus, New British, 279 
Plants in Bloom First Week of January, 
1882, 91 
Pochard, Curious Capture of, 18 
Pocket Magnifiers, 119 
Poulton, (E. B.),on the Geological Causes 
of varied Scenery, 96 
Practical Botany, 46 
Prestwich (Professor), Guide to the Geo- 
logical Collections in the University 
Museum, Oxford (Review), 88 
Primula vulgaris, 90 
Protective Resemblance, 187 


HIT 


Quartzite Pebbles, 18 
— in the Drift, 119-120 
Questions and Answers, 281 


Rainfall for November, 1881, 17; Decem- 
ber, 44; January, 1882,69; February, 
89; March, 117; April, 185; May, 185; 
June, 186; July, 209; August, 236; 
September, 260; October, 278 

Reed Warbler, Letter on, by Montagu 
Browne, 38-39 

Report of the Rugby School Natural 
History Society for the Year 1880, 
(Review), 87 

Report on the Pennatulida collected in 
the Oban dredging excursion of the 
Birmingham Natural History and 
Microscopical Society, August, 1881, 
1-9, 25-36, 49-56, 121-128, 145-151, 193- 
202 217-227 241-250, 265-273 


INDEX. vi 


Reviews :— 
A Sketch of the Geology of Lincoln- 
shire, 115-116 
British Museum, an illustrated Guide 
to the Exhibition Galleries of the 
department of Geology 
Paleontology in the, 276-277 
Geological Record for 1878, 257-258 
Geology of the Counties of England 
and of North and South Wales 
86-87 
The British Moss Flora, 88, 27 
The Geology of the Country around 
Nottingham, 67 
The Flora of the Clent and Lickey 
Hills and neighbouring Parts of the 
County of Worcester, 87 
The Geology of the Neighbourhood of 
Chester, and the Geology of the 
Country around Prescot, Lanca- 
shire: Memoirs of the Geological 
Survey, 258-259 
The Seals and Whales of the British 
Seas, 65-67 
Rodents, British, 144 
Roman Remains of Peterborough and 
other Neighbourhoods, Lecture on 
the, 22-24 
Rugby ‘School Natural History Society, 
Report for the Year 1880 (Review), 
87 


and 


Saxifraga granulata, 167 


Scandinavian Sea Specimens of Funicu- | 


lina, 9 

Science in Elementary Schools, 70, 157 

Scientific Roll, The, 92 

Scotch Funiculina, 8, 9 

Seals and Whales, The, of the British 
Seas (Review), 65-67 

Sea-pens, or Pennatulida, 1 

Severn Valley Naturalists’ Field Club 
141 

Shall we have a Page for Questions ?, 


23) 
Shells, Derbyshire Land and Freshwater, 
105-107 


Shropshire, Minerals of, 12-13, 203-204 

—— Archeological and Natural History 
Society, 141 

Meres, On the Breaking of the, 
282-283 

Silene Anglica, 187 

Sketch of the Geology of Lincolnshire, 

(Review), 115-116 

Societies, Reports of— 

Banbury Natural History Society and 
Field Club, 48, 72, 143-144, 190-191, 
214-216, 263-264, 281-284 

Birmingham and Midland Institute 
Scientific Society, 239-240, 263 

Birmingham Microscopists’ and 
Naturalists’ Union, 20, 95, 120, 168, 
190, 240, 263 

Birmingham Natural History and 
Microscopical Society, 19-20, 48, 71- 
72, 93-94, 119-120, 142-143, 167-168, 189- 
190, 213-214, 238-239, 262-263 ; Annual 
Soiree, 283 

Birmingham School Natural History 
Society, 168-263 

aie Field Naturalists’ Society, 


Burton-upon-Trent Natural History 
and Archeological Society, 72 


Societies, Reports of— 
Cheltenham Natural Science Society, 
21, 95 
Dudley and Midland Geological and 
Scientific Society and Field ( lub, 
120 
Midland Union of Natural History 
Societies: Meeting at Nottingham, 
151-161 
Annual Meeting, 151-161 
Conversazione, 160-161 
Excursions, 130 
List of Societies in the Mid- 
lands which do not belong 
to the Union, 158 
Meeting at Nottingham, 8!, 
112, 129, 130, 151-161 
Presentation of the Darwin 
Medal for 1881, 159 
President’s Address, 169-178 
Report of the Adjudicators 
(Darwin Medal), 155-156 
Report of the Council, 152 
Visit to the Hemlock Stone, 
159 
Visits to Local Institutions, 
Factories, &c., 160 
Northants Natural History Society, 48 
Norwich Geological Society, 284 
Nottingham G. RS. Naturalist Society, 


a1 
Working Men’s Natura/ists’ 
Society, 72 

Oswestry and Welshpool Naturalists’ 
Field Club and Archeological 
Society, 216 

Oxfordshire Natural History Society, 
21-92, 95-96, 284 

Peter borough Natural History, Scien- 


UIT | 


tific, and Archeological Society, 
22-94, 191-192 
Southwell ‘Thomas!, The Seals and 


Whales of the British Seas (neview), 

65 

Spiller (John), On the Occurrence of 
Native Calcium Chloride at Guy's 
Cliffe, Warwickshire, 60-61 

Staffordshire, Minerals of, 204 

Stephenson (Appleby), Address by, at 
Annual Meeting of Midland Union 
of Natural History Societies, 169-178 

Stormy Petrel in Oxfordshire, 18 

Summer Migrants—Arrival of Migratory 
Birds in North Oxon in Spring of 
882, 181-183 

Survey, Geological, 19 

Sutton Park, Adders in, 118 


Tamworth Natural History, Geological, 
and Antiquarian Society, 141 

Table showing the actual dimensions in 
inches of the large Oban Specimens 
of Funiculina quadrangularis, and 
of the largest Specimens recorded 
from other localities, together with 


the Museums in which they are 
preserved, 56 
Temperature for November, 1881, 17; 


December, 44; January, 1882, 69; Feb- 
ruary, 89; March, 117: April, 185; 
May, 185; June, 186; July, 209: August, 
236 ; September, 260; October, 278 
The Menacing Comet, 70 
Thompson ‘B.), Northamptonshire Mine- 
rals, 11 


INDEX. 


Virgularia mirabilis (Illus.), 1, 2, 5,6, 217- 
227, 241-250, 265-273 
Anatomical description of, 220- 
227:—1. The Stalk and Rachis, 
920-922; 2. The Stem, 222-923; 
3. The Polypes and Zooids, 241- 
245; 4. Anatomy of the Polypes, 
245-250, 265-273 (a. The Body- 
wall, 245; b. The Calyx, 245-246; 
c. The Tentacles, 246-247; d. 
The Stomach, 247-248; e. 
Mesenteries, 248; f. The Mesen- 


The | 


terial Filaments, 248-250; g. The | 
Re-productive Organs, 265-268); | 


5. Anatomy of the Zooids, 268 

Chief Points of Contrast between 
1) V. mirabilisand 2) Pennatula 
and Funiculina, 224 

General Account of, 218, 220 

Geographical Distribution of, 271 

General Observations on Funi- 
culina, Pennatula, and Virgu- 
laria, 271-273 

Habits of, 269-271 (1. The Natural 
Position of Virgularia, 269-270 ; 
2. On the Power of Retraction, 
270-271; 3. Supposed Nocturnal 
Habits, 271) 

Mutilation of Specimens of, 223-224 

Zoological Position and Affinities 
of, 268-269 


Wake (Sir Herewald), Prize offered by, 119 | 


Waller (T. H.!, on the Occurrence of Car- 
bonie Acid in Crystals,93 

Warwickshire, Botanical Rambles in, 227- 

——— Cambrian Rocks in, 142, 189 

— Flora of, 14-16, 39-43, 57-59, 82-85, 


108-112, 136-139, 153, 178-181, 207-— 


208, 253-257 


Warwickshire Grasses, 187 

Minerals of, 13, 204 

Occurrence of Native Calcium 

Chloride at Guy's Cliffe, 60-61 
—— Plants, New Localities for Rare, 
210, 288 

Weather of November, 1881, 16; Decem- 
ber, 44; January, 1882, 60; February, 
88; March, 116; April and May, 185; 
June, 185; July, 208-210; August, 235- 
237; September, 259-261; October, 
277-278 4 

Welbeck Abbey, 81 

Whitaker (W.), On things in general and 
Red Chalk in particular, 284 

Wilkins (Silvanus), On a Dragon-fly, 228- 
234 

Wilson (E.), On a Discovery of Fossil 
Fishes in the New Red Sandstone of 
Nottingham, 45-46 

Woodward ‘C. J., on The Minerals of the 
Midlands, 11-13, 59-61, 202-207 

Worcestershire, Minerals of, 13, 204- 
207 

Wragge (Clement L.), Meteorology of the 
Midlands, 16-17, 43-45, 68-69, 88-90, 116- 
117, 185-186, 208-210, 235-237, 259-261, 
277-278 

Presentation of Gold Medal to, at 

Edinburgh, 93 


Zoological Museum of The Mason College, 
Specimen of Funiculina quadrangu- 
laris in the, 9 

Zoological Position and Affinities of 
Funiculina quadrangularis, 50-51 

of Pennatula phosphorea, 198-202 

of Virgularia mirabilis, 268-269 


BIRMINGHAM : 


PRINTED AT THE HERALD PRESS, UNION STREET, 


Plate I. 


Transverse Section at AA. 


W.P. Marshall del. ps F Huth, Litht Edin™ 


FUNIGULINA Q UADRAN ene ay. Wealnsy, 


THE MIDLAND NATURALIST. 


“Come forth into the light of things, 
Let Nature be your teacher.” 


REPORT ON THE PENNATULIDA 


COLLECTED IN THE OBAN DREDGING EXCURSION 
OF THE BIRMINGHAM NATURAL HISTORY AND 
MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETY, AUGUST, 1881. 


BY A. MILNES MARSHALL, M.A., D.SC., PROFESSOR OF ZOOLOGY 
IN OWENS COLLEGE, AND W. P. MARSHALL, M.I.C.E. 


The specimens of Pennatulida or Sea-pens obtained in the Oban 
dredging expedition, and placed in our hands for description, include 
examples of three species, Pennatula phosphorea, Virgularia mirabilis, 
and Funiculina quadrangularis, belonging to three distinct genera and 
even families. The following table, abridged from the scheme of 
classification proposed by Kélliker in his Report on the Pennatulida 


DESCRIPTION OF THE FicurES IN Puate I. 


Figures 1 and 2 are reduced from full-sized drawings made by tracing the 
outline direct from the original objects. Figs. 4-9 are drawn direct with the 
camera from the objects themselves. Fig.3is constructed from separate camera 
drawings of the dorsal, ventral, and lateral surfaces; the four main canals, 
indicated by the dotted lines, are filled in from one of Kolliker’s figures (op. cit. 
Pl. xvii., Fig. 151). The magnifying power is indicated in diameters for each figure. 
Figs. 1, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9 are from the largest living specimen. 


Alphabetical List of References. 


a. Rachis. f. Tentacle. 

b. Stalk. g. Calyx. 

ec. Stem. zt Spicule. 

d. Polype. l. Coenenchym, or fleshy body-substance. 
e. Zooid. u. Main canals of rachis. 


Fig. 1—Lateral view (right side) of the largest specimen, 39 ins. long, dredged 
living, shown in its supposed natural position with the stalk planted in the 
mud of the sea bottom, x 1-6th. 

Fig. 2.—Similar view of perfect bare stem, 24ins. long x 1-3rd. 

Fig. 3—Transverse section of rachis at its widest part, showing zooids on 
dorsal surface, and polypes gradually increasing in size from the dorsal towards 
the ventral surface, leaving the actual ventral surface bare; also the quadrangular 
stem, and the four main canals of the cenenchym, x 34. 

Fig. 4—Portion of dorsal surface of largest living specimen at the widest 
part of the rachis, about 6ins. from top, showing arrangement of zooids and 
polypes, x 2. 

Fig. 5.—Ventral surface of the same portion, asin Fig. 4, x 2. 

Fig. 6—Portion of dorsal surface of younger specimen (20 ins. long) at widest 
part of rachis, showing arrangement of zooids and polypes, x 3. 

Fig. 7—Head of a polype, showing calcareous spicules in the calyx and its 
processes, x 10. 

Fig. 8—.One of tho calcareous spicules from the calyx, x 60. 

di \ iba section of calcareous spicule at the middle of its length 

x b 


2 REPORT ON THE PENNATULIDA. 


collected by H.M. 58. Challenger,* shows the relative positions and 
affinities of the three genera :— 
OnrpER.—PENNATULIDA, 
Section I.—Pennatulee : polypes on leaves. 
Family 1. Pterocidide. 
Family 2. Pennatulide. 
Genus, Pennatula. 
Family 3. Virgularide. 
Genus, Virgularia. 
Family 4. Stylatulide. 
Section II.—Spicate: polypes sessile. 
Family 1. Funiculinide. 
Genus, Funiculina. 

Section III.—Renillee : rachis expanded in form of a leaf. 

Sxcrion 1V.—Veretillee : polypes arranged radially, not bilaterally. 

Of the three genera with which we are concerned Funiculina is the 
rarest, and in many ways the most interesting, and we therefore 
propose to deal with it first, reserving Pennatula and Virgularia for 
subsequent papers. An additional reason for adopting this course is 
afforded by the fact that while the internal structure of Pennatula and 
Virgularia has been described and figured by various writers, that of 
Funiculina is known to us only through the very careful and elaborate 
description given by Kélliker in his monograph on the Pennatulida;+ 
and this description, though very full, is yet incomplete in some points 
on which the opportunity of examining perfect specimens, either living 
or recently preserved, has enabled us to throw some light. 

We have devoted special attention to the figures illustrating this 
paper, all of which have either been drawn direct from the object with 
the aid of a camera, or else, where—as in Plate I. fig. 3—it was 
impossible to obtain a direct view in the required position, have been 
compiled from several camera drawings of the individual parts con- 
cerned. We desire to lay some stress on this point, inasmuch as the 
figures of Funiculina hitherto published} are either very inaccurate, 
or if correct, as is the case with Kdlliker’s figures, are taken from 
specimens with the tentacles completely retracted, and consequently 
fail to express accurately the appearance of the living animal. 


Part I.—Funicunina QuapRANGuLARIS. Pallas. 

Of this rare and interesting species the following specimens were 
obtained :— 

a. Four living specimens: one a remarkably large and perfect 
example, thirty-nine inches in length; a second, smaller and less 
mature specimen, twenty inches long; and two much smaller ones of 
ten and eight inches length respectively. 


* Kolliker: Zoology of Challenger Expedition, Part II., 1880, pp., 33-35. 
; + Kolliker: Anatomisch—systematische Beschreibung der Alcyonarien. 
Erste Abtheilung : Die Pennatuliden, 1872, pp. 250-261. 
t A full list of all the figures of Mwviculina hitherto published is given at 
the end of this paper in connection with the literature of our subject, 


REPORT ON THE PENNATULIDA. 3 


b. Three complete skeletons of calcareous stems, of twenty-four, 
twenty, and sixteen inches length respectively; and sixteen fragments of 
stems, varying in length from four to twenty inches. Some of these 
are still encrusted with portions of the ccenenchym, or fleshy body- 
substance, and must, therefore, have belonged to specimens only 
recently dead; the majority, however, are quite clean and white, and 
appear, therefore, to have been dead for some time. 


Specimens of Funiculina were dredged at two spots about a mile 
apart; one of these about three miles N.W. of Oban, and midway 
between the mainland and Lismore Point, the southern extremity of 
Lismore Island; the other about half-a-mile 8.E. of Lismore Point.* 
The depth of water in both cases was about twenty-two fathoms, and 
the bottom mud. 


The living specimens were kept in sea water for one to three days, 
and then transferred to spirit. In order to study the anatomy of the 
polypes a few have been removed from different portions of the colony ; 
and of these sections, either transverse or longitudiual, were made, 
which, when cleared with a mixture of creosote and turpentine and 
mounted in balsam, made very satisfactory preparations. The 
specimens proved to be in better histological condition than was 
anticipated from the method of preparation, but cannot be relied on 
to determine doubtful points of microscopic structure. It is highly 
desirable that in future expeditions more attention should be paid to 
this very important point. 


The following description, which has been drawn up from the 
preparations obtained in the above manner, applies, except when 
otherwise specified, to the largest of the specimens obtained alive. 


GENERAL ACCOUNT. 


Funiculina is a compound or colonial Actinozoon, whose general 
appearance is shown in Plate I., Fig.1. It consists of a cylindrical, 
fleshy axial portion, the lower 1th of which is bare, forming the 
stalk (Fig. 1. b), which in the natural condition is planted in the mud 
of the sea bottom, while the upper 4ths, forming the rachis (Fig. 1, a) 
are thickly studded with the individual animals or polypes, each of 
which is similar in structure to an ordinary sea-anemone. 


The axial portion, which is gracefully curved as shown in the 
figure, is traversed throughout its whole length by a solid calcareous 
stem, quadrangular in section, and shown in Fig. 2 free from the 
investing fleshy substance or cenenchym. 


At the bottom of the rachis the polypes are few and small; 
passing upwards they gradually increase in both number and size, 
attaining a maximum in the upper third. They are not placed all 
round the rachis, but on three sides only, leaving the fourth bare. This, 


* Vide “General Report on the Dredging Expedition,” by J. F. Goode and 
keg Leb “ainesy in which the first locality is marked Station III., the second, 
tation VI, 


4 REPORT ON THE PENNATULIDA. 


ie ee See eee 


which is the inner or concave side of the curve formed by the whole 
rachis, is referred to as the ventral surface (Figs. 3 and 5); the opposite 
or convex face (Figs. 1, 3, and 4) is the dorsal surface, while the sides are 
referred to as right and left lateral surfaces respectively. 


The whole pen is of an ivory-white colour* except the stalk, 
which is yellowish brown. The surface is covered with a slimy mucus, 
and is in the living animal, according to both Forbes and Thomson,t 
brilliantly phosphorescent. 


The term feather, which is often used to designate the rachis and 
polypes together, calls to mind the fanciful name Penna del pesce 
pavone (feather of the peacock fish) given to Funiculina by the 
Neapolitan fishermen, under which name it was described in 1757 by 
Bohadsch, the discoverer of this very curious Sea-pen. 


AnatomicaL DESCRIPTION. 
1.—The Stalk and Rachis— 

The stalk in the large specimen measures six inches in length. 
Along its greater part it is cylindrical, with a diameter of 0:15 inch ; 
toward the lower end it enlarges to 0:21 inch. The last #-in. is bent 
rather sharply, nearly at right angles to the main axis (Fig. 1), and ends 
in a blunt point. The upper part of the stalk diminishes gradually 
in size, loses its cylindrical form and becomes quadrangular, the lateral 
diameter slightly exceeding the dorso-ventral one. At the junction 
of stalk and rachis the actual measurements are—lateral diameter, 
0:13in. ; dorso-ventral diameter, 0°10in. 


The rachis gradually increases in thickness in passing upwards 
from its junction with the stalk; it also loses its quadrangular form 
and becomes cylindrical. At about six inches from the top (Fig. 3), 
at which point it attains its greatest size, the diameters are—lateral, 
0:18in. ; dorso-ventral, 0:17in.; above this point it tapers rapidly to the 
top. 

We have been unable to examine the internal structure of the 
stalk and rachis, as the specimens were destined for museum purposes. 
Kélliker + has shown that they are traversed along their whole 
length by four main longitudinal canals (Fig. 3, u.), one dorsal, one 
ventral, and two lateral, from which smaller canals arise forming a 
rich network of nutrient vessels traversing the coenenchym, and com- 
municating, as we shall see shortly, with the body-cavities of the 
polypes. | We have been able to confirm the existence of these main 
canals, though we have not had an opportunity of tracing them along 
their whole length. The smaller canals, with their openings into the 
cavities of the polypes are shown in Plate II., Figs. 10 and 15, v. 


* Both Forbes (‘Johnston’s British Zoophytes.” 2nd ed., 1847, p. 165) and 


Thomson (‘“ Depths of the Sea,” 1873, p, 149) describe the living Funiculina as 
rose-coloured. 


+ Forbes, loc, cit, Thomson, op. cit, } Op, cit., pp, 253-254, 


REPORT ON THE PENNATULIDA. 5 


The integument of both stalk and rachis is, according to Kélliker, 
thick, and closely studded with minute fusiform calcareous spicules.* 

In stating that the stalk is, in the natural condition, inserted in 
the mud of the sea bottom, we rely mainly on the very definite state- 
ment of Forbes, who says :} ‘‘ It lives erect, its lower extremity, as it 
were, rooted in slimy mud.” Additional evidence on the point 1s 
yielded by the anatomical arrangement of the parts, especially of the 
stem (as will be noticed immediately) ; and by the fact that the allied 
genus Virgularia is known to live erect.{ Sir Wyville Thomsong 
also speaks of ‘“‘ passing over a forest” of Funiculina, clearly implying 
that they live erect. 
2.—The Stem— 

The Stem (Fig. 2) extends from the top of the rachis to within a 
short distance of the lower end of the stalk. As shown in Fig. 3c, it 
is quadrangular in section, but the sides are not perfectly flat. The 
dorsal surface is slightly convex (flat in some specimens) along the 
greater part of itslength, but becomes concave in thestalk : the ventral 
surface is slightly concave; while the lateral surfaces, which are 
rather narrower than the dorsal and ventral ones, are decidedly concave. 


The stem is thickest at the junction of the rachis and stalk, 
where its transverse diameter is 0:10 in., its dorso-ventral diameter 0:08 in. 
From this point it tapers towards the upper end, at first very gradually, 
then more rapidly; its upper part being very slender and flexible: 
towards the lower end it tapers gradually for a short ‘distance, and 
then rapidly, ending in a fine flexible and imperfectly calcified point 
which enters the bent portion of the stalk, and ends a very short 
distance from its extremity. 


It is thus seen that the thickest part of the stem is at the point 
where the fleshy coenenchym is thinnest; indeed, as is seen from the 
Measurements given above, the total thickness at this point—the 
junction of rachis and stalk—is due almost entirely to the stem, which 
is here covered by a layer of coenenchym so thin that the quadrangular 
shape of the stem is very evident on mere inspection. 


A point of much greater interest, and one on which we think some 
stress should be laid, is that the proportions of the stem at various 
points of its length are such as, mechanically considered, to adapt 
it most perfectly to what we regard, for the reasons stated above, as its 
normal position, i.e., planted erect with the stalk buried in muds and 
the rachis projecting freely above it into the water. In this position the 
thickest and strongest portion of the stem is at the point where most 
strength is needed, i.e., at the surface of the mud. The gradual 
tapering downwards in the first part of the stalk gives a firm, rigid 
support, wkile the gradual and steady tapering towards the upper end 
of the rachis provides the requisite strength in the lower part with 


* Kolliker, op. cit., p. 253, and Plate XVIIL., Fig. 154. 

oe ‘ Johnston's British Zoophytes,” 2nd edition, 1847, Vol. i., p. 165. Cf. also 
Richiardi, “ Monografia della Famiglia dei Pennatularii,” p. 91. 

¢t Darwin, “ Naturalists’ Voyage Round the World,” 1860, p. 99. 

§ Thomson, “ Depths of the Sea,” 1873, p. 149. 


6 REPORT ON THE PENNATULIDA. 


increasing flexibility in the upper. So marked, indeed, is this 
adaptation of the shape of the stem to the form’ of the whole Pen 
that it would alone be an argument of no inconsiderable weight in 
favour of the erect position being the natural one. 

The lower part of the stem is very stiff, rigid, and brittle; the 
upper part is highly flexible, so that the two ends of the stem may be 
brought together without the slightest danger of breaking. 

The stem itself, when freed from the coenenchym, preserves the 
very graceful curve already referred to, and well shown in Fig. 2., 
which is drawn from the largest of the three perfect specimens of 
stems dredged up. 

Of the sixteen fragments of stems obtained, one 12 ins. in length 
and with scarcely any curvature, must, from its size, have belonged to 
a specimen at least as large as, and. probably larger than, the big 
living specimen. The other fragments belonged, so far as we can judge, 
to specimens averaging from 18 ins. to 36 ins. in length. In the curva- 
ture and relative proportions of its parts the stem of Funiculina offers a 
marked contrast to that of Virgularia, which we shall describe in a 
subsequent paper. The differences are important, as they appear to 
be directly connected with certain very marked differences in the 
habits of the two genera. 

Transverse sections through the stem show that it consists of a 
central core which is chitinous and only very imperfectly calcified, and 
an outer very hard, and firmly calcified rind, with a smooth outer 
surface, and made up of parallel lamelle. As the stem grows in 
thickness by the addition of successive lamelle on its exterior, and as 
the proportions between the hard outer rind and the soft core are much 
the same in both young and old specimens, it is clear that the process 
of deposition of calcareous lamelle on the outside must be accom- 
panied by absorption of the calcareous matter previously deposited in 
the more central portion. 


3.—The Polypes and Zooids— 

As among Pennatulida generally* the individual animals com- 
posing the colony are of two kinds, distinguished as polypes and zooids : 
the polypes (Figs. 3 and 4, d) being distinguished by their greater size, 
and by possessing tentacles and reproductive organs, while the zooids, 
(Figs. 3 and 4¢),are smaller, and have neither tentacles nor reproductive 
organs. 

In Funiculina, the zooids form an irregular row on the mid-dorsal 
surface (Figs. 3 and 4), on either side of ,;which the polypes are placed; 
but the distinction between polypes and zooids is far less marked than 
in the majority of Pennatulida, and it is very doubtful whether any 
sharp line can be drawn between the two forms. In young specimens 
especially the transition is a perfectly gradual one, and a complete 
series of intermediate forms can be obtained between the largest 
polypes and the smallest zooids. 


* Kolliker, op. cit., p. 6, 


REPORT ON THE PENNATULIDA. 7 


Confining the term zooid to the small individuals destitute of 
tentacles, the arrangement of the polypes and zooids on the rachis is as 
follows:—At the lower end of the rachis there are no polypes at 
all, and merely a single longitudinal row of small zooids, situated 
along the ventro-lateral angle of the quandrangular rachis. Passing 
upwards, the zooids increase in both size and number, and pass 
obliquely across the side of the rachis to the dorso-lateral angle, which 
they reach about 2 ins. above its commencement. Above this point 
they gradually shift on to the dorsal surface, where they form an 
interrupted and irregular longitudinal median row from three to five 
zooids wide, extending to the extreme top of the rachis. 


The first polypes are found about 2 ins. above the commencement of 
the rachis, and on the middle of the lateral surfaces. They lie on the 
ventral side of the zooid rows, and are at first in asingle row on either side, 
and at rather wide intervals apart. About an inch higher up the rows 
become double, and beyond this point the polypes increase rapidly in 
number and size. For a short distance they are clearly arranged in 
oblique rows, ascending from the ventral side below to the dorsal side 
above; but along the greater part of the rachis they are clustered so 
closely together that it is difficult to make out any definite arrangement 
in rows, though a closer examination shows, as Kélliker has already 
pointed out,* that they are really arranged in ill-defined, somewhat 
triangular groups, the apices of the triangles being situated on the 
ventro-lateral angles of the rachis and about }in. apart, while the 
bases are on the dorsal surface in contact with the median zooid tract. 


The polypes cover the whole of the lateral surface of the rachis 
and the marginal portion of the dorsal surface, but do not extend on 
to the ventral face (Figs. 3, 4,5). Throughout the whole length of 
the rachis the polypes on the dorsal surface are the smallest, those on 
the lateral surface gradually increase in size, and those along the 
ventro-lateral angle are the largest of all (Fig. 3). These latter may, 
as shown in Fig. 5, encroach somewhat on the ventral surface. 


The polypes are largest and most closely placed in the uppermost 
12 ins. of the rachis, where they form a thick heavy mass, completely 
weighing down the top when taken out of water. The greatest width 
of the rachis, at 6 ins. from the top, is }? in. 


The ventral surface has an average width of 0:14in. It is not 
perfectly straight throughout, but becomes curiously twisted at one or 
more points, the most marked of which is 104 ins. from the upper end, 
and is indicated in Fig. 1. These twists are apparently due to some 
irregularity in growth, though it is quite possible that the fleshy 
ccenenchym, as shown by Sir J. Dalyell, to occur in Virgularia,t 
may be able during life to twist itself round the calcareous stem, and 
so cause the distortion in question. 


* Kolliker, op. cit., p. 257. \ 
+ Sir John Graham Dalyell, “ Rare and Remarkable Animals of Scotland,” 
1848, Vol. ii., p. 185 


8 REPORT ON THE PENNATULIDA. 


The largest polypes measure 0°30 in. in length, by 0-08 in. in width ; 
the larger zooids are 0:05 in. long, and the smallest ones are minute warts. 
As already mentioned, it is impossible, in many cases, to distinguish 
between the larger zooids and the smaller polypes, and we are strongly 
disposed to view the former as being, at any rate in many cases, only 
polypes that have not yet reached maturity. At the most crowded 
part there are about fourteen rows of polypes per inch length of the 
rachis, with nine polypes in each row. The total number of polypes 
may be estimated at about 3,000.* 

The smaller specimens obtained living differ from the larger one 
above described in the following points (Fig. 6):—The general propor- 
tions are very similar, but the actual size of the largest polypes is less 
than those of the large specimen; the polypes are also far less closely 
packed, considerable portions of the dorsal and lateral surfaces being 
left bare between the bases of the polypes and zooids: the polypes 
instead of being closely massed together in dense clusters are distinctly 
arranged in oblique rows along the whole length of the rachis. 
Furthermore the gradual transition from zooids to polypes is far more 
evident than in the larger specimen. 


These differences between the larger and smaller specimens of Funi- 
culina are of some zoological interest. Verrill,t from a comparison 
of several Scotch specimens with ones from the Mediterranean, 
concluded that they belonged to distinct species, and proposed the 
name Funiculina Forbesii for the Scotch one. Concerning it he says: 
“Tt is much more slender than the latter (Ff. quadrangularis, the 
Mediterranean form) with far less numerous and crowded polypes; 
these are arranged in oblique series of two or three, instead of five ; 
the outer ones are the largest, those occupying the central region 
being rudimentary and papilliform, but all are disproportionately 
smaller than those of F. quadrangularis.” Dr. Gray { adopts this 
division, and assigns the name I’. quadrangularis to the Scandinavian 
forms as well as to the Mediterranean ones, distinguishing the Scotch 
ones, like Verrill, as F’. Forbesti. 

The validity of the distinction has been called in question by 
Richiardi,g and by Kolliker,|) both of whom distinctly state that 
F. Forbesii is merely the young form of F. quadrangularis, and that 
they have seen specimens from the Mediterranean forming a complete 
gradational series between the two forms. 


The Oban specimens set this question completely at rest, showing 
that the Scotch forms are not, as Verrill and Gray supposed, all 


* The above description of the largest of the Oban specimens will be found 
to agree very closely with that given by Kolliker, (op. cit., pp. 257-258) of a very 
fine specimen 53 ins. in length, obtained from the Danish coast, and now the 
Museum of Copenhagen. 

+A. E. Verrill: List of the Polypes and Corals sent by the Museum of 
Comparative Zoology to other Institutions in exchange, with annotations. Bul- 
letin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology of Harvard College, 1864, p. 30. 
t J. E. Gray: Catalogue of the Sea-pens or Pennatularide in the collection 
of the British Museum, 1870, pp., 12-13. 
§ Richiardi: Monografia della Famiglia dei Pennatularii, Bologna, 1869, p. 96. 
|| Kolliker: op. cit., p. 257. 


REPORT ON THE PENNATULIDA. 9) 


F. Forbesii, but that perfectly typical F. quadrangularis occur side by 
side with them. The description given by Verrill applies perfectly to 
the three smaller living specimens obtained by the Society at Oban, 
but is contradicted on every point by the large specimen, which is in 
all respects a perfectly typical specimen of the form Funiculina 
quadrangularis, erroneously supposed by Verrill and Gray to be confined 
to the Mediterranean and Scandinavian seas. The point is, perhaps, 
one of no very great importance, but, inasmuch as unnecessary 
multiplication of species is a very definite evil, the Birmingham 
Natural History Society may certainly be congratulated on having 
established the fact that the Scotch Funiculina is identical with the 
Mediterranean and Scandinavian forms, and is not a distinct species. 

The large specimen from Oban thus acquires some historical im- 
portance, as having been the means of proving this identity. Larger 
specimens even than that dredged by the Society have indeed been 
previously obtained from Oban, and there can be little doubt that 
these fully agreed with the Society’s specimen; but of these no 
complete description has ever appeared, nor are the specimens them- 
selves preserved for reference, so that the Birmingham specimen, 
which is now permanently deposited in the Zoological Museum of the 
Mason College, may undoubtedly claim the honour of being the typical 
British example of Funiculina quadrangularis. 


(To be continued.) 


THE BIRDS OF LEICESTERSHIRE. 
PART II.—_OUR WINTER MIGRANTS. 


BY THOMAS MACAULAY, M.R.C.S.L., ETC. 


This class is much smaller than the former one. The true Winter 
Migrants, by which I mean only those birds which approach our shores 
in winter and leave us again for distant breeding grounds, are not 
numerous, and I am only able to enumerate seventeen species as 
having been observed in the county of Leicester. 


1.—The Merlin (Falco salon). If my notes were not meant to be 
purely local it would be open to question whether this bird 
should be classed amongst the ‘“‘ constant residents ” or “‘winter 
migrants.” It undoubtedly breeds in the northern parts of 
England, and (Morris says) in Lincolnshire. I cannot hear of 
any instance of its breeding in Leicestershire, and it only 
appears in this part of the country during the winter months. 
It is not a common bird by any means with us, though scarcely 
a winter passes by without one or two being seen. 

2.—The Short-eared Owl (Otus brachyotus). Not common. I have 
never met with it myself, but Rev. A. Matthews has done so on 
several occasions, as also has my friend Mr. H. Davenport. 


10 THE BIRDS OF LEICESTERSHIRE. 


3.—The Fieldfare (/'urdus pilaris). Abundant every winter. They 
begin to arrive about the third week in October, from the 15th 
to the 25th, though I have known them to be as late as the first 
week in November. There is not one of our migrants, either 
summer or winter, which makes so long a visit as these birds: 
it is no uncommon thing to see them on their return journey 
as late as the end of April, or even in May. In 1877 I saw field- 
fares for the last time on 10th May, and Mr. H. Davenport tells 
me that in 1879 he noticed a small party of them on May 12th. 


4,.—The Redwing (Turdus iliacus). The same remark will apply to 
this bird as to the Fieldfare. They arrive about the same date, 
but take their departure somewhat earlier. I have never seen 
Redwings later than the third week in April. 


5.—The Grey Wagtail (Motacilla boarula). My friend, Rev. A. 
Matthews, has seen this bird on many occasions. I have not 
myself been so fortunate as to secure frequent notes of it, but 
I have no doubt if carefully looked for, it would be found every 
winter. Potter also mentions it as frequenting Charnwood Forest. 


6.—The Snow Bunting, (Plectrophanes nivalis.) Although by no means 
uncommon on some parts of our coast, this bird is a vrara avis in 
Leicestershire. I have two notes of its occurrence. One was 
killed at Laughton some years ago, and is now in the collection 
of the Rey. A. Matthews. In February last, during severe 
frost, four were shot out of a flock of about thirty, at Burton 
Overy. These also have been preserved by a local taxidermist. 


7.—The Mountain Finch (Fringilla montifringilla.) It is not every 
winter that the Brambling is seen so far south as this. The 
harder the weather the more likely are you to see them, and 
in a very mild, open winter they may not appear atall. They 
are always found in small parties, never solitary. 


8.—The Gray Phalarope (Phalaropus lobatus.) I have only one record. 
One was killed at Foxton, in the winter of 1860-1, and is now 
in the possession of the Rev. A. Matthews. 


9.—The Woodcock (Scolopax rusticola). Although it is now a well- 
known fact that the Woodcock breeds regularly in many parts 
of England, it would be out of place in any other lst than 
that of the winter migrants. The dearth of woodland in this 
part of Leicestershire renders them very scarce ; but a few are 
met with every winter. A nest wasfound in Owston Wood a few 
years ago, and they have been known to breed in Charnwood 
Forest. 


10.—The Great Snipe (Scolopax major). Four occurrences of this ~ 
bird in Leicestershire have come to my knowledge. One was 
killed near Lutterworth some years ago by Mr. Sansome, of 
that town, and is now in his possession. Another was obtained 
at Noseley afew years since. A third was killed in 1879 near 
Smeeton, by Mr. Elliott, and was eaten by him ; and the fourth 
was picked up dead last winter at Billesdon, and has been 
preserved. This last bird appeared to have died from want, as 
it was quite uninjured. 

11.—The Common Snipe (Scolopax gallinago.) Before this county 
was so largely drained Snipe used to be fairly abundant (I 
have killed fifty couple in a winter); but they are decreasing 
every year. Still, our brooks and reservoir afford us a few 
every year. 


THE BIRDS OF LEICESTERSHIRE. aM 


12.—The Jack Snipe (Scolopax gallinula}. The above remarks apply 

also to the Jack. I do not now get three couple where I could 
formerly get ten. They are, bowever, still found every winter, 
and I have killed four during the past month. 

13.—The Wild Goose. In very severe weather an occasional flock of 
Geese is seen; but they are so rarely obtained that the species 
isuncertain. Most probably they would be either Anser 
segetum or A. albifrons, these being the commonest varieties. 
Two white-fronted Geese were killed on December 18th, 1879, 
by Mr. West at Langton. 

14.—The Teal (Anas crecca). Not verycommon. A few are met 
with every winter. I have shot them on Saddington Reservoir 
and out of the River Welland. 

15.—The Wigeon (Anas Penelope). The large Reservoir at Saddington, 
so often mentioned in these notes, “attracts many wild fowl in 
winter, and amongst them Wigeon may often be seen and 
sometimes obtained. 

16.—The Pintail (Anas acuta). The Rey. A. Matthews tells me that he 
has occasionally seen this duck; but Ihave not been fortunate 
enough to meet with it myself. 

17.—The Hooper (Cygnus ferus). Very rarely seen. It has, however, 
according to Mr. Potter, author of ‘‘The History of Charn- 
wood Forest,” been killed several times in that locality. 


There is one other winter migrant, namely, the Great Grey Shrike 
(Lanius excubitor), which, I have no doubt, must have occurred in 
this county ; but I have not been able to obtain any authentic record 
of it, and must, therefore. omit it from my list for the present. 


In my next I propose to give a list of the “ constant residents,” 
which will require very few remarks, after which I have a grand list 
of “ occasional visitors” to wind up with. 


THE MINERALS OF THE MIDLANDS. 
BY C. J. WOODWARD, B.SC. 


NORTHAMPTONSHIRE—(continued from Vol. IV., p. 260). 


Mr. B. Thompson, F.C.S., F.G.S., has sent me the following list, 
for which he says he is mainly indebted to Mr. Sharp, F.G.S., F.S.A. :— 


Tronstone is largely quarried in Northamptonshire. It is obtained 
from the Northampton Sand, a division of the Inferior Oolite forma- 
tion, and consists, in the deep, unweathered portions, chiefly of 
carbonate of iron, but grains of quartz and siliceous oolitic concretions, 
and other ferrous compounds, etc., are met with in it. The iron which 
is quarried nearer the surface is mainly the hydrated peroxide of iron. 


Very much of the ironstone is cellular, the cells being of all shapes 
and sizes, and they contain ochreous, sandy, or argillaceous cores, 


12 THE MINERALS OF THE MIDLANDS. 


Tron Pyrites is commonly met with in the clays of the Upper Lias, 
but is always associated with fossils. I have many large ammonites 
converted into iron pyrites. Organic matter in a state of decomposi- 
tion seems to have the power of reducing the sulphates of sea water, 
and, in the presence of a ferruginous mud, to give rise to sulphide of 
iron. No good crystals are found. 


Vivianite (Phosphate of Iron) is met with in very small quantities 
in the alluvial beds of the Nene, near to Northampton, in the form of 


small nodules; also the remains of the horse, deer, ox, wild boar, etc., 
found there were some of them stained blue by the same material. 


Calcite is commonly met with in the oolitic rocks of Northampton- 
shire. It occurs in cracks or cavities of any kind in these rocks, 
and is often associated with coral. 


Gypsum or Selenite is of very common occurrence in the clays of 
the Upper Lias, and the crystals are generally well shaped. 


Mica.—In some few places the Northampton Sand is micaceous. 


Allophane.—Specimens of a mineral described as Allophane were 
found near St. Andrew’s Hospital, Northampton, by Dr. Berrill, and 
in an ironstone quarry on the Billing road, near to the above, by Mr. 
Sharp, F.G.S., F.S.A. After the decease of Dr. Berrill the whole of 
the material that had been collected was handed over to Mr. Sharp, 
as well as the following analyses (in Dr. Berrill’s writing) :— 


1.—Al1,Si, + 10Aq. Allophane. 
2.—Al1,Si, +' 7Aq. (Dr. Berrill’s mineral.) 
3.—ALSi, + 4Aq. Kaolin. 


Taking No.1 as the typical formula of Allophane, and No. 3 of 
Kaolin, it will be seen that the mineral is more nearly allied to Kaolin 
than Allophane. 


NOTTINGHAMSHIRE. 


I am indebted to Mr, A. T. Metcalfe and Mr. John N. Dufty, 
both Fellows of the Geological Society, for information concerning 
Gypsum, which appears from their reports to be the only mineral of 
this county. It occurs at Retford in veins, and is used for garden 
rock-work. At Southwell thinner veins occur. The mineral occurs, 
too, at Tuxford, and was formerly used for making plaster floors. 
“The Geology of the Nottingham District,” by the Rev. Alexander 
Irving, F.G.8., is referred to as bearing slightly on the minerals of the 
county. 


SHROPSHIRE. 

Professor Prestwich, M.A., F.R.S., refers me to his work, ‘‘ The 
Geology of Coalbrook Dale,” Trans. Geological Society, 2nd Series, 
Vol. V., p. 487, and mentions that the following among other minerals 
are found at Coalbrook Dale :—Barytes (crystals in ironstone), Blende, 
Tron Phosphate, Lead Sulphide, Calcite, Petroleum, 


THE MINERALS OF THE MIDLANDS. 13 


Dr. Callaway, M.A., F.G.S., sends the following list :— 


Barytes .. Wrekin Pie .. In Archean rocks. 

Epidote .. Caer Caradoc ar | on ae rene Arnyedaloids: x 
al de ! Lea Rocks .. .. In Archean rocks. 

Quartz 

Calcite sc pee ieee eae 
Galena sO Mihite Grit Mingitied amare ce tts 
Blende ae | ) : 

Chalcopyrite .. 


Mr. G. H. Morton, F.G.§S., sends the following list as occurring in 
the veins around Shelve :— 


Quartz .. 60 E10 .. Gravels and other Mines. 

Chalcedony 20 as .. White Grit Mine. 

Calcite (Carbonate of Lime) .. All the Mines. 

Pseudoinorphs of Fluor Spar Gravels Mine. 

Baryte .. be be .- Cefn Gwyulle. 

Witherite .. 56 oe .. White Grit Mine. 

Petroleum... 56 ae .. Oven Pipe Mine. 

Pyrite ie oc oe .. White Grit Mine. 

Malachite .. Oc nc .-  Gravels Mine. 

Redruthite 5c bie .. Westcott. 

Wad cit a a .. White Grit. 

Galena... 6c se .. All the Mines. 

Minium .. ae aa ..  Snailbeach and White Grit Mines. 

Cerussite .. as tt ..  Snailbeach and White Grit Mines. 

Blende .. aie a .. All the Mines. 
WARWICKSHIRE. 


The Rev. P. B.'Brodie, M.A., F.G.S., mentions that Gypsum occurs 
in arailway cutting near Henley-in-Arden; Selenite at Fenny Comp- 
ton, in Lias clays; and that in the Drift Pebbles he has met with 
Agate, Schorl, Jasper, and Quartz. 

Mr. A. H. Atkins, B.Se., states that Gypsum has been met with in 
sinking the artesian well at Small Heath Park, near Birmingham. 
He also mentions the occurrence of Green Cupric Carbonate, at 
Vaughton’s Hole, near Birmingham. 


WORCESTERSHIRE. 


Dr. Harvey B. Holl, F.G.S., gives the following list from the 
Malvern Hills, and refers to papers in the ‘ Quarterly Journal of 
Geological Society,” Vol. XXI., p. 72, 1865, and June, 1867 :—Quarty, 
Orthoclase, Labradorite, Andesine, Potash Mica, Ferruginous Mica 
(Biotite), Augite Hornblende, Epidote, Chlorite, Hematite, Cale Spar, 
Graphite, Zeolites (Herefordshire Beacou), Garnet (North Hill), 


14 THE FLORA OF WARWICKSHIRE, 


THE FLORA OF WARWICKSHIRE. 


AN ACCOUNT OF THE FLOWERING PLANTS AND FERNS 
OF THE COUNTY OF WARWICK. 


BY JAMES E. BAGNALL. 


(Continued from page 263.) 


SAPINDACE4. 
ACER. 
A. Pseudo-platanus, Linn. Sycamore. 


Alien: Hedges and woods. Common. April, May. 

Throughout the county ; possibly in most cases planted. 
A. campestre, Linn. Maple. 

Native: In hedges and woods. Common. May. 

Throughout the county, but frequently planted. 


LEGUMINIFERZ. 
ULEX. 
U. europeus, Linn. Iurze or Gorse. 
Native: On heaths, banks, &e. Locally common. January to 
June. 
Although found throughout the county, often absent over large 
areas. 


U. Gallii, Planchon. Planchon’s Furze. 
Native: On heaths and heathy roadsides. Locally common. July 
to December. 
I. Sutton Coldfield, abundant ; Middleton Heath ; Coleshill Heath ; 
lanes near Solihull; Bentley Heath ; Arley Wood. 
II. Coughton Park, Dunnington Heath, Studley, Purt., iii., 59; 
Between Wroxall and Honily, Wirk ; Pinlev ! Beausdale ! 
Y. and B.; Corley Moor! Shrewley Common, Bree., N.B.G.S.; 
near Tardebigg. 
GENISTA. 
G. anglica, Linn. Needle Furze. Petty Whin. 
Native: On sandy heaths and heathy waysides. Mather rare. 
June to July. 
I. Coleshill Heath ! Bree., Purt., i.,333. Brought to me from Brad- 
nock’s Marsh, Perry Fl.; Heathy waysides between Coleshill 
Pool and Stonebridge ; Arley Wood. 
II. Barby Road, near Rugby, Rev. A. Blox.; Honily, Y. and B.; 
Stivichall Common, Cow. 
It not unfrequently blooms twice in the same year. 


G. tinctoria, Linn. Dyers Green Weed. 
Native: On marly banks and in fields. Locally common. July, 
August. 


I. Alane at Elmdon! near the Hall, Ick. Anal., 1837; field path 
from Sheldon to Olton; Shelly Lane, near Shelly Coppice ; 
Packwood ; Ansley Heath. 

II. Coughton Fields, near Beauchamp’s Court, Purt., i., 133; Green’s 
Grove, Hatton; between Leamington and Emscote, Perry, 
1817; Whitnash, Chesterton, Y.and B.; Lighthorne, Bolton 
King; Salford Lodge Wood, Rev. J. C.; Bridle Road, Billesley 
to Wilmcote ; Yarningale Common ; fields by Oversley Wood ; 
near Oakley Wood, 


THE FLORA OF WARWICKSHIRE. 15 


SAROTHAMNUS. 
§. scoparius, Koch. Common Broom. 
Native : In woods and fields and on banks and waysides, Common. 
May, June. Throughout the county. In some districts rather 


local. 
ONONIS. 
0. spinosa, Linn. Rest-harrow. 
Native: On sandy and marly banks, and waysides. Local. June, 
July. 


I. Elmdon, near Bickenhill. 

II. Near Coventry Wood, Arbury Hall, Kirk, Phyt., ii.. 970: Morton 
Morrell, Southam, Y. and B.; between Stratford and Binton ; 
near Rose Hall, Oversley ; Marl Cliff; Exhall; bridle road from 
Billesley to Wilmcote, Henley-in-Arden. 

0. arvensis, Auct. Tield Rest harrow. 

Native: In fields, and on banks and waysides. Locally common. 
June, July. 
I. Powell’s Pool, Sutton Park; Langley : Wylde Green ; Elmdon; &c. 

II. With white flowers, in Rectory Farm, Harboro’ Magna, Rev. A. 
Blox. ; roadsides near Prince Thorpe! R.S.R., 1874 ; Tachbrook, 
Y. and B.; Honington Park, Newb.; between Billesley and 
Wilmecote, «&c. 

ANTHYLLIS. 

A. vulneraria, Linn. Kidney Vetch. 

Native: On lias and marly banks. Local. May, July. 

II. Kinwarton; Coughton Fields, Shottery, Purt., i., 332; Harbury! 
Y. and B.; Harboro’ Magna, Rev. A. Blor.: Whatcote, Rev. 
J. Gorle; Tredington, Honington, Newb. ; Gaydon: Burton 
Dasset, Bolton King ; Marl Cliff ; Bearley Canal bank ; Rowing- 
ton Canal bank; fields near Wilmcote. 

MEDICAGO. 

M. sativa, Linn. Common Lucerne. 

Casual: In cultivated fields and on banks. Rather rare. 
I. Sutton railway bank, near Erdington. 

Il. Grafton, Purt, i., 347; Rugby, R.S.R., 1871! Myton, Y. and B.; on 
railway banks, near Budbrook, and Emscote, H.B.; Blackwell, 
Newb. 

M. lupulina, Linn. Black Medick or Nonsuch. 

Native: On banks, waysides, fields, &c. Common. May, June. 
Area general. 
M, denticulata, JVilld. Reticulated Medick. 
Denizen: In cultivated fields and waste places. Rare. July to 
August. 
II. Established in lanes about Kenilworth ; brought probably with 
foreign skins, H. B.; rick yard, near Kenilworth. 
This cannot be considered as more than a casual in this county. 

M, maculata, Sith. Spotted Medick. 

II. Sherbourne, Y. and B.; Myton! H. B.; rickyard, at Kenilworth! 
H. B.; roadside from Stratford-on-Avon to Eatington, 
abundant 1875. 


MELILOTUS. 
M. officinalis, Willd. Common Melilot. 
Denizen : In woods, copses, and on marly banks, &c. Local. June, 


July. 

I. In Aston Park, before it was broken up; railway banks, at Stech- 
ford; on all the sidings of new line from Castle Bromwich to 
Sutton Park, abundantly, 1878-80. 


16 THE FLORA OF WARWICKSHIRE. 


Il. (Lrijolium melilotus officinalis.) Spernal, Kinwarton, Grafton, 
Purt., i., 346; between Warwick and Tachbrook, Perry; Whit- 
nash, Harbury, Y. and B.; Rugby district, R. S. R., 1869; 
Tredington; Tysoe; Honington; Shipston-on-Stour; What- 
cote, Newb. ; Bidford ; Drayton Bushes; Little Alne; Bearley 
Canal bank. 
M. alba, Lam. White Melilot. 
Alien: On railway banks. Rare. July, August. 
I. Stechford Railway bank; on the sidings of new line from Castle 
Bromwich to Sutton Park, 1878-80, becoming quite shrubby 
here; a few plants at Four Oaks in 1874. 
II. Near Emscote Mill, H. B. 
M., arvensis, JVallr. Field Melilot. 
Casual: On waste places and waysides, &c. Rare. June, July. 
I. Waste stony placesin a lane near Bodmir, 1875, abundant; in 
Sutton Park on waste spots, near the new railway banks. 
II. Warwick Stone Quarry, and Castle walls, 7.B.; a few plants by 
the side of a field near to the allotments, Honington, Newb.; a 
few plants on waysides, near Wixford, 1872. 
(MM. parviflora, Lam., has occurred as a casual on the canal bank 
near Olton, and in potato fields and waste places, Kenilworth. | 
(Lo be continued.) 


MB OR. Ov OG Yo sO°R Tite Mae iis 
THE WEATHER OF NOVEMBER, 1881. 


BY CLEMENT L. WRAGGE, F.R.G.S., F.M.S., ETC. 


The meteorological conditions of this month were very remarkable ; 
the abnormally high temperature 1nd barometric depressions and gales 
calling for special notice. So unusually mild was the weather, that 
the violets forget-me-nots, daisies, etc., were in full bloom—lowering 
November seemed running its length, joined hand in hand with 
blushing May. At Orieton no temperature so high was recorded within 
the last twenty-five years, and the mean temperature was more than 
6° above the average of the last twenty years. That the atmosphere 
of northern latitudes was generally in an extraordinarily unsettled 
condition, and that a remarkable main disturbance covered a wide area 
of the earth’s surface, is sufficiently proved by the depressions and 
consequent gales of the last part of the month, with the low crests of 
pressure intervening. Over the moorlands of North Staffordshire the 
south-west wind accompanying the great depression of the 27th 
travelled with a velocity of fully 70 miles per hour, Beaufort scale, as 
recorded by two practised and experienced observers. The rainfall 
was much about the average. Duration of sunshine at Hodsock, 62 
honrs, and at Aspley Guise, Woburn, 74 hours. Mean sea temperature 
at Scarborough, 47:5. 

Nores py Opservers.—Cheltenham.—Roses, stocks, violets, and wall- 
flowers in full bloom, and Clematis Jackmanii putting forth spring 
shoots. More Rectory.—Blossom of gooseberry, raspberry, &c., forming. 
No winter birds seen. Dudley.—Spring flowers blooming. Deuwnis.— 
Roses, primroses, pansies, &c., in bloom.  Henley-in-Arden.—Mean 
temperature 47:3, 7:3 higher than mean of the ten previous years. 
Spondon.— Crocus, snowdrop, and narcissus already above the ground. 
Kibworth.—During the month we have gathered roses, stocks, wall- 
flowers, cowslips, polyanthus, forget-me-nots, mignonnette, double 
daisies and violets. Waltham-le-Wold.—Many wild flowers in bloom. 


*Hii WEATHER OF NOVEMBER. 17 
RAINFALL. TEMPERATURK. 
| Sp | Greatest fall|..| Greatest ht.) Greatest cd. 
STATION. | OBSERVER. = » in 24 hours.| © ey - — 
| 2|——_-——| o | : 
| In.!In.} Date. |4 3) Dee| Date. |Deg| Date. 
* OUTPOST STATIONS. | 
Spitnl Cemetery, Carlisle .... J. Cartmell, Esq. ........../ 3°53) *68) 30 17 |60°7) 15 j|%5°4| 18 
Scarborough/a)... a & 5S ABE A |F. Shaw, Esq., F.M.S.......| sl) *50 26 18 | 611 uu a8 1 
Blackpool/a)—North Shore : . | | 56°9) 82° 1 
i South Shore} © T- Ward, Esq., ¥.M.S. «-|5.53| 9] 97 | a8 |567/ 1 |997| a8 
Llandudno iy, seseeceeseeeeeid. Nicol. Esq., M.D., F.M.S.| 4°06] °63) 30 | 16 | 62°8 8 |353; 1 
Boston .......-. sesscccce-cee/W. H. Wheeler, Esq. ......|2°43| “49 4 15 | 56°0 38°0) 
Lowestoft (a) .......0..seee0+,H. Mt. Miller, Esq. ......0 1°25} *30 3 | 11 | 60°0 4 86°C 1 
Carmarthen (@)......seseeees G. J. Hearder, Esq., M.D...| 6°92) °89) 30 27 | 63°) 8 |33°9) 29 
BUINOUEN (CE) )cvescccceusees .|W. T. Radford, Ksq., M. Te .| 4°12) *64 4 24/596) 12 86°83 2 
St. Augustine's, Ramsgate(a), Rev J. C. Swanson, O.8.B. | 2°03} vy 26 | 1d | 60°2 4 815) 1 
MIDLAND STATIONS | | 
GLOUCESTERSHIRE. | 
Stroud ........ alpina nieldiatars -|S. J. Coley, Esq. ......... 410) °58}) 28 | 20 | 61°0 5 32°0) 29 
Theltenham (d)......0e eee eee R. Lyrer .Esq., FMS. ....|/3'25| “66, 26 | 23 | 618 4 288) «18 
WILTSHIR | | | | 
Marlborough/(a) .....+-.++++ )Rev. T. A. Preston. F.MS. | | 3°82) “74) 24 19 |60°1; 18 /811) 18 
SHROPSHIRE. | | 
Woolstaston ....... Haneee Soe WRG a Eee ol CANT ainivicisieisiciaecs (37 74) 80} 80. | 22) 59°0| 4,18 | 81°0 1 
SEDKCHBY piste cesccceccsure ...|M. D. La Touche ..........|3°74| *61/ 26 | 25 | G0°S 13 |29°0; 18 
Bishop’s Castle ......... LINE. Griffiths, Esq. ..........|8°55| 46] 26 | 20/600) 4 |260) 1 
More Rectory.......++.0++ .»»|Rev. A.S. Male........ «ee{8°90! °59) 26 2 | GLO 8 310 «18 
Dowles. near Bewdley ......|J. M. Downing, Esq. ......) 8°02) “45; 27(?)/ 16 | 65°03) | 240) 18 
HEREFORDSHIRE. | | | | 
Burghill (@).........+..++++++/3. G. Chapman, Esq. ...... 2°33) BB) = 26 18 | 63°9 18 82°7 18 
BGO BUGS oon. ee cece cec nes Rev. G. Alexander ........| 2°61) 85) 21 17 | 59°0) 4,12,18 | 310) 928 
WORCESTERSHIRE, | | | | | 
Orleton, Tenbury ......-++065 T. H. Davis, Esq., F.M.S. .. 26 20 | 628) 18 288} 18 
West Malvern A. H. Hartland, Esq. ......| 2 26 19 | 580 4  /|81°0) 2 
Evesham ..... T. J. Slatter, Esq., F.G.S...| 2° 26 =| 1y | 59°8 4 | 30°5) 1 
Pedmore ....- . R. Marten, Esq. ........| 2° 26 |: 18 | 640 AS SGI: 0, 7 
Stourbridge ...... c :/Mr. J.J efferies ......... arial | 26 15 | 60°0 ee | 32°0| 2,18 
Cawney Bank, Dudley scinicdd Mr. C. Beale: . <2... shin 26 17 | 57°70 4 |33° 0) 1 
STAPFORDSHIRE, | | | 
Dennis, Stourbridge (a) ......|C. Webb, Esq....-....+-0005)2 26 1s | 625} 18 |31°0 7 
Kinver .......+sesseeeeeeeees| Rev. W. H. Bolton .......- 26 20 | 59'v 13 30°0| 17 
Walsall ...... face eeencciNe Re Beaty ads snsccsceect ® 26 | 22 | 570 4 |30°0 1 
ead “Estas ASS J.P. Roberts, Hsq. ....... 3 17 |60'0} 10 |g1-0) 17 
r nby B, olver- Ac P 2 
So oe ver} G. J.C. Broom, Esq. ....++. 24 | 18 te | 
Weston-under-Lyziard .|Hon, & Rev. J. Bldg euinn': 30 22 610} 4,18 |g0c! 1,2 
Wrottesley (a).. ..|E. Simpson, Esq. ..... 26 |18}60°2)} 18 |gi29! 1 
Heath House, nearCher (a)\J. C. Philips, Esq., J.P.. 16 | 20 60'8} 18 29° 1 
Oakamoor, Churnet Valley («)|Mr. I. K. Kettle ...... B°8 26 17 | 60°4) 4,13 |97:8| 380 
Beacon Stoop, WeaverHills(a)|Mr. James Hall ..... wabieailtee 30 15 | 563) 4 | 26"! 9) 12 
Alstonfield ..................|Rev. W. H. Purchas ......|5 26 20 | 58°4) 18 = | 24:0) 1 
WARWICKSHIRE. | | 
St. Mary’s College, Oscott (a) J. MacElmail, Esq. ......../2°16) *83) 26 13 |61'7} 18 | 30" 6| 1 
Henley-in-Arden ............|.T. H.G. Newton, Esq. |3°7] *50 30 22 | 610 4 1990! 17 
Kenilworth (a) ...... .../F. Slade, Esq., C.E., F.M.S.) 3°06 21/601, 13 /|296| 18 
Coundon, Coventry ..........|Lieut.-Col. K. Caldicott..../ 2°87) “51, 26 19 | 59°0 4 82:0) 1,17 
Rugby School................/Rev. T. N. Hutchinson ....| 8°25) *50) 26 23 | 596; 12 29°8 a 
DERBYSHIRE, | 
Stonv Middleton .. -|Rev. V. Smith ..... *66| 26 17 | 58°0; 12 = | 29°0) 1 
Fernslope, Belper... .|F. J. Jackson, Esq 65} 16 1s |60°0} 13 | 30:0) 1,30 
Linacre Reservoir... ...|C. E. Jones, Esq. ... 64) 26 20 
Spondon .......... ae .|J. T. Barber, Esq. *B5] 8 18 | 
Duffield.......... oro ooee ...|W. Bland, Esq..... 8} 25 | 13 
NOTTINGHAMSHIRE. 
Mansfield (4) ......seeee08 .».|W. Tyrer, Esq., F.M.S. ..../ 2°81] °35) 8,16,26 | 99 | 611) 18 31:0} 18 
Park Hill, Nottingham ...... H. F. Johnson, lsq. ...... 2°80) 84 3 18 }58°7) 13 80°9 1 
Hodsock Priory, Ran (a).|H. Mellish, Esq., F.M.S. ..| 2°08] 41) 26 16 |64%5| 13 |292) 18 
BRIONG ac ceienccnecenes ....|J. N. Dufty, Esq., F.G.S. 2°03) *35) 26 16 }56°0, 14 30°0 Zz 
LEICKSTRRSHIRE. 
Loughborough (a)............|W. Berridge, Kisq., F.M.S...| 2°58) ‘59° 26 18 | 62°7 13 811 18 
J. Hames, Esq.... »| 1°93} 455-26 21/570) 4,18 | 81-0 3 
C. Smith, Esq. . 2°35] "44, 26 20 | 602) 18 81:0, 1,18 
Ashby Magna...........0 Rev. Canon Willes . 2°34) °39) = 26 21 | 580 4 
Kibworth.......... .+..../T. Macaulay, Esq. . 2°79] 48) 26 19 | 59°0 4 {310 1 
Waltham-le-Wold .. ....|dwin Ball, Esq. ... | 2°75) *48) = 26 16/570) 18 o2'0! 28,17 
BIRID VIG. ic cavedseccssesnel G. Jones, Hsq........eeee04| 2°20) *35) 2) 19 |58°0} 18 |2o'u) 18 
Coston lectory, Melton (a) ‘lRev. A.M. Rendell........|2°35 35) 25,26 | 19 | 60°0} 18 x90} 30 
NORTHAMPTONSHIRE, | 
BIBMAGELOD desis vide ce icise ts asiwds 10a) WEDD, JORG: ccc e«cec0c000|0-20) “BG. 25 18 
Kettering....0...cccescessse.(J» Wallis, HSQ. ..eecseceee-(291| “51] 96 | 16/620] 1 |810| 18 
BEDFORDSHIRE. 
Aspley Guise, Woburn (a)....|E. E. Dymond, Esq., F.M.S.) 2°42) *55) 26 15 | 60°0 6 30° st 
RUTLAND. 
Northfields, in aie cco hal Hayes, Esq. ......e+00-| 2°64) *41) 25 18 | 60°0 4 270 1 


(a) At these Stations Stevenson’s Thermometer Screen is in use, and the values may be regarded as 


strictly intercomparable. 


Oakamoor, Churnet Valley, October, 1881.—Total rainfall, 3531; greatest fall 1:080, on 18th number 


of rainy days, LB; maximum temperature, 60°7, 2nd; minimum, 22" 8, on 17th, 


18 CORRESPONDENCE. 


Worrespondence. 


I 


Mercurtiis Perennis.—On October 16th this plant was in blossom 
in Streatley Woods, South Beds. Some scores of staminate flowers 
were seen, but only two or three pistillate ones. They occurred in a 
clearing in the woods, on the N.W. side, where there is a sub-soil of 
stiff clay. Associated with them were numerous primroses in blossom. 
Possibly the excessive rainsof August, with the subsequent compara- 
tive heat, may have had some effect on the autumn blossoming of 
these plants.—J. Saunpers, Luton. 


Late Frowrerinc.—On December 27th I found Merecurialis perennis 
(Dog’s Mercury), abundantly in flower (staminate) at Marston Green, four 
miles south of Birmingham. Hawthorn near wasin full leaf.—Gro. E. 
Harrison. On December 22nd a labourer showed me some branches of 
hawthorn, covered with blossom, which he had brought from a village 
near Worcester.—W. J. H. 


Borany oF Matvern.—The following plants either new or rare in 
the neighbourhood of Malvern have been met with during 1881 :— 
Stachys ambigua, Sm., new; Galeopsis versicolor, Curt., new; Rumer 
pulcher, Linn., rare; R. sanguineus, Linn., rare; Anacharis alsinastrum, 
Bab., new; Carex avillaris, good, a curious congested variety; C. 
strigosa, Huds.; C. distans, Linn.; Festuca myurus, Linn., rare ; 
Brachypodium pinnatum, Beauy., rare. Also a remarkable very small 
(white) flowered and apparently evergreen variety of Rosa stylosa has 
been found in the neighbourhood, by Mr. A. D. Melvin. This Rose 
has very small fruit, which had scarcely changed colour on November 
17th, when I last visited the bush.—R. F. Townprow, Malvern Link. 


QuaRtTzITE Prpsites.—lI should be pleased to communicate with 
readers of the ‘‘ Midland Naturalist’? who live in neighbourhoods 
where the hard quartzite pebbles—petrified kidneys, as they are often 
called—are largely broken up for road-mending or any other purpose. 
The locality from whence these pebbles have come is one of the 
unsolved problems in British geology. If local observers would 
diligently look over the heaps of the broken pebbles and pick out any 
containing fossils they would be aiding in the solution of this 
question.—W. J. Harrison, 43, Golden Hillock Road, Birmingham. 


Leacu’s Perret anp Stormy Perret in OxrorpsHtre.—A specimen of 
the Fork-tailed or Leach’s Petrel (Procellaria Leachii) was picked up 
dead, and in a very emaciated condition, at Lower Heyford, in this 
county, early in December. About the same time a Stormy Petrel 
(Procellaria pelagica) was procured near Oxford. These birds were, of 
course, blown inland by the storm of the 27th November or there- 
abouts.—O.iver V. Artin, Banbury, Oxon, 1881. 


Curious CaprurE oF A PocHarp.—On the night of the 9th inst., the 
inmates of a house in this town were aroused by the smashing of glass 
in an adjoining outhouse. On going into the place they found that a 
duck (which was quite uninjured) had dashed itself through the 
skylight. I went down to see the bird, and found a fine male Pochard 
(Fuligula ferina). A faint light was shining on the glass, which was 
frosted over, and I imagine that the bird mistook it for a patch of 
water, and accordingly pitched on it.—Oxiver V. Aurry, Banbury, 
Oxon, Dec., 1881. 


GLEANINGS. 19 


Gleanings. 


ee 


Mr. Cuartes Moorr.— We regret to announce the death of this 
gentleman, the well-known geologist of Bath. 

Marine Orcanisms.—Mr. E. Wade Wilton, Northfield Villas, Leeds, 

~ has issued a circular, in which he states that if he obtains a sufficient 
number of subscribers he will, in the Spring, open a ‘ Microscopists’ 
and Naturalists’ Studio,” at Clovelly, for the supply of living marine 
objects fcr the microscope. Terms of subscription will be forwarded 
on application to Mr. Wilton, as above. 

GroLogica Survey.—With the honour of knighthood, Sir A. C. 
Ramsay leaves the post of Director General of the Survey. His 
successor is Prof. A. Geikie, the head of the Scottish Survey, 
to whose place, in turn, his brother, Dr. Jas. Geikie, has been 
appointed. Professor Geikie is a worthy successor to the three 
great geologists—De La Beche, Murchison, and Ramsay—who have 
controlled and directed the execution of the geological map of the 
British Isles. We trust he will live to see the completion of the task, 
and that, if possible, he will hasten on not only the field-work of the 
survey, but, more especially, the publication of the maps and memoirs 
as soon after their execution as possible. According to an official 
return there must be no fewer than one large sheet and fifty-three 
quarter-sheets of the one-inch map, of which the actual survey has 
been completed, but which have not yet been issued to the public. 
The survey of one of these quarter-sheets was completed as long ago as 
1867! ‘This state of things has lately received a severe reprimand 
from the Science and Art Department ‘(of which the Geological Survey 
forms a section), so that we may expect increased activity in the office 
staff for the future. 


Reparts: oe Saiistes 


BIRMINGHAM NATURAL HISTORY AND MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETY. 
—GENERAL MEETING, December 6th.—Mr. J. F. Goode presented to the Society 
eight physiological slides, illustrating the embryology of the chick. Mr. J. E. 
Bagnall exhibited Rubus hemistemon (a new record for Warwickshire); Rubus 
hirtifolius and Pyrus Briggsti, from Devonshire; and Isnardia palustris, from 
South Hants; also, on behalf of Dr. Fraser, Potentilla fruticosa and Arbutus 
uva-urst. Mr. W. R. Hughes exhibited Bopyrus squillarum (male and female), 
parasites infesting the Common Prawn—specimens prepared by Mr. F. W. 
Sharpus. Mr. W. B. Grove exhibited Stemonitis obtusata (syn. Comatricha 
Friesiana), a myxomycete, from Sutton. Mr. J. Levick exhibited Mcistes 
umbella, Melicerta tubicolaria, and a gigantic amceba, Lithameba discus (Ray 
Lankester), from his own aquarium. December 13th.—B1oLoGiIcaL SEcTION.— 
Mr. W. G. Blatch exhibited Choragus Sheppardi and Lathridius rugosus, two 
rare beetles, new to Warwickshire. Mr. J. E. Bagnall exhibited Chara 
contraria, var. hispidula, and Chara Hedwigiti, from Sow Waste (new to 
Warwickshire); and Nitella flexilis, from Olton; also, Agrostis nigra, of 
Withering (new to Warwickshire). Mr. J. E. Bagnall read a ‘‘ Note on Agrostis 
nigra, of Withering, as a Warwickshire plant.” He minutely described the 
characters of this species, and pointed out the distinction between it and 
Agrostis vulgaris, with which it has often been confounded. It isa singular 
fact that this plant, which was mentioned by Withering in 1796 and 1811, 
has been omitted in all floras since that time, therefore the discovery of 
it in Warwickshire by Mr, Bagnall has reinstated it as a British plant, 


20 REPORTS OF SOCIETIES. 


December 20th.—MICROSCcOPICAL MEETING—Dr. A. Milnes Marshall and Mr. 
W. P. Marshall presented the first portion of a ‘ Report on the Pennatulida 
collected in the Oban Dredging Excursion,” which is printed in this number. 
Mr. W. R. Hughes exhibited, through the kindness of Dr. Cobbold, eggs of 
Bilharzia hematobia (from the living subject), from which the embryos were 
hatched in the room. Bilharzia is a trematode entozoon, and undergoes 
alternations of generations similar to those of the liver fluke, Fasciola hepatica. 
It is especially prevalent in Egypt, the young being found, according to some 
authorities, in the waters of the Nile, in the fishes which abound therein, or 
even in bread, grain, and fruit. Dr. Cobbold, however, who has paid great 
attention to this parasite, considers “that the larve in the form of cercarim 
and sporocysts will be found in certain gastropod molluscs, from which the 
adult forms have been obtained.” The perfect fluke—the male of which 
measures about half an inchin length, and is shaped somewhat like a horse-leech, 
with one sucker; the female is smaller, being about four-fifths of an inch—has 
only been found in man and the quadrumana,. In these it mainly exists in the 
portal system of blood-vessels. In man itis known to give rise to very serious 
symptoms, causing diarrhea, hematuria, great prostration of the vital powers, 
and even death. The eggs are variable in outline, mostly oval or pyriform, 
furnished with a spine-like process, and having an operculum, The living 
embryos,on being hatched in tepid water,swim about vigorously by means of their 
cilia, They are conical in shape, and measure about s3;in. in length, and 4, in. 
transversely. Mr. Hughes remarked that too much importance could not be 
attached to the study of the entozoa generally from a sanitary point of view. 
Dr. Cobbold had again and again insisted on the trite proverb—‘ prevention is 
better than cure,” and if due attention were paid to the cooking of meat and 
vegetables, and no salads were eaten without being thoroughly washed in pure 
water and dried first, and no water drunk, except of the purest kind, unless it 
had been well filtered, many valuable lives would annually be saved. In the 
case of the present exhibit, Dr. Cobbold had shown that the malady was due to 
the patient drinking unfiltered water. 


BIRMINGHAM MICROSCOPISTS’ AND NATURALISTS’ UNION.—November 
14th.—ANNUAL MEETING.—Mry. J. W. Turner elected president. November 21st. 
—Mr. Boland exhibited various land shells, among which were Acme lineata and 
Bythinia Leachii. My. Delicate exhibited common squirrel, which had eaten 
away one of its fore-paws, that had become entangled in the branches of a 
tree; and Mr. J. W. Neville microscopical coal sections, showing fern sporangia 
with spores in situ, and transverse section of fern stem, Rachtopteris cylindrica. 
A paper was read by Mr. Searle on “Our Common Trees,” illustrated by 
sketches and specimens of leaves, flowers, and fruit. November 28th.—Mr. 
Darley showed sword grass satellite, and November and December moths, taken 
at Sutton Park ; Mr. Boland, land shells from Africa and the Philippine Islands ; 
Mr. J. W. Neville, transverse section of sugar-cane. Mr. Blay, Huomphalus 
discors, and Strophomena, from Wenlock Beds, Benthal Edge; Mr. Delicate, 
transverse section of pine stem and lilac; Mr. J. Wykes, an astronomical 
telescope, by which was seen Saturn, with its ring and satellites; the Moon, its 
hills and their craters, were well seen under a high power. December 4th.—Mr. 
J. W. Neville showed lingual ribbon of Haliotis tuberculata, under microscope ; 
also shell of same; Mr. Deakin, S. convolvuli, caught at Handsworth 16th of 
September of the present year; ditto from Gloucester; also a number of 
Ichneumons from various moth chrysalides, and several peculiar Dipterous 
parasites from Magpie Moth, A. psi, and P. rape; Mr. Baxter, sori of Haresfoot 
Fern. December 12.—Mr. Insley exhibited specimens of Encrinites from Wenlock 
Beds, Dudley, showing stem, tentacula, and their fringes of cilia; also specimens of 
Neuropteris from the coalfields, Bilston. Mr. J. W. Neville exhibited coal section 
showing excreta of insects deposited in the tissues of plants which they had 
eaten, probably while in the larval stage; Mr. Boland, male Kestrel Hawk, 
caught in the neighbourhood; Mr. Wykes, vertical section of tooth of pig, and 
coal section showing sporangia, 


REPORTS OF SOCIETIES. on! 


CHELTENHAM NATURAL SCIENCE SOCIETY.—November 17th.—Sir W. 
Brook-Kay, Bart., read a paper on “The Science of Language.” December 22nd. 
—Mr. G. B. Witts read a paper on the “ Ancient Inhabitants of the Cotteswolds.” 


NOTTINGHAM G.R.S. NATURALIST SOCIETY.—The first anniversary of 
the above Society, which is an offshoot of the Working Men's Naturalist Society, 
was held in the Society’s rooms, People’s Hall, on December 16th. Alderman 
Turney presided.—Mr. Rigby read the report of the origin and work of the 
Society during the year. The Society was formed, we learn from the report, 
by Messrs. Gent, Rigby, and Stanley, in consequence of the rejection of a motion 
not to hold the meetings of the parent Society at a public-house. The Society 
now numbers about a score members.—Mr. Gent read the financial report, 
which showed a balance of £1. 5s. 10d. in the hands of the treasurer.—The 
Society’s transactions were next read by the Corresponding Secretary, Mr. 
Perry. Papers were also read during the evening by Mr. J. J. Ogle on “A Piece 
of Elder Pith,” by Mr. Perry on “‘ The Telephone,” by Mr. T. Goldsmith on “ The 
Carrion-eating Birds,” and by the President (Mr. W. Rigby) on “The Garden 
Snail.” All the papers were illustrated by diagrams or models. Mr. Turney 
congratulated the Society on its success. He thought a right step had been 
taken in disassociating the Society from a public-house. He hoped the Society 
would prosper until it became a fully recognised institution of the town. He 
had great pleasure in placing at the disposal of the Society the sum of £15, to be 
used in the purchase of books and objects in furtherance of its work. A hearty 
vote of thanks was passed acknowledging this liberality—Mr. T. Goldsmith, 
President of the Working Men's Naturalist Society, spoke in favour of a union 
of the two Societies, and promised to do allin his power to bring about such a 
result.—There was an excellent exhibition of ornithological, botanical, ento- 
mological, and other natural history objects, and microscopes. 


OXFORDSHIRE NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY.—November 24th.—A 
meeting was heldin the University Museum—Prof. Westwood, F.L.S., in the chair. 
After formal business, Mr. T. F. Richards, M.A., gave his notes on the Welsh 
Flora, the places especially searched being Barmouth and its vicinity, Cader 
Idris, Conway, and the Orme’s Head, Llangollen, and the Glydyr Mountains. 
The list of plants included most of the rarities of North Wales, including 
Cotoneaster, Helianthemum canum, Hutchinsia Silene nutans, on the Orme; 
Silybum marianum, Dianthus deltoides, on Deganwy, Lavatera, Smyrnium, 
Orobanche hedere, and Dianthus plumarius, at Conway; Carex extensa near 
the Torrent Walk, Dolgelly; Aspleniuwm septentrionale, and germanicum, the 
latter a noteworthy discovery, in the vicinity of Cader, and on that mountain 
most of the typical plants. Barmouth added to these some interesting introduc- 
tions, while the Glydyrs afforded Rhodiola rosea, Saxifraga hypnoides, but not 
the chief object of search, the Cambrian Lily, Lloydia serotina; at Festiniog 
the handsome Vicia orobus was met with. Mr. Bolton King, in the discussion 
that followed, added to the plants noticed on the Orme by Mr. Richards 
Eypipactis ovalis, and said that after much searching a single plant of 
Cotoneaster was met with. Mr. G. C. Druce alluded to the gradual disappear- 
ance of Dianthus plumarius from Conway Castle and said that on the cliffs of 
the Twl Dhu he had gathered plants which had been named Polygala grandi- 
flora. Myr. Bolton King then gave an account of a three weeks’ tour in Ireland. 
the route being from Westport to Clifden, by Glendalough and Maam, to Cong, 
Portumna, Lough Dearg, Killarney, the Brandon Mountains, Dingle, and 
Berehaven. The number of plants found showed that a great amount of work 
had been compressed into the time. Mr. King had been fortunate to add 
Rosa sepium and Aira alpina to the Irish flora, and a new variety of Chara, i.e., 
Chara tomentosa, var. curta. Among the other plants gathered were Dabeocia 
polifolia, Erica Mackati, and Hibernica, Arabis ciliata, Polygala grandiflora, 
Eriocaulon septangulare, Inula salicina, Saxifraga geum, hirsuta, punctata, 


22 REPORTS OF SOCIETIES. 


afinis, and decipiens, Sisyrinchium Bermudianum, Potamogeton sparganifolius, 
linearis, and nitens, Hwphorbia hiberna, Naias flexilis, Spiranthes gemmipara, 
Isottes echinospora, &¢. December Tth.—Professor Westwood, F.L.S., in 
the chair. The Hon. See. (Mr. G. C. Druce), after reading the minutes 
and correspondence, announced that the papers promised for next 
term included notes on the Goldfinch, and the Fauna of Auvergne, the Flora of 
Ross and Cromarty, the Birds of North Oxfordshire, &c.—Professcr Westwood 
then drew attention to anumber of insects injurious to cereal crops, such as 
the Wireworm, describing their life-history, etc., especial attention being 
directed to an Oat Fly, only recently noticed in England, which had proved most 
destructive to a crop of oats, almost every kernel being eaten up and its place 
filled by the pupa of one of the oat flies. Professor Westwood suggested a plan 
to prevent its increase, and exhibited specimens of the fly and the oats damaged 
by it.—Mr. E. B. Poulton then gave a lecture on his exploration during the long 
vacation of Dowker Bottom Cave, in Craven, Yorkshire, a sectional diagram 
being shown to illustrate it. Myx. Poulton first sketched the history of the cave 
and its previous working, and then a detailed description of the various passages 
and chambers, and the means of egress, ete. After dividing the second chamber 
into square yards by means of wire, they commenced excavating the floor, the 
contents of each square yard worked being most carefully examined (as 
instanced by finding the teeth of a field-mouse) and the bones, ete.,labelled at once, 
so thatit was known from which particular square yard of the cave it was brought. 
So the work went on down through thick tenacious yellow clay, in which were 
embedded huge boulders, which had apparently dropped from the roof above 
into the shallow lake which once occupied the chamber. In this thick clay but 
few bones were found, and the workers were continually bothered by permanent 
springs being tapped, and it was only after an immense amount of labour had 
been carried on that they reluctantly gave up for the season the search for the 
solid stone floor which some geologists said it possessed. Myr. Poulton exhibited 
some dozens of specimens found in the clay and talus, such as bones of pigs, 
sheep, very small, even smaller than the Shetland sheep, rock-pigeon not found 
at the present time near Craven, and many other interesting relics of post-Roman | 
times. Of Roman and pre-Roman relics there were brooches, pot boilers, slabs 
of micaceous sandstone for baking bread, British pottery, Samian ware, flint 
weapons, etc., all pointing to its occupation by mankind in early days. 


PETERBOROUGH NATURAL HISTORY, SCIENTIFIC, & ARCHHOLOGI- 
CAL SOCIETY.—November 8th.—Ordinary Meeting in the Museum, when an 
address was given by Mr. Yates Aston, on “Geological Evidence of Life on the 
Globe.” November 22nd.—Soirée at Orton Hall, the residence of the Marchioness- 
Dowager of Huntly. Amongst those present were the Marchioness-Dowager of 
Huntly, Lord and Lady Granville Gordon, Lady Elena and Lady Ethel Gordon, 
Professor and Miss Tylor, J. Pickover and Miss Pickover, of Wisbech. During 
the evening Professor Tylor, F.R.S., delivered an address on the “ Roman 
Remains of this and other Neighbourhoods,” of which the following is an 
abstract. He said he was to a certain extent taking the place of his friend, Mr. 
Skertchley, who was unable tobe present, and who, in referring to the Fen 
country, had followed somewhat the lines he (the lecturer) had before laid down 
that they could not explain the formation of the Fens unless they attributed 
it to a very wet period, during which the gravel and the soil accumulated, He 
calculated that there must have been at one time as much as 300 inches of rain, 
that the rivers were of enormous size, and that immense deposits of gravel 
were formed under conditions very different from any we had experienced in the 
present day. Near Orton the Nene was, no doubt, formerly very wide, probably: 
half-a-mile in width, and the existing gravelly soil which contained so many 
remains was, no doubt, the result of that period. It must have taken a river of. 
great expanse to have formed the large beds of stones with which they were 
familiar, In Lady Huntly’s collection there were a great many specimens of 


REPORTS OF SOCIETIES. Di 


the teeth of the elephant found in the neighbourhood, and also a Paleolithic 
flint implement, the only one foundin that locality. Probably many others had 
been broken up for the roads. It wasa rough flint, and evidently formed before 
the art of grinding was invented. It therefore took them back to the earliest 
time, and there could be no doubt that it was with such instruments as the one 
shown that pre-historic men who lived in the valley of the Nene killed the 
elephant and other animals. It was a most remarkable specimen, and he 
considered it the gem of Lady Huntly’s beautiful collection. After the pre- 
historic tribes, probably what they might call the British population, their 
successors, inhabited that part of England. They were, no doubt, excellent 
potters, and gained the reputation of “the great potteries of the Durobrive,” 
which, he supposed, were inhabited by people who might have lived along the 
banks of the Nene for ten or twelve miles. The greatest quantity of remains 
had been found at Castor, on the north side of the river, and at Chesterton on 
the south. After the British came the Romans, and the very beautiful 
specimens of pottery on the table were of that period. The subjects depicted 
were the chase—an admirable representation of hare and hounds. There were 
no better specimens, he thought, anywhere. Perhaps one at Colchester, however, 
might claim superiority. It was a very important thing for this district that 
Lady Huntly had paid so much attention to collecting. Her library was very 
valuable, and so was her collection, and he was glad that at last Peterborough had 
tried to compete with her by founding a library and museum. No doubt the 
competition would be productive of good results. It was difficult to say what 
was the relation of Peterborough to Orton and Castor. Roman remains had 
lately been found in Peterborough, and no doubt as further excavations were 
made greater results would appear. It was supposed there was no Roman 
occupation of Peterborough, but that was entirely a mistake. He thought it 
was probable that the British Road passed through Peterborough, and that the 
famous Roman Road, Ermin Street, which passed near Orton, Castor, and 
Chesterton, was really a deviation from the main line of work, and 
intended to give access to the very important potteries in the district. 
On all parts of the Continent the Durobrive pottery was valued for 
its quality and colour. Instead of baking clay in the ordinary way the 
ancient Britons, and their successors the Romans, mixed chaff or grain 
with the clay, and burntitin a kiln to carbonise the whole and give it a black 
appearance. They alsoinvented the important process of closing the kiln after the 
pottery was nearly baked and letting the smoke colour the productions. The 
dark colour in the specimens before him was really produced in that curious 
manner. He had a map, to which he drew attention, showing the direction of 
Ermin Street. There was quite a straight line trom London to Huntingdon, where 
there was a sudden turn to the left. The Romans always tried to make their 
road as direct as possible, and the deviation may have been caused by the Fen 
water troubling them; but assoonas they got to a hill they went perfectly straight 
to Castor. After passing the bend in the river at Peterborough they paused to make 
another turn near Barnack, and so on to Stamford. It appeared as if the Romans 
deviated from their rule of making straight roads in order to get access to the 
important quarries at Barnack. The Romans travelled on horseback, and had 
stations every seven oreight miles. They had a complete line of way from Con- 
stantinople to Rome, from Rome to Boulogne, and thence across in boats to 
Sandwich or Dover. Evidence still remained of that passage, so that he was not 
speaking from hearsay. Anybody could examine those Roman roads and be 
perfectly certain of their identity. He though it was very important that the 
subjects discussed by such societies as theirs should have a real basis in fact. 
They had the advantage of beautiful objects collected by Lady Huntly with a 
great deal of care, and the works of an artist and writer of the neighbourhood, so 
that everything presented to their notice that evening was an absolute fact, and 
no theory at all. If they looked at the map they would see the Roman stage 
from Dover to London, the place where Julius Cxsar landed near Deal, and they 
would find it passed through the town of Canterbury, over Rochester Bridge, and 
touched the Thames embankment, Before the Romans came to England there 


24 REPORTS OF SOCIETIES. 


TTS 


was no necessity for a direct road, as there was no direct traffic; but when 
London had to be governed from Rome it was very important they should have 
a good straight track. The Romans followed their usual rule, and the fact of 
their making deviations in this neighbourhood showed that there must have 
been a good cause for it, viz., the potteries. Referring to a perfectly good leaden 
vessel, which must have been in the ground 1,700 years, he said there was reason 
to believe that Britain traded with Egypt in tin, and had the credit of smelting 
lead at least 2,000 years before Christ. He concluded by expressing the pleasure 
it gave him to see the beautiful collection of Roman remains before him, 
Lady Huntly was so well acquainted with the subject that he felt she might 
have treated it much better than he haddone. The exhibits included Roman 
cinerary urns, fibulze, and coins collected by Lady Huntly; leaden coffer found 
in London by Professor Tylor; Roman jewels and coins, lent by Dr. T. J. Walker; 
Bellamine vases,etc. December 6.—ORDINARY MEETING, when an address was given 
by the Rev. H. J. Fry, F.R.G.S.,on “ The Land’s End District.” The lecturer said 
thatthe district west of Penzance was a tableland, with a ridge of hills near the 
northern coast, and deep intersecting valleys. The whole is composed of a grey 
granite containing large crystals'of felspar. The country has all the peculiarities 
of a granite district, such as castle-like escarpments on the hill sides,cairns,or great 
piles of granite, a precipitous coast, immense boulders, and a light shallow soil. 
The climate of the Land’s End District is very mild; myrtles and hydrangeas 
grow to a great size, and cauliflowers and potatoes are sent very early to the 
London market. The tin mines of Cornwall are not worked so much as formerly, 
owing to the valuable ores imported from Australia. The Cornish, however, 
unlike the Irish, do not cling to the soil when there is no chance of getting a 
living from it; they remove to other parts of England, or emigrate to other 
countries. Trees are found only in the valleys of the district, the strong winds . 
preventing them from growing on the higher ground. Many plants common in 
other parts of England are rare here, such as the dog-rose, cowslip, buttercup, 
and others. On the other hand, plants rare in more northern counties grow 
here in abundance. Some of the smaller -valleys are full of the royal fern 
(Osmunda regalis.) Wahlenbergia hederacea is also found, and samphire and 
the sea spleenwort (Asplenium marinum) are plentiful. The Land’s End 
district seems to have been one of the last parts of England subdued by the 
Saxons. Athelstan defeated the Cornish in a great battle near St. Burian, in 
A.D. 926, and afterwards made an expedition to the Scilly Isles. The Cornish 
language only lingers in the names of places and people— 

“By Tre, Pol, and Pen, 

You may know the Cornish men.” 

Cornwall, especially that part of it near ,the Land’s End, is full of antiquities, 
and, according to Dr. Borlase, these were much more numerous a hundred years 
ago. In the parish of St. Burian, where the lecturer resided, there are seven 
ancient crosses, two Druidical circles, some holed stones, and several cairns, 
barrows, and tall granite pillars. Cromlechs are abundant in the district, and 
s0 are ancient encampments. There is an inscription on a large stone which 
marks the grave of Kioval, the son of Cunoval, who is supposed to have 
reigned in Cornwall about A.p. 454. In {some parts of the Land’s End district 
there are also curious huts, built in the shape of Esquimaux snow houses. 
These were probably built on the surface, but, perhaps owing to the action of 
earth-worms, they are now beneath the ground. Mr. J. W. Bodger exhibited, in 
the absence of Mr. Markland, an unusually fine specimen of Natica gigantea, 
from the Ketton Oolite. December 14th.—Lecture by the Rev. J. G. Wood, on 
‘Bee Life.” 


Correcrion.—Bopyrus squillarum.—My friend, Mr. H. E. Forrest, 
has called my attention to an error in the ‘‘ Description of Plate X.,” 
at page 273 of the December number. Figs. 4 and 5 should be 
reversed to agree with the plate. This will be obvious on comparing 


the figures with the description. The text needs no alteration.— 
W. R. H. 


Plate II. 


RRA eS 

Feat view itn * 5 
LNW nh Dan 

avy raanwmaras® J 
ws 


=> 
Mr 
Ca 
AN A 
ih 


Transverse Section at BB. 


Transverse Section at LE. 
Fig. 15. 8 IORI Ww 


A.M.Marshall del F. Huth ath? Edin® 


EVEN 1 Uy Ts anne QUADRANGULARIS. 


REPORT ON THE PENNATULIDA. 25 


REPORT ON THE PENNATULIDA 
COLLECTED IN THE OBAN DREDGING EXCURSION 
OF THE BIRMINGHAM NATURAL HISTORY AND 
MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETY, AUGUST, 1881. 


BY A. MILNES MARSHALL, M.A., D.SC., PROFESSOR OF ZOOLOGY 
IN OWENS COLLEGE, AND W. P. MARSHALL, M.I.C.E. 


(Continued from page 9. ) 
4.—Anatomy of the Polypes— 

The following description of the anatomical and microscopical 
structure of the polypes is based on the examination of whole 
specimens and of sections prepared in the manner already noticed. 

The structure of a polype is shown in the series of figures on 
Plate II. Fig. 10 shows a polype bisected longitudinally along its 
whole length; Figs. 12, 13, 14 and 15 represent transverse sections 
taken at various points of the length; and Fig. 11 is a more highly 
magnified section of one of the tentacles. 

The polype (Fig. 10) resembles in structure a somewhat elongated 
Sea-anemone, consisting of a firm body-wall (k) continuous below 
with the fleshy coenenchym (2) of the rachis, and forming above a calyx 
(g), which surrounds the tentacles (7) and has its free margin produced 
into a series of eight pointed processes (Plate I., Fig 7), alternating with 


DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES IN PLATE II. 

_ All the figures in this Plate are drawn from polypes taken from the largest 
living specimen. Fig 10is constructed from a series of camera drawings taken 
from different specimens. Figs 11 to 15 are drawn with the camera from single 
sections. The magnifying power is indicated in diameters for each figure. 

Alphabetical List of References. 


f. Tentacle. p. Retractor muscle. 

g. Calyx. E q. Protractor muscle. 

h. Cavity in calyx-process. r. Short mesenterial filament. 

az. Spicule. s. Long mesenterial filament. 

k. Body-wall. | t. Ovuin. 

lt. Caenenchym, or fleshy body- } v. Smaller canals of cenenchym. 
substance. | w. Ectoderm. 

m. Mouth. x. Mesoderm. 

n. Stomach. y. Endoderin. 

o. Mesentery. 2. Thread-cell or nematocyst. 


Fig. 10.—A single polype, with the part of the rachis from which it springs, 
bisected lougitudinally along its whole length; the plane of bisection adopted 
being the plane of symmetry: shows the whole structure of one of the polypes, 
and the communication of its body-cavity with the canal system of the rachis, 

x 22. 

Fig. 11.—Tyransverse section through one of the tentacles at about the middle 
of its length; the section passing, on the right side, through the base of one of 
the pinnules. Shows structure of tentacle and pinnule and arrangement of 
thread-cells. x 70. 

Fig. 12.—Transverse section through a polypeat the line BB in Fig. 10; passing 
through the calyx, the bases of the tentacles, and the mouth. x 22. 

Fig. 13.—Transverse section through a polype at the line CC in Fig, 10, showing 
the stomach and the mesenteries with their retractor muscles. x 22, 

Fig. 14.—Transverse section through a polype at the line DD in Fig. 10, showing 
the mesenteries with the retractor muscles, and the long and short mesenterial 
filaments. x 22. 

Fig. 15.—Transverse section through the lower part of a polype at the line EE 
in Fig. 10, showing the ova 7n situ, the long mesenterial filaments, and the open- 
ings of the coenenchymal canals into the body-cavity of the polype. 


26 REPORT ON THE PENNATULIDA. 


the tentacles. The tentacles, eight in number, are hollow (Fig. 10), 
and are fringed on each side by a series of hollow pinnules. 

The tentacles are arranged in a whorl round the mouth (Fig. 10, m), 
which leads into a short tubular stomach () with folded walls, and 
opening below into the body-cavity. The stomach is connected with 
the body-wall by a series of eight vertical mesenteries or septa (Figs. 
10 and 13 0), which extend below the stomach to the bottom of the 
body-cavity (Figs. 10,14, and 15). The free edges of these mesenteries 
below the stomach are thickened, forming twisted cords—the 
mesenterial filaments (Figs. 10 and 14, r, s,); of these two are slender 
* and extend the whole length of the body-cavity (Figs. 10, 14 and 15, s), 
while the other six are thick and short, only extending part of the 
way down the body-cavity (Figs. 10 and 147). The free edges of these 
six mesenteries bear, below the mesenterial filaments, the reproductive 
organs (Figs. 10 and 15 t). 

We propose now to describe these several parts in more detail, 
taking them in the order given above. 

a. The Body-wall.—This consists of a firm gelatinous mesoderm 
(Figs. 10, 12, 13, and 14, x), which forms the greater part of the thickness 
of the wall, and is clothed on its outer and inner surfaces by thin 
cellular membranes—the ectoderm (w) and endoderm (y ). 


The ectoderm, which in our specimens is not in good histological 
condition, appears to consist of a single layer of columnar cells, which 
are often much vacuolated and contain, especially in their deeper 
parts, very numerous, minute, highly-refractive particles of a dark 
brown colour. So far as we have been able to determine, the ectoderm 
of the body-wall contains no thread-cells; but on this, and on many 
other points of interest involving histological determinations, we are 
unable to speak with certainty, owing to the imperfect preservation 
of the specimens. 

The mesoderm consists of a matrix of considerable thickness and 
consistence, which in its outer part is homogeneous, but in its inner 
portion is, in places, more or less distinctly fibrillated. Imbedded in 
the matrix are cells of two kinds:—(1) Spherical nucleated cells, 
closely resembling ordinary cartilage-cells in appearance ; (2) Fusiform 
nucleated cells with long processes, which often branch and become 
connected with the processes of adjoining cells. 


The mesoderm is traversed by a network of very fine canals, which 
are less abundant and of less size in the upper part of the body-wall 
than at the lower part, where they become continuous with the canal 
system of the rachis, which has already been described. The finer 
canals do not appear to have distinct walls, but seem to be mere 
channels in the matrix of the mesoderm; in the larger canals, how- 
ever, a very evident epithelial lining is present, which becomes 
continuous with the endoderm at the points where the canals open into 
the body-cavity (Figs. 10 and 15). This canal system probably serves 
to convey nutrient matter from the body-cavity, where it is prepared, 


REPORT ON THE PENNATULIDA. 27 


to the various parts of the body-walls and coonenchym ; and inasmuch 
as it communicates with the body-cavities of all the polypes it affords a 
means by which food digested by one polype may be conveyed to 
others, and so supply them with nutriment. The canal system forms 
thus the great bond of union between the several individuals of the 
colony, connecting them together into one organic whole. To what 
extent the several members of the colony are actually, during life, 
dependent on one another; and whether the normal duration of life 
of the colony is or is not simply that of the oldest polypes, are 
questions which, though of great interest, we cannot yet answer with any 
certainty. Concerning the first of these we may, however, note that 
the smallest zooids have no mouths, and therefore must be absolutely 
dependent for nutriment on the supply brought to them by the canal 
system from the polypes and the larger zooids; while as regards the 
latter question it is certainly worth noticing that in each of the 
specimens of Funiculina taken alive all the polypes and zooids were 
living and healthy; no dead or diseased individuals being seen. 


The endoderm of the body-wall is a single layer of rather long 
columnar cells. In many places these are distinctly ciliated, and it is 
probable that the ciliation really extends over the whole surface. The 
endoderm, as just noticed, lines the larger canals of the mesoderm, 
passing into them at the points where they open into the body-cavity ; 
here also it is ciliated, and it is probable that to these cilia are mainly 
due the currents which in the living animal undoubtedly pass 
along these canals. 


Between the mesoderm and endoderm is, as usual among Actinozoa, 
a system of muscular bands. These are, however, only very feebly 
developed in the body-wall of Funiculina: they consist of—(1) longitu- 
dinal fibres, whose direction corresponds with the length of the polype, 
and which will be noticed again when the mesenteries are described, 
and (2) circular fibres, which run transversely round the body-wall : 
these are but slightly developed; they do not form a continuous sheath 
as in most Actinozoa, but occur as irregular bands, usually not extending 
round more than three-fourths of the circumference of the body-wall. 


The body-wall is thickest below, at its junction with the rachis, and 
gradually diminishes in thickness as it passes upwards, the alteration 
affecting the mesoderm only. Owing to the stiffness of this semi- 
cartilaginous mesoderm the polype body is non-retractile, a point that 
distinguishes Funiculina from Pavonaria and other allied genera, and 
one which is clearly correlated with the very feeble development of 
the muscular system just noticed. 


b. The Calyx.—The calyx with its pointed processes forms a kind of 
low wall surrounding the bases of the tentacles when these are 
fully expanded, as in Fig. 7; but when the tentacles are retracted, 
the pointed processes of the calyx are pulled in slightly towards 
one another, as shown in some of the polypes of Fig. 3, and 
s0 serve to partially close and protect the entrance to the polype- 


28 REPORT ON THE PENNATULIDA, 


cavity. The structure of the calyx is very similar to that of the 
body-wall, of which indeed it is only the uppermost portion. 
Each of the eight pointed processes into which it is produced 
(Fig. 7) is hollow, its cavity (Figs. 10 and 12 h), which is lined 
by endoderm, communicating somewhat obliquely with the body- 
cavity. In their upper portions these cavities, like the processes in 
which they are contained, are situated between the tentacles, as shown 
in the transverse section drawn in Fig. 12 ; but the lower portions pass 
obliquely downwards, so as to open opposite the cavities of the tentacles 
into the chambers between the mesenteries. In Fig. 10 the plane of 
section passes on the left side of the figure between two of the tentacles, 
and therefore along the middle of one of the pointed processes of the calyx, 
the cavity of which is seen in the upper part of the process; on the right 
hand side of the figure the section passes down the middle of a tentacle 
and through the opening of the cavity of a calyx-process into the body- 
cavity of the polype. 

Each of the calyx-processes is stiffened by one or more calcareous 
spicules of a very curious shape. These are shown in situ in Fig. 7 (i) 
and in Fig. 12, in which latter they are seen cut transversely. Each 
spicule is a calcareous rod (Fig. 8) about 0.02 inch long, and 0.0009 inch 
diameter : in transverse section it is, as shown in Fig. 9, triradiate with 
thickened edges. This triple-ribbed form, whichis clearly shown in the 
figures referred to, and which appears to have escaped notice hitherto, 
is singularly appropriate from a mechanical point of view, forming 
an admirable combination of lateral strength with lightness of 
material. Similar spicules, though usually somewhat smaller, are 
sometimes found in the upper part of the body-wall (Fig. 7). 

The calyx and its processes are devoid of muscles, even the feeble 
muscles of the body-wall ceasing below the calyx, so that the slight 
approximation of the points which occurs when the tentacles are 
retracted must be effected simply by the muscles attached to the bases 
of the tentacles, the arrangement and mode of action of which we shall 
notice when describing the mesenteries. 

c. Uhe Tentacles are eight hcllow* prolongations of the body-wall 
surrounding the mouth, and fringed on each side by a row of hollow 
pinnules, usually nine or ten in number. The general characters of the 
tentacles and their pinnules are shown in Plate L., Fig. 3, and Plate 
II., Fig. 10, and the microscopic structure in Plate II., Fig. 11, the latter 
figure representing a transverse section across a tentacle taken about 
the middle of its length and passing through the base of one of the 
pinnules. 

The tentacles and pinnules being, as before stated, prolongations of 
the body-wall, consist, like it, of ectoderm, mesoderm, and endoderm ; 
but the intimate structure and relative proportions of the three layers 
differ very considerably from those we have found to obtain in the 
body-wall. 


* Forbes incorrectly describes the tentacles as solid. Vide Johnston: “ British 
Zoophytes, ” 2nd Ed,, 1847, p. 166, 


REPORT ON THE PENNATULIDA. 29 


The ectoderm (Fig. 11 w) is the thickest of the three layers: in it 
the outlines of the component cells are very difficult to make out, and 
it is only in the most favourable specimens that this can be done with 
any certainty. The individual cells are long, thin, and columnar, 
ciliated at their free ends, and arranged in a single layer, each cell 
extending through the whole thickness of the ectoderm: in the deeper 
parts of the ectoderm, between the bases of these columnar cells, 
smaller cells of a spherical or fusiform shape occur, but in no great 
number. 

Imbedded in and between the ectoderm cells are very numerous 
thread-cells or nematocysts (Fig. 11 z), the ¢haracteristic weapons of 
the Celenterata. Each of these is a capsule of an elongated oval shape, 
and about 0.0004 in. long, within which is contained a long spirally- 
coiled hollow thread, visible in many of our specimens when 
examined with sufficiently high powers (4th or ;:thin.) In the Sea- 
anemones, and in the common fresh water Hydra, in which similar 
thread cells occur, any external irritation, such as contact with a 
foreign body, causes the thread to be shot out from the capsule with 
great force and rapidity, penetrating the irritating body, and exercising 
on it, if an animal, an instantaneous numbing or paralysing action.* 
We had no opportunity of testing their action in the living Funiculina, 
but there can be no doubt that it is the same as in the anemones 
and Hydra. 

In the tentacles of Funiculina the thread-cells (Fig. 11) are most 
abundant close to the surface, where they are closely packed side by 
side, with their outer ends just beneath the surface, and their long 
axes perpendicular to it ; large numbers also occur in the deeper parts 

. of the ectoderm. In shape and mode of arrangement the thread-cells of 
Funiculina agree very closely with those of Sagartia troglodytes, as 
described and figured by Heider,} and with those of the anemones 
generally, as described by the brothers Hertwig {; the thread-cells of 
Hydra are larger and much more globular in shape. 


The mesoderm, which is the thinnest layer of the three, consists 
almost entirely of muscles; a very powerful external layer of longi- 
tudinal muscles, seeu cut across in Fig. 11, and an inner less powerful 
layer of circular muscles. By these muscles the movements of the 
tentacles in the living animal are effected, and also, in part, the 
retraction of the tentacles when disturbed. 

The endoderm does not differ markedly from that of the body- 
wall: it consists of a single layer of columnar cells, often swollen at 
their inner ends. In the cavities of the tentacles, the size of which 
varies much with the extent to which the tentacles are expanded, very 


* For a very complete and admirable account of these thread cells and their 
mode of action in sea-anemones, vide Gosse: “ British Sea-anemones and Corals, 
1860,” pp. xxix-xl. 

+ Heider. Sagartia troglodytes. Sitzb. der K. Akad. der Wissensch. z. Wien 
Bd. 1xxv. 1877, pp. 22-24; and Plates IIL, [V., and VII. 

{ Oscar und Richard Hertwig: Die Actinien. 1879. 


30 REPORT ON THE PENNATULIDA. 


numerous spherical nucleated cells occur: these are always in close 
contact with the endoderm cells, but whether they properly belong to 
the endoderm or not we have been unable to determine. They may 
perhaps be described as mucus cells. 

The pinnules have the same structure as the tentacles. Each 
is hollow, its cavity opening into that of the tentacle (Figs. 
10 and 11), and. its wall consisting of ectoderm, mesoderm, and 
endoderm, having the same structure and proportions as in the 
tentacles, differing only in being of less thickness. 

d. The Stomach.—The mouth is not circular, but, as in the majority 
of Actinozoa,* a transverse slit. The section drawn in Fig. 12, though 
taken a short distance below the mouth, shows this character very well. 
The direction of the axis of the mouth, which is a constant one, we 
shall refer to after considering the arrangement of the mesenteries. 


The mouth leads by a short cesophagus into the stomach (Fig. 10 n), 
the walls of which are thrown into transverse folds, as shown in the 
figure: these folds become much more marked when the tentacles are 
retracted, the whole stomach being then shortened by the approxima- 
tion of the folds, somewhat after the manner of a concertina, and thus 
providing space within the calyx in which the retracted tentacles are 
lodged. At its lower end the stomach opens into the body cavity by a 
slit-like orifice, the direction of which corresponds to that of the 
mouth. 

The stomach-wall consists (Fig. 10) of (1) an inner lining membrane 
which at the margin of the mouth becomes continuous with the 
external ectoderm, and is therefore described as ectoderm ; (2) of a thin 
mesoderm ; and (3) of an outer layer or endoderm continuous with that 
of the tentacles and of the body-wall. 

The ectoderm (Figs. 10 and 13, w) is a thick layer, consisting of 
much elongated columnar ciliated cells, between which are other 
elongated cells with a very granular appearance, and probably of a 
glandular nature: at the inner or free surface are seen at intervals 
what appear at first sight to be clear spaces, but which are almost 
certainly cells similar to those described in Anemones by the Hertwigs 
as mucous cells. The deepest or outermost part of the ectoderm 
contains fusiform and spherical cells imbedded between the bases of 
the longer ciliated and glandular cells. 


The mesoderm of the stomach (Figs. 10 and 13, x) is a very thin 
fibrillated layer of connective tissue, in which we have not detected any 
definite muscular bands. We have found no traces of sphincter 
muscles round either the mouth or the lower aperture of the stomach. 

The endoderm (Figs. 10 and 13 y) is chiefly characterised by 
containing an enormous number of extremely minute and highly 


* Vide Gosse ; Heider, etc., op. cit. 


_ +O.und R. Hertwig: Op. cit., pp. 58-60, and Taf. III., Fig. 6, where the two 
kinds of gland-cells, viz., granular and mucous, are described and figured. 


REPORT ON THE PENNATULIDA. 31 


refractive particles, which completely conceal the outlines of the 
endoderm cells. These particles, seen singly, appear of a pale 
yellowish-brown colour; but, in quantity, impart a deep brown or even 
black colour to the endoderm of the stomach, which is very evident in 
all the specimens. Concerning the use of these granules we have no 
evidence whatever. They appear to be the same things described by 
Gosse,* in Actinoloba, Tealia, Peachia, etc., as ‘‘a nearly uniform mass 
of yellow fat-cells,” and as hepatic in function. We much doubt the 
correctness of either of these statements. It has been shown that in 
allied forms these granules are insoluble in ether, and are therefore not 
fat; and concerning their supposed digestive functions, it must be noted 
that they are confined to the endoderm cells, and never, so far as our 
observations go, occur in either the mesoderm or ectoderm of the 
stomach, so that they could only act on food not in the stomach, but 
in the compartments of the body-cavity outside it, a position in which 
it is very doubtful whether food is ever found. Moreover, we shall 
find shortly that it is very doubtful whether digestion, at any 
rate of animal matter, is really effected in the stomach at all, as 
supposed by Gosse. And, finally, we would notice that the granules 
in question are very closely similar to, if not indeed identical with, 
the brown granules already described as occurring in the deeper parts 
of the ectoderm cells of the body wall. 


e. ‘he Mesenterics—These are the eight vertical partitions or 
septa which connect the stomach to the body-wall, and so divide the 
body-cavity round the stomach into a series of compartments ; below 
the stomach they extend, as previously noticed, to the bottom of the 
body-cavity. 

Each mesentery consists (Figs. 10, 13, 16, and 150) of a thin central 
mesodermal plate, clothed on each side by endoderm. 

The endoderm (y) is very similar to, but slightly thinner than, 
that lining the body-wall, with which it is directly continuous. It 
consists of a single layer of short columnar cells, which contain, 
especially near the stomach, granules of the same character as those 
just described in the endoderm of the stomach. 

The mesoderm is a thin connective tissue lamella, continuous on 
the outer side with the mesoderm of the body-wall, and on the inner 
side with that of the stomach. Between the connective tissue lamella 
and the endoderm covering it, is a well-developed system of muscles, 
the most powerful of which form the great retractor muscles of the 
polype (Fig. 10 p), by which the stomach can be drawn down, and the 
tentacles pulled back within the calyx. 

Each retractor muscle, as shown in Fig. 10, extends the whole 
length of the septum to which it belongs. Arising from the body- 
wall, along the whole length of the base of attachment of the 
septum, the fibres pass up in bundles in the substance of the septum, 


* Gosse: Op. cit., Introduction, p. xvii, 


32 REPORT ON THE PENNATULIDA. 


and are inserted mainly into the walls of the stomach, especially its 
upper part, and partly into the bases of the tentacles and the parts 
immediately around the mouth. Below the stomach each retractor 
muscle (Figs. 10 and 14p) does not extend over the whole width of the 
septum, but is confined to its outer half. 

The transverse sections drawn in Figs. 13 and 14 show some 
further points of importance concerning these muscles. They show, 
firstly, that the retractor muscles, which lie between the mesoderm (x) 
and endoderm (y) do not lie on both sides of the septa, but only on 
one side of each. A more important point, shown clearly in the 
figures referred to, is that the muscles do not lie on the same side of 
all the septa. Thus, on the left hand side of Figs. 13 and 14, isa 
compartment of the body-cavity, bounded by two mesenteries in 
which the retractor muscles face away from one another; while on 
the right hand side of the figures is one in which the retractor 
muscles face towards one another. In the intermediate septa, whether 
above or below the stomach in the figures, the retractor muscles are all 
on the right hand side of the septa. 

Owing to this arrangement it is seen at once that there is only one 
possible bisecting plane that will divide the polype longitudinally into 
two perfectly symmetrical halves, i.e., a plane passing through the 
middle of both the right hand and the left hand compartments ; or in 
Plate II., a plane indicated by a horizontal line drawn across the 
middle of the figures in question. 

This plane of symmetry, as is shown in Figs. 12 and 13, is also 
the one which passes through the long axis of both the mouth and the 
opening from the stomach to the body-cavity, and is the plane of 
bisection adopted in Fig. 10. 

A less important point, shown by the sections in Figs. 13 and 14, is 
that the longitudinal muscles extend a short distance round the body- 
wall on either side of the lines of attachment of the septa, forming, 


by so doing, the system of longitudinal muscles ef the body-wall 


referred to on a preceding page. 

Besides the large retractor muscles there is in the upper part of 
the polype, a second much weaker set of muscles crossing the former 
at right angles, and having an antagonistic action. These protractor 
muscles (Fig. 10 q) arise from the upper part of the body-wall, and 
from the calyx, run downwards and inwards in the septa, and are 
inserted into the mesoderm of the stomach walls. Their action is to 
pull up the stomach after it has been drawn down by the retractors. 


f. The Mesenterial Filaments.—These, as stated above, are the 
thickened convoluted free edges of the mesenteries below the stomach 
(Figs. 10 and 14, 7 and s). They are of two kinds:—(1.) A set of 
two (s), which are much more slender than the others, but much 
longer, extending to the bottom of the body-cavity: these we shall 
refer to as the long mesenterial filaments. (2.) A set of six (Figs. 10 and 
14r), which are much thicker and more cony ee but also much shorter, 


REPORT ON THE PENNATULIDA. 33 


only extending about half-way from the lower end of the stomach to the 
bottom of the body-cavity : these are the short mesenterial filaments. 

In the sections drawn in Figs. 13, 14, and 15, the septa bounding 
the left hand compartments are those which bear the long mesenterial 
filaments, so that the plane of symmetry, as defined above, passes 
between them, and therefore divides the mesenterial filaments, as it 
divides the retractor muscles and the stomach, into two perfectly 
symmetrical halves. 

The structure of the mesenterial filaments is shown in Figs. 10 
and 14: each is a single band, although, owing to its convolutions, it may 
be cut more than once in a single transverse section (Fig. 14). Each 
filament consists of a central mesodermal connective tissue lamella, 
continuous with that of the septum, and clothed by a thick layer of 
endodermal cells of a special character. These cells are of two chief 
kinds :—(1.) Columnar ciliated cells ; and (2) large granular gland-cells. 
These latter are very numerous, and give the special character to the 
filaments. Numerous spherical nucleated cells, similar to those 
described as occurring in the cavities of the tentacles, are found 
lying in contact with the endoderm cells, and apparently belonging to 
them (Fig. 14.) 

The structure of the long mesenterial filaments is very similar to 
that of the short ones ; the endoderm is, however, distinctly thinner, 
and the gland cells not so numerous relatively to the ciliated cells. 

Notwithstanding very careful examination, we have failed to 
detect thread-cells in the mesenterial filaments of Funiculina. From 
the descriptions of Gosse, Heider, the Hertwigs, etc., thread-cells 
appear to be present in the mesenterial filaments of all other Actinozoa 
that have been examined hitherto, so that if they be really absent in 
Funiculina the point would be important. It is, however, a difficult 
matter to establish a negative, especially in histology ; and bearing in 
mind the facts that our specimens were neither examined perfectly 
fresh, nor were prepared for the purpose of histological examination, 
we can merely record that we have failed to find them. There is, 
perhaps, no point on which we have more reason to regret the 
imperfect histological condition of our specimens than the present 
one, for the presence of thread-cells in the mesenterial filaments, 
i.e., endoderm, of Actinozoa in general, has always been a great 
difficulty to morphologists, who are inclined to view thread-cells as 
belonging properly to the ectoderm only, so that their absence from 
the endoderm of Funiculina, should it prove to be a real and constant 
one, would become a point of much interest and importance. 

Gosse, in his account of the mesenterial filaments of the Sea- 
anemones,* describes them as of two kinds, which he distinguishes by 
the names of craspeda and acontia, assigning the former name to the 
thickened cord-like edge of the mesenteries, and the latter to certain 
goed twisted threads similar in structure to ee craspeda, and 


* Gosse, op. cit., SEecabetioate pp. Xxiii-xxix, 


34 REPORT ON THE PENNATULIDA. 


attached to them by one end, but with the greater part of their 
length lying freely in the body-cavity, and capable of being shot out 
through special apertures (cinclides) in the body-wall. From the 
description given above, it is evident that Funiculina, to use Gosse’s 
nomenclature, has craspeda, but.no acontia. Heider* and others have 
indeed doubted whether Gosse’s acontia really exist in the Sea- 
anemones. 

Concerning the function of these mesenterial filaments there has 
been so much dispute that a few words may not be out of place here, 
although the subject is one which we have had no opportunity of inves- 
tigating physiologically in Funiculina, and which, therefore, does not, 
strictly speaking, fall within the limits of the present report. 

By different writers all possible functions appear to have been 
assigned to these organs. Contarini, Delle Chiaje, Spix, Johnston, 
Wagner, and Owen, describe them as the male reproductive organs, 
either essential or accessory ; by Rapp, Cuvier, R. Jones, and Quatre- 
faga, they were regarded either as ovaries or oviducts ; others have 
considered them to be bile vessels; while Frey, Leuckart, Schmarda, 
and more recently Heider and the Hertwigs, are of opinion that as 
they contain both gland-cells and thread-cells their main function is 
probably that of digestive organs, the thread-cells serving to paralyse 
or kill the prey after being swallowed alive, and the gland-cells to 
digest it when dead. 

By far the most important evidence on the subject, however, is 
that submitted by Dr. Krukenberg | as the result of a direct physio- 
logical investigation of the action of the mesenterial filaments of 
Sea-anemones. He finds that the mesenterial filaments have a very 
considerable power of digesting albuminous substances, such as raw 
fibrin or raw pieces of flesh; and by mixing portions of the filaments 
with small pieces of raw meat in a very finely-divided state, he was 
able to watch the process of solution, i.e., digestion of the meat under 
the microscope. Furthermore, by experimenting in a similar manner 
with portions of the stomach, tentacles, body-wall, etc., of the 
Anemone, he was led to the important conclusion—that not only have 

‘the mesenterial filaments the power of digesting albuminous bodies, 
but that they are the only portions of the body which possess this 
power: that they are not only digestive organs, but the digestive 
organs of the Anemone so far as proteid matters are concerned. 


For digestion to take place it is necessary for there to be absolute 
contact between the gland-cells of the filaments and the food; from 
which Dr. Krukenberg concludes that digestion is not effected by 
means of a fluid secretion poured out over the food, but by the direct 
those in the endoderm of the stomach. This outer capsule has its 


* Heider, loc. cit. 

+ Krukenberg. Vergleichend physiologische Studien an den Kiisten der 
Adria. Erste Abtheilung, 1880, pp. 38-56. Ueber den Verdauungsmodus der 
Actinien. For a knowledge of this interesting and important paper we are 
indebted to Professor Ray Lankester, 


REPORT ON THE PENNATULIDA. B5 


action of the cells themselves. Watery or glycerine extracts of the 
mesenterial filaments of Sagartia or Anthea are found to digest fibrin 
rapidly at a temperature of 100°-105° F. 


From the above account, which we have quoted because it is the 
only one based on direct physiological experiments, and also because 
it appears to be as yet but little known in this country, there can no 
longer be any doubt as to the function of these hitherto mysterious 
mesenterial filaments. 

gq. The Reproductive Organs. The sexes among the Pennatulida are 
distinct so far as isas yet known, the polypes of each individual Sea-pen 
being either all male or all female.* Of the specimens of Funiculina 
obtained living at Oban the two larger ones, which alone have been 
examined for the purpose, are both females, a circumstance we much 
regret, inasmuch as no description of a male Funiculina has yet 
appeared ; the statement that the sexes are distinct resting merely 
on the analogy furnished by allied genera such as Halisceptrum+ and 
Pennatula,t and on the fact that in the female specimens described, all 
the polypes examined bore eggs. As we shall find when dealing with 
the historical portion of our subject, only a very limited number of 
specimens of Funiculina haye yet been examined with any care, so that 
it is hardly safe to generalise concerning the apparent rarity of male 
specimens ; but it may well be that the male pens are either really less 
numerous than the female, or else that they are as a rule smailer, and 
therefore disregarded. We trust that the Society will on some future 
occasion be able to determine this point. 

The ovaries of Funiculina (Figs. 10 and 15) are the free edges of 
the six mesenteries which bear, higher up, the short mesenterial 
filaments. The ova, or eggs (t), are developed as little prominences 
attached by short stalks to the edges of the mesenteries, from which, 
when ripe, they become detached, and then lie free in the body-cavity, 
as shown in Fig. 10. 

Each ovum is apparently a single endodermal cell, which becomes 
bigger than its neighbours, and so projects above the surface of the 
ovary: each is, from a very early period, enclosed in a thin 
capsule, very similar in appearance and in behaviour with staining 
fluids to the connective tissue mesodermal lamella of the mesentery ; 
though whether it is actually developed from this lamella, as main- 
tained by the Hertwigs§ in the case of the Anemones, we have not 
been able to determine. Later on each egg becomes invested by a 
second outer capsule, which is much thicker than the first, is clearly 
derived from the endoderm cells surrounding the ovum, and contains 
numerous minute pigment granules very similar in appearance to 
surface, in the fully-developed egg, raised into a series of low ridges, 
forming an irregular surface pattern. 


* Kolliker: Op. cit. 

+ Kolliker: Op. cit., pp. 147-172, and Plate XI., Fig. 95, Plate XII., Fig. 94. 

t An account of the male Pennatula, of which no description has hitherto 
been published, is given in the second part of this Report. 

§ QO. und R. Hertwig: Op. cit. 


36 REPORT ON THE PENNATULIDA. 


Each egg has from its earliest appearance a very large conspicuous 
nucleus or germinal vesicle, containing one and sometimes two nucleoli 
or germinal spots. The germinal vesicle, which increases greatly in 
size with the growth of the egg, consists of a tough, elastic, and fairly 
thick membrane, with clear, apparently fluid, contents: it lies 
opposite the stalk of attachment of the egg, and in many cases 
projects into this stalk for a short distance. The nucleolus is spherical, 
of a yellowish colour, and distinctly granular. 


The average diameter of the mature eggs is0-0014in.,and the thickness 
of the capsule 0:0001in.; while the germinal vesicle, which is usually 
oval, measures 0:0008 in. by 0:0002 in. 

Whether fertilisation and the early stages of development are, as 
is most probable, effected within the body-cavity of the parent we 
have had no opportunity of determining. In no case have the eggs in 
our specimens commenced to develope; indeed the germinal vesicle 
is still present and unaltered in every one of the eggs we have 
examined. 

We have not observed a micropyle, though from the thickness and 
toughness of the egg capsule it is not improbable that one exists. 

Eggs sometimes occur within the coenenchymal canals, as is shown 
in the lower part of Fig. 10. The eggs so found are usually either 
fully developed ones, or else eggs that are very nearly mature. As we 
have noticed several instances of this we are inclined to view it asa 
normal condition, though how the eggs get into the canals, whose 
diameter is much smaller than that of the mature eggs, and still more 
how they get out again, is far from obvious. It may be, that the eggs 
are accidently dislodged when young and carried with the nutrient 
matter into the canals, where they remain, and, receiving a plentiful 
supply of food, grow. 

Besides the sexual process of reproduction there can be but little 
doubtthat Funiculina can multiply asexually by gemmation or budding ; 
this asexual process serving, as in other colonial Celenterata, to 
increase the number of individuals in the colony, whilst it is by the 
sexual process alone that new colonies can be started. 


(Zo be continued.) 


THE BIRDS OF LEICESTERSHIRE. 
PART III.—OUR RESIDENTS. 


BY THOMAS MACAULAY, M.R.C.S.L., ETC. 


No record of the birds of a county would be complete without a 
list of residents; but as these are, probably almost without exception, 
common to every county in England, very little more than a list will 
be necessary. They are fifty-four in number :— 


THE BIRDS OF LEICESTERSHIRE. 37 


1.—The Kestrel (Tinnwiculus alaudarius). Common. 
2.—The Sparrow Hawk (Accipiter nisus). Common. 
3.—The White Owl (Strix flammea). Common (locally). 
4.—The Tawny Owl (Syrnium aluco). Common. 
5.—The Missel Thrush (Vurdus viscivorus). Common. 
6.—The Song Thrush (Turdus musicus). Common. 
7.—The Blackbird (Turdus merula). Common. 
8.—The Hedge Accentor (Accentor modularis). Common. 
9.—The Redbreast (Lrythaca rubecula). Common. 
10.—The Stonechat (Pratincola rubicola). Common. 
11.—The Golden-crested Wren (Regulus cristatus). Not very common. 
12.—The Greater Tit (Parus major). Common. 
13.—The Blue Tit (Parus ceruleus). Common. 
14.—The Cole Tit (Parus ater). Common. 
15.— The Marsh Tit (Parus palustris). Rare. 
16.—The Longtailed Tit (Parus caudatus). Common. 
17.—The Pied Wagtail (Motuacilla Yarrellii). Common. 
18. —The Meadow Pipit (Anthus pratensis). Common. 
19.—The Skylark (Alauda arvensis). Common. 
20.—The Bunting (Hmberiza miliaria). Common. 
21.—The Reed Bunting (Emberiza Scheniclus). Not by any means 
common, but I have seen it, as also has Rev. A. Matthews, on 
several occasions, and both in winter and summer. 
22.—The Yellow Bunting (Mmberiza citrinella). Common. 
23.—The Chaffinch (Fringilla celebs). Common. 
24.— The Tree Sparrow (Passer montanus). Not common. 
25.—The House Sparrow (Passer domesticus). Common. 
26.—The Greenfinch Coccothraustes chloris). Common. 
27.--The Hawfinch (Coccothraustes vulgaris). Has become more 
common of late years, and thanks to the ‘** Wild Birds Preser- 
vation Act” will, no doubt, be moreso in the future. It has 
bred at Gumley, and Sir G. Beaumont, of Coleorton Hall, tells 
me he has * hawfinches breeding there every year.” Some 
years ago there was a nest in an apple tree at Blaby. 
28.—The Goldfinch (Carduelis elegans). Hunted down by the bird- 
catchers in former times, and in consequence somewhat scarce. 
We may now hope to see them more abundant in years to 
come. 
29.—The Siskin (Carduelis spinus).. Not common. 
30.—The Linnet (Linota cannabina). Common. 
31.—The Redpole (Linota linaria). Occasionally found. 
32.—The Bulltineh (Loxia pyrrhula). Common. 
33.—The Starling (Sturnus vulgaris). Common. 
34.—The Carrion Crow (Corvus corone). Common. 
35.— The Rook (Corvus frugelius). Common. 
36.—The Jackdaw (Corvus monedula). Common. 
37.—The Magpie (Pica caudata). Common. 
38.—The Jay (Garrulus glandarius). Common. 
39.—The Green Woodpecker (Picus viridis). Common. 
40.—The Creeper (Certhia familiaris). Not very common. 
41.—The Wren (Troglodytes Europeus). Common. 
42.—The Nuthatch (Sitta cesia). Tolerably common. 
43.—The Kingfisher (Alcedo ispida). Common. 
44.—The Ring Dove (Columba palumbus). Common. 
45.—The Stock Dove (Columba enas). Common. 
46.—The Pheasant (Phasianus colchicus). Common. 
47.—The Partridge (Perdix cinerea). Common. 
48.—The Redlegged Partridge (Perdix rufa). Common. 


38 THE BIRDS OF LEICESTERSHIRE. 


49.—The Peewit (Vanellus cristatus). Common. 
50.—The Heron (Ardea cinerea). Common. 
51.—The Water Rail (Rallus aquaticus). Common. 
52.—The Moorhen (Gallinula chloropus). Common. 
53.—The Wild Duck (Anas Boschas). Common. 
54.—The Little Grebe (Podiceps minor). Frequent. 


Since my notice of the Summer migrants, in the November 
number, I have received a letter from my friend, Mr. Montagu Browne, 
upon the subject of the Reed Warbler. His letter is so interesting to 
Ornithologists that I ask you to add it to this paper. 


(Copy ). 
My Dear Sir, 

I see in your interesting and useful lists of the Birds of Leicester- 
shire you mention not having seen the ‘Reed Warbler.” I can, 
however, set the question at rest as to whether ‘‘ Acrocephalus 
streperus”’ (Vieill), your ‘‘ Salicaria strepera’’ may be considered as 
inhabiting or breeding in Leicestershire. 

Last year, when I first came to Leicester, I took a few short walks 
for purposes of observation, and during one of them came to a spot in 
which I should expect to find nesting the ‘“‘ Sedge Warbler,” ‘ Acro- 
cephalus Schenobcenus” (u),and possibly the Reed Warbler in question. ~ 
This spot, though close to Leicester and of considerable extent, is yet very 
difficult of approach to pedestrians; accordingly, in the following May, I, 
with a young friend, launched my double canoe and paddled through the 
reeds until we could find a landing-place. The season being very 
backward the new growth of reeds was but just springing, and we had 
an almost uninterrupted view of any birds we might flush. Soon I 
had the pleasure of seeing, and hearing the notes of, both birds we 
came in search of, and then we commenced nest hunting in earnest, 
with the result that in about an hour we had found eleven nests of four 
species of birds, three of which were those of Acrocephalus streperus. 
They were not, however, so forward in construction as the Sedge Warb- 
lers,or the other birds, all of which latter had eggs. We contented ourselves 
that day with merely looking on and admiring; but on the 9th June we 
paddled down again with some ladies, and in addition to finding many 
more Sedge Warblers’ nests, found several more of the Reed 
Warbler, a beautiful specimen of which, with five eggs, we took for 
the Leicester Museum, as also one with four eggs of the ‘‘ Sedge.” In 
fact, so abundant then did we find both species that we might, had we 
been so minded, have taken twenty or more nests; but so charming 
were they in situ that we were loth even to rob the two we did. 

The nest we have is very beautiful, of a deep cup-like form. placed 
between three old, and four newly grown, reeds, built externally of 
pieces of coarse grass, moss, sheeps’ wool, string, and one or two 
pieces of swan’s down, superimposed on a stratum of last year’s flower- 
heads of the reed, which flower-heads are so arranged that the softest part 
is woven towards the inside, so as to form an elastic and fitting receptacle 
for the eggs. Why the greatest quantity of wool and down should be 
woven outside the nest I cannot tell, but in all the nests we examined, 
we found this the case. 

Iam sorry I can give no definite information as to the locality for 
the Orphean Warbler, Savis Warbler, Rufous Warbler, Richards’ 
Pipit, Water Pipit, and Golden Oriole, in the Bickley Collection of the 
Leicester Museum, but I imagine them to be of foreign origin, as I 
notice in the same collection yarious other specimens bearing 


THE BIRDS OF LEICESTERSHIRE. 39 


unmistakable evidence of the same origin. It is a great pity that 
in most public collections we find the same want of care in tabulating 
the localities of rare or little known species. We hope, however, in 

the future to do better at Leicester in this direction. 

I am, dear Sir, 
Yours truly, 
MONTAGU BROWNE, 
Curator. 
Town Museum, Leicester, 
28th November, 1881. 


AN ACCOUNT OF THE FLOWERING PLANTS AND FERNS 
OF THE COUNTY OF WARWICK. 


BY JAMES E. BAGNALL. 


(Continued from page 16.) 


TRIFOLIUM. 
T. subterraneum, Lin. Subterranean Trefoil. 
Native: In old pastures. Very rare. May, June. 
II. Milverton old green; old pastures, Sherbourne, H. B. Herb. 
Brit. Mus., 1866; Abbott’s Salford, Rev. J. C. 
T. pratense, Linn. Red Clover. 
Native: In pastures, and on roadsides and waste places. Common, 
May to October. 
Var. a. sylvestre. Frequent in all the districts I have visited. The 
Rey. W. W. Newbould says that it is local in the Stour basin. 
Var. b. parviflorum. Whitnash, H. B. 
Var. c. sativum. Occasionally in a semi-wild state. 


T. medium, Linn. Zigzag Trefoil. 
Native : On banks, roadsides, and in fields. Locally common. June 
to August. 


I. Sutton Park; Wishaw; Tyburn. 
Il. Oversley, Purt., i., 304 ; Leamington, Perry Fl.; Sherbourne ; 
Whitnash, Y. and B.; near the Lime Works, Lawford. R.S.R.; 
Little Alne ; Wixford; Ragley. 
(Trifolium incarnatum, Linn., occurs as an escape or a remnant in 
fields at Castle Bromwich and Knowle, and is also recorded 
from near Milverton, H. B.; and near Rugby, R. S. R.j 


T.,arvense, Linn. Hare’s Foot Trefoil. 
Native: In sandy fields and by roadsides. Locally rare. July to 
October. 


I. Sandy spots in Old Chester Road, near Erdington; Witton; by 
the new Hotel, Sutton; on new dam, Bracebridge Pool, 
Sutton Park, 1880. 

Il. Salford ; Dunnington, Purt., i., 345; Leek Wootton Fields: Stone 
Quarry, Woodloes, Perry Fl.; Rugby district, R. 8. R., 1871; 
Kenilworth Castle, Y. and B. 

T. striatum, Linn. Soft Knotted Trefoil. 

Native: In sandy and gravelly soils. Local. June, July. 

I. (Trifolium nodiflorum.) On Dosthill, near Middleton, Ray. Cat.. 
305 ; new dam, at Bracebridge Pool, Sutton Park, abundant 
in 1880, 


40 THE FLORA OF WARWICKSHIRE. 


II. Milverton, Y. and B.; Near Little Lawford, R.S.R., 1877; Sher- 
bourne, Hampton-on-the Hill; Kenilworth ruins; Heathcote, 
Warwick, H.B.; Honington; Tredington, near the gravel pit, 

Yewb.; walls at Coughton Court; Salford Priors; Hatton 
Rock; Southam, 

Var. b, erectum, Sandrock, Woodloes, near Warwick, H. Bromwich, 
Herb. Brit. Mus. 


T. scabrum, Linn. Rough Rigid Trefoil. 
Native: On waste places. Rare. June. 


II. Sherbourne, Y. and B. 
I have never seen this plant growing in Warwickshire. 


T, hybridum, Linn. Alsike Clover. 
Casual: In fields, and on roadsides and railway banks, fully 


established in many of the districts. Locally common. July, 
August. 

I. Waste places, Marston Green; Sutton Park railway banks, 
abundant. 

II. Kenilworth and Milverton, Y. and B.; near Rugby, R.S.R., 1870; 
Honingtou, Tredington, Blackwell, Newb.; hilly pastures, 
Great Alne; Studley railway bank; Tardebigg. 

Var. elegans, near Harborough Magna, Rev. 4. Blog. 


T. repens, Linn. White or Dutch Clover. 

Native; In fields, pastures, waysides, &c. Common. May to 
November. Common throughout the county. 
Frequent with foliaceous flowers in some seasons. 

T. fragiferum, Linn. Strawberry-headed Clover. 

Native: On waysides and borders of fields in marly and Lias soils. 
Rather rare. June to September. 

II. Oversley and Kinwarton. Purt., i., 306; Whitnash, Southam, 
Y. and B.; Lawford and Dunchurch Roads, R.S.R., 1867 ; Myton, 
Tachbrook, Bishop’s Itchington, H.£.; Honington, Tredington, 
Blackwell, Shipston-on-Stour, Newb.; Gaydon. Bolton King ; 
canal bank, Bearley, W. B. Grove; stone quarry, near Exhall ; 
roadsides from Stratford to Eatington. 

(T. resupinatum. Linn, is recorded by the Rev. J. Caswell as a gar- 
den weed in Oscott College grounds. | 


T. procumbens, Linn. Hop Trefoil, Hop Clover. 
Native: On marly and sandy banks, by waysides and in pastures. 
Common. May to October. 
More or less common throughout the county. 
T. minus, Relhan. Lesser Yellow Trefoil. P 
Native: On banks and waste places, &c. Common. April to 
November. 
Very common throughout the county. 

T. filiforme, Linn. Least Yellow Trefoil. 

Native: In old pastures and on turfy roadsides. Rare. June, July. 

I. Turfy waysides near Castle Bromwich; Coleshill Heath ; turfy 

» waysides between Barston and Temple Balsall; Barston Marsh ; 
near Solihull. 

II. Near Harboro’ Magna, Rev. A. B., R. S. R., 1871; Sherbourne, 
H. B. Herb. Brit. Mus.; Honington, Newb. ; Milverton, Hamp- 
ton-on-the-Hill, Yarningale Common, H.8B.; between Kineton 
and Edge Hills, 1867; old pastures on the mobs, Henley-in- 
Arden ; Lye Green, 


THE FLORA OF WARWICKSHIRE. 41 


LOTUS. 
L, corniculatus, Linn. Bird’s-foot Trefoil. 
Native: In pastures and on heaths and roadsides. Common. May 


to July. 
Common throughout the county. 
L. tenuis, Kit. Slender Birds’-foot Trefoil. 
Native: In fields, and on banks and roadsides, in marly and 
calcareous soils. Local. June to September. 
II. Dunchurch Road, near Rugby, Rev. A. B., N. B. G. S., 1837; near 
Birdingbury Station, H. W. T.; Whitnash, Chesterton, Y. and 
B.: Hampton-on-the-Hill! H. B.; abundant on the Fosseway, 
near Darlingscote, Newb.; Harbury, W. B. Grove; Binton; 
Grafton; Wilmcote; Studley; Bearley; Exhall; Bidford; 
and between Kineton and Edge Hills. 
L. major, Scop. . Marsh Bird’s-foot Trefoil. 
Native: On moist heaths and banks, ditch sides, &c. Locally 
common. June to September. 
I find this in all the districts throughout the county. 


ASTRAGALUS. 

A.’glycyphyllus, Linn. Wild Liquorice. 

Native: On roadsides and in pastures, in calcareous or marly soils. 
Rare. June. 

II. Oversley, Grafton, Purt.,i., 309; Bidford, Bree., Mag. Nat. Hist., 
lii., 165; Tachbrook, near the Fosse Road, Y. and B.; Bill- 
borough Hill, near Alcester, Blor., N. B. G. S.; Morton Bagot; 
Ashorne ; Lighthorne; Binton. 


ORNITHOPUS. 

0. perpusillus, Linn. Least Bird’s-foot. 

Native: On heathy footways and sandy fields. Local. June to 
September. 

I. Hartshill! on gravelly soils. J. P., MS. note in B. G. Sutton 
Park ; Old Chester Road ; Coleshill Heath ; Bannersley Rough; 
Berkswell; Hampton-in-Arden ; Sandy Quarry, Cornels End. 

II. Leamington, Kenilworth, Y. and B.; Lye Green. 

‘Hippocrepis comosa, Linn. Horse-shoe Vetch. Mr. Bromwich has 
found this on high banks, in Lias soils, near Morton Morrell ; 
but it cannot be considered as more than a casual weed in the 
county. Morton Morrell, June, 1864, H. B., Herb. Brit. Mus.] 


ONOBRYCHIS. 
0. sativa, Lam. Sainfoin, Cockshead. 
Native: In arable land, and by roadsides, etc., in marly and 
calcareous soils. Local. June to August. 
IL. (Hedysarum Onobrychis). Rare. Grafton! Billesley! Purt. i., 341 ; 
Harbury, Y. and B.; Binton; road from Stratford to Bidford ; 
Red Hill; Wixford; banks near Rose Hall, Oversley ; railway 
banks, Studley. In many of the habitats merely the remains 
of former cultivation. 
VICIA. 
V. hirsuta, Koch. Hairy Tare. 
Native: On banks, by roadsides, and in fields. Common. May to 
August. Found throughout the county. 
V. tetrasperma, Moench. Smooth Tare. 
Native: In arable land, on banks, etc., in marly districts. Local, 
June to August, 


42, THE FLORA OF WARWICKSHIRE. 


ol 


. Railway banks near Knowle Station ; in fields about Elmdon and 
Coleshill Heath. Abundant on the new dam, Bracebridge Pool, 
Sutton Park, and on the railway banks. 

II. Whitnash, Y. and B.; near Bilton! Rugby, R. S..R., 1877; fields 
near Marl Cliff ; Oversley Wood ; Cold Comfort, near Alcester ; 
pea field near Wilmcote ; canai bank, Bearley, ete. 

V. gracilis, Lois. Slender Tare. 

Native: On cultivated land in calcareous soils. Rare. June, 
August. 

II. Whitnash, Y. and B.; Morton Morrell, Herb. Brit. Mus., H. B., 
1867; Tredington, in a few places, Newb.; pea field near 
Wilmcote. 

V. Cracca, Linn. Tufted Vetch. 

Native: In hedges, woods, etc. Common. June to September. 
Area general. 
V. sylvatica, Linn. Wood Vetch. 
Native: In woods. Very rare. 
I. “ Hort’s Hill, Hey’s Wood, ten miles from Coventry,’* Aliquis, Mag. 
Nat. Hist., v., p. 768, 1832; Hart’s Hill Hayes, Rev. A. B., 
Phyt., iii., 324; Mereyvale Park, J. Power, WS. note in B. G. 

V. sepium, Linn. Bush Vetch. 

Native: In woods, and on banks, etc. Common. May to July. 
Frequent throughout the county. 

V. sativa, Linn. Cultivated Vetch. 

Denizen: On railway banks, and in cultivated land. May to July. 

Although I not unfrequently see solitary specimens of this plant, 
they are never more than stragglers from cultivation, and I 
cannot look upon it as more than a casual weed. 

V. angustifolia, Roth. Common Wild Vetch. 

Native: In cultivated fields, on heath lands and hedge banks. 
Rather common. May to August. 
Var. a. segetalis, Koch. 

I. Sutton Park; Coleshill Heath ; Knowle railway bank, etc. 

II. Kenilworth, Y. and B.; Tredington, Honington, Newb. ; waysides, 
Tron Cross, near Salford Priors, etc. 

Var. b. Bobartii, Koch. 
On banks and heathy waysides. Rather rare. 

I. Coleshill Heath. 

II. Milverton, Y. and B. ; railway bank near Hatton Station. 

V. lathyroides, Linn. Spring Vetch. 

Native: In sandy and gravelly soils. Very rare, or overlooked. 

II. On the side of the Bridle Road from Spernal Ash to Studley, 

Purt., i., 337. Asa casual near Milverton, H. B. 


LATHYRUS, 


L. Aphaca, Linn. Yellow Vetchling. 
Colonist: In Lias and marly fields. Very rare. 
II. Alne Hills, Purt.,i., 340 ; “Warwickshire,” Syme, E. B., ed. 3, iii., 101; 
as a garden weed at Myton, H. B. 
Although I have made several special visits to the Alne Hills, I 
have never been able to find this plant there. 


* “Tt grows in thousands, perhaps tens of thousands, in Hort’s Hill, Hey’s 
Wood, just ten miles from Coventry, festooning the underwood with its beautiful 
chocolate striped petals, etc,” 


THE FLORA OF WARWICKSHIRE. 43 


L. Nissolia, Linn. Grass Vetch. 
Native: In fields, on banks, and roadsides in Lias soils. Rare. 
June, July. 


I. Caldicote, J. P., MS. note in B. G. 
II. Coughton, Great Alne, Purt., i., 339; Wilmcote, Rev. A. Bloz.; 
Tachbrook ; Stratford Road from Warwick, H. B. ; Honington, 
Newb. Abundant on the road from Stratford to Binton 
bridges; canal bank near Bearley, and in fields near Aston 
Cantlow. 
L. pratensis, Linn. Meadow Vetchling. 
Native: In fields, and pastures, and on banks, etc. Common. 
June to August. Frequent throughout the county. 
L. sylvestris, Linn. Narrow-leaved Everlasting Pea. 
Native: In woods and bushy places. Rare. July, August. 
I. Near Arbury Hall, 7. Kirk, Phyt., ii., 970. 
Il. (L. latifolius,) Spernal Park, Purt., i., 339. ; Green’s Grove, Hatton ! 
in a thicket near Baly’s Locks, Warwick, Perry, Fl. p., 61; in 
a thicket between Alcester and Oversley Wood; Bubbenhall 
Bree, Purt., i., 373 ; Chesterton! Y. and B. ; Hampton Lucy ; 
Milverton, H. B. 
“L. latifolius, Linn. Occurs abundantly on a waste bank near 
Harbury Railway Station, and has been established there 
many years, but has no claim to a place in this flora.) 


(To be continued.) 


meer ne OnoOLOGY OF THE MID A Nive: 


THE WEATHER OF DECEMBER, 1881. 


BY CLEMENT L. WRAGGE, F.R.G.S., F.M.S., ETC. 

Periods of great mildness were experienced, readings were especially 
high about the 2nd, 6th, 27th and 29th, and vegetation was unusually 
forward ;—wall-flowers, violets, primroses, daisies, &c., being in bloom. 
At Cheltenham, indeed, clematis shoots were 8 inches long; and at 
Alstonfield ‘‘ on the 6th a gooseberry tree had five or six expanded 
flowers.” Temperature it seems was, nevertheless, rather below the 
average in Central England, but slightly above it in the extreme 
South-west and in the North. At Orleton the mean was about 
1 degree below the average of the last 20 years. Colder weather 
occurred during the second week, and about the 23rd. S.Wly. winds 
prevailed, and fogs were of frequent occurrence. The remarkable 
oscillations of the barometer prove that the atmosphere was still in a 
very unsettled condition. The following are readings from the 
Cheadle instrument at 32 I’. and 646 feet above sea during the times 
of the most marked elevation and depression:—13th 9 p.m. 29-61, 
17th 9 p.m. 28°32, 19th 9 a.m. 28°76, 20th 9 a.m. 28°14, 23rd 9 p.m. 29-80, 
27th 9 a.m. 29°83. The solar maximum thermometer at Aspley Guise 
recorded 84:4 on the 20th, and the terrestrial minimum at Oscott 
marked 14:0 on the 28rd. Sunshine at Hodsock 45 hours; at Aspley 
Guise 54 hours, 20 minutes. Lunar halos were seen at Oxford on the 
5th and 28th, and lunar corone on the 2nd and 30th. There was 
some deficiency of ozone. Mean sea temperature at Scarborough 44:1. 


44 THE WEATHER OF DECEMBER. 
2 KAINFALL. _ | ~TEMPERALURE. 


| 5 |Greatest fall|..~) Greatest ht | Greatest 
STATION. OBSERVER. Silin 24 hours.| = > . a 
' aS i— CE-i | 
| In.| In.) Date. |4 = |Deg Date. ‘Des| Date 
F | es ae | ee ——| | | 
OUTPOST STATIONS. } | | 

Spital Cemetery, Carlisle .... J. Cartmell, Esq. .........- | 2745) “48) 8 18 | 52°8 3 180 28 
eect eaten Sak nae “s A a ..-.-if, Shaw, Esq., ¥'.M.S....... | 2°4.| 62) YO | 17 | 49°4 2 29°0 10 
Blackpool(a/—North Shore = | | 50°1 29 | O54 

p Aap (© T. Ward, Esq., FMS. «-| 5.94! .g9! 1g | 9g 513: es a 


Carmarthen (a).. G. J. Hearder, Esq., M.D...| 5°63 
Altarnum.......+++ ley. J. Power, M.A. ..°*..! 8°66 


| 


Sidmouth (d)....-eeeeeeee .fW. T. Radford, Esq., M.D.. | 2°74 
| | | 


1°38) 16 22 53°0 2 20°3 ll 
137; 17) | 24 | 580 8 220, 23 
‘ 2 1980) 38 


MIDLAND STATIONS. | 
* GLOUCESTERSHIRE. | } 
Jheltenham (@)...... wocceees Tyrer, Msq., F.M.S. ....}2°90) 97) 17 16 540 2 190 39-24 
| 
WILTSHIRE. | | | 
Marlborough (@) ...+++++++ ..|Rev. T.A. Preston, F.M.S. | 3°52) ‘84, 17 | 18/518) 6 | 22°3) 23 
SHROPSHIRE. | | | | 
Woolstaston .... .. Rev. E. D. Carr.....+.-+--- | 4°10, 1°26 16 | 18} 510 6 27:5 ‘4 
Bishop's Castle .....---+ | , : 378/113) 16 | 17 | 5770 2 /'92:0 24 
Dowles, near Bewdley .......J- M. Downing, Hsq. ....-./2.89) “6d, 17 | 17 | GeO) 5 140) 11 
| } 
HEREFORDSHIRE. | | | 
SEOkOsR ISK c aciness tesicens ae .. Rey. G. Alexander ........| 2°64] “66. 17 | 15 | 52°0 2 |240 28 
| | | | | | 
WORCESTERSHIRE. | re, , fret \_ | 
Orleton, Tenbury ......- .....| L. H. Davis, Esq., F.M.S. ../ 2°59) «7 17. +| 18 | 540 6 |22°2) 93 
West Malvern ..........-... A. H. Hartland, Esq. ...... 3°60) 75) 17 | 25 1495) 2.6 | 2575) 10 
Evesham . 1. J. Slatter, Wsq., F.G.S...| 2°57) “94) 17 16 513) 2 | 22°38 4 
Pedmore .....- . E. R. Marten, Hisq. ........| 2°91) 76 17 | 15 | 520 2 | 230) 10,23 
Stourbridge ......-.-....-..|Mr. J. Jefferies ... |2°93] .g4] 18 | 141610) 2,4 |20°:0) 1 
Cawney Bank, Dudley ......|Mr.C. Beale ..... -|2°37] .g9] 17 18 | 480, 24,6 |25°0; Io 
STAFFORDSHIRE. | * d | | | j 
Dennis, Stourbridge (a) ......|C- Webb, Esq.....++.--.+++/ 2°78) .7q) 17 | 14/525) 2 | 195) 10 
Kinver ...sceseseeeeeeeeeeeee( REV. W. H. Bolton ......../ 2°48) gg] 17 | 17/510, 2 (210) lo 
Walsall..... ...|N. E. Best, Esq. .......++-/ 3°09] .gg) 16 | 15/570) 2 | 230) 9 
Lichfield ...............0..-+|S2 P. Roberts, Msq. .....+./ 2°70) 7g! 17 | 12 |520) 2/220) 10 
Weston-under-Lyziard . Hon. & Rev. J. Bridgeman.) 2-81) .¢4) 17 (17/510 2 | 210) 21 
Wrottesley (a)............++..|/- Simpson, Hsq. ........../ 2°53) .g7) 17 «| 13 |506, 2 | Ord) 28 
Heath House, nearChea J. C. Philips, Esq., J.P...../2:96] .75] 17 | 17 |50'4) 2 | 225) 2d 
Oakamoor, Churnet Valley (a) Mr. E. KE. Kettle .........../ 3°44) «79/170 16 (509 6 201) 8 
Beacon Stoop, Weaver Hilis(a) Mr. James Hall ........())131| .93] 17 | 14 {476 6 245) 14,24 
Alstonfield .......+...0.+e.../0€¥- W. H. Purchas ......| 4°08| 4-73) 16 | 16 | 49°7 1 141) 18 
Grammar School, Burton ....|C- U- Tripp, Esq., M.A. ... ‘| 2°44! 9-55] 17 | 20/530, 2 |190) 11 
| 
i a | 
WARWICKSHIRE. oe | oe | 
St. Mary's College, Oscott (a)\J; MacHImail, Wsq. ......../ 2°53) .7g) 17 | 11/828) a7 | 199,10 
Henley-in-Arden ............|L: H.G. Newton, Esq. ..../ 3°11) .g4/ 17:17 | 8202 | 19°0)_ 93,04 
Kenilworth (a) .... F. Slade, Esq., C.E., F.M.S.| 298} .g9) 17 «| 17/56) 8 204) 24 
Coundon, Coventr .|Lieut.-Col. K. Caldicott....| 2-4 “84 17 | 19/490, 26 |23°0| 13 
Rugby School.......... .|Rev. T. N. Hutchinson ..../3°29) .45| 17 | 20/520 2 {190,24 
DERBYSHIRE, | AP } , | | 
Stony Middleton ......... ... Rev. V. Smith ......+00+-./3°88] -g9) 26 | 11/490) 2 | 19°0) 9.22.25 
Fernslope, Belper............|£; J. Jackson, Esq. ...+.++-/2°77/ -g9} 17 | 14/920 2280) ag 
Duitieldes.ccdee-es veseseeeees| V+ Bland, Esq...... veseeee[ 2°70] gp] 17 | 14] 
| 
NOTTINGHAMSHIRE. oe 4 eat ; 
Mansfield (a) .............2..| W> Dyrer, Esq., F.M.S. ..../ 2°58) +39) 17 11g }509 2 |21°0) 24 
Hodsock Priory, Worksop (a).|4-Mellish, Hsq., F.M.S. ../ 2°23) 55] 19 | 19|9%0 2 2 3/4 
Tuxford ......ceeeseeeesee.45* N- Duity, Esq., F.G.S. ../ 2°57) -57| 19 | 16 | 499 5 eek 28 
LEICESTERSHIRE. 
Syston secececcsecsceeccecees(¥* HAMES, ESQ. «...+++++++! 9:63] +78] 17 7 470 6,7 |23°0) 94 
Town Museum, Leicester ....|J- C- Smith, Esq. ... 276] gol 17 | 17 (O22) 3 | 215) 25 
Ashby Magna................, Rev. Canon Willes . 2°54) 77] a7 |p joka] 2 |. 
Mibwortlisessctiecsssscesecee (ae Macaulay, Ksq. . 3:13] -78| 17 16 50°0 2 25°0) 22 
Waltham-le-Wold............|Hdwin Ball, Esq. ..... 3°75| -77| 17 | 15 | 489] 36 [200 28 
Dalby Hall..................|G: Jones, Hsq.+.........066/ 169] 9! 17 | 13 |279) 6 [15°04 
Coston Rectory, Melton (a) ..|Rev- A.M. Kendell......../ 2-66) +74) 47 | 15 52°0 2 |170| 9 
NORTHAMPTONSHIRE. ieee tn | 
Towcester ... ..|J. Webb, Esq........--+-+++/ 3°36/1°05) 17 | :16 | =ao| oat 
Kettering....... LITT. Wallis, Esq. .........+-.| 8°03] 93) 17 | 16 | °°! 9,17 | 26°) a114 
OXFORDS , ; ns bal 
Ratcliffe Observatory, Oxford|The Staff .........sseseeee 13-26 96, 17 ig P72) 2 214! gg 
BEDFORDSHIRE. | I | 
Aspley Guise, Woburn (@).... K. E. Dymond, Esq., F.M.S.| 3:57/ 1:38) 17 54°0 2 248 og 
RUTLAND. | 
Northfields, Stamford........|W. Hayes, Esq. ...........| 2 


5] 28} 17 | 1g 520) 2 1280) a1 
7| -77| 17 | 16505] 2 |21'8| 24 


5 
Uppingham (a)..............|Rey. G@. H. Mullins, F.M.S. | 2-6 


(a) At these Stations Stevenson’s Thermometer Screen is in use, and the values may be regarded at 
strictly intercomparable. 

(b) Since April 1st last two standard rain-ganges have been in use at my station on Beacon Stoop, one 
on the apex of the hill, 1,216ft. above sea, and the other on the plateau adjacent, about 1.200ft. Much 
more rain falls into the gauge on the plateau than into that on the apex. The rainfall statistics of this 
station have hitherto, for this Magazine, been taken from the apex gauge, that first established (including 
the figures in the table above); but as the differences are of the highest interest, the results already 
obtained from the two gauges will in a future number be discussed side by side; and in future synopses 
the totals from the plateau gauge will be given. C.L. W. 

The query attached to the Walsall “ Greatest Fall” for November, 1881, must be considered as with 
drawn. The value is 0°59. 


METEOROLOGY—REVIEW. 45 


TO OUR METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVERS. 


A new Form is in the course of despatch. Several alterations have, 
it will be noticed, been made in the Headings and Instructions in order 
to ensure absolute uniformity of entry for purposes of scientific com- 
parison with the abstracts, etc., of the Meteorological Society. Hence- 
forth, commencing with our abstract for January, 1882, 0-006 and 
above will constitute a day of rain; and the mode of dealing in future 
with the extreme shade temperatures will appear from the following :— 
If the maximum and minimum thermometers are read and set in the 
evening the extreme readings are to be entered, invariably, as usual tc 
the days on which they are observed; but if read and set in the 
morning the absolute or extreme maximum is to be entered against 
the previous day (although in cyclonic weather it may be known to have 
actually occurred during the early morning hours), and the absolute 
minimum to the day on which it is read (notwithstanding it may be 
known to have taken place under certain conditions on the day pre- 
ceding). All of our observers, but especially those who do not observe 
for the Society, and are unaccustomed to its rules, are most earnestly 
requested in the interests of science, which cannot in the Meteorolo- 
logical branch be entirely advanced except by the strictest uniformity 
and method, to rigidly adhere to the plan and instructions of the new 
Form. It would be well if all observers adopted Stevenson’s Thermo- 
meter Screen and verified instruments placed four feet above grass, 
and at least twenty-five feet from any wall or fence. All readings 
would then be strictly intercomparable, and immense good would 
ultimately accrue to meteorological research. Some of our best 
observers, now doing good work, would vastly increase the value of 
their results by entering into the general plan and adopting perfect 
uniformity of observation and exposure of instruments. A single 
observer, acting by himself, can do little more than local good; but 
when forming one of a scientific body, acting with its members in 
perfect harmony and accord, he becomes as it were an important 
wheel in that mighty system of machinery that has for the object of 
its labours the solving of the all important problems in Meteorology, 
and the ultimate advancement of the public good. I most cordially 
thank one and all for the generous and valuable assistance they have 
already given to the Meteorological Department of the ‘‘ Midland 
Naturalist.” 

January, 1882. CLEMENT L. WRAGGE. 


Achielv. 


On a Discovery of Fossil Fishes in the New Red Sandstone of Nottingham. 
By E. Witson, F.G.S.* 

I wisH to call the attention of the Section to a recent discovery of 
fossil fishes in the Lower Keuper Sandstone of England, a circum- 
stance of sufficient rarity in itself, apart from any paleontological 
results, to deserve at least a passing notice. 

During the construction of the Leen Valley Outfall Sewer, in 1878, 
a remarkably interesting section was given by the tunnelling driven 
through Rough Hill, or Colwick Wood, near Nottingham, showing the 


* Communicated to the British Association York Meeting, 1881 


46 REVIEW —CORRESPONDENCE. 


lower beds of the Waterstones resting on a denuded surface of the 
‘‘ Basement Beds” of the Keuper. 

The lowest stratum of the Waterstones was a sandstone about a 
foot thick, with streaks of red and green marl, and a seam of pebbles 
at the base. The fishes occurred in this bed, and chiefly in a thin 
seam of red marl, overlying the pebbly seam at the very bottom of the 
Waterstones. They were present in large numbers, as if in a shoal, 
for a distance, in the line of section, of about 33ft. 

The specimens I obtained have been examined by several com- 
petent authorities, but unfortunately their state of preservation is so 
bad that nothing certain can be made out as to their precise zoolegical 
affinities. Dr. Traquair, however, believes that they probably belong 
to some species, new or old, of the genus Semionotus. 

The occurrence of these fossils at the junction of two distinct sets 
of beds—the Basement Beds and the Waterstones—is probably not a 
mere chance coincidence. The characters of the preceding Keuper 
Basement Beds—false-bedded, coarse, grey sandstones and con- 
glomerates with large fractured quartzite pebbles, and lenticular beds 
of red marl—prove them to have been formed during a period of great 
violence; while those of the Waterstones—regularly-bedded fine- 
grained yellowish sandstones and red marls covered with ripple-marks, 
sun-cracks, and pseudomorphs of common salt—show that they were 
formed in quiet and shallow waters. It appears pretty certain, then, 
that these fishes did not live in this area during the turbulent times 
of the Basement Beds, but came in when subsidence let in the quieter 
waters of the Waterstone epoch.* 


Correspondence 
wae aS 

A Lance Orver in rot Trenr.—Mr. John Glover, of Newark, very 
recently succeeded in shooting an exceedingly fine otter in the 
Muskham fishery, near Newark. The animal was very large, 
weighing twenty-six pounds, and appears to be about six years old. 
Much damage has been caused to the fishery by otters of late, and it is 
very likely indeed that there are several there vet.—J. P. B., Nottingham. 


PracricaL Borany.—We have received from Major Barnard, of 
Bartlow, Leckhampton, near Cheltenham, some very well-drawn 
illustrations (by Mrs. Barnard) of British plants, in which the chief 
points of their botanical structure are clearly and characteristically 
brought out. One set is intended to illustrate Houston’s ‘‘ Practical 
Botany ;” while a second set includes examples of nearly all the impor- 
tant genera of British flowers. ‘They are sold at a shilling a dozen, 
whether of the same plant or of different plants. Teachers of botany, 
or private students, will find these drawings very useful; they show 
one just what to look for.—W. J. H. 


* IT should mention that I obtained the specimens under somewhat unfavour- 
able circumstances, namely, in the roof of a tunnel, several hundred feet from 
daylight, and after the rock had been defaced by smoke and dirt, The fossili- 
ferous bed lies only a few feet below the surface of the ground, and if carefully 
opened from above, better and perhaps identifiable examples might 
possibly be obtained. 


CORRESPONDENCE. 47 


Earty Frowers.—Ivy-leaved Speedwell ( Veronica hederifolia) in full 
flower in the open fields, January 7th. Bulbous Buttercup (Rannun- 
culus bulbosus ), single flower, on sheltered hedge bank, with S.W. aspect, 
January 13th. Vernal Whitlow Grass (Draba verna) in full flower, on 
walls, 15th.—O. V. A., Banbury. 


OrnitHoLocicaL Norrs.—A female Shoveller (Anas clypeata) was 
killed on the Cherwell, near Aynho, on the 13th December. It is the 
only specimen I have seen from this immediate neighbourhood, 
although a male bird was procured from the same locality some fifteen 
years or so ago. Walking home along uhe meadows on the 24th 
of that month, my brother and I counted twenty-six Magpies as they 
flew out of a row of trees. Although this is a plentiful species here, 
and I have frequently noticed parties of ten or a dozen, I think it is 
unusual to meet with so large a number as this together. The Carrion 
Crow is also gregarious sometimes in the autumn, and I once shot two 
from a party of about twenty-five coming to roost in a small oak 
spinney. The Goldfinch is now getting very scarce in this district, 
and I was accordingly much pleased to see on the 26th December a 
flock of about a score of them feeding on the remains of some thistle 
heads in a low lying pasture field. The winter has been very 
noticeable so far for the great scarcity of winter birds. I have only 
seen four Fieldfares (and can hear of no others being seen by my 
friends), and not more than a dozen Redwings. I never knew either of 
these birds so scarce. Wildfowl, too, of all kinds have visited us in 
very small numbers. On the 27th I saw a few Lesser Redpoles ( Linota 
rufescens—Vieillot) feeding on the seeds of some alders, but I have heard 
of no Siskins or Bramblings, and only one or two Short-eared Owls. My 
brother informs me that a Chiffchaff (Phyllopneustes rufa), has 
frequented his garden for some time, in full song, and on the morning 
of the 15th he saw the bird plainly. Although not without precedent,such 
occurrences are very rare. A Blackbird’s nest with young was found, as 
I am informed, near Aynho, on the 13th of last month. Truly the 
winter is an extraordinary one.—Oriver VY. Apuix, Banbury, Oxon, 
January 17, 1882. 


A New Acent or Denuparion.—A correspondent sends the following 
note :—‘ Professor Ball tells geologists that they must ‘“ hurry 
up their phenomena,” for astronomers cannot allow them more 
than some fifty millions of years. It seems that about that time 
ago, or a little earlier, the moon parted company with the earth, 
and commenced to circle round it at great speed, and in close 
company. Ever since, the moon has been gradually receding from 
us. It folows from this theory that the tides were formerly of 
immensely greater height than at present; for, the nearer the moon 
was to the earth, the greater would be its attraction on the waters. 
In Silurian times, for instance, we must picture to ourselves tides of 
600 or 700ft. in height, continually rolling round the earth. This is an 
attractive theory, and would be useful to geologists in some respects, 
as in explaining our old plains of denudation, etc., but in some respects 
it seems to prove too much. With our present agents of denudation— 
rain, rivers, frost, the sea, etc,, it has been a cause of wonder to great 
geographers, ‘‘ how there could be any land at all,” or ‘‘ how the land 
could get its head above the waters ;” but how are we to explain the 
great continents which certainly existed in the Old Red Sandstone 
epoch, and, probably, also in Silurian and Cambrian times? With 
tides such as Prof. Ball describes it is, indeed, difficult to imagine the 
formation or existence of land surfaces of any extent,” 


48 REPORTS OF SOCIETIES. 


Reports of Societies. 


— 


BIRMINGHAM NATURAL HISTORY AND MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETY.— 
MicroscopPicAL GENERAL MEETING.—January 24th.—Mr. J. Levick exhibited 
the circulation in the young and perfectly transparent rootlets or shoots of 
Chara. Mr. J. E. Bagnall exhibited the very rare peristome of Fontinalis minor, 
a moss which, from its aquatic habitat, very rarely produces! perfect] fruit. 
Mr. W. B. Grove exhibited the following species of Myxomycetes, found in the 
neighbourhood, in illustration of his paper: Pyhsarum sinuosum, Didymium 
cinereum, var. costatum, Craterium vulgare, C. leucocephalum, Leocarpus 
fragilis, Tilmadoche nutans, Spumaria alba, Comatricha Friesiana, Stemonitis 
fusca, Trichia fallax, T. varia, T. nigripes, Hemiarcyria rubiformis, Arcyria 
punicea, A. incarnata, A. cinerea, Prototrichia flagellifera, and Perichena 
corticalis. He gave a brief’résumé of the present state of knowledge concerning 
this interesting group of Fungi. They differ from all other Fungi in the fact 
that the spore gives origin to a naked mass of protoplasm, which possesses a 
nucleus and contractile vesicle, and afterwards developes a flagellum, in which 
state it resembles a free swimming monad. It then passes through an amceboid 
state. A vast number of these amceboid bodies unite together to form a cake- 
like or reticulated mass, which itself possesses the power of locomotion, and 
from which are produced the spore-cases or sporangia. In the first part of this 
life-cycle the organism possesses the characteristics of animal life ; in the latter 
part it resembles the Fungi. On this account naturalists are at present divided 
in their opinions as to the proper place of the Myxomycetes in their 
classification. Mr. Grove gave his decision in favour of retaining them amongst 
the Fungi, as an aberrant group approaching the animal sub-kingdom of the 
Protozoa. Mr. A. W. Wills made a few remarks, in which he gave a sketch of 
Professor Huxley's opinion on the borderland between the Animal and Vegetable 
Kingdoms. 


BANBURYSHIRE NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY.—December 5th.—Mr, 
Charles Gillett in the Chair. Various species of Rotifers were exhibited by Mr. 
E. A. Walford, and a Polecat (Mustela putorius), from the neighbourhood, by 
Mr. O. V. Aplin. A paper on Meteorological Observations was read by Mr. Sym- 
ington. Mr. C. E. Gillett gave an account of his ascent of Ben Nevis in the 
summer. January 2nd.—Mr. S. Stutterd in the Chair. Exhibits: Several 
species of Thysanura, by Mr. Stutterd ; Epipactis ensifolia from the Chiltern 
Hills, Oxon, by Mr. O. V. Aplin. Micro-photographs by Mr. E. A. Walford, and 
Mosses and Lichens by Mr. Symington. The Chairman made some remarks on 
Thysanura, illustrated by specimens under the microscope and photographs. 
Mr. J. R. Davis communicated a note on the food of the Water Vole ‘Arvicola 
amphibius). A short paper on the desirability of a series of Phenological obser- 
vations being made by members was read by Mr. O. V. Aplin, and forms for 
observations during the month of January were distributed. The Secretary 
(Mr Walford) gave an interesting sketch of a Banbury botanist, the late 
My. Alfred French. : 


NORTHANTS NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY.—Janvary-17.—The first of 
a series of Gilchrist Lectures, under the auspices of this Society, was given in 
the Town Hall, Northampton, by Professor Ball, Astronomer Royal for Ireland, 
on “The Telescope and its Uses.” January 24, Microscopical Meeting.—Mr. 
Kempson exhibited Epistylis gracilis; Mr. Osborne, slides, illustrating the 
anatomy of spiders; Mr. E. A. Durham, Hydra vulgaris, diatoms, etc.; Mr. 
Gregory, sections of leaves, etc., stained, section of Lepidodendron, parasite 
of owl, mounted by the exhibitor without pressure, and minute moths; 
Mr, Dangerfield, specimen of adulterated mustard, 


REPORT ON THE PENNATULIDA. 49 


REPORT ON THE PENNATULIDA 
COLLECTED IN THE OBAN DREDGING EXCURSION 
OF THE BIRMINGHAM NATURAL HISTORY AND 
MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETY, JULY, 1881. 


BY A. MILNES MARSHALL, M.A., D.SC., PROFESSOR OF ZOOLOGY 
IN OWENS COLLEGE, AND W. P. MARSHALL, M.I.C.E. 


(Continued from page 36.) 


5. Anatomy of the Zooids— 

The only important points in which the zooids differ from the 
polypes are the following :— 

1. They have no tentacles, and no distinct calyx. 

2. They have only two mesenterial filaments, viz., those corres- 
ponding to the two long filaments of the polypes : like these latter they 
extend to the bottom of the body-cavity. The remaining six mesen- 
teries are present, but their free edges below the stomach are not 
thickened to form mesenterial filaments. 

3. They have no reproductive organs. 

Whether these distinctions are absolute is, however, very uncertain... 
In the younger specimens there appears to be a gradual passage from 
zooids to polypes (Fig. 6), though whether zooids are in all cases 
destined ultimately to grow up into polypes must be left for the present 
undecided. 

Polymorphism, i.e. the existence of structural differences between 
individuals living together and fundamentally alike, is very widespread, 
and attains a high degree of development among Hydrozoa, where we 
commonly find in a single colony (a) nutritive individuals with mouths 
and tentacles, which digest food not only for themselves, but for the 
rest of the colony as well, but are often destitute of means for capturing 
their prey ; (b) prehensile individuals, richly provided with thread-cells, 
capturing the prey and conveying it to the nutritive individuals to be 
digested, but themselves destitute of mouth or stomach; (c) 
reproductive individuals, often with no mouth or stomach. To these 
may be added, in many cases, locomotive individuals, whose sole 
function is to propel the colony through the water; protective indi- 
viduals, and a variety of other forms. 

Among Actinozoa, on the other hand, though we have an equally 
marked tendency to the formation of colonies by budding, polymor- 
phism is exceedingly rare, all the individuals composing the colony 
being as a rule alike: the most marked example of polymorphism 
is shown by the group with which we are now dealing—the 
Pennatulida—and even here we only meet with two kinds of individuals, 
the polypes and the zooids, between which the distinction may be as 
in Funiculina by no means an absolute one. 


50 REPORT ON THE PENNATULIDA. 


ZooLoGicaAL Position AND AFFINITIES. 


The general zoological position of Funiculina is shown in the Table 
given on page 1 of this Report. The generic characters, as given by 
Kolliker, our greatest authority on the group, are as follows :—* 


“Genus: Funiculina. Long slender Sea-feather ; stalk short, with 
no conspicuous dilatations ; polypes inserted directly into rachis ; stem 
quadrangular. Polypes protruding from long cups whose margins are 
produced into eight pointed processes, each of which contains in its 
interior a prolongation of one of the body compartments surrounding the 
stomach, and in its walls longitudinal series of long slender calcareous 
needles which extend a certain distance down the cups and end ina 
number of oblique and transversely placed needles. Polypes in 
obliquely placed rows on the dorsal angles and adjoining sides of the 
rachis: tentacles with no calcareous needles. Zooids of same form as 
polypes lying on dorsal surface of rachis nearer the middle line than 
the sexual animals: at the lowermost end of the feather the zooids take 
the place of the polypes and end in single rows on the lateral surfaces 
of the rachis. Sexual organs in the body-cayities of all adult polypes. 
Radial nutrient canals not present. Integument of both rachis and 
stalk beset with calcareous needles, especially abundant in the stalk.” 


Kélliker only recognises a single species, viz., Funiculina quadrangu- 
_laris. | He gives the following list of synonyms and definition of the 
species :—t 


Synonyms.—Penna del pesce pavone. Bohadsch. 
Pennatula quadrangularis. Pallas. 
Pennatula antennina. Linneeus, Ellis, and Solander. 
Funiculina tetragona. Lamarck. 
Pavonaria Antennina. Cuvier, Schweigger, Ehrenberg. 
Pavonaria quadrangularis. Blainville, D. Chiaje, E. Forbes, 

Johnston, M. Edwards. 

Funiculina antennina. YV.D. Hoeven. 
Funiculina Forbesii. Verrill. 
Funiculina quadrangularis. Herklots. 


Definition of Species.—‘ Colony up to 53 inches long, and at its 
widest part 0:4 to 0°5 inch breadth. Feather five to six times as long as 
stalk. Polype cups cylindrical, forming a conical pointed end when 
closed, very numerous, arranged in oblique rows or clusters on the 
dorsal angles and neighbouring parts of the dorsal and lateral surfaces ; 
the larger polypes 0°2 to 0'-4 inch long. The pointed processes of the 
cup-border (calyx) up to 0°02 inch long. Prolongations of the body- 
cavity into the cup-border (calyx) 0°05 to 0:06 inch long. Calcareous 
needles of the cup up to 0:024 to 0:028 inch long.” 


By Verrill, as we have already seen, two species of Funiculina were 
distinguished, the name Funiculina Forbesii being proposed for the 


* Kolliker, op. cit., p. 250, 4 } Kolliker, op. cit., p. 256, 


REPORT ON THE PENNATULIDA. - 51 


Scotch specimens, to distinguish them from the Mediterranean ones. 
We have in a former section of this Report fully explained the reasons 
which have led us to reject this division. 

Dr. Gray describes three species of Funiculina :*—Funiculina 
quadrangularis, F. Forbesii, and F. Philippinensis. Concerning the two 
first of these species the distinction is that proposed by Verrill, which 
we have found is not valid. Concerning the third species all that Dr. 
Gray tells us is the following :— 

3. Funiculina Philippinensis. B.M. 
Axis quadrangular, about a foot long. 
Hab. Philippines (Cuming).” 

Kolliker makes no reference to it, although his monograph is of later 
date than Dr. Gray’s catalogue ; and on inquiry at the British Museum 
we find that the specimens are no longer in existence. 

‘If no mistake has been made, this species, concerning which, in the 
absence of any specimens, we must feel doubtful, is of considerable 
interest as coming from an otherwise unrecorded locality. 


History AND LITERATURE. 


We propose under this heading to give as complete a list as we have 
been able to compile of the descriptions and figures of Funiculina 
published hitherto, arranged according to date of publication. We 
have purposely omitted references to works on systematic zoology, in 
which Funiculina is merely mentioned in its proper zoological position, 
but have included all original works and papers bearing on the subject 
with which we are acquainted. We have indicated by an asterisk all 
works to which we have not been able to refer directly. 


*1761.— Bohadsch: ‘De quibusdam Animalibus Marinis,’ p. 112, and 
Plate IX., Figs. 4 and 5. Contains description and two figures of 
the first recorded specimen of Funiculina, discovered by himself 
at Naples in 1757. This specimen was, according to Bohadsch, 
58ins. long, but broken at the lower end. He notices the 
quadrangular shape of the stem, also that the polypes cover three- 
fourths of the upper part of the rachis, but leave the fourth bare. 
The polypes were 1,310 in number, and are noted as being non- 
retractile. 

1764.—Hllis : ‘‘ Philosophical Transactions,” vol. liii. pp. 423-425. 
Translates part of Bohadsch’s description, and copies, on Plate 
XX., Fig. 8, one of his figures on a scale one-third the natural 
size. This figure has also been copied by Blainville. 

*1766.—Pallas: ‘* Hlenchus Zoophytorum.” Assigns the name Pennatula 
quadrangularis to Bohadsch’s hitherto un-named specimen. 

1786.—Ellis and Solander: ‘‘ Natural History of Zoophytes,” pp. 63-64. 
Refer to Bohadsch’s specimen, which appears to be the only one 
described up to that date, under the name Pennatula antennina, 
given it by Linnzeus. 


*Gray: “Catalogue of the Sea-Penus or Pennatulariide in the collection of the 
British Museum,” 1870, pp. 12—13. 


i539. REPORT ON THE PENNATULIDA. 


1844.—Edward Forbes: ‘‘ Annals and Magazine of Natural History,” 
vol. xiv., pp. 413-414. Describes the capture of the first British 
specimens of Funiculina; the first indeed recorded from any 
locality other than Naples. The specimens, which were dredged 
by Mr. MacAndrew, were obtained, ‘‘ both dead and alive, in 
twenty fathoms water, off the island of Kerrera, near Oban, the 
bottom being mud, in which it doubtless stands erect, after the 
manner of Virgularia.” One of the specimens, 30ins. in 
length, was exhibited at the Natural History Section of the 
British Association at the York Meeting in 1844. 


1847.—Edward Forbes, in ‘‘ Johnston’s British Zoophytes,” 2nd ed., 
vol. i., pp. 164-166, mentions obtaining specimens of Funiculina, 
the largest of them 4ft. long, in twelve to fifteen fathoms of 
water, ‘‘near Oban, but nowhere else :” describes them as rose- 
coloured, when living, and brilliantly phosphorescent. In vol. -ii., 
Plate XXXI., Figs. 1—7, he gives seven figures of Funiculina 
from his own drawings. These, which are the only figures yet 
published of British specimens, give a fair general idea of 
Funiculina, but are in many respects exceedingly inaccurate. 


1851.—Kolliker : ‘‘ Zeitschrift fiir wissenschaftliche Zoologie,” Bd. iii., 
p. 91, in a letter to Siebold, mentions obtaining, while in 
Scotland, a specimen, 3ft. long, which he took back with him to 
Wiirzburg, and which, he remarks, was probably the first specimen 
ever seen in Germany. 


1855.—Gosse: ‘‘ Manual of Marine Zoology,” Part I., p. 35, Fig. 55. 
‘opies on a reduced scale two of Forbes’ figures given in ‘‘Johnston’s 
Zoophytes.” 


1856.—Sars, Koren, and Danielssen: ‘“ Fauna littoralis Norvegia,” 
Andet Hefte, pp. 73 and 92. Mention the capture of a specimen, 
4ft. long, at Hisvaag,in the Fiord of Bergen, in 100 fathoms of 
water, and note that this was the first, and up to the date of 
publication, the only specimen obtained from the Scandinavian 
shore. 


*1858.—Herklots: ‘‘ Notices pour servir a l’étude des Pennatulides, ° 
Bijdragen, tot de Dierkunde, Amsterdam,” p. 8. We have been 
unable either to consult this work or even to obtain any second- 
hand account of its contents as regards Funiculina. As the 
reference is merely to a single page, it can hardly contain any 
anatomical account. 


1860.—Gray: Revision of the family Pennatulide. ‘ Annals and 
Magazine of Natural History,” p. 20. 


1864.—A. E. Verrill: List of the Polypes and Corals sent by the 
Museum of Comparative Zoology to other institutionsin exchange, 
with Annotations; published in the ‘ Bulletin of the Museum 
of Comparative Zoology,” at Harvard College, Cambridge, Mass., 
p. 30. Describes Scotch specimens obtained from Mr. Stimpson 
as of a distinct species (F’. Yorbesii) from the Mediterranean one. 


1869 —Richiardi: ‘‘ Monografia della Famiglia dei Pennatularii: 
Bologna,” pp. 89-95. Disputes the accuracy of Verrill’s distine- 
tion, stating that he has obtained from the Mediterranean com- 
plete series of specimens leading from Verrill’s I’. Forbesii, which 
he considers merely a young form, to the typical F’. quadrangularis. 
Gives on Plate XII., Figs. 95 and 96, a very impertect and greatly 
reduced figure in two halves of the adult Funiculina. 


REPORT ON THE PENNATULIDA. 53 


1870.—Gray: ‘ Catalogue of the Sea-Pens or Pennatulariide in the 


Collection of the British Museum,” pp. 12-13, adopts Verrill’s 
species (I. Forbesii), and proposes a classification of his own, which 
has not met with acceptance. 


1872.—Kaélliker :‘‘Anatomisch-systematische Beschreibung der Alcyo- 


narien. Erste Abtheilung: Die Pennatuliden.” In this extremely 
important and copiously-illustrated work a very full description 
of the anatomy of Funiculina, the only one that has yet appeared, 
is given on pp. 250-261, and an excellent series of figures, all 
original, on Plates XVI., XVII., and XVIII., Figs. 145, 148—154. 
These figures show an entire young specimen of the natural size; 
enlarged views of various portions of the feather, showing the 
arrangement of the polypes and zooids ; and more highly magni- 
fied views of transverse sections of the whole rachis and of a portion 
of the stalk. All the drawings are, however, unfortunately taken 
from specimens in which the tentacles are completely retracted, 
and consequently do not represent correctly the appearance of 
the polypes in the living state. In the letterpress, besides the 
anatomical description, there is a very complete bibliography, 
and a list of all the specimens and localities known to exist at 
the date of publication. 
We are indebted to this work for many of the details incor- » 

porated in the present paper. 


1873.—Sir C. Wyville Thomson: ‘ Depths of the Sea,” pp. 149 and 


178, describes dredging Funiculina in about 100 fathoms of water 
in Raasay Sound, along the east coast of the Isle of Skye. The 
specimens from this new locality were obtained on September 
13th, 1869, during the third cruise of H.M.S. ‘* Porcupine.” Their 
capture is described thus: ‘The Pavonarie (Funiculine) were 
resplendent with a pale lilac phosphorescence like the flame of 
cyanogen gas; not scintillating like the green light of Ophiacantha, 
but almost constant ; sometimes flashing out at one point more 
brightly, and then dying gradually into comparative dimness, but 
always sufficiently bright to make every portion of a stem caught 
in the tangles or sticking to the ropes distinctly visible. From 
the number of specimens of Pavonaria (Funiculina) brought up 
at one haul we had evidently passed over a forest of them. The 
stems were a metre (about 39ins.) long, fringed with hundreds of 
polypes.” 

We learn from Professor Herdman that during the third cruise 
of the ‘ Porcupine ” Funiculina was dredged at one other locality 
besides the one just mentioned. Among the “ Porcupine” stores 
is a bottle containing one specimen of Funiculina, eight inches 
long, and with the following label : ‘‘ Porcupine, No. 54, 19-8-69. 
363 fathoms. Bottom, stony.” From the map illustrating the 
third cruise of the “ Porcupine,”* and from the tables giving the 
positions, etc., of the several dredging stationst we find that 
station 54, this new locality for Funiculina, is in latitude 59° 56'N.., 
and longitude 6° 27’ W., about midway between theisland of Lewis 
in the Hebrides, and Suderée the southernmost of the Farée Islands, 
and in very nearly the same latitude as Bergen. This locality is of 
considerable interest for many reasons: it is the most northerly 
British locality recorded ; the depth (863 fathoms) is the greatest 
from which living specimens have ever been obtained ; the bottom 


* Thomson; ‘Depths ot the Sea,” Plate LV., p. 106, 


+ Ibid., p. 143, 


54 REPORT ON HE PENNATULIDA,. 


temperature was very low, 31°5° F.; and the bottom stony 
instead of as in other localities mud. An additional point of 
interest lies in the fact that while all other recorded localities are 
either in land-locked channels, or else close to the mainland, this 
is in the open ocean. 


1880.—Kdlliker: ‘‘ Report on the Pennatulida dredged by H.M.S. 
‘Challenger’: Zoology of ‘ Challenger’ Expedition,” Part II., p. 34. 
Gives a new classification of the Pennatulida, in which the 
zoological position and affinities of Funiculina are determined. 
No specimens of Funiculina were obtained by the ‘‘ Challenger ”’ 
during the whole of her three years’ cruise; but two new allied 
genera were discovered, of which one genus, Stachyptilum, is 
represented by a single specimen from the west coast of New 
Guinea ; while of the other genus, Anthoptilum, three species were 
discovered, two in the South Atlantic Ocean, one of them near 
Buenos Ayres, and the other near the oceanic Islands of Tristan 
d@’Acunha, and the third in the North Atlantic, near Halifax, 
in Nova Scotia. 


GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION. 


Funiculina has a very limited distribution indeed ; the only locali- 
ties recorded hitherto being the following :— 


A. —Mediterranean : 
1. Naples, where it was first discovered in 1757. 
2. Adriatic Sea. The canal of Novi in Dalmatia is mentioned by 
Kolliker as a locality from which the natural history dealer, Fric, of 
Prague, obtained several specimens, the largest measuring 50 ins. long. 


B.—Scotland : 

3. Oban, off the Island of Kerrera. First discovered by MacAndrew 
in 1844. Largest recorded specimen mentioned by Forbes as 48ins. long. 

4. Raasay Sound. Discovered by Thomson during dredging cruise 
of ‘* Porcupine,” 1869. Loch Torridon, near Raasay Sound, is men- 
tioned as the locality whence the specimen, 53 ins. long, in the New- 
castle Museum (vide infra) was obtained. 

5. A spot in the North Atlantic in lat. 59° 56’N., and long. 
6° 27’ W.; station 54 of the third cruise of the ‘‘ Porcupine,” 1869, 
under Sir W. Thomson. 

6. Hebrides. Mentioned, without further particulars, by Kélliker as 
locality whence MacAndrew obtained specimens. 

C.—Scandinavian Shores : 

7. Bohuslin, in the Kattegat. Specimen 53 ins. long. 

8. Hisvaeg, in the Fiord of Bergen. 

9. Glaesvae, in the Fiord of Bergen. The largest recorded speci- 
men, a dead stem upwards of 7ft. long, was obtained from here. 

10. Danish Coast. Mentioned without further particulars by 
Kolliker as a locality. 
Not only is the geographical distribution of Puniculina a very 

limited one, but wherever it does occur it seems to be confined to a 
very small spot, in which it occurs fairly abundantly ; as we infer from 


REPORT ON THE PENNATULIDA. 55 


the facts that (1) in Raasay Sound, although Thomson found it once 
only, yet he then dredged it “in quantity.” (2) That Funiculina is 
included in the catalogues of duplicates for sale or exchange published 
by both Dr. Dohrn, of Naples, and Dr. Malm, of Géttingen, in Sweden. 


As to limits of depth we have no very certain knowledge. 
The Oban specimens were found at depths from 12 fathoms 
(Forbes) to 22 fathoms (Birmingham Natural History Society). The 
Raasay Sound specimens were obtained (‘‘ Depths of the Sea,” 
p. 149) in about 140 fathoms water, and the single specimen from 
station 54, of the ‘‘ Porcupine ” cruise, at a depth of 363 fathoms ; the 
greatest recorded depth. The first Swedish specimen was obtained in 
100 fathoms water, and the large dead stem from Glaesvyae in 350 
fathoms. 


Novters oN Specimens IN OTHER Museums. 


We conclude our account of Funiculina quadrangularis by a brief 
notice of some of the larger and more important specimens preserved 
in other museums. Though the genus has now been known for 
considerably more than a century, yet the actual number of specimens 
preserved in museums is very small. In drawing up the following list 
our statements concerning the Continental specimens are taken from 
Kolliker’s monograph. 

A.—Great Britain : 

1. London: British Museum. The specimens in the British Museum 
are the following :-—* 

a. Seven specimens in spirit, labelled Funiculina Forbesii, 
Scotland, varying in length from 18ins. to 37ins. 

b. One specimen dried and mounted on a card, 4lins. long, from 
Sweden. 

ce. Two very fine specimens from Sweden, received in exchange 
from the museum at Stockholm, 46ins. long. These specimens 
agree in their proportions very closely with the large Oban 
specimen, differing only in their greater size, and the 
consequent greater number and closer crowding of the 
polypes. 

Other specimens in the British Museum labelled Funiculina do 
not really belong to that genus at all, as defined by Kdélliker. 


2. Edinburgh. In the Natural History Museum there are no 
specimens of Funiculina ; but among the stores of the ‘* Porcupine’’} are 
eighteen specimens obtained by Sir W. Thomson, and varying in length 
from Sins. to 32ins. 

3. Glasgow. In the University Museum there is one specimen of 
Funiculina in fragments ; no locality marked. 


* We desire to acknowledge the courtesy of Dr. Giinther, and of Mr. Ridley, 
of the British Museum, in giving us free access to all the specimens in the 
Museum, and in affording us valuable aid in examining them. 


+ We are indebted to Prof. Herdman, of University College, Liverpool, for 
the details we give concerning these specimens, 


56 REPORT ON THE PENNATULIDA. 


4, Newcastle-on-Tyne. In the Museum of the Natural History 
Society of Northumberland, Durham, and Neweastle-on-Tyne, there 
are two specimens of Funiculina, 53 and 42ins. long respectively, 
which were obtained by Joshua Alder from Loch Torridon in Ross- 
shire, a locality not far from Raasay Sound, where Sir W. Thomson 
obtained his specimens. The 53ins. specimen, which is equal in 
length to the largest living specimen recorded from any locality, is 
divided into three portions, and the smaller one is doubled in the 
middle, presumably for convenience of preserving in spirit. 

With the exception of the Birmingham specimens the above are, 
we believe, all the examples of the genus in this country. 


B.— Continent : 

1. Paris: Jardin des Plantes. A specimen, 52ins. long, from the 
Kattegat. 

2. Copenhagen. A very fine specimen, 43ins. long, from the 
Kattegat. 

3. Hamburg. Johanneum. Dead stem, 89 ins. long, obtained 
by Herr Schilling in 350 fathoms of water, near Glesvae, in the 
Bergen Fiord. By far the largest specimen yet discovered. 

4. Wiirzburg. A number of specimens collected by Kélliker while 
preparing his monograph. The largest of these, 50ins. long, is from 
the Adriatic. 


The following table shows the actual dimensions, in inches, of the 
large Oban specimen, and of the largest specimens recorded from other 
localities, together with the museums in which they are preserved :-— 


from 


of Scotland. 
from Kattegat. 
from Kattegat. 
Wiirzburg Museum ; 
from Adriatic. 
Wurzburg Museum : 
from Naples. 
froin Oban. 


Loch Torridon, West Coast 
Copenhagen Museum : 


Hamburg Johanneum 
Dead Stem from Bergen Fiord. 
Paris, Jardin des Plantes : 
Mason College, Birmingham : 


Newcastle Museum: 


_ 
Ss 
or 
ws 
or 
(J) 
on 
bo 
or 
o 
or 
So 
we 
(To) 


Total length at Seem 
Feather ..| .. 46 46 443 41 433 33 


99 ” | 5 


= x Stalk srs aioe 7 74 74 9 63 6 

Width of Rachis, widest...) .. .: 0:30 | 0°34 | 0°48 | 0°28 | 0-22 
5 Stalk, Puede le asCec fui Male 0:28 fe 0°32 | 0:22 | 0:20 
. Stem in Feather| .. Sc 0-08 ae 0:08 oe 0:06 
st o Stalk...) .. be OPES |) ORLA Wy eve 0-10 

Length of Polype (largest)| .. st 0°30 | 0:22 | 0°38 | 0°26 | 0:28 
“ Zooid (largest); .. 32 Be 5 0:07: |\einee 0°05 


THE FLORA OF WARWICKSHIRE. 5 
THE FLORA OF WARWICKSHIRE. 


AN ACCOUNT OF THE FLOWERING PLANTS AND FERNS 
OF THE COUNTY OF WARWICK. 


BY JAMES E. BAGNALL. 


(Continued from page 43.) 


OROBUS. 
0. tuberosus, Linn. Tuberous Bitter Vetch. 
Native: In woods, and on banks and roadsides in marly soils. 
Locally common. May to August. 
I. (Astragalus sylvaticus) Warwicii frequens. Ray Cat., 1672. Marston 
Green ; Shustoke ; Coleshill Heath; Arley; near Old Fillongley 
Hall, ete. 
II. Crackley Wood, near Kenilworth; Green’s Grove, Perry, 1871; 
Honily, ¥. and B.; Combe Wood, in * Twelve o’clock Drive!” 
R. S. R., 1877; Umberslade, JJ. B. Grove; Oversley Wood; 
Ragley. 
Var. b. tenuifolius, Mr. Bromwich finds this in Warwick Old Park. 
I find this variety with all the intermediates in most places 
where the plant is abundant. 
Coronilla varia, Linn., was established for many years in a hedge 
at Wylde Green, near the road to the Railway Station, and 
was abundant until within the last three years. | 


ROSACEA. 
PRUNUS. 
P. spinosa, Linn. Blackthorn or Sloe. 
Native: In hedges, woods, and bushy places. Common. March, 
April. Distribution general. 
P. insititia, Linn. Bullace. 
Native: In hedges, woods, and bushy places. Local. April. 
I. Coleshill Heath ; Elmdon; Lane from Olton Station to Elmdon ; 
Marston Green ; Bentley Heath. 
Il. Hatton, Y. and B.; Willington, Newb.; Salford, Rev. J. C. 
P. domestica, Linn. Wild Plum. 
Alien: In hedges. Rather rare. April, May. 
I. Jn a hedge near Hockley, in fruit, 1878; Elmdon. 
If. In a hedge at Pinley! H.B.; Salford, Rev. J. C.; Claverdon. 
P. Avium, Linn. Wild Cherry. 
Native: In hedge rows. Rather rare. April. 
I. Several fine trees near Elmdon in the Coventry Road ; Fillongley ; 
Coleshill Heath ; Olton ; Bentley Heath ; Monkspath. 

Il. Lower Norton, Perry ; near the Windmill Inn, W.C., Herb. Per. ; 
hedges near Harborough-Magna, Rev. A. B., R. S. R., 1872; 
Ufton; Wroxall, Y. and B.; Warmington, Bolton King; 
Pinley. 

P, Cerasus, Linn. Dwarf Cherry. 
Denizen: In hedges and woods. Rather rare. April, May. 
T. Coleshill Heath; Solihull ; Elmdon. 

If. Alcester; Edge Hills, J7.C.; Binley Common Wood, 7. K.: 
Oakley Wood, H.B., Herb. Per.; near Rugby, on the 
Lawford Road, Rev. A. B., MS. note ; near Harborough-Magna, 
Rev. A. B., R.S. R., 1872; Wolstone Heath ; Lapworth Street ; 
Pinley. 

. Padus, Linn. Bird Cherry. 

Native; In woods and copses. Rare. May. 


i 


58 THE FLORA OF WARWICKSHIRE. 


I. In wild meadows near Monkspath, Shirley; in a plantation on 
the Erdington Road, planted. 

II. Calloways Wood, near Stratford-upon-Avon ; Edge Hills, W.C., 
Herb. Per. 

Probably not native in the county. 
SPIRZEA, 
S. Ulmaria, L. Meadow Sweet. 
Native: By pools, streams, ditches, and other watery places. 
Common. June to August. Area general. 
S. Filipendula, L. Dropwort. 
Native: On banks and in marly fields. Local. July. 

II. Spernal, Arrow, Purt., i., 239; between Marton and Southam, 
Bree. Mag. Nat. Hist., iii., 164; abundant near Wilm- 
cote, Rev. A. B.; Whitnash, H. B., Herb. Brit. Mus.; 
Itchington! Burton Dassett, Y. and B. ; Morton Morrell, H.B. ; 
Salford Lodge Wood, Rev. J. C.; Lighthorne; Compton 
Verney, Bolton King; Armscote Meadows, I’. Townsend. In a 
field near Claverdon Station; railway bank near Studley 
Railway Station ; Snitterfield. 

I have not seen or heard of this being found in the Tame basin 
district. 
AGRIMONIA., 

A. Eupatoria, Linn. Common Agrimony. 

Native: On hedge banks and waysides, andinfields. Common. July 
to August. Distribution general. 

A. odorata, Miller. Fragrant Agrimony. 

Native: In woods and bushy places. Rare. July, August. 

II. New Waters, Warwick, Herb. Per. ; Snitterfield Bushes! W.C., Herb. 
Per; Rounshill Lane, H. B.; Honily, Y. and B.; Oversley 
Wood, 1878, abundant. 


SANGUISORBA. 
S. officinalis, L. Great Burnet. 
Native: In meadows, on marly soils. Locally common. June to 


August. 
I. Curdworth ; Marston Green ; near Solihull; Hart’s Hill; Barston. 

II. Moist meadows at Upton in Haslor parish, Purt. i., 93 ; meadows 
round Warwick, Perry, 1817; meadows near the Avon at 
Rugby, N.B.G.; Binley, Arbury Hall, Pinley, Stivichall, 
T. K., Phyt. ii., 969 ; Salford, Rev. J. C.; near Brandon. 

POTERIUM. 
P, Sanguisorba, Linn. Common Salad Burnet. 
Native: On marly banks, in pastures, &c. Local. May to July. 
I. Oscott plantations, Rev. J. C.; railway banks near Knowle Station, 
1878 ; near Sheldon Church. 

II. Lambscote ; Tredington ; Honington, Newb.; Salford, Rev. J. C.; 
waysides between Stratford-on-Avon and Alcester; near Binton ; 
meadows near Henley-in-Arden ; Ashorne ; near Brandon. 

P, muricatum, Spach. Muricated Salad Burnet. 
Denizen: On banks and in cultivated fields. Local. May to July. 
I. Knowle Railway Bank. 

II. Railway cutting between Kenilworth and Leamington, Anna 
Russell, Herb. Brit. Mus. ; ‘‘In various places on the slopes of 
the Coventry and Leamington Railway,” T. K. Phyt., ii., 715; 
“The variety a, platylophium I have from Kenilworth, 
Warwickshire,” Syme, E. B., ili., 135; Pinley, 7. K., Herb. Per. ; 
Hatton, Y. and B.; near the footpath to Lawford, R. S. R., 
1877; Harbury; Red Hill; Binton; Ladies Wood, near 
Ragley ; banks near Prince Thorpe. 


Or 
~~ 
<o 


THE FLORA OF WARWICKSHIRE. 


ALCHEMILLA, 
A. arvensis, Scop. Field Ladies’ Mantle. 
Native: In fields and on heathy waysides, ete. Common. April 
to August. Area general. 
A, vulgaris, Linn. Common Ladies’ Mantle. 
Native: In pastures and on waysides, etc. Local. April to August. 
I. Tanworth, Purt., i., 102; Coleshill Heath ; Ballard’s Green, Arley ; 
Hampton-in-Arden ; Bentley Heath, etc. 
II. Oversley, Purt., i., 102; Wroxall; Budbrook, Y. and B.; near Law- 
ford, R. S. R., 1877; Iddicote, Rev. J. Gorle; High Cross, ete. 
The variety b, montana, Willd, appears to be the most frequent 
form in the county. 
POTENTILLA, 
P. Fragariastrum, E/jirh. Barren Strawberry. 
Native: On dry banks, in woods, and on waste places. Common. 
March to June. Area general. 
P, Tormentilla, Schenk. Common Tormentil. 
Native: On heaths, banks, and in woods. Common. May to 
August. Area general. 
P. procumbens, Szbth. Creeping Tormentil. 
Native: On heath lands, woods, and bushy places. Rare. May to 
August. 
I. Coleshill Heath ; Shelly,* near Solihull ; Four Ashes.* 

II. King’s Lane, near Stratford-on-Avon ; Hampton-on-the-Hill, Herb. 
Per.; Rounshill Lane! Itchington Holt; Highdown, Tach- 
brook, H. B. 

* The form from these localities is probably P. mixta, Nolte. 
P, reptans, Linn. Creeping Cinquefoil. 
Native: On marly banks, heathy waysides, ete. Locally common. 
May to September. 
I. Sutton Park; Coleshill Heath ; Hampton-in-Arden, ete. 

II. Warwick, Perry Fl., 44 ; Honington, Tredington, Willington, Newb. ; 

Whatcote, Rev. J. Gorle; Drayton Bushes. 
A yariety having four petals occurs near Water Orton, on gravelly 
waysides ; it does not otherwise differ from the type. 
P. anserina, Linn. Silver Weed. 
Native: On damp, sandy waysides. Common. May to August. 
Area general. 
P. argentea. Linn. Hoary Cinquefoil. 
Native: On heathy and sandy places. Rare. 
I. Coleshill Heath, Bree. Purt., iii., 40. 

II. On a sand-rock near the Woodloes! Perry Fl., 44, Griff Hollows, 

Kirk, Herb. Per. ; Gaveston Hill, H. B. 


(To be continued.) 


THE MINERALS OF THE MIDLANDS. 


BY C. J. WOODWARD, B.SC. 


I am indebted to a Nottingham correspondent for a statement 
that he has found Galena near the town, in Permian Limestone, 
and also that in the Cresswell Crags occur dendritic markings, 
probably of Manganese. 

The following paper, read before the Chemical Society, (see 
Journal, 1876, vol. i., p. 154,) is not, I think, much known, so I give 
it here nearly in full :— 


60 THE MINERALS OF THE MIDLANDS. 


ON THE OCCURRENCE OF NATIVE CALCIUM CHLORIDE 
AT GUY’S CLIFFE, WARWICKSHIRE. 
BY JOHN SPILLER, F.C.S. 


In the course of a holiday tour through Warwickshire, made in 
the month of September last, I visited the Grounds at Guy’s Cliffe, 
situated on the Avon, about one mile from Warwick Castle. At this 
point the New Red Sandstone (Keuper) crops out in the form of a low 
cliff, with grass lawn at the foot sloping down to the Avon; and at 
the time of. my visit I noticed a black slimy exudation upon several 
parts of the cliff face, which in places, and particularly on the river 
front, presented the appearance of haying been bedaubed with tar. 
Occasionally it occurred only in patches, but in Guy’s Cave and other 
excavated or sheltered positions the walls were uniformly covered 
with black slime to the height of about 6ft., the top line of demarcation 
being sometimes very sharply defined, as though dependent upon the 
porosity of the sandstone strata. The Monks’ Cells, at a higher 
elevation (in the courtyard behind the house), also showed the same 
indications, and I learnt by inquiries on the spot that this was the 
normal condition of the rocks at Guy’s Cliffe. 

Desirous of ascertaining the composition of this black slime, I 
scraped off a sample from the face of the rock, and brought away with 
me likewise a few pieces of the sandstone, on which, although 
occurring close by, there were apparently no traces of the dark- 
coloured exudation. Both these substances were submitted to analysis, 
and I have only to remark that, inasmuch as my sample of the black 
slimy matter had a few dead leaves and stalks in it, besides living 
Algze hopelessly intermingled, it was impossible to ensure uniformity 
of composition by depending on the original weights. The analysis 
had, therefore, to be performed by the system of general (or standard) 
solution, equal portions being taken for the estimation of the several 
ingredients, and the ratios deduced from the products severally 
obtained. Then it was only necessary to add on the water given by a 
direct determination, in a picked sample, to become possessed of all 
the data requisite for the calculation of the percentage quantities. 

THE ROCK, GUY’S CLIFFE. 

A friable, micaceous Sandstone, colour greyish white. Treated for 
analysis with very dilute hydrochloric acid. The following are the 
analytical results :— 

Genporiven in 100 Parts. 


Sand and mica oe Ae 44 95:64 
Alumina, ferric oxide, etc. ae Be ms 1-34. 
Calcium carbonate esd eB 7 ae 2-00 
Magnesium carbonate .. 50 se ees “66 
Moisture and loss .. ue ts a Br “46 

100-00 


THE SALINE DEPOSIT, GUY’S CLIFFE. 
Composition in 100 Parts. 


Potassium chloride et, on Fe 52 Lor 
Sodium chloride. . nf ae “ ae 11-03 
Magnesium chloride ee 5h ae as 3°81 
Calcium chloride. . A en sta ee 27°15 
Calcium sulphate .. 3 Ss st Be 14°55 
Calcium nitrate .. 5 se Trace. 
Water and vegetable extractiv e matter ae 42°25 


100°00 


THE MINERALS OF THE MIDLANDS. 61 


GENERAL REMARKS. 

As this appears to be the only instance on record of the occurrence 
(away from the sea) of native chloride of calcium in Great Britain, L 
should mention that there are no manufacturing works in the neigh- 
bourhood, nor other obvious means of accounting for its formation 
artificially. Nothing is known as to its origin; but Lady Charles 
Percy, who has long been in occupation of Guy’s Cliffe, informs me 
that she ‘‘ never remembers to have seen the cliff without it, and 
that the black slime is now apparent as usual on the face of the rock.” 
Thus, notwithstanding the long continuance of wet weather during 
the past autumn, the material, if washed away by the rains, is as 
constantly renewed. This circumstance would point to the existence 
of hidden salt beds, from which possibly the material may have been 
originally derived. Dana (‘‘ System of Mineralogy,” p. 119) mentions 
the occurrence of a double chloride of calcium and magnesium in the 
salt beds of Stassfurt, which has been analysed by Rammelsberg, and 
described under the name of Tachydrite. Like my specimen, it is 
very deliquescent, and contains 42 per cent. of water; but the com- 
position is altogether different as regards the relative proportious of 
calcium and magnesium. The same remark applies to the varieties 
of Carnallite analysed by Oesten (ibid.), which contained at most 3 
per cent. of calcium chloride. Lastly, it may be noted that Mr. David 
Forbes (Phil. Mag., 1866, xxxii., 135) found from 0°33 to 0-45 per cent. 
of calcium chloride in certain varieties of native nitrate of sodium, 
worked at La Noria, thirty miles east of Iquique, Peru, and at an 
altitude of 3,050 feet above the sea. 


THE BIRDS OF LEICESTERSHIRE. 


BY THOMAS MACAULAY, M.R.C.S.L., ETC. 
PART IV.—OUR VISITORS. 


This portion of my task will, I think, be found to be full of interest 
to the Ornithologist. Hitherto no attempt has been made, so far as I 
am aware, to publish a list of rare and occasional visitors to this 
county, and that which I now offer will be seen to contain many 
species which on account of their rarity could scarcely be expected to 
be found in the Midlands. Notably amongst these are the White-tailed 
Eagle, the Kite, the Dartford Warbler, the Rose-coloured Pastor, the 
Hoopoe, the Cream-coloured Courser, the White Stork, the Glossy Ibis, 
Temninck’s Stint, the Great Northern Diver, and many others. The 
list comprises no less than eighty species, and brings the grand total of 
birds noted in the county to 185. : 

It will be noticed that I have been largely assisted by many kind 
friends, without whose help I should have been quite unable to fulfil 
my task. My friend, Rev. A. Matthews, Mr. M. Browne, Sir G. Beau- 
mont, Mr. Davenport, and others have placed their observations at my 
disposal, To each and all I tender my grateful thanks, and I trust they 


62 THE BIRDS OF LEICESTERSHIRE. 


will find that in compiling these notes I have done ample justice to 
their assistance. 


1—The Golden Hagle (Aquila chrysaétus). I have one record only, 
which I believe to be trustworthy. In May, 1863, my friend, 
Rey. A. Matthews, saw an Eagle flying west over Gumley. My 
informant is well acquainted with the flight of this bird, having 
seen them on the wing on several occasions, and he has no 
doubt about the species. Moreover, his well-known accuracy 
of observation in other branches of Natural History makes his 
testimony more reliable. 


2.—The White-tailed Eagle (Haliaétus albicilla). Potter, in his 
“History of Charnwood Forest,” records the capture of an 
immature specimen at Bradgate Park in April, 1841. A very 
fine specimen was shot by Sir G. Beaumont’s keeper at Cole- 
orton in November, 1879, which I had the pleasure of seeing 
when set up by Mr. White, of Castle Donnington. I may add 
that during last autumn (1881) Sir G. Beaumont saav an Eagle 
soaring over his grounds, but it was at too great a distance for 
him to make out the species. 


3.—The Osprey (Pandion haliaétus). Potter reports one taken at Brad- 
gate, without date. He also mentions one killed at Donnington 
in 1841. One was shot some years since at Noseley, and is now 
in the possession of Sir A. Hazelrigge. My friend, Mr. Mon- 
tagu Browne, Curator of the Leicester Museum, reports to me 
that one was shot at Bradgate Park September 18th, 1879. 
The bird was a female; weight, 4lbs. 20z.; extreme length, 
23in.; spread of wing, 5ft. 4in. It was shot by Mr. C. Over- 
ton, and is now in the possession of the Harl of Stamford and 
Warrington. 


4,—The Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus). In the month of Octo- 
ber, 1877, after a night of furious gale, I noticed a pair of these 
birds engaged in hawking over a field of turnips at Saddington, 
and watched them for some time. The Rev. A. Matthews has 
also seen them several times. 


5.—The Red-footed Falcon (falco vespertinus). The only record I 
can find is one shot near Leicester July Ist, 1865. ‘“ This 
specimen is now in the Leicester Museum.”—(M. Browne.) 


6.—-The Goshawk (dAstur palumbarius). One was seen in Allexton 
Wood in 1881. Iam indebted for this note to my friend Mr. 
Davenport. 


7.—The Kite (Milvus regalis). I find in Potter’s ‘‘ Charnwood” a 
record of this bird having been taken on that forest many years 
ago. Itis scarcely likely that a similar note will ever recur 
again. 


8.—The Buzzard (Buteo vulgaris). Very rare indeed. Has been shot 
on Charnwood Forest (Potter), in Allexton Wood (Davenport), 
and seen in Gumley Wood (A. Matthews). 


9,.—The Rough-legged Buzzard (Buteo lagopus). I have three records: 
One killed at Bradgate Park November 15th, 1839; ‘this 
specimen is now in the Leicester Museum ”—(M. Browne) ; one 
seen at Gumley (A. Matthews) ; and one killed near Ashby-de- 
la-Zouch, 1880. 


THE BIRDS OF LEICESTERSHIRE. 63 


+ = 


10.—The Honey Buzzard (Pernis apivorus}. Potter mentions one 
killed on Charnwood Forest in 1841. One was shot at 
Theddingworth on 18th June, 1879, by Mr. W. Hart, who 
described it as haunting the vicinity of wasps’ nests. Mr. M. 
Browne writes to me of this bird: ‘‘On dissection, a great 
quantity of small wasps, Crabro (sp. inc.), and larve of various 
Lepidoptera heterocera, with a few common Coleoptera, were 
discovered as having formed its latest meal.” This specimen 
is now in the possession of Mr. R. W. Chase, Hagley Road, 
Birmingham, whom I have also to thank for a note of it. 


11.—The Hen Harrier (Circus cyaneus). One instance only recorded 
by Potter, on Charnwood Forest, in 1841. The bird was seen, 
but not killed. 


12.—The Long-eared Owl (Otus vulgaris). Again I am indebted to 
Potter’s book for a Charnwood specimen, though without 
date. Mr. Browne informs me of one killed at Gopsall, Lord 
Howe’s seat, in 1880. : 


13.—The Dipper (Hydrobata cinclus). This bird has been occasionally 
seen and obtained on the trout streams in Bradgate Park. 
One was shot some years ago out of a brook near Noseley, and 
is now in Sir A. Hazelrigge’s collection. 


14.—The Dartford Warbler (MWelizophilus provincialis). Rev. F. O. 
Morris, in his ‘History of British Birds,” states that a 
specimen of this bird has been killed at Melton Mowbray, but 
he gives no date. There is in the Leicester Museum, a 
magnificent collection of British birds, presented by the late 
Mr. Bickley, of Melton Mowbray, and amongst them is a 
Dartford Warbler. I fondly hoped for some time that this 
might be the identical bird mentioned by Morris as having 
been taken there, but I have recently ascertained that the 
Leicester bird was procured in Nottinghamshire. I mention 
this in order that any ornithologists of the latter county may 
lay claim to its appearance. 


15.—The Fire-crested Regulus ( Regulus ignicapillus). Mr. Davenport 
tells me that he saw a pair of these birds in some fir trees, at 
Skeffington, in 1880. I have no doubt, if carefully looked for, 
they would be occasionally found. 


16.—The Bohemian Waxwing (Bombycilla garrula). I am informed 
by Mr. Bickley, of Melton Mowbray, whose late brother presented 
the collection of birds bearing hisname to the Leicester Museum, 
that the specimen of this bird in that collection was shot near 
Melton Mowbray. 


17.—The Crossbill (Lowia curvirostra). This is another bird which is 
not sufficiently looked for, or it would be more frequently 
observed. Rev. A. Matthews has seen it on many occasions 
at Gumley, and I saw several specimens at one time in that 
locality some years ago. They have been seen there during the 
past autumn. ; 


18.—The Rose-coloured Pastor (Pastor roseus). One was seen near 
Foxton, about 1870, by my late lamented friend, Rey. H. 
Matthews. It was in the company of a flock of starlings, 
The observer was so true and thorough a naturalist that his 
testimony is not open to doubt in the minds of those who knew 


64 THE BIRDS OF LEICESTERSHIRE. 


him. In the winter of 1880 I believe I saw one also amongst 
a flock of starlings, but though I followed and stalked the flock 
for some distance, I could not be quite positive; but I do not 
believe the markings 1 observed were those of a pied bird. 


19.—The Raven (Corvus corax). One was shot at Saddington, many 
years since, by Mr. Johnson. It was feeding on a portion of a 
sheep that had been hung up for dogs’ meat, in a plantation. 
Rey. A. Matthews saw one at Gumley—the date is uncertain, 
but more than twenty years ago. One was shot at Rothley in 
1881. 


20.—The Hooded Crow (Corvus cornix). Not often seen so far inland. 
It has been observed by Rev. A. Matthews at Gumley. One 
was obtained at Skeffington in 1875, another was shot at 
Rothley in 1881, a third killed at Skeffington in 1880, and I am 
informed by Mr. M. Browne, that a specimen was obtained 
near Leicester in January of this year, and is now in the 
Museum. 


21.—The Great Spotted Woodpecker (Picus major). Very rare. Potter 
mentions it occurring on Charnwood Forest. Sir G. Beaumont 
writes me that he has seen it at Coleorton. The Rev. A. 
Matthews shot a female at Gumley in November, 1864; and 
Mr. Davenport informs me that one was killed at Loddington 
in 1881. 


22.—The Lesser Spotted Woodpecker (Picus minor). Still more rare 
than the last. Rev. F. O. Morris says it has occurred in 
Leicestershire. In the summer of 1878 a pair built their nest 
in an orchard at Gumley ; but, sad to say, it was discovered by 
a mischievous boy, who robbed the nest and destroyed the old 
bird, which allowed itself to be captured rather than desert. 


23.—The Hoopoe (Upupa epops). There are two local specimens in 
the Leicester Museum. Mr. Browne writes me that they 
were shot at Lutterworth before 1849. He further tells me, on 
the authority of Mr. J. E. Weatherhead, that another was 
killed at Stapleton in 1851. Sir G. Beaumont says: ‘‘ A good 
many years ago my head-gardener saw a bird which (from his 
description) I took to be a hoopoe. 


24.—The Black Grouse (Vetrao tetrix). No doubt in by-gone times 
black game was common enough in Charnwood Forest. 
Potter mentions them as being foundthere. Sir G. Beaumont 
says: ‘1 can remember perfectly killing black game on Charn- 
wood Forest about 1847 or 1848, and during the next ten years 
I killed several grey hens in South Wood, near Coleorton.” 


.—-The Red Grouse (Jetrao lagopus). Now only an occasional 

_ visitor, though formerly it had a home on Charnwood. - Potter 

mentions it as being found there. In 1861 a solitary grouse 

was killed at Skeffington by Rev. J. Davenport, and one was 

also found and killed at Noseley by Sir A. Hazelrigge some 
years since. | 


bo 
Or 


26.—Pallas’ Sand Grouse (Syirhaptes paradoxus). In 1867, there 
came a large flight of these birds to our shores, and they were 
seen and killed in all parts of England. Five were seen near 
Laughton, four miles from here, but unfortunately no specimen 
Was procured, 


THE BIRDS OI LEICESTERSHIRE. 65 


27.—The Cream Coloured Courser (Cursorius gallicus). This elegant 
bird, a native of Africa, has been very rarely seen in England. 
Morris only mentions six occurrences (including the object of 
this note) between 1793 and 1827, and none later. The bird 
was killed on the 15th of October, 1827, on Charnwood Forest. 
It was the last bird figured by Bewick, and Selby’s plate was 
drawn from the same specimen. 


28.—The Great Plover ((@dicnemus crepitans). My authority for 
including this bird in a list of Leicestershire visitors is the late 
James Harley, Esq., of Leicester, who says in a letter quoted 
by Morris—‘It is a regular summer visitor, but only very 
locally distributed, namely, on the north-east side of the 
county, abutting on Lincolnshire.” 


29.—The Pratincole (Glareola pratincola). Mr. M. Browne informs 
me that ‘‘ there is a specimen in the Leicester Museum marked 
in an old MS. catalogue as ‘ shot near Leicester.’ ” 


30.—The Golden Plover (Charadrius pluvialis). A winter visitor, 
rarely seen, and still more rarely obtained. An occasional 
small flock may be heard passing overhead on a winter’s day, 
and recognised by their characteristic whistle. One was shot 
this winter at Skeffington, on 26th December, by Mr. Daven- 
port. Four were killed at Smeeton some years since, and one 
at Gumley. Sir G. Beaumont also mentions its occurrence at 
Coleorton. No doubt it has been occasionally killed in other 

' parts, and notably on Charnwood Forest. 

31.—The Dotterel (Charadrius morinellus). A rare visitor in spring. 
In March, 1879, I saw three on a fallow field. If Ihad had a 
gun I could have secured one or two. There is a specimen in 
Sir G. Beaumont’s collection at Coleorton Hall. 

32.—The Ringed Plover (Charadrius hiaticula). This pretty little bird, 
common enough on the coastis yet a ‘rara avis” in the Midland 
Counties. Mr. M. Browne writes to me: ‘I saw a specimen 
of this in possession of a man named Turner, said to have been 
shot in the Abbey Meadow, close to Leicester in 1881.” 


(Lo be continued.) 


Oy Go" 
Arebielus. 
EE 
The Seals and Whales of the British Seas, by THomas SovuTHwe.u, 
F.Z.S. 4to. London: Jarrold and Sons. 1881. Price, 6s. 


Wut the marine mammalia that are occasionally stranded upon 
our shores or caught in our seas always possess great interest, not only 
to the student of science, but to the public at large, it may perhaps 
be questioned whether they come within the special province of the 
* Midland Naturalist.” Nevertheless when Mr. Southwell tells us that 
the Common Seal, Phoca vitulina, frequents the sand-banks left dry 
at low water in the Wash, and that some years ago two Seals were 
killed in the Severn, we may feel satisfied that the Natural History 
Societies of Peterborough and Cheltenham, among those included in 


66 REVIEWS. 


the Midland Union, would not consider these facts to be beyond the 
limits of their respective spheres of observation. And when we are 
told that Cetaceans have been brought, both living and dead, to Bir- 
mingham and other places inland, at great expense, and from long 
distances, we need feel no hesitation in introducing Mr. Southwell’s 
book to the notice of our readers, as one having some points of consider- 
able local interest, apart from its general merits as a contribution to 
science. It will be remembered that in the ‘“ Midland Naturalist” 
for March, 1880, we called attention to the new edition of Lubbock’s 
“Fauna of Norfolk,” which had then been recently published under 
the editorship of Mr. Southwell. In the present work the author has 
brought together all the leading facts relating to the Seals and Whales 
met with around the British Islands. Avoiding, as far as possible, all 
technical terms, he has given a description of each species sufficient 
for its proper determination, and in most cases an excellent portrait of 
it. These descriptions are combined with very interesting records of 
the habits, and geographical distribution of the animals; and with 
accounts of the whaling-trade, and of the seal-fisheries in the Green- 
land seas, though the latter are associated with incidents of a painful 
nature. 

The two groups are conveniently united for the purposes of 
description, as well as of study. The Seals, classed as Pinnipedia (a sub- 
order of Carnivora,) are divided into the Phocide, or true Seals; the 
Trichechide, represented by the Walrus only ; and the Otariide, or Eared 
Seals. It is mentioned that the Walrus, still a rare and accidental 
straggler on the British coasts, is gradually becoming exterminated. 
In the fifteenth century it was probably not uncommon on our shores. 

More familiar to most of us are the members of the other order, 
CrtTacea, divided into the Mystacoceti or Whalebone Whales, 
and the Odontoceti or Toothed Whales; and including, besides 
the forms popularly known as Whales, the Grampus, Porpoise, 
and Dolphin. While, through ignorance or inadvertence, these 
animals are not unfrequently spoken of as “fishes,” such want of 
respect in misrepresenting their rank and title may be pardoned, when 
we learn that both Ray and Pennant had assigned to them such an 
inferior position ; and when also we find it customary to speak of the 
Whale-fisheries, as well as the Seal-fisheries. The records of both 
trades tell an unhappy tale of decline. 

Among the Toothed Whales, the sub-family Ziphiine is of remark- 
able interest, for Mr. Southwell observes that until the present 
century the Ziphioid Whales were, with one exception, known to 
science only from their fossil remains found chiefly in the Crag 
deposits. Even ten years ago few specimens had been obtained, and 
their habits were then almost absolutely unknown. This lack of know- 
ledge may serve to nourish the hope of those who are sanguine enough 
to believe in the existence of the Great Sea Serpent. And it may not be 
out of place to mention that in ‘‘ Nature,” for February 10th, 1881, 
Mr. Searles V. Wood has suggested that this famous monster may 


REVIEWS. 67 


after all be ‘‘a hitherto unknown group of carnivorous cetaceans, 
with necks of extraordinary length,” perhaps allied to the Zeuglodon. 
This form, at present only known in the fossil state, is regarded by 
Professor Huxley as intermediate between the true Cetaceans and 
the Seal. No less than twenty-two species of living Cetacea are 
recorded as British, of which three belong to the Ziphioid group ; the 
Seals, including the Walrus, number six species. We may add that 
the work is an amplification of articles contributed to “‘ Science Gossip,” 
by Mr. Southwell, and it contains a number of woodcuts in addition to 
those previously published. Footnotes indicate the sources where 
more detailed information may be obtained; hence the work will 
be found a most useful handbook for Naturalists, while containing 
plenty of matter interesting to the general reader. H.B.W. 


The Geology of the Country Around Nottingham. By W. TatBor AVELINE, 
F.G.S.. Geological Survey Memoir. Second Edition, 1880, 51 pp., 
price 1s. 

Tuts Memoir describes the area included in Quarter-sheet 71 N.E., on 

the southern edge of which Nottingham stands. The first edition 

appeared in 1861, but since that time, as the author points out in the 
preface, “‘ much additional geological evidence has come to light,” and 
the result is that the number of pages is more than doubled. The 
geological formations represented are the Coal Measures, the Permian, 
and the Trias. Much of the interest of the district clusters round 
the Permian, which in its extension southward from Durham here 
dies out. The Keuper Rocks, with the newly-discovered Basement 
Beds, and the thin bed of conglomerate that forms the lowest bed of 
the ‘* Waterstone ’’ sub-division are described ; but Mr. Aveline differs 
from the discoverers of the Basement Beds. He not only considers the 
identity of the white sandstone at the base of the Keuper at Notting- 
ham with the Keuper Basement Beds of Cheshire and Staffordshire 
as uncertain, but regards some outliers of these beds four or five miles 
west of Nottingham as belonging rather to the conglomerate at the 
base of the ‘‘ Waterstones,” and has so mapped them. It should be 
mentioned that they were originally mapped by Hull as Bunter Pebble 
Beds, which they resemble in some respects, and are at least sixty feet 
thick. It is, therefore, extremely unlikely that they can be the 
equivalents of the few inches of conglomerate that represent the 
ancient shingle beach of the Keuper ‘‘ Waterstone” period. All the 
formations are faithfully and tersely described, and the Memoir con- 
tains as much information compressed into its pages as it would be 
possible to introduce within the same limits. There is a good deal of 
useful colliery information, and the work is illustrated with half-a- 
dozen woodcuts. Not the least valuable feature of the Memoir is a list 
of the books and papers bearing on the geology of Nottingham that 
have been printed since 1719. This is the work of Mr. W. Whitaker, 
B.A., F.G.5. J.5, 


68 METEOROLOGY OF THE MIDLANDS. 


METEOROLOGY OF THE MIDLANDS. 
THE WEATHER OF JANUARY, 1882. 
BY CLEMENT L. WRAGGE, F.R.G.S., F.M.S., ETC. 


January, 1882, is a very remarkable month in the records of 
meteorological science. Atmospheric conditions were, in some respects, 
even more exceptional than during the closing months of the past year. 
The two great features were :—lst, The extraordinarily high pressures ; 
and, 2nd, the great mildness of the weather. Depressions crossed on 
the 3rd and 6th. The latter one proved serious in Scotland in its 
course from W.S.W. to E.N.E., and brought gales, floods, and thunder 
and lightning there, with strong winds in Central England. Two other 
and small depressions followed; and then, on the 11th, the great 
barometric rise finally set in. At first it appeared to be mainly owing 
to the disappearance from our area of the depression-system ; but it 
was soon evident that a most important anticyclone was forming. Its 
centre shortly became established in southern districts, and when the 
crest was fully developed on the 18th, the corrected and reduced reading 
at the Radcliffe Observatory, Oxford, was actually ‘30°99 at 10 a.m.” 
This is the highest reading I can find in my returns and papers relat- 
ing to this remarkable barometric maximum ; and probably there is 
no instance of such a wonderful pressure within upwards of a century. 
The barometer continued very high to the 25th (but gently dipped on 
the 23rd). A cyclonic centre came up on the 27th—though readings 
remained in a high part of the scale—and the mercury was again 
rising on the 31st. At Loughborough the mean temperature was 40°8, or 
3:2 degrees above the average ; and at Orleton the mean for the month 
was more than 2°5 above the average of the last twenty years. Tem- 
perature dropped, however, when the centre of the great anticyclone 
came over any district, as is usual with this type of weather when the 
sun has a south declination. The cold air from above probably 
descending on the anticyclonic crest, and feeding it, as it were, would 
in the characteristic calms exert its influence in lowering the tempera- 
ture, and occasion the dense fogs experienced at the time. Naturally 
there was a general absence of rain during the sway of the high 
pressures ; but the depression crossing on the 28th and 29th brought 
heavy falls, with some hail and snow. The solar maximum thermometer 
at Hodsock, on the 23rd, registered 88-9, and the terrestrial minimum 
at Oscott, 19°6 on the 25th. At Strelley, the mean temperature of the 
ground, at a depth of one foot, at 9 a.m., was 39:0; the duration of 
sunshine 33°7 hours, and eighteen sunless days were recorded. At 
Hodsock 39°7 hours of sunshine were registered, and fourteen sunless 
days. In the South Midlands so cloudy was the sky that twenty sun- 
less days were noted at Marlborough. The mean relative humidity 
for the entire Midlands was about 92 per cent. At Blackpool ozone 
was registered on twenty-seven days, and the daily average was 5:5: 
At Carmarthen the mean for the month was 3°6, Mean sea tempera- 
ture at Scarborough 42:7, about two degrees warmer than last year. 
Lunar halos were observed on the 1st and 5th. South-west breezes 
prevailed, but the wind was frequently light and variable. 

Nores sy Ossrervers.—Burton.—Wild hyacinth showing above 
ground on 15th. Belper.—Galanthus nivalis in bud on 9th. Lough- 
borough.—Primroses in flower on 3rd. Ashby Magna.—The mildest 
January ever known in these parts. Aibworth.—Gathered wild violets 
on 3rd ; crocus, snowdrop, anemone, primrose, etc., in flower. ]altham- 
le-Wold.—Many plants in bloom. Coston.—Snowdrop in flower on the 
12th. Kettering—Many of the Spring flowers in full bloom. 


{HE WEATHER OF JANUARY. 69 


_ RAINFALL. SHADH THM. 
| = | |e 
2 = | 7 _—— eo Greatest fall|=7 =f Absolute Absolute 
STATION. OBSERVER. Be =| in 24 hours. = =] Maximum. | Minimum- 
/ In.| In.| Date.4=$Deg) Date. |Deg! Date. 
OUTPOST STATIONS. / | | 
Spital Cemetery, Carlisle ....|.J. Cartmell. Esq., FLM.S. ..)1°90 86 4 16 J52°8 6 (30°) 29 
Scarborough . F. Shaw, Esq., FM. .-{1°60] “8B } 39 10 F211 5 3170! 97 
Blackpool (a,b/—South Shore|C. 1. Ward, Esq., F.M.S. ..|/2°85) *60s) 29 1s [50-4 5 |293] 9 
Llandudno (u,b) ............]3. Nicol, Ksq., M.D. sie 3° 19 1 G9} 29 15 [555 14 «+‘(811 29 
Lowestoft (a) ..... .|H. E. Miller, Esq... "69 | 8 9 $530 6 |80°0 21 
Carmarthen (a) G. J. Hearder, Esq... 8 19 $534) 11 2675 19 
Altarnum, near Launceston..|Rev. J. Power, M.A. 3 | 214530} 12 |24°0 24 
FOUR ie. Uy ccc aseucinccs W. T. Radford. Esq., M.D.)}1'26 27 1 13 9555} 10 (293 24 
Guernsey (a,b) ....-005 ocean A. Collenette, Esq.. F.M.S./1°72 *45 2 11 $53°6) 8 |80°8} 95 
| 
MIDLAND STATIONS. | 
HEREFORDSHIRE. | | | 
Burghill (a, b).........000eee T. A. Chapman, Esq. 86 28 13 [560| 11 laa9!] 95 
IRE orca iaic\n nn rive ve sone Rey. G. Alexander 68 28 13 540) 5, 6 g0°0 20 
SHROPSHIRE | | | 
DUIDIELRELNI . oc cc dss ches Rey. E. D. Carr «-/3°17| "85 9B | 0} 5, 6 {3 Ryi 
Stokesay (a,b) . .|M. D, Lu Touche .. O4 oR 5 5° laps] : 
Bishop's Castle . .|K. Griffiths, Ksq. 96 28 0, 5, 6 |26°0} 
More Rectory............ ..|Rev. A. S. Male ‘73 | 8, 28 i 5 23-0 2) 
Dowles. near Bewdley (b)....|J. M. Downing, Esq fewovl) a0 23 |98°0 18 
WORKCESTERSHIRE, | 
Orleton, near Tenbury ...... T. H. Davis, Esq., F.M.S. ..|2° “64 Bo] | 6 |25°0! 95 
West Malvern (b) ........ .|A. H. Hartland, Esq. ......! “71 8 27:95! 6, 11 }285! 36 
TONE TL TRS BSS See LT. J. Slatter, Esq., F.G.S.../2°36| * 8 | 12 450 3) 5 i275) 25 
Pedmore .. .|E. R. Marten, Esq. 58 |) 28 10 $500! 2, 11, 6 29°0 20, 24 
Stourbridge .. .|Myr. J. Jefferies .. 5 28 11 51 02, 3,4,5 |25°0| 98 
Cawney Bank, Dudley ...... Mr. @. Beale .....0..0605 -/2°52) * 8 15 1500) 6 |30°0) 20, &e. 
STAFFORDSHIRE. | ! | 
Dennis, Stourbridge (a) ......|C. Webb, Esq. .........00e 11°99} * 28 | 10 J 54°0) 6 (260) 24 
Kinver ..|Rev. W. H. Bolton .. Bis 28 1g [538°0) 6 (25-0 24 
Warisall’s 2.2.5: .|N. E. Best, Esq. 28 12 1500) 5, 6 )29:0 30 
Lichfield ......... --|J. P. Roberts, Hsq. ......../2'50| 29 | 10 [540 6 |29:01 94 
Burton-on-Trent . ..|C. U. Tripp, Esq., F.M.S. .°/9°34| °72 29 16 $54°0) 6 27-0 21, 25 
Weston-under-Lyziard ......)Hon, & Rev. J. Bridgeman 2-48 | *66 28 | 15 $53°0) 5 |296°0) 25 
Wrottesley (a) ...... Snide c eae AUCs IDA PSOM, LUSG = <nisieicie s xis |2°31| “61 28 11 9525 5 27°9 25 
Barlaston (a, b) . So W. Scott, Esq.. F.M.S. - 1244 | 1°00 30 10 $572) 26 |29°4 18 
Tean (b) ....-...............|Rev. G. T. Ryves, F.M.S. ..|9°79| °73 29 165 $53°2 5 260) 95 
Heath House, “Chendie (a. b)\J. C. Philips, Esq., F.M.S. 2°71) 68s) 28 12 J5i4 5 |:83) 8 
Oakamoor, Chuwmnet Valley Mr. K. Marlow ............ |2°89 | 84s} 29 7534) 6 66 |} 95 
(a, b.) | | | 
Beacon Stoop, Weaver Hills|Mr. James Hall ........ ++/3°19 . ic. o» 46'G) 52 Ha7O} Le 
(a, b.) | j 
DERBYSHIRE. | 
Stony Middleton ............ Rey. U. Smith ............ 3°87} .. =e 8}48°0; 28 |290| 17 
Buxton (a;.b)) <..60.s00s05 .|E. J. Sykes, Esq., M.B. .... "75 2 12 [5071; 11 980} 19 
Fernslope, Belper .F. J. Jackson, Esq. }1°48 30 10 520} 5, 6 la7-0| 19 
BRIPGE(GD)! ool s ce ccc . J. Hunter, Esq., C.E.,F.M.S. 1:40 29 12 452°2 5 |260| 19 
Spondon ....... as J. T. Barber, Hsq..........-{9 | 1°02 29 Rs (oe “A a ms 
2 OU GIL SSeS eR eens W. Bland, Esq..... Favela 3°22 | 1°45 29 ll < > Bs . 
NOTTINGHAMSHIRE. 
MOANSHSIA (A) oo 5c sna caneasnss W. Tyrer, Esq., F.M.S. .... 17 29 20 ee 5 oo | 
Park Hill, Nottingham (a, b) H. F. Johnson, Esq.. 1:07 29 15 $52°5 6 275 18 
RMA (A AD))< - vines cos oc rnae T. K. Hdge, Esq. ....... 5 |1:00 29 14 $52°2 6 |268) 19 
Hodsock Priory, Worksop (a) H. Mellish, Esq. ........../2'40 /1°28 29 14 $525 2 258 19 
Mite. a eae J.N. Dufty, Esq., F.G.S. ../2°60 /1:52 29 6 ]49°0) 5, 6 |25°0 18 
LEICESTERSHIRE. | 
Loughborough (a,b) .. W. Berridge, Esq., F.M.S...2°27| *60 s | 11 }52°6 5 26°2 21 
SV ETOS BEES S@naan ceded .|J. Hames, Esq. ...... +|2°09 | 59 8 12 9490) 4, 5 |29°0 19,21,&e. 
Town Museum, Leicester (b) J.C. Smith, Esq. .... *11/ °59 8 | 12 4523 5 |30°0 19 
Ashby Magna (b) Mr. T. Carter ...........2+=/9°09} °74 8 | 8 $520} 5, 6 28 2) 
RA WOYENS “Saccecs .|2. Macaulay, Esq. ...... "08 | °F 8 14 [50°0 2  |80°0 24 
Waltham-le- Wold .| Edwin Ball, Esq. .... OL) 59 9s | 12 [47°0| 2, 5 |¥80 18, 31 
WE ABD od Sieaas'sopein's'e's sc G. Jones, Esq........ *B4| °64 8 9 4490 6 250 19 
Coston Rectory, Melton (a)... Rev. A. M. Rendell... -|/1'96 | *48 8 18 }51°7 6 |26'8 25 
WARWICKSHIRE, | | 
St. Mary’s College, Oscott J. MacKImail, Esq. ...... +. /2°98 | “6d 8 10 [52°6 6 |29°5 26 
(a, b.) 
Henley-in-Arden ............ T. H. G. Newton, Esq. ..../2°44) 97 8 14 [52°0, 6 |230) 25 
Kenilworth (a,b) ........ I. Slade, Esq., C. Ri. +» B.M.S.|2°38 | 94 5 10 }51'3) 5 948 25 
Coundon, Coventry . .. Lieut.-Col. KR. Caldicott... “Ta 8 15 {510 56 |28'0 24 
Rugby School.............. .. Rey. T. N. Hutchinson .... 2° 79 | 8 1 [520 6 29°0 95 
NORTHAMPTONSHIRK. 
Sedgebrooke, Northampton C. A. Markham, Esq. "67 | 8 10 [530 6 230 21 
DRAUAEROD e areta' pn'p o(p15,ce\s.0 nein J. Webb, Ksq. ...... at “98 | 8 8 : : = 
Kettering............ poise sfalels J. Wallis, Hsq. ........ eee /163) *59 8 8 [530 7 \30°0) 19 
OXFORDSHIRE ; | 
Ratcliffe Observatory, Oxford The Staff .......... Seconcog by We, 9 8 [5474] 12 |o42) 25 
WILTSHIRE. | | } 
Marlborough (a, b) sae x <eta EY, T. A. Preston, F.M.S.|167) “48 8 11[51'4; 11 (24-4 25 
GLOUCESTERSHIRE, | 
Cheltenham (a, b) .........00) R. Tyrer, Ksq., F.M.S. .... je12 | 78 8 11 [52°5) 28 |y50 | 25 


\a) At these Stations Stevenson's Thermometer Screen is in use. (hb) These observations recorded 
on the plan of the new Form. 


70 GLEANINGS, 


Gleanings. 


JouRNAL oF THE NortHAmpTon Narurat History Socrrry.—The first 
volume of this admirably-conducted journal has been completed by the 
issue of Part VIII. It does great credit to its conductors, to the 
Society, and to the authors of the valuable papers it contains. Of 
these, many of which are of special local value, we will specify Lord 
Lilford’s interesting ‘‘ Notes on the Birds of Northamptonshire,” and 
Mr. R. G. Seriven’s account of some of the more famous trees of the 
county, which are illustrated by exquisite photographs, printed by the 
Woodbury permanent process. Sir Herewald Wake, Bart., Mr. G. C. 
Druce, Mr. 8. Sharp, F.S.A., F.G.S., Mr. C. E. Crick, and other local 
naturalists have contributed a number of good, useful papers, and Mr. 
S. J. Newman has rendered the journal valuable assistance by his 
excellent drawings. The journal deserves the support of all the 
members of the Society. 

British Fosstus.—The new volume of the Palszeontographical 
Society will appear early in April. Dr. Davidson’s contribution, ‘* Sup- 
plement to the Silurian Brachiopoda,” is both large and important. 

BrruincHim Frere Liprary.—lIt is hoped that the new building will 
be ready for occupation by April. From the large funds at their 
disposal, the Committee have for a long time been steadily purchasing 
all the good and available books in the market. Scientific experts have 
been asked to send in lists of books in the branches with which they 
were conversant, and their recommendations have been very fully 
complied with. After the opening of the Library we shall give a brief 
account of the valuable books of reference which will be found on its 
shelves, and which will prove a great boon to dwellers in the Midlands. 

Tue Mernactnc Comet.—The story which has been going the round 
of the papers that Mr. Proctor had predicted the destruction of the 
world by fire, in 1897, in consequence of the immense heat which 
would then be developed by a comet rushing into the sun, turns out to 
be a gross exaggeration, or rather to have originated in a complete 
misconception. It is comforting to know that the eloquent editor of 
‘‘ Knowledge” thinks the world is much more likely to last for fifteen 
millions of years than to come to an end in fifteen. The comet in 
question will be absorbed into the sun, but it will be eaten up by 
degrees, and not at one huge mouthful. Rich people who have 
thought of hiring collieries, in order to be able to retreat into the 
bowels of the earth for a season, need no longer contemplate such 
geological abodes ! 

Science IN Exementary Scuoots.—The famous engineering firm 
of Tangye Bros., of the Cornwall Works, Soho, Birmingham, has just 
presented the sum of £200 to the Birmingham School Board to found 
a Science Scholarship in the Board Schools ; they offer to increase the 
sum to £250 if others will make the total up to £1,000. This hand- 
some donation is valuable, not merely as a large sum of money, but as 
a token that the scheme of science-teaching now being carried out by 
the Science Demonstrator in the Board Schools has the approval of 
such excellent practical judges as Messrs. R. and G. Tangye. 

Locat Gronocy.—The work on the Geology of the Counties of 
England and of North and South Wales, on which Mr. W. J. Harrison 
has been engaged for a considerable period, makes its appearance 
simultaneously with this issue of the ‘‘ Midland Naturalist” (see 
advertisement). A review will shortly appear in our pages by Mr. W. 
Whitaker, B:A., F.G.S., of H,M, Geological Survey. 


REPORTS OF SOCIETIES. 71 


Aeports of Societies. 


BIRMINGHAM NATURAL HISTORY AND MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETY.— 
January 3lst.—MEETING OF THE GEOLOGICAL SECTION.—Mr. Thomas Bolton 
exhibited a curious Caddis Worm in a chitinous sheath. Mr. F. T. S. Houghton, 
M.A., F.G.S., read an interesting paper on “The Cambridge Coprolite Beds.” 
These beds lie between the Upper Gault and the Chalk Marl, and were formerly 
thought to represent the Upper Greensand. They consist of a sandy matrix, 
coloured green by grains of glauconite, and containing about ten per cent. of the 
so-called coprolites. These are in reality nodules, consisting of casts or concre- 
tions, often with sponge spicules or other organisms as nuclei. The deposit is 
being extensively excavated for the sake of the phosphatic nodules, which are 
very useful for agricultural purposes. The organic remains are partly derived 
and partly indigenous. The derived fossils are much broken and worn, and are 
principally characteristic of the Gault. The indigenous species appear to 
belong to the age of the Chalk Marl. It seems probable that after the Gault was 
deposited it underwent considerable denudation, the clay being washed away, 
and the fossils and nodules left on the surface. These were afterwards covered 
by the Chalk Marland mingled with the remains of that period. The paper was 
illustrated by numerous maps, diagrams, and specimens, and was followed by a 
brief discussion. February 7—The ANNUAL MEETING was held at Mason College, 
the president, Mr. Edward W. Badger, in the chair. The Committee presented an 
encouraging and interesting report of the proceedings for the past year, which, 
with the treasurer's accounts, was unanimously received and adopted. Mr. 
Badger then delivered an address “On the work of Natural History Societies,” 
which, together with the Committee’s Report, was ordered to be printed and 
circulated among the members. The following officers for the ensuing year 
were then elected :—President,J. Levick ; Vice-Presidents, T. H. Waller, B.A., B.Sc., 
W. G. Blatch; Ex-Presidents (who are Vice-Presidents), Edward W. Badger, W. 
Southall, F.L.S., F.R.M.S., W. P. Marshall, M.I.C.E., A. W. Wills; Treasurer, 
Charles Pumphrey; Librarian, James E. Bagnall; Curators, R. M. Lloyd and 
H. Miller; Secretary of Biological Section, J. F. Goode; Secretary of Geological 
Section, J. F.Goode; Honorary Secretaries, John Morley and W. B. Grove, B.A. 
February 14th—BtoLoGicaL SEcTIoN.—Mr. A. W. Wills was elected chairman 
and Mr. J. F. Goode secretary for the ensuing year. Mr. Bolton exhibited a 
eurious parasitic growth in and around a desmid (Closterium), which was 
believed by Mr. Wills to be a low form of unicellular alge, probably a form of 
Chytridium, distinguished by Pringsheim under the name of Pythium, the 
cells of which are globular, and occur in the infected alge, pushing a long 
tubular neck out through the cell-wall. Mr. Blatch exhibited Oxytelus fulvipes, 
a rare and very local beetle, recently found in Sutton Park, the only other 
English locality for the species being Needwood Forest. Also a number of rare 
coleoptera from Sutton Park. Mr. R. W. Chase exhibited Ampelis garrulus 
(female), the waxwing, shot at Rednall, January 30th, 1882. Mr. W. B. Grove 
exhibited two Myxomycetes—Enerthenema elegans, Bowman, a very rare and 
curious species, and Physarum cinereum, Batsch,—both from Sutton; the 
plasmodium of the latter was observed for three weeks previously creeping in 
various directions over a rotten stump and frequently changing its position.— 
Mr. Pumphrey exhibited Actinophrys Sol. Mr. E. de Hamel read a paper on 
“Beavers and the Bute Beavery,” which will be printed in the “ Midland 
Naturalist.” The paper was illustrated by diagrams prepared by Mr. de Hamel, 
with chips of wood cut from the pine trees, a bundle of deal slivers which com- 
posed their bedding, and skulls, kindly lent for the evening by Professor 
Bridge. A unanimous vote of thanks was accorded to the reader.— 
MICROSCOPICAL GENERAL MEETING.—February 21.—Mr. J. E. Bagnall exhibited 
Brica Watsoni and Pinguicula grandiflora, from Cornwall; Ammi Majus, 
Echinospermum Lappula, Amaranthus retroflexus, and Malva borealis, from 
near Kenilworth ; and several mosses. Mr. W. B. Grove exhibited a Vaucheria 
(probably sessilis), growing on damp soil, and the plasmodium of a Trichia (a 


72 REPORTS OF SOCIETIES. 


Myxomycete) spreading in a reticulate manner over the hymenium of Polyporus 
versicolor; these protoplasmic threads, during the course of the evening, drew 
themselves together and began the formation of the sporangia. Dr. John 
Anthony exhibited a preparation of the dried skin of the earthworm, showing 
the ambulacral spines, in illustration of his paper on “ The Ambulacra of the 
Earthworm,” in which he described the observations he had made concerning 
their mode of action. He referred to the cirrhi of a related species, Nais pro- 
boscidea, a fresh-water annelid, in which the action of the muscles is easily 
observed, owing to its transparency. These the animal can use either for 
pushing, pulling, or swimming, according to its desires. The ventral surface of 
the common earthworm, when examined closely, is seen to be provided with 
four rows of spines or short projecting bristles, each of which is seated upon a 
small elevation of the skin. It is by means of these that the worm is able to 
resist so strongly the efforts to drag it from its burrow. The question to which 
the paper was chiefly devoted was to ascertain whether these spines were used 
voluntarily as in the Nais, or merely automatically as a fixed part of the 
segment on which they were placed. The writer considered that the former 
view was the correct one, not only by reasoning from the analogy of allied 
forms, but as the only means of accounting for the power which the worm 
possesses of turning upon itself in its narrow burrow, and replacing itself end 
for end. 


BURTON-UPON-TRENT NATURAL HISTORY AND ARCHAOLOGICAL 
SOCIETY.—February 7th.—Mr. R. Thornewill, President, in the chair. The 
paper read was on “Exainples of Mimicry among Lepidoptera,” by the Rev. 
Cc. F. Thornewill, M.A. February 14th—Mr. R. Thornewill, President, in the 
chair. The paper read was on “ Aids at determining the Dates of our old 
Churches,” by Mr. Alexander Scrivener (Vice-President of the North Stafford- 
shire Field Club and Archeological Society). Mr. Scrivener exhibited diagrams 
illustrative of the different styles of architecture. At this meeting some 
curiously marked and lettered tiles, recently foundin the Priory at Burton, 
were exhibited. 


NOTTINGHAM WORKING MEN’S NATURALISTS’ SOCIETY.—At the 
annual exhibition and dinner of the members of this society, held at the Sir 
Francis Burdett, Mount Street, there was a large attendance. Mr. Goldsmith 
presided. After the repast andthe usual loyal toasts, Mr. Allen, secretary, read 
the annual report, from which it appeared the Society is in a very healthy condi- 
tion, the accounts showing a balance in hand of £31s.104d. The toast of the 
evening, “ Success to the Society,” was given by Mr. Bellaby, and replied to by 
Mr. Goldsmith, who said he wished to bring to their notice that they were 
assembled that evening to celebrate the seventh year of their existence, during 
which time they had the kind assistance of many honorary members. He had 
also great pleasure in announcing the admission of the Society to the 
Midland Naturalists’ Union, and the insurance of the Society's property to the 
sum of £150. The proceedings were agreeably interspersed with recitations and 
songs. A paper was read by Mr. Goldsmith on the “ Crow Family.” 


BANBURYSHIRE NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY.—February 6th.—Mr. S. 
Stutterd in the chair. Exhibits: Scyphophorus coniferus and Xylaria hypoxylon, 
by the President; eggs of Collembola, by the Chairman ; collection of eggs of 
the Common Guillemot (Uria troile), to illustrate their great diversity in 
colour, by Mr. O. V. Aplin; Trigonia costata, var. pulla, from Lower Tadmar- 
ton, by Mr. KE. A. Walford ; and a collection of Lichens and Mosses from Dart- 
moor by Mr. Symington. The President’s meteorological report for January 
was read. The most noticeable feature in the month was the almost if not 
quite unprecedented height of the barometer—on the 18th it reached 30°62 inches, 
The temperature was four degrees above the average. Mr.O. V. Aplin read a 
note on some rare ornithological occurrences in the district. Mr. E. A. Walford, 
spoke at considerable length upon some of the common fossils of the neighbour- 
hood, illustrating his remarks with numerous sketches, Forms for phenological 
obseryatious for February were distributed, 


THE MYXOMYCETES. 


TDK MYROMY CELE §.* 


BY W. B. GROVE B.A., 


Hon. Sec. Birmingham Natural History and Microscopical Society. 

The group of organisms named Myxomycetes,+ or Myxogastres, 
constitutes a curious debatable land, concerning the nature of which 
the most diverse opinions have been and continue to be expressed. 
They form one of the groups which Haeckel united to form his new 
sub-kingdom—the Protista—which was intended to embrace all those 
simple forms of life in which the Animal and Vegetable Kingdoms 
approach one another. His object in instituting this arrangement was 
to get over the acknowledged difficulty of distinguishing between what 
of these are animals and what are plants. But, as Saville Kent lately,{ 
and long before him Professor Huxley,§ pointed out, he gets over the 
difficulty in a curious way. He proposes that, instead of having one 
line of demarcation to puzzle over, we shall in future have two, namely, 
that between undoubted animals and the Protista, and that between 
the Protista and undoubted plants. This, however, would not be an 
objection to his classification if it could be proved on other grounds to 
be desirable ; for the question is not solely what course will be the 
easiest for us, but what will most truly represent the facts. Some of 
his proposed Protista, as the Diatoms, the Sponges, the Rhizopoda, 
the Noctilucze, have now had their position definitively settled one 
way or the other. Others, such as Euglena, are still perhaps swb judice, 
and, since Saville Kent has made his recent and determined attack 
upon them, | thé®Myxomycetes must now be considered to belong to the 
same doubtful category. 


On inquiry into the facts known concerning this group, it will be 
apparent that the settlement of the question is by no means easy when 
all things are taken into consideration. There are, of course, three 
possible conclusions open to us: We may decide that the Myxomycetes 
are animals; or that they are plants; or that they are the former at 
one period of their existence, and the latter at another. The last- 
named possibility, however strange it may appear, must not be 
overlooked, since it is evident that the belief in the fundamental 
distinction of the two classes of living things, founded, as it was origi- 
nally, upon an acquaintance only with the higher forms, has of late 
years received many a rude and, it may be, fatal shock. It is easy to 
denounce such a conclusion as the refuge of timidity; it is another 
thing to prove that the dividing line in Nature is really an impassable 
one. The mycologists of this country have long made up their minds 
in favour of the truly vegetable nature of the group, and most of them 


* Read before the Birmingham Natural History and Microscopical Society, 
January 24th, 1882. ak 

+ .e., Slime-fungi. 

{ “ Manual of the Infusoria,” p. 44. 

§ “Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science,” 1868, p. 127. 

| “Manual of the Infusovia,” pp. 41-3, 193, 470-2; and ‘Popular Science 
Review,” April, 1881, 


74 THE MYXOMYCETES. 


would be sorry to lose a class of Fungi in which some of the most 
remarkable and beautiful species are to be found. But at the same 
time it is quite certain that the position formerly assigned to them 
among the Fungi is no longer tenable, being founded upon a gross 
disregard of many of their characteristics. 


There is one point which it seems to be essential to consider, but 
which, so far as I have read, has not been introduced into the con- 
troversy. If we believe that all animals and plants are genetically 
connected, that is, are all descended alike from one or more primordial 
forms of life, we should anticipate not only that there would be a 
point of contact between the two living kingdoms of Nature, but that 
there would be several such, and these, perhaps. occurring at parts of 
our classification far removed from one another. Botanists know that 
no large group of plants can be arranged in a linear series so as to 
display fully their mutual affinities. The species of a large genus, or 
the genera of a large order, require to be grouped on a plane, or it may 
be even in space of three dimensions, in order to show how they are 
connected with one another. It is of course understood that in a 
perfect arrangement the points of junction would really indicate 
genetic descent. In the same degree, then, at least, or more probably 
in a greater, ought we to find many points of junction between animal 
and vegetable forms. While the Fungi merge insensibly in the Alge, 
and the Algz in the Protozoa, yet there may be a point where the 
Fungi are connected with the Protozoa immediately, and that is 
through this group of Fungi, the Myxomyeetes. 


OUTLINE OF THE CONTROVERSY. 


It will be well to give a short outline of the opinions about the 
Myxomycetes before proceeding to describe them. Up to and including 
the year 1857, when Rev. M. J. Berkeley published his ‘‘ Introduction 
to Cryptogamic Botany,” the Myxogastres, as they were then called, 
were placed among the Gastromycetes, their nearest allies being the 
Trichogastres or Puffballs. At this time nothing was known of their 
development. In 1859 Dr. de Bary, Professor of Botany at the 
University of Freiberg, for the first time observed the germination of 
the spores, and found that, instead of giving rise to a jointed hypha 
or filament, as other Fungi do, they produced an actively locomotive 
creature resembling a monad. After examining a number of the 
Myxogastres, and finding the germination of the spores the same in 
all, he considered that he had grounds for the opinion that these 
organisms had more affinity with the Protozoa than with Fungi, and 
proposed for them the name Mycetozoa.* These results were independ- 
ently confirmed by a Polish observer, Cienkowski, and armed with this 
confirmation, de Bary published, in 1864, a larger work, in which he 
repeated his belief in the animal nature of these creatures. About 
1868, Haeckel proposed his idea of including these, as well as other 


> Le., Fungus-animals. 
+ This belief he has now changed; “he holds and teaches that they are 
veritable plants,” 


THE MYXOMYCETES. 7) 


doubtful forms, in a distinct group, the Protista. In 1871 appeared 
Cooke’s ‘‘ Hand-book of British Fungi,’ which is merely, as far as 
concerns the larger divisions, a reprint of Berkeley’s classification, 
which is itself taken mainly from the great Swedish Botanist, Fries. 
In 1875, another Pole, Rostafinski, issued a Monograph of the 
Mycetozoa, in which he appears, though not very clearly, to incline to 
the animal side of the controversy. 

In 1875 also the English edition of **‘ Sachs’ Botany” was published, 
in which the Myxomycetes, as they are there called, were placed as a 
supplement or appendix to the Fungi. In the same year appeared the 
fourth German edition of Sachs’, in which a change was made in the 
classification. The Alge and Fungi are there arranged in two parallel 
series, distinguished from one another solely in the fact that one series 
produces chlorophyll and the other not. The Bacteria are placed, as 
the lowest Fungi, on a level with the unicellular Algw, and next 
(passing over the small group of Saccharomycetes) we haye the 
Myxomycetes, paralleled in the other column by the Volvocinez among 
the Algw. Professor Allman, in his Presidential Address to the British 
Association in 1879, declares that, ‘‘ though the affinities of the 
Myxomycetes with th: Fungi are, perhaps, closer than with any other 
plants, they differ from them in so many points, especially in their 
development, as to render this association untenable.”* 

Saville Kent, in his ‘‘ Manual of the Infusoria,’ and more 
recently in the ‘Popular Science Review,” adopts the animal 
hypothesis, and offers many new facts and parallels from the 
Animal Kingdom in support of his belief. To this, at present, no reply 
has been given, except to tell Saville Kent that he ‘“ has gone out of 
the way to meddle with a subject which he does not understand.” It 
is evident that a wider and deeper knowledge of the facts concerning 
not only the Fungi, but the Protozoa, is needed, before the problem 
can be completely settled. One writer has even suggested lately 
‘‘the abolition of the group, and the placing of their principal divisions 
in the various orders of Fungi to which their fructification presents 
the closest resemblance.”+ This method of treating them would be 
similar to that which has been adopted so successfully by modern 
cryptogamists with regard to the group of Mosses, formerly named 
Phascesx, though in that case leaf-structure formed the basis of the 
distribution. 

DESCRIPLION OF A MYXOMYCHTE, 

The following is a brief account of a fully-developed Myxomycete. 
It consists mainly of a spore-case or sporangium, which assumes one or 
other of two distinct forms: first, it may be definite in shape, spherical, 
hemispherical, ovoid, lenticular or reniform, stalked or sessile; or, 
second, it may be without a very definite outline, forming merely an 
extended cake-like or reticulated mass, which takes its shape for the 
most part from the accidents of its position. The sporangia vary in 


* British Association Report. 1879, p. 14. 
t Van Tieghem, Bull, Soc, Bot France, xxvii., p, 322, 


76 THE MYNOMYCETES. 


size, from a little rounded heap just visible to the naked eye, to a mass 
two feet long and an inch or more thick. This sporangium may have 
one or more walls, either of which may contain a deposit of lime— 
usually, it is said, in the form of oxalate—either in thinly-scattered 
crystals or granules, or forming the greater portion of its substance. 
The walls of the sporangium and the stem are destitute of proper 
cells: they are often composed of a delicate homogeneous membrane, 
or only bear a few thickenings on the surface in certain forms peculiar 
to the different species. ‘The stem often springs from a small patch of 
a similar homogeneous substance, called the hypothallus, by which it 
is attached to the matrix. 

The contents of the sporangium most often consist of a vast number, 
sometimes millions of millions,* of spores, amongst which there is 
present, in addition, a structure called the capillitium ; in a few cases 
the capillitium is apparently wanting. The capillitium is composed 
of threads, sometimes simple, sometimes branched; sometimes free, 
sometimes combined ; in one species formed of delicate tubes with trans- 
lucent walls, in another furnished with spiral markings or ridges or 
spines projecting from their outer surface; sometimes containing air, 
and at other times filled with lime. In many cases, also, the knots or 
points of junction of the threads are enlarged, and these knots may, 
or may not, contain lime. The mode of attachment of the capillitium 
is also extremely varied. In Trichia the threads are perfectly free at 
both ends. In Prototrichia and Enerthenema they are attached to 
the sporangium at one end only. In Didymium and allied genera they 
ure arranged radially. But in the majority of the species they form 
«a more or less complicated network, in which a few of the ends may be 
free, while most of them are attached to the wall of the sporangium. 
In Stemonitis and Comatricha the stem penetrates the sporangium, 
forming an axis, called the columella; in other species the columella 
is the swollen summit of the stem, or merely a denser portion of the 
capillitium ; in some it is altogether absent. The spores in all cases 
densely fill up the interstices of the capillitium. When mature the 
sporangium dehisces either irregularly, as in Trichia, or radially, 
forming segments which curl back like those of a Geaster, or the 
petals of a flower, asin some species of Chondrioderma, or longitu- 
dinally, as in Physarum sinuosum. In Craterium a distinct lid or oper- 
culum is formed, and in Perichzena the wall of the sporangium splits in 
a circumscissile manner, like the capsule of the Henbane or Field 
Pimpernel. Oftentimes the upper portion of the wall of the sporan- 
gium splits off in minute fragments, and the capillitium is left 
exposed, and in the case of Arcyria its elasticity causes it to enlarge 
to several times its original size. The spiral threads of Trichia twist 
about like the elaters of the Hepatic under the influence of alterna- 
tions of heat and moisture. In these various ways the spores are 


HE MYXOMYCETES. 77 


The spores are spherical, usually with a smooth, but frequently 
with a ribbed or spiny coat. They fall into two groups as regards 
colour: in one group the spores are dull-coloured, either brown or 
brownish-violet, almost black ; in the other they are of a bright colour, 
such as yellow, ochreous, red, purple, or pink. In this, as in many of 
the lower plants, we find colour, which, in the higher groups, is so 
untrustworthy, furnishing one of the primary bases of classification. 
The spores of many species, too, are remarkable for their size, which 
is almost exactly a micro-millimeter—i.ec., ;4jth of a millimeter, the 
unit now generally adopted by microscopists for the measurement of 
all minute objects, and denoted by the Greek letter u. It was long ago 
proposed that they might be used as a guide in measuring the size of 
other minute objects on the same slide, and the average of some 
species of Trichia seems to be constant enough to serve this purpose. 
In a few genera, as Badhamia, the spores are at first collected in 
groups. 

(Lo be continued.) 


THE BIRDS OF LEICESTERSHIRE. 


BY THOMAS MACAULAY, M.R.C.S.L., ETC. 
PART IV.—*OUR VISITORS.” 


(Continued from page 65.) 


33.—The Oyster-catcher (Hamatopus ostralegus). These birds again, 
though common enough, are not often driven a hundred miles 
inland. Mr. James Harley records (through Morris) the 
capture of two within the borders of this county in January, 
1838. Rev. A. Matthews reports one seen at Gumley in 1881. 


34.—The Bittern (Botaurus stellaris). Rapidly becoming extinct, 
this bird, immortalised by Tennyson, under the name of 
‘**butter-bump ” in his poem ‘‘ The Northern Farmer,” is yet 
occasionally found. The only records I have are one specimen 
killed at Enderby in 1872 and now in the Leicester Museum, 
and a note from my friend Mr. M. Browne to the effect that 
‘“two were reported in a Birmingham paper as having been 
killed at Lutterworth, October or November, 1881.” 


35.—The White Stork (Ciconia alba). When the fens were fens, this 
bird was not an unfrequent visitor, but that a specimen should 
be found straying on the outskirts of the town of Leicester, as 
late as 1873 is somewhat remarkable. The bird was shot at 
West Leigh on March 6th in the above year, and is now in the 
Leicester Museum. 


36.—The Glossy Ibis (Ibis falcinellus). The Bickley collection in 
the Leicester Museum includes a specimen of this bird. I 
have been recently informed by the donor’s brother, who 
assisted very materially in forming the collection, that it was 
killed on the border of the county and within it. 

37.—The Curlew (Nwmenius arquata). Not an uncommon visitor in 


the winter. It has been noticed both by myself and others on 
many occasions. 


78 BIRDS OF LEICESTERSHIRE. 


38.--The Whimbrel (Numenius phaopus). Occasionally met with. 
I have not seen it myself, but Rev. A. Matthews tells me that 
he has done so. 


39.—The Black-tailed Godwit (Limosa @gocephala). ‘*The Leicester 
Museum possesses one in summer plumage, marked ‘ Leices- 
tershire, 1869.’ ”°—(M. Browne.) 


140.—The Redshank (TVotanus calidris.) I am indebted to Rev. A. 
Matthews for being able to say of this bird, ‘‘ occasionally 
found.” 

41.—The Spotted Redshank (Votanus fuscus). I am not going to 
claim for this bird an absolute place in the list of Leicester- 
shire visitors, because I have grave doubts of the correctness 
of the observation. I give it, therefore, cum grano, and for 
what itis worth. Iam informed by Dr. Wright, of Markfield, 
that a specimen was killed at Groby Pool in 1879. 


42.—The Green Sandpiper (7otanus ochropus). Not very rare. Has 
been occasionally seen by myself and other observers. 


43.—Temminck’s Stint (Vringa Temminckii). A specimen of this 
bird was shot at Saddington Reservoir in 1860, by Rey. H. 
Marriott. The bird was seen and identified by Rev. A. 
Matthews. 

44.—The Dunlin (Tringa variabilis). Occasionally seen on our 
Reservoir in small parties. I noticed a flock of fourteen there 
during the past winter, 1881. 


45.—The Spotted Crake (Crex porzana). This lovely bird has been 
shot five or six times in this neighbourhood during the last 
twenty years. I have killed three. One was obtained at 
‘*Melton Mowbray, October, 1881, and is now in the Leicester 
Museum.’’—(M. Browne.) They lie very close, and are difficult 
to flush. 

46.—The Coot (Fulica atra). A visitor only as far as Leicestershire. 
is concerned. They come to Saddington Reservoir every spring 
to breed, and depart as soon as the young are able to travel. 
Very rarely met with in winter, though I killed one during last 
month, on January 13th, which is now in the Leicester 
Museum. 

47.—The Hooper (Cygnus ferus.) Potter mentions that several have 
been killed on Charnwood Forest, presumably on some of the 
large pools of water which exist about Bradgate Park. I have 
heard of the occasional passage of a flock of wild swans in 
very severe winters, but have no information as to any being 
obtained. 

48.— The Egyptian Goose (dAnser Eqgyptiacus ). Mr. M. Browne informs 
me that ‘‘ there are two specimens in the Leicester Museum— 
one marked in -the old MS. catalogue as ‘shot on the River 
Soar, 1843,” and the other marked ‘‘ Withcote Hall, 1858.” 
He adds his opinion that they were probably escapes. 


49.—The Canadian Goose (Anser Canadensis). There are two in the 
Leicester Museum, marked in the old MS. catalogue as ‘“ shot 
on Groby Pool, April, 1844. Part .of a flock of twenty.”— 
(M. Browne.) 

50.—The Sheldrake (T'adorna vulpanser). Three were shot at Barkby 
in 1880, and I saw one of them, a male, in the possession of a 
bird-stuffer, named Donnell. 


BIRDS OF LEICESTERSHIRE. 79 


51.—The Shoveller (Anas clypeata}. According to Potter they have 
been killed at Bradgate Park. Rev. A. Matthews, some years 
since, got two at one shot, at Gumley. 

52.—The Scoter (’demia nigra.) Not unfrequently driven in by the 
easterly gales, and appearing upon our Reservoir. During 
September, 1881, three were obtained at Saddington, one of 
which I had the pleasure of presenting to the Leicester 
Museum. 


53.—The Pochard (I’uligula ferina.) ‘‘ Occasionally has been seen.’’— 
(A. Matthews.) 


54..—The Scaup Duck (Fuligula marila). An unfrequent but occa- 
sional visitor. I killed one on Saddington Reservoir in 1874. 


55.—The Tufted Duck ( Fuliqula cristata). ‘* Occasionally seen,” says 
Rey. A. Matthews. One was killed at Coleorton Hall, 1865. 
I shot one at Saddington in the winter of 1880. Another 
was shot at Smeeton, 1881. Lord Boyle saw two and 
shot one at Saddington Reservoir, January 11th, 1882. 


56.—The Golden Eye (Fuligula clangula). This duck is also an 
occasional visitor in hard weather, and has been shot in this 
neighbourhood on several occasions, and doubtless in other 
parts of the county. 


57.—The Redbreasted Merganser (Mergus serrator). About 1860 one 
was shot by the keeper, upon the pool at Coleorton Hall. It is 
now in Sir G. Beaumont’s collection. 


58.—The Goosander (Mergus castor). A specimen was killed on the 
Smeeton Canal, in 1862, by Mr. Hildebrand. It has also been 
obtained on two occasions at Saddington Reservoir. 


59.—The Great Crested Grebe (Podiceps cristatus.} Frequently seen 
and obtained. For some years they bred regularly at Sadding- 
ton Reservoir. At least ten specimens have been killed there 
within as many years. Amongst these are two fine adult 
males and a female in my collection, and a female which I 
sent to the Leicester Museum. 


60.—The Red-necked Grebe ( Podiceps rubricollis). One of this species 
was shot on Saddington Reservoir in 1874. 


61.—The Great Northern Diver (Colymbus glacialis). In the winter 
of 1872 one of these birds took up his abode at Saddington 
Reservoir, and remained nearly a fortnight, and though I 
and others made many attempts to secure it, it took its 
departure at last unharmed. 


62.—The Black-throated Diver ( Colymbus arcticus). One was shot on 
Saddington Reservoir in the winter of 1874. 

63.—Red-throated Diver ( Colymbus septentrionalis). Rev. A. Matthews 
reports this bird as of not uncommon occurrence on Sadding- 
ton Reservoir and elsewhere. 

64.—The Guillemot (Uria troile). I have a specimen which I found 

in a baker’s house. He shot it many years since on the River 

Soar, when he occupied a mill there. 


65.—The Gannet (Sula alba). The only occurrence I know of is an 
immature specimen, picked up half dead at Shangton in 18738. 
It had been wounded. I saw it, after it was set up, in the 
possession of Mr. Gloyer’s bailiff, who found it, 


80 BIRDS OF LEICESTERSHIRE. 


66.—The Common Tern (Sterna hirundo). Scarcely a winter passes 
without our seeing one or more of these pretty birds. They 
are driven in by the easterly gales, and frequent the freshwater 
pools until they fall tothe gun. Two local specimens were 
sent to the Leicester Museum in 1881. 

67.—The Arctic Tern (Sterna macrura.) The above remarks: apply 
also to this species, except that it is not quite so frequently 
seen as the Common Tern. 

68.—The Black Tern (Stern fissipes). Very rave. I have two notes. 
The first was shot at Saddington Reservoir in 1865 by 
Rev. A. Matthews, and is now in his collection. For the 
second note I am in debt to Mr. Browne, who writes me :— 
“Mr. E. Bidwell, of Surbiton, Surrey, informs me that he 
bought a specimen at Leicester, said to have been killed in the 
Abbey Meadow. 

69.—The Black-headed Gull (Larus ridibundus). Potter mentions its 
occurrence on the Bradgate pools. ‘‘ Two, male and female, 
specimens, in winter plumage, were shot at Belgrave, Novem- 
ber 3rd, 1881, and are now in the Leicester Museum—” 
(M. Browne.) ; 

70.—The Kittiwake ( Larus tridactylus). Common enough, and might 
be obtained every year; but, as a rule, this bird is spared, at 
least by all lovers of nature. I shot one this last winter for 
the Leicester Museum, which is sadly in want of new specimens. 

71.—The Common Gull (Larus canus). Not unfrequently seen on 
the inland freshwater pools, but generally spared (like the 
last-named species) by the shooter. I have no record of one 
being killed here for many years. 

72.—The Herring Gull (Larus argentatus). Has been occasionally 
seen, but not so often as either of the two last-named species. 

73.—The Great Black-headed Gull (Larus marinus). Rev. A. 
Matthews says that he has seen this species passing over in 
small parties occasionally, and he once saw seven together. 

74.—The Lesser Black-headed Gull (Larus fuscus). Mr. Montagu 
Browne writes thus: “I saw an adult specimen from 
Bradgate in the autumn of 1880, in the possession of a man 
named Donnell, of Leicester. The Leicester Museum also 
possesses one, shot at Melton, in 1881.” 

75.—The Common Skua (Lestris cataractes). Mentioned in Potter’s 
book as having occurred at Bradgate in 1841. 

76.—The Pomatorhine Skua ( Lestris pomatorhinus). ‘* The Leicester 
Museum possesses an immature specimen of this, shot at 
Somerby in November, 1881.”—(M. Browne.) One was killed 
near Hinckleyin 1879, and is now in the collection of Mr. R. W. 
Chase, of Birmingham, to whose courtesy I owe the note. 

77.—Richardson’s Skua (Lestris parasiticus). ‘In the autumn of 
1880, I saw, in the possession of the man Donnell, a nearly 
adult specimen of this, said to have been shot at Enderby.”— 
(M. Browne.) 

78.—The Manx Petrel (Puffinus anglorum). In 1867, one was picked 
up, nearly dead, at Gumley. It is in the collection of Rey. A. 
Matthews. Another was found dead at Billesdon in 1879. 

79.—The Storm Petrel ; Vhaiassidroma pelagica). In 1862 a specimen 
was found dead at Gumley, and is in the possession of Rey, A, 
Matthews, 


MIDLAND UNION OF NATURAT, HISTORY SOCIETIES. 81 


MIDLAND UNION OF NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETIES. 


NOTTINGHAM MERETING, 1882. 


Members of the Societies in the Union will be glad to read the 
following details of the arrangements for the coming meeting. 

The Joint Committee of representatives of the three Nottingham 
Societies subscribing to the Union, viz:—The Nottingham Literary 
and Philosophical Society, the Nottingham Naturalists’ Society, and 
the Nottingham Working Men’s Naturalists Society met together at 
the School of Art, Nottingham, on Friday, March 17th, when T. 
Appleby Stephenson, Esq., M.D., President of the Nottingham Literary 
and Philosophical Society, was elected President of the Union for 1882, 
and Mr. Edward Wilson, F'.G.S., 18, Low Pavement, Nottingham, 
Local Hon. Secretary. ; 

The Annual Meeting was fixed to be held on Thursday and Friday, 
15th and 16th June next. The following Excursions were agreed upon 
if arrangements for them can be made :— 

1. Welbeck Abbey and Cresswell Crags. 
2. Castleton. 

Weseck Apsry, on the north borders of Notts and Derbyshire, is 
the seat of His Grace the Duke of Portland, and is celebrated for its 
remarkable edifices, riding school, and tan gallop, underground galleries, 
conservatories, etc., erected by the late Duke, while Cresswenn Crags 
are of great interest on account of the caves in the Magnesian Lime- 
stone, containing remains of extinct mammalia and rude implements 
of prehistoric man. 

CastLEton, in North Derbyshire, the route to which would take the 
visitors through the beautiful dale scenery of the Derwent and 
Wye, followed by a drive across the Derbyshire Moors within view of 
the Peak, is celebrated for its remarkable scenery, its caverns, dry 
gorge, and subterranean watercourse through limestone rocks of 
carboniferous age, its interesting fossils and minerals, its ruined 
castle (the Peveril Castle of Sir Walter Scott) possesses also a capital 
and well-arranged museum of geological specimens, and very fair hotel 
accommodation. 

A large and influential General Committee was appointed, con- 
sisting of the above-mentioned representatives and other gentlemen, 
men of position, or those who possess scientific attainments or 
encourage students of Natural History in the town and neighbourhood. 

It was proposed that the past Presidents of the Union should be 
Vice-Presidents of the Nottingham Meeting. Two Sub-committees 
were appointed: 1. Reception and Finance ; 2. Conversazione and 
Excursion. Other arrangements are in progress, and will be 
announced in due course. 

The Nottingham Literary and Philosophical Society have placed 
their room at the School of Art at the service of the Local Committee 
for Committee Meetings, 


82 THE FLORA OF WARWICKSHIRE, 


THE FLORA OF WARWICKSHIRE. 


AN ACCOUNT OF THE FLOWERING PLANTS AND FERNS 
OF THE COUNTY OF WARWICK. 


BY JAMES E. BAGNALL. 


(Continued from page 59.) 
ROSACEA. 


COMARUM. 

C. palustre, Linn. Marsh Cinquefoil. 

Native: In marshes and bogs. Local. June, July. 

I. Coleshill Bog! Purt., i., 248; N. side of Bannersley Pool! 
Perry Fl. 45; 8. W. side of Edgbaston Pool, With., iii., 588 ; 
Sutton Park! Freeman Phyt., i., 262; marsh near Packington. 

II. Allesley Wood, Bree. Purt., iii., 362. 


FRAGARIA. 
F. vesca, Linn. Wild Strawberry. 


Native: In woods and on hedge banks. Locally common. April 
to July. Area general. 


F. elatior, Hhrh. Hautbois Strawberry. 


Alien: In woods, copses, and on hedge banks. Rare. April and 
May. 

II. ‘‘Grounds round Coton House.” WN. B.G., ii., 613; Edge Hill, 
Herb. Per. ; Hampton-on-the-Hill ; Norton Lindsay ; Wroxall, 
near the Abbey, H. B.; in ballast pits. Lower Hill Morton 
Road, R. S. R., 1869; wood at Barford, H. B., Exchange Club 
Report, 1879, p. 7; coppice in the Warwick Road, near Wroxall. 

Flowers very scarce in some seasons. Cultivated varieties of the 
Strawberry are occasional on banks near gardens, and assume 
a semi-wild habit. 


RUBUS. 
R. Ideus, Linn. Raspberry. 
Native: In woods, copses, and damp waysides. Locally common. 
May, June, or later. 
I. Woods, Coleshill! Bree, Purt., iii., 362; Sutton Park; Knowle ; 
Marston Green ; near Berkswell, etc. 
Il. Woods about Allesley! Bree, Purt., i., 242; near Rugby! Baxter, 
Purt., lii., 8361; Kingswood ; Honily, etc. 
A variety having a nearly prostrate habit and ternate leaves is 
abundant near Meriden Shafts. 
Var. b. Leesii, Bab. Lees’ Raspberry. 
In marshy places. Very rare. Woodloes, near Warwick! H. B., 
Herb. Brit. Mus., 1875. 


Some valuable and interesting notes on this plant are given in the 
“ Journal of Botany,” 1878, pp. 85, 86, in ‘* Notes on Rubi,” C, 
C, Babington, F.RS, 


THE FLORA OF WARWICKSHIRE. 83 


R. suberectus, Anders. Sub-erect Bramble.- 

Native: In damp woods and by pools. Rare. June. 

I. (Warwickshire, Blox., Bab. Brit. Rub., p. 53.) Tron Wood, near Old- 
bury ; Arley Wood; wood in Wheyporridge Lane, near  Soli- 
hull; Olton Pool. 

Il. Clodyland Wood, near Honily, 1867, H. Bromwich, Herb. Brit. Mus. 


R, fissus, Lindl. Lesser sub-erect Bramble. 
Native: In damp woods and boggy heath lands. Rare. June to 
August. 
I. Sutton Park, very abundant; Trickley Coppice ; Chelmsley Wood ; 
Cut-throat Coppice, Solihull. 


R. plicatus, W. and N. Plaited-leaved Bramble. 

Native: In woods and on heath lands. Rather rare. June to 
August. 

I. Baxterley Common and Bentley Wood, Blow., Bab. Brit. Rub., 
p. 67; common land near Bentley ; heathy footways, road from 
Stonebridge to Castle Bromwich ; Sutton Park,* abundant on 
the heath lands. 


R. affinis, WW. and N. Intermediate Bramble. 
Native: In woovls, on heath lands, and heathy waysides. Rather 
rare. June to August. 
I. Stream near Powell’s Pool, near Perkins’ Pool, etc., Sutton Park ; 
Marston Green ; Hampton-in-Arden. 
II. Dunchurch Road, near Rugby, 1880. 


R. hemistemon, J/iill. 
Native: In thickets and quarries. Rare. May to August. 
I. Atherstone Outwoods, Rev. A. Bloxv., Herb. Bab.; sand quarry, 
Cornel’s End, near Berkswell, July, 1874. 
This species is described for the first time as a British plant in 
Bab. Man., ed. 8, p. 108, 1881. 


R, Lindleianus, Lees. Lindley’s Bramble. 

Native: In hedges and on heath lands. Rather common and 
widely distributed. July, August. 

I. Atherstone! Blox., Bab. Brit. Rub., p.80. Sutton Park; Coleshill 
Pool, Marston Green ; near Bannersley Pool; Knowle ; Hamp- 
ton-in-Arden. 

Il. Rugby, Blox., Bab. Brit. Rub., p. 80. Rowington ; Woodloes, near 
Warwick: Kenilworth Common, etc. 
A broad-leaved form, the R. nitidus, Bell Salt., is abundant in some 
of the stations here cited. 


R. ramosus, Blox. 

Native: In hedges and quarries. Rare, but abundant where 
found. July, August. 

I. Lane at Minworth, occurring in great abundance; stone quarry at 
Hartshill, abundant. 
Il. Near Rugby, Bloc. 

The Warwickshire plants appear to differ from those found by Mr. 
Briggs in Devon and Cornwall, but are, I think, connected with 
them by intermediates. Plants from Minworth were submitted 
to Mr. Bloxam and confirmed as his plant. R. ramosus is fully 
and ably described in Jour. Bot., ix., 330, 332. 


* Prof, Babington considers this very like the variety he calls rosulentus, 


S4 


THE FLORA OF WARWICKSHIRE. 


R. rhamnifolius, W. and N. Buckthorn-leaved Bramble. 
Native: In hedges and thickets. Local. July, August. 
I. Pool Hollies Wood, Sutton Park; Hay Lane, Solihull; Brockhill 


10 


Lane, Honily; Ridge Lane, near Bentley Park; lane from 
Stonebridge to Castle Bromwich; lane by Chalcot Wood; 
Marston Green. 

Near Haywoods; near Allesley; Rounshill Lane, Kenilworth ; 
lane from Kingswood to Rowington. 

The form which Mr. Bloxam called R. cordifolius occurs 
occasionally with the type. 


R. discolor, JV’. and N. Common Bramble. 

Native: In hedges and thickets. Common. July, August. 

More or less abundant throughout the county. 

R, thyrsoideus, Jini. Thyrsus-flowered Bramble. 

Native: In hedges. Rare. July, August. 

I. Stoke and Hartshill, Bab. Brit. Rub., p.111; Marston Green; a 
rampant form of this also occurs near Hoare Park, Atherstone 
Road. 

Il. Near Alveston Pastures, collected when pote there with the 
Rev. W. W. Newbould; Kingswood. 

The plants from the above stations are what Mr. Bloxam con- 
sidered to be typical R. thyrsoideus. 

Var. macroacanthus, Blox. 

Native: In hedges and on banks in marly soils. Local. 

I. “ R. discolor, ce, macroacanthus, Bell Salt, 10 Bab. Syn.; between 
Mancetter and Hartshill! abundant; A. Bloram in Herb. Bor. ;” 
lanes about Shirley. 

Il. Abundant on marly banks near Tardebigg and Hewell Grange, 
Herb. Brit. Mus., 1875, J. Bagnall. 

On the plant from Tardevigg Professor Babington remarks, ‘ This 
T call a fine form of R. thyrsoideus, very near to, if not identical 
with, Bloxam’s macroacanthus, but his authentic specimens have 
rather different-shaped leaves,” 1874. 

The plant at Hartshill is certainly very near the Tardebigg plant, 
but has more strongly deflexed prickles-on the panicle. It was 
abundant in the lane from Mancetter to Hartshill in 1875. 

R, leucostachys, Sm. Long-clustered Bramble. 

Native: In heathy places and hedges. Common. July, August. 

I. Atherstone, Blow., Bab. Brit. Rub., p. 122; Sutton Park; Maxtoke 
Park; lanes about Solihull; Marien’ Knowle, ete. 

II. Near Rugby, Blox., Bab. Brit. Rub., p. 122; Weston Wood; Stivi- 
chall Common; Kenilworth, ete. 

Var. b. vestitus, Weihe. 

On banks and in woods. More frequent than the type. 

I. Olton canal bank; near Maxtoke Priory; Meriden Shafts; Ballard’s 
Green, Arley; near Moor Hall, Sutton; Trickley Coppice, ete. 

II. Coventry Park, 7. Kirk, Herb. Brit. Mus.; Kenilworth Heath; 


Allesley; a peculiar form with ternate leaves and very hairy 
glandular stem is abundant on banks near Hewell Grange, and 
a similar form having sepals adpressed to the fruit is abundant 
in Little Shortwood in the same district. 

It is often difficult to sepurate these varieties satisfactorily. 


THE FLORA OF WARWICKSHIRE. 85 


R. Grabowskii, JV eile. Grabowski’s Bramble. 


i 


At 


Ue 


1 


Native: In hedges and woods. Rare. July, August. 

Hartshill Wood, Bab. Brit. Rub., 126. A plant very closely like 
this occurs in hedges, Warwick Road, between Solihulland Olton 
Reservoir; it is, however, more robust than Mr. Bloxam’s 
specimens, which were garden grown. The plant occurred as 
late as 1875 in the Rev. A. Bloxam’s garden, at the Rectory, 
Harborough Magna ! 


. Colemanni, lox. Coleman’s Bramble. 


Native: In hedges. Rare. July, August. 


. A plant apparently identical with Mr. Kirk’s specimen of the 


Coventry plant in Perry’s herbarium occurs atthe north end of 
Sutton Park. A peculiar form of this from the lane near 
New Park, Middleton. Abundant in a stone quarry near 
Hartshill, confirmed by Professor Babington. 

Near the railway station at Coventry, Bab. Brit. Rub., 130; R. 
infestus, near the six fields, Coventry, T. Kirk, Herb. Per. 


. Salteri, Bab. Salter’s Bramble. 


Native: In woods. Rare. July, August. 


. Inasmall wood, Wheyporridge Lane, Solihull, named for me by 


Professor Babington ; Arley Wood. Professor Babington con- 
firms this as Bloxam’s Salteri. 

Var. b. calvatus, Blox. 

Native: In hedges and quarries. Rare. July, August. 


. Abundant in a sandstone quarry, Cornels End, near Berkswell; 


Oldbury, near Atherstone. 

Wyken Lane, near Coventry; named by Professor Babington. 

The plant from Wyken Lane is a very different plant in many 
respects from the Cornels End plant. 


. carpinifolius, JI”. and. N. Hornbeam-leaved Bramble. 


Native: On heath lands. Rather rare. July, August. 


. Abundant on Sutton Coldfield. The plant from this locality deter- 


mined by Professor Babington. Middleton Heath; Brookhill 
Lane, Berkswell. 

Kenilworth Heath. Confirmed by Professor Babington, who says, 
“It is very like the tomentose plant referred to in ‘Brit. 
Rubi.,’ p. 139, from Dr. Hort.” 


. Villicaulis, IV”. and N. Pilose-stemmed Bramble. 


Native: In hedges and woods. Local. July, August. 


. Atherstone and Hartshill, Bab. Brit. Rub., 146; Doe Bank, near 


Sutton; Trickley Coppice; New Park; Middleton Park. The 
plants from the last three stations differ from the type in 
having a more glandular, setose, and prickly stem. Hay Lane, 
Solihull; lane from Meriden to Hampton-in-Arden; near Moor 
Hall, Sutton; Bentley Park. 

Var. b. derasus, Miill., adscitus, Geney. 


. Coventry Road, between Allesley and Meriden. The plant from 


this station was so named by Professor Babington. 
A plant closely allied to this, R. heteroclitus (Blox.), is abundant 
in New Park, Middleton. See “ Journal of Botany.”* 
A eet aoimea like R. Warrenii (Blox.), abundant near Temple 
alsall. 


(To be continued.) 


* Notes on Rubi, * Journal of Botany,” 1878, p, 208, 


86 REVIEWS. 


Acdielvs. 


Lee ee w 
Geology of the Counties of England and of North and South Wales. By 

W. J. Harrison. 8vo. London, 1882; pp. 16, xxvrm., 346. Price 8s. 
Tur geology of England, as a whole, has of late years been described 
in two volumes: Mr. Harrison has now added a third, and so brought 
the subject up to the standard of the regulation novel. Sir A. Ramsay, 
in his ‘‘ Physical Geology and Geography of Great Britain,” has treated 
English geology from the physical standpoint, entering largely into 
such questions as the conditions that prevailed during various geological 
periods, and the causation of our hills, plains, valleys, and lakes. Of 
this work it is enough to say that it reached a fifth edition in 1878, 
and that it has grown from a wee yolume to a bulky one of over 650 
pages. 

Mr. H. B. Woodward, in his ‘‘ Geology of England and Wales” (496 
pages, published in 1876), has given us a systematic description of our 
various rocks in stratigrapbical order, so that his book is essential to 
workers on English geology, and forms a fit companion to that of Sir 
A. Ramsay. 

One would have thought that these two geologists had exhausted the 
subject, as far as a general treatise is concerned ; but Mr. Harrison has 
cleverly cut in with a third work on a different plan, namely, from a 
topographical standpoint. 

After a short introduction on the principles of Geology, with an 
outline of the geology of England, and a list of the chief books and 
papers thereon, he describes the various counties in alphabetical order. 
At the head of each of these 45 descriptions is a list of the Scientific 
Societies and Museums that flourish in the county or district, of the 
Geological Survey publications referring to it, and of the other chief 
works on its geology up to the latest date. The formations are then 
noticed, beginning with the oldest, and are illustrated by more than a 
hundred woodcuts of sections, views, and fossils. 

Of course the descriptions of the various districts cannot be of a 
very detailed nature, their length varying from four pages, in the case 
of Huntingdonshire and Rutland, to twelve with Lancashire, Leicester- 
shire (it would have been hard if the author had not brought this 
county to the front !), the West Riding of Yorkshire, and North Wales. 
Should any southern geologist feel hurt at the natural preponderance 
of these last divisions, it may comfort him to know that Hampshire 
and the Isle of Wight have together 15 pages. By the use of small but 
very clear type, the author has managed, however, to stow away a large 
amount of information under each heading, quite enough for the great 
majority of those wishing for geologic food; whilst his lists of works 
enable any heavy feeders, who, like Oliver Twist, ask for more, to 
satisfy their abnormal appetite to any extent. 

Of course no one accustomed to geological work needs to be told 
that the author cannot have evolved such a book from the depths of his 


~ 


REVIEWS, 87 


own inner consciousness: it must have involved almost unlimited use 
of the writings of geologists at large. What will be the feelings of 
those who expect that everything should be original when Mr. Harrison 
acknowledges having consulted more than 4,000 papers, etc.? In 
this, clearly, he has taken the proper course, and geologists will allow 
that he has gathered his harvest of knowledge discreetly. 

With regard to the woodcuts. Old friends are constantly showing 
their faces, and many a geologist will even recognise his own children ! 
Here, too, our author seems to have taken the wisest course, in 
ransacking the works of his brethren for the figures that may best 
illustrate his descriptions, instead of striving for novelty, which is not 
needed in a work of this kind, The selection of these figures has been 
carefully made, and their reproduction admirably carried out. 

T have left fault-finding to the last; it is so pleasant to have a 
parting-fling at an author! The first sixteen pages of the book are 
without paging, though the index (which might, perhaps, come better 
at the end) can hardly have been so small a matter as to count for 
nought ; but this is Mr. Harrison’s look out. If he choose to make as 
little as possible of his work, one must admire his modesty. Again, 
with the proverbial perversity of human nature, he has not made his 
work of the same size, nor its binding of the same colour, as the kindred 
works of Ramsay and Woodward, alongside of which it should be 
found on the shelves of English geologists. At present we have to sand- 
wich his more slender brown book between the two stouter green ones. 
Let us hope that whilst the latter may grow taller in new editions, the 
former may speedily fatten and become verdant. W. W. 
The Flora of the Clent and Lickey Hills and Neighbouring Parts of the 

County of Worcester. By William Mathews, M.A. Stourbridge: 

Mark and Moody. 

Tuts is a second and enlarged edition of a well-known little book, 
originally prepared in 1868. I[t would be superfiuous for our local 
readers to be told that it is a book well and carefully done, and 
thoroughly to be relied on. It would be impossible for Mr. Mathews 
to write a book of a different character. We can cordially recommend 
it to all who are interested in the district. Wiens: 

Report of the Rugby School Natural History Society for the Year 1880. 

A. J. Lawrence, Rugby, 1881; 64 pp. and six plates. 

Rvesy has long been distinguished among our great public schools for 

_the able and practical teaching of science. Its masters have always 
included science teachers of ability, who have been able to com- 
municate to many of the boys the enthusiasm with which they were 
themselves inspired. The present report contains some capital 
papers by various members of the school, among which we note 
those on the ‘‘ Carboniferous Limestone of Denbighshire,” by E. H. 
Acton, and on “ Bells,” by H. J. Elsee. The report of the geological 
section includes a valuable list of Rugby fossils, showing their zones 
and localities. Among these, however, it has surprised us to see that 
Avicula inequivalvis (young) and Cardiwn truncatum have been 
obtained from the Rhetic beds. The report of the Temple Obser- 
vatory by that able astronomer, Mx. Seabroke, is given as usual in the 
appendix, Wid. El. 


88 REVIEWS. 


The British Moss-Flora. By R. Braithwaite, M.D.,F.L.S. Part V. 4s. 
Fam. vi., Levucopryace®. 
Fam. vit., Dicranaces. (Part I.) 
Tuts part contains the history aud generic characters of the iamily 
Leucobryacese, and gives a full and able description of the sole 
European species Leucobryum glaucum, together with the synonymy 
of the plant from the time of Ray’s Synopsis to that of the most recent 
British and foreign bryologists. This species is illustrated by an Imperial 
8vo. plate, giving beautifully drawn figures of the plant, natural size, and 
magnified figures of the fruit, the peristome, the leaves, and transverse 
sections of the leaves to show the foramina and chlorophyllose ducts. 

Following this is an account of the family Dicranacee, with a useful 
table of the sub-families, genera, and species of that family. This part 
treats of the sub-families Ditrichesze and Dicranellew, and descriptions 
are given of all the British species belonging to the genera Archidium, 
Pleuridium, Ditrichum, Swartzia, Dicranella, and Anisothecium. 

To each species a full synonymy is given, so that the plant may be 
readily traced through any flora past or recent. These sub-families are 
illustrated by three Imperial 8vo. plates, giving full illustrations, natural 
size and magnified, of leaves, fruit, leaf sections, and cell structure of 
each species, with that fidelity and fulness which is so characteristic 
of the author. The work is published by the author, at 303, Clapham 
Road, London J. E. Baenanu. 


Guide to the Geological Collections in the University Museum, Oxford. By 
Professor Prestwicu. Clarendon Press, 1881. 

Tue Oxford Museum now contains excellent collections of rocks, 
minerals, and fossils. The materials of the building itself were specially 
selected to display the ornamental and building stones of the British 
Isles, and the specimens within show the result of the able work for 
many years of the late (Professor Phillips) and present (Professor 
Prestwich) occupants of the geological chair. This guide to the 
Museum includes sixty-four pages of close print, and will be useful 
not only to local students, but to all who collect and arrange geological 
specimens. A. good point in the arrangement is that the rich local 
collections from the Stonesfield slate, etc., are kept separate from the 
general or typical series. W. J. H. 


METEOROLOGY OF TE Rear Dai Asha Ss 
THE WEATHER OF FEBRUARY, 1882. 
BY CLEMENT L. WRAGGE, F.R.G.S., F.M.S., ETC. 


The month opened with fine, quiet weather and high pressures, 
and some subsequent fog occurred. The continued mildness was the 
characteristic feature ; and the mean temperature for Central England 
may be given as 42°0. At Loughborough the mean was nearly five 
degrees above that of February, 1881, and at Orleton it was rather 
more than 13° above the average of the last twenty years. Vegetation 
was very forward, and many wild flowers were in bloom, 


THE WEATHER OF FEBRUARY, 7] 


| RAINFALL. | ' SHADE TEMP. 
i Fa ‘S| Greatest falll=~| Absolute | Absolute 
STATION. OBSERVER. || 5] in 24 honrs. = 2! Maximum. | Minimum- 
lIn.| In.| Date. 3|Dege/ Date. |Deg| Inte, 
| | | | 
OUTPOST STATIONS. | | 
Spital Cemetery, Carlisle ....|I. Cartmell, Esq., F.M.S. 4] 25 12/568) 22 |95°7 2 
Scarborough (a).... ‘/F. Shaw, Bsq., F.M.S....... 67 | 26 |11/553| 92 | 93] 9 
Blackpool (a!—South Shore. .|C. T. Ward, Esq., 7 A..F.M.S. él 26 18 |519) 95 )794 2 
North Shore.. = —|501) 2 (296 g 
Llandudno (a) .....2.00005 ».|J. Nicol, Ksq., M.D..+...+-. | *88 27 16{/—|/ — /|s818 2 
Lowestoft (a) ..... ‘ .|H. KE. Miller, Esq......... | 67 14 8 |52°5) 26 |29°2 F 
Carmarthen (a,b) ....... ‘|G. J. Hearder, Esq.. M. D.. “85 25 | —|54°0) 14 /82°6) 5,16 
Cardiff (@)...........+2..-..+.|W. Adams, Esq., C.E. .... | “60 28 | 15/570) 21 = |8es| 4 
Altarnum, near Launceston. .|Rey. J. Power, M.A. 153 26 16 | 55°0} 15 250) 9 
Sidmouth (4) ... W. T. Radford, Esq., 62) 38 10 |57°2} 24 [330] 5 
Les Ruettes Brayes,Guernsey|A. Collenette, Hsq.. F. Ms | 66 25 | 15) 5£5) 12) 30° 7 
(a) | | | | 
MGIMBOY i. ois esc ccn..s/k. C. Carey, Req., M.D....;| i136 DA 25 | 9) 540) 96 jean q 
| | 
MIDLAND STATIONS. | 
HEREFORDSHIRE. | | | | 
Burghill (a) .. seeee.s-{Z. A. Chapman, Esq. ....../3'56| “78 28 11 | 546} 18/293 2 
SHROPSHIRE. | | | | 
Woolstaston .. Rey. kK. D. Carr 75 26 18 |29°0 2 
Stokesay (a@)..... M.D. La Tonche .... | "58 13 13) (273 2 
Bishop's Castle . RK. Griffiths, Esq. 9) G8) % 21 120;0 16 
More Rectory.......... Sees Rev. A. S. Male...... /2:96|.°69 | 28 12/820, 20, 16 
Dowles, near Bewdley ...... J. M. Downing, Esq. 84/55 15 5 17 |23°0 2 
WORCESTERSHIRE. | | | | 
Orleton, near Tenbury (a)..../T. H. Davis, Esq., F.M.S. i 28 12) 3-7 13 0) 
West Malvern A. H. Hartland, sq. ..... 28 | 15 | 50°5| 18. 25 |28°0 
Evesham ....... e .|'T. J. Slatter, isq., F.G.S... 14 10 {545} 25 ve 
Pedmore ....... sees ..|. R. Marten, Nsq. 28 10/560) 18 ! 
Stourbridge .......... -|Mr. J. Jefferies ......... 2°78 28 14/550) 18 [26° 1 
Cawney Bank, Dudley claance Mr CO. Beale s.. cccs esas. |2°68 | * 28 10 560°0/18, 18, 25 310 2,15 
STAFFORDSHIRE. | | 
Dennis, ere eriigs (a, b)....|C. Webb, Esq. .... 238 | 18/540) 18  |29° 0) 1 
Kinver .. -.+ee/Revy. W. H. Bolton 28 13?) 55°0)17, 25, 26/26°0 1 
Walsall.. .|N. EK, Best, Esq. . 28 14 500 20, 24, 26 260, 1 
Lichfield “fk Sage seeeeeeeid. P, Roberts, Ksq. 28 28 | 57" 1s 2 3 
Burton-on-Trent «eoeee- (GC, U. Tripp, Esq., F.M.S. ../9°11| *66 28 2,14 
Weston-under- -Lyziard oe--.-{Hon. & Rev. J. Bridgeman 2° 70| ‘75 28 2 
Wrottesley (a) ... K. Simpson, sq. .......... laa) | ‘81 98 2 
Barlaston (a) .........see++++)W. Scott, Hsq., F.M.S. ....|2°60| *52 28 
BEBO) lect ccte ance sa)s .....|Rev. G. T. Ryves, F.M.S. ../981] ‘91 | 28 
Heath House, Chendle (a)... J.C. Philips, sq., F.M. 3. j2°79 | “91 238 | 
Oakamoor, Churnet Valley (a) Mr, Williams .. 3 85 | 28 | 


Beacon Stoop,Weaver Hillsia) Mr. James Hull ..........)! 
Alstonfield ..................|Rev. W. H. Purchas ......(/3°67| °96 36 «| 
DERBYSHIRE. | 


| 


Stony Middleton ............;Rev. Urban Smith ......../2:97/1'16 | 28 
Fernslope, Belper...... .|F. J. Jackson, Esq. -/236|1'00 | 28 
Belper ()......... . J. Hunter, Esq., C. E. F. M. $.2:86| °97 28 
BWOROOI eo. sae cc ciseiasncies 3 he Barber, Ugo estsieisinieiniee 2°26 | “84 98 | 
NOTTINGHAMSHIRE. | 
PRASRTIGIO) (GQ) "= atolcic caine caste |W. Tyrer, Ksq., F.M.S. ..../1:99) “74 1) 8 12 | 53:2 18 = |27°4| 2 
Park Hill, Nottingham (a). . H. Johnson, Esq. eee [128] “To 28 13 |54°4] 18 272 3 
Stee y (0)! ceceece ences .../T. L. K. Edge, Wsq........./2519| ‘80 | 98 | 15/530] 18 |263) 2 
ATOR 5-5 0550 Betete atniale .../J. N. Dufty, Esq., F.G.S. ..| ‘74 | 30 26 2 | 560 13 |25°0} 1 
LEICESTERSHIRE. } | | | | | 
Loughborough (a).... ..|W. Berridge, Esq., F.M.S....2°07! °67 li 18 | 555} 18 |27°0} 3 
cies wee OE REMIMOR, DSO) \sislecinisipticiss 1°62 | *70 14 | 11/55°0} 25 (|27°0 4 
cester ..'J.C. Smith, sq. .. -/2°32] "81 14 142/550) 18 =j27°2| 4 
PAS TERE PM GU Uva ralele a's occ cre cin | MEY, E's OATECL! vleic aac oe -(1°90| °74; 28 11 ; 54°0/25,26,27) — | — 
Kibworth ...... eae .|T. Macaulay, Esq. ......../1°89| “68 14 12 | 51°0} 12, 24 /26°0 1 
Waltham-le-Wold ...- .| Edwin Ball, Esq. ......... -/1°83 | °7# 14 11 53:0} 26 |26°0 1 
Dalby Hall (b) ...............\G. Jones, Esq...... ancora)! ti) Sy l4 2 52:0} 21 |23°0 2 
Coston Rectory, Melton (a)... Rev. A. M. Rendell......../1'68) “71 14 | %{543) «18 2b3 2 
WARWICKSHIRE. | | 
St. Mary’s College, Oscott (a) J. MacElmail, Esq. ........)2°85 | “76 28 10 |57°5|/? 18 i o— 
Henley-in-Arden ..... Siaiarete .|T. H. G. Newton, Esq. ..../2°44| °73 28 12 }54C} 5 2,4 
Kenilworth (a) ............. . F. Slade, Ksq., C.K., F.M.S./1:99 | "60 u 10 | 54:8} 95 4 
Coundon, Coventry (b) ...... Lieut.-Col. IK. Caldicott..../1°72) “74 l4 10 53°0) 18 2 
Rugby School (c) ............ Rev. T. N. Hutchinson ....|2°14| ‘75 28 11 |562) 12 2 
NORTHAMPTONSHIRK, | } | 
Sedgebrooke, Northampton CC. A. Markham, Esq. ....../1°99| ‘72 14 11 55°0 18, 26 240 2 
Lowcester ... seeeeee J. Webb, Ksa. 1'91| ‘68s| 18 Oo) — | — _ 
Kettering........+.+..- . J. Wallis, Esq. .... £9) 65 l4 10 |55°0} 26 = |260 2 
BEDFORDSHIRE. | | | 
Aspley Guise, Woburn (@).... E. E. Dymond, Esq., F.M.S,)148 | °85 28 10 | 54°2 26 23°0 2 
OXFORDSHIRE | | | | 
Ratcliffe Observatory, Ox. (a) The Staff . Mev eeeesesILoal Oo 28 | 8/558) 26 /26°1 4 
WILTSHIRE. 
Marlborough (a) ............ Rev. T. A. Preston, F.M.S.|2°35| ‘57 | 28 9 55°0) 14 [258 4 
GLOUCESTERSHIRE, } 
Cheltenham (a) ..............,R. Tyrer, Esq., B.A., F.M.S- 2°98 Sis} | 14 12 | 55°0'18, 25, 26/26°2 5 


} 


(a) At these Stations Stevenson’s Thermometer Screen is in use. and the values may be regarded 
as strictly intercomparable. 

All observations received on the new Form except those marked (b). 

(c) Glaisher’s pattern of thermometer screen employed at these stations, 


90 THE WEATHER OF FEBRUARY. 


Only some four or six frosts occurred, and it appears that snow 
(mingled with rain) fell only during the depression of the 15th. Some 
hail fell in the Churnet Valley at that time. The barometer again ran 
high on the 20th, and a deep depression crossed on the 27th, bringing in 
some places nearly two-thirds of the total rainfall of the month. The 
mean amount of cloud was about 8°5 (scale 0O—10), and the mean relative 
humidity about 90 per cent. South-south-westerly winds prevailed. 
The Solar radiation thermometer, black bulb in vacuo, registered 1047 
on the 17th, and the terrestrial radiation instrument 17-2 on the 2nd, 
both extremes occurring at Aspley Guise. Total duration of sunshine 
44 hours at Strelley, 47 at Aspley Guise, and 41 at Oxford. At 
Blackpool ozone was registered on 21 days, and the average amount 
was 5°3, the mean at Carmarthen was 4:0, and at Oxford only 0°6. 
Mean temperature of the soil at Strelley 40-0, at a depth of one foot. 
Sea temperature at Scarborough 42°3, or about two degrees warmer 
than the average of the previous five years. 


Nores By Opservers.—Dennis. —So mild throughout that snowdrops, 
crocuses, violets, wallflowers, pansies, etc., have been blooming from 
the beginning of the month. Burton.—18th, Hazel catkins numerous ; 
common elder in leaf. 19th, Gorse in flower. 20th, Celandine in 
flower. 23rd, Cuckoo actually heard at Rolleston. 21st, Black cur- 
rant in leaf. 25th, Lark, thrush, etc., in full song, and most birds 
building. 28th, Rhubarb aud gooseberry in leaf. MKenilworth.—8th, 
Catkins on nut trees. 10th, Gooseberry and black currants shooting. 
14th, Gathered single wild daffodil. 19th, Salix in blossom. 24th, 
Gathered double daffodil in garden. 20th, Red currants and rasp- 
berries shooting, and elms budding. Cheltenham.—Honeysuckle leaves 
well expanded at the close, and violets in full bloom. 


Correspondence, 
ee ee 

Priwvunta Vunearts.—lIf the stigma and pollen of Primula vulgaris 
are microscopically examined, say with a power of about seventy 
diameters, certain marked characters will be noticed. As is well 
known, there are two forms of Primula vulgaris—(1), m1 which 
the anthers are situated at the top of the corolla tube, and the 
stigma occurs about half-way up the corolla tube; (2), in which 
the anthers occur about half-way up the corolla tube, and the 
stigma is found at the top ofthe corolla tube. The first form is 
called the rose-centred form, the second is calledthe pin-centred 
form. If the pollen of the rose-centred form (1) is examined microscopi- 
cally it will be found to be twice the size of that of the pin-centred form (2); 
and if the stigma of form (1) is examined it will be seen to be covered 
by very slight elevations or is what may be termed papillate, whilst the 
stigma of form (2) will be found to be covered by a thick coating of 
longish hair-like processes. These differences, I find, are also to be seen 
in the two forms of the cowslip, and in the two forms of the polyan- 
thus. I find also that the form (1) has its stigma invariably dusted 
with its own pollen; out of all the specimens examined during the 
past ten years I have never seen the pollen of the form (2) on the 
stigma of form (1). The stigma of form (2) I have invariably found 
dusted with the pollen of form (1). It would be interesting to note 
which of the two forms produces most seeds,form (1), which Ihave always 
found self-fertilised, or form (2), which appears to be always cross- 
fertilised,—J. E. BaGnanu, 


CORRESPONDENCE. 9] 


——< - - - — — ——— 


Puants iN Broom First Werk or January, 1882.—I enclose a list 
of plants found by myself in bloom in the first week of this year. 
I thought such a list would prove interesting. It shows how extremely 
mild the winter is this year. If you remember, the winter of 1877 and 
opening months of 1878 were remarkably mild, but I am under the 
impression that the present winter is milder. There are not so many 
plants in flower, for this reason that many of the late summer flowers 
were killed by the frost and snows in November or early part of 
December. Vegetation is everywhere remarkably forward, and in 
many trees the new buds are opening. Rumex obtusifolius, Sisym- 
brium thalianum, Potentilla Fragariastrum, Sisymbrium officinale, 
Cardamine hirsuta, Heracleum Sphondylium, Ranunculus Ficaria, 
Seneci vulgaris, Geranium molle, Draba verna, Lactuca muralis, 
Lychnis vespertina, Veronica Buxbaumii, VY. agrestis, V. hederifolia, 
Scleranthus annuus, Viola tricolor, Calluna vulgaris{ Capsella Bursa- 
pastoris, Lamium album, L. amplexicaule, L. purpureum, Cerastium 
viscosum, C. vulgatum, Bellis perennis, Helleborus feetidus, Taraxacum 
Dens-leonis, Ulex Europeus, Vicia hirsuta, Alchemilla arvensis, Rubus 
communis, Sherardia arvensis, Lapsana communis, Spergula arvensis, 
Sagina procumbens, Euphorbia peplus, Galanthus nivalis, Primula 
vulgaris, Fumaria officinalis, Urtica urens, Ranunculus repens, 
Matricaria inodora, Carduus nutans, Euphorbia helioscopia, Sinapis 
arvensis, Sonchus oleraceus, Myosotis collina, Matricaria parthenium, 
Hieracium sylvaticum, and male catkins of Alder and Hazel.— J. 
CasweELL, St. Mary’s, Oscott, January 19th, 1882. 


Borantcat Notes From Soutru Beps, with VotcHEer SPECIMENS :— 


Date. | Date. Date. 


NAME. 1880. 1881. 1883, Aspect.| Situation, Soil, ete. 


| 
| | 
Helleborus viridis ....\Feb. 11; — Jan. 7 Open |Moist meadow—First fo- 
| liage and inflorescence 
.|April 5 Mar. 15Jan. 10 N.E. |Wall top—In fruit this 
| year Jan. 10; the other 
dates in flower only. 


Cardamine hirsuta 


Corylus Avellana _...|Feb. 22\Feb. 13 Jan. 14 Open Hedge row. 
Potentilla Fragarias-|) — |Mar. 26Jan. 15 W.  |Coppice. 
trum | | 
Tussilago Farfara_ . .|Mar. 3) — Jan. 25 S. |Railway bank. 
Ranunculus Ficaria ....Mar. 13) — — | Open |Boggy soil. 
Ranunculus Ficaria.... — |Mar. 6Jan. 29 W. |Warm bank, sandy soil; 


not general till middle 

of February in 1882. 

Draba verna .| — |Mar. 8Feb. 19 Open |Fallow fields. 

Adoxa moschatellina |Mar, 20 April 5Feb. 12 S. |Warm bank—Foliage & 
| | inflorescence about 3 

in. high, but flowers 


| unopened. 
Anemone nemorosa .... Mar. 13 Mar. 18 Mar. 3 — _ |Woods. 
Salix caprea ..|Mar. 12. — Mar. 5 Open |Hedge rows. 
Petasites vulgaris ...;Mar. 13 Mar. 29 Mar. 10 Open |Boggy meadow. 
Caltha palustris ..|Mar. 13 Mar. 15 Mar. 10 Open |Boggy meadow. 
Prunus spinosa ../April18 — (Mar. 16 Open /|Hedges. 


It should be stated that the stations of the above were the same in 
each season, or with precisely similar conditions. During the whole of 
the present abnormal winter, from October, 1881, primroses and dog 
mercury have been in blossom in coppices where the undergrowth had 
been previously cut down, but none appeared where this had not been 
done. In fallow fields Veronica arvensis and Scandix Pecten-veneris 
have been in blossom both plentifully and continuously.—J. Sacunvers, 
Luton, March 18th,.1882. 


92 CORRESPONDENCE—GLEANINGS. 


Dares or Frowerine, &c., AROUND NorrincHaM, witH Soin, Aspect, &e. 
—Tussilago Farfara (Coltsfoot), February 20th, on both north and south 
sides of sandy railway embankment. Primula veris (Primrose), Feb. 
5th, in wooded dale, clay soil. Viola odorata, March 5th, in wooded 
dale; damp; clay soil. Apricot, in bloom, March 12th, wall facing 
east. Hedge, in leat, Feb. 24th, on edge of wood, and sheltered from 
north and north-west. First lark heard, Feb. lst.—H. F. Jounson, 
Nottingham. 


Gleanings. 
= ee 
Tue Screnriric Rout.—Six numbers, constituting Part I. of this 
new publication, have now been issued, the subject dealt with being 
Climate.” The first number of Part IL. will be issued in May next, 
and will be devoted to ‘‘Aqueous Vapour.” The conductor of 
the “Scientific Roll ” (Mr. Alexander Ramsay, F.G.S8.) requests that all 
communications be addressed to him at 10, Bouverie Street, London, E.C. 


‘Toe Mryor Pranets.—We now know 220 tiny orbs—asteroids as they 
are called—which circle round the sun in paths which lhe between the 
orbits of Mars and Jupiter. Certain astronomers make it their 
business to look for these minute members of the solar system, but all 
of any size seem to have been discovered, for during 1881 only one new 
minor planet was observed, and this by Herr Palisa of the Vienna 
Observatory. Setting aside the two or three largest of the asteroids, 
the diameter of these little planets varies from five to fifteen miles. 
The conditions of existence (supposing it to be possible) on one of 
these small asteroids, and the scientific phenomena which would be 
seen by a dweller on one, are full of fascinating problems. 


Fosstrs in Merrrors.—Our readers will remember that the late Sir 
Wyville Thomson, in his presidential address to the British Association 
at Glasgow, hinted at the possibility that the first germs of life might 
have been brought to the earth by or on a meteor! More recently a 
German doctor named Hahn professed,—and_ professes, for he refuses 
to believe anything to the contrary,—to have discovered traces of many 
species of fossils in sections of meteors which he has examined under 
the microscope. All the meteoric masses hitherto discovered are irony 
or stony masses, indubitably of igneous origin, and although the 
microscopic structure of the minerals composing these meteors is often 
curious and complex, yet no microscopist skilled in the examination of 
rocks has ever hinted at having seen anything, which by any possibility 
could be considered organic. Dr. Hahn, however, has been sending 
specimens and papers describing them over all Europe. and he appears 
at last to have begun to disseminate his discoveries in the New World. 
The American Journal called ** Science” (Vol. II., p. 410) has an 
extraordinary account of an interview between Dr. Hahn and Mr. 
Darwin. Of course no such interview or conversation took place. 


Eozoon CaNapENsE—is 17 A Fosstn ?—In a work lately published by 
Professors King and Rowney, they make afresh onslaught on the organic 
nature of the famous LKozoon, stating that from their researches 
among metamorphic rocks they are led to the belief that the various 
markings, tubes, etc., to which the name Hozoon has been applied, are 
all of a mineral origin, resulting from changes which have taken place 
since the formation of the rocks containing them. The authors give 
numerous illustrations of structures resembling Hozoon which they 
have seen in serpentine and allied rocks; rocks which it is alinitted 
ean contain no true fossil remains, being of an igneous nature, 


GLEANINGS—REPORTS OF SOCIETIES. 


93 


Mr. Crement L. Wracce.—We learn from the Glasgow Herald that 
at the half-yearly meeting of the Scottish Meteorological Society, held 
at Edinburgh, on 22nd March, the report of the Council was read, 
giving an account of the operations during the last six months, and 
referring particularly to the observations made by Mr. Wragge on Ben 
Nevis. Mr. Wragge followed with an interesting statement of his 
work, and Mr. Buchan, the secretary, having referred to the possible 
results that might be obtained from these observations, Sir William 
Thomson moved a resolution, recommending the Council of the 
Society at once to appeal to the British public for funds to erect on 
Ben Nevis a permanent meteorological observatory. This was seconded 
by Professor Douglas Maclagan, and unanimously agreed to. The 
proceedings were brought to a close by the presentation to Mr. Wragge 
of a gold medal, in commemoration of the remarkable work he carried 
on last summer. 


Areports of Societies. 


———__ 


BIRMINGHAM NATURAL HISTORY AND MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETY.— 
February 28th.—GEOLOGICAL SECTION—Mr. W. J. Harrison, F.G.S., was re-elected 
president, and Mr. A. H. Atkins, B.Sc., secretary of the section. Mr. Rabone 
presented to the Society a fine specimen of the Cyclopteros lumpus, or Lump 
Fish (caught at Tenby, which was described by Professor bridge. Mr. W. 
Southall exhibited a number of stones collected by earthworms at the mouth of 
their burrows. Mr. T. H. Waller, B.A., B.Se., then read a paper on “The occur- 
rence of Carbonic Acid in Crystals.” Small cavities are common in quartz and 
other crystals, containing water, chloride of sodium, carbonic anhydride, ete. 
The presence of carbonic acid has been proved by its great expansion when 
heated, and by means of the spectroscope. It exists in the liquid state at 
ordinary temperatures, and must therefore be under great pressure. When 
warmed up to 89 deg. F., the bubble disappears, being converted into gas, for at 
that temperature, which is called the critical point, no pressure whatever can 
keep it in the liquid form. This was beautifully shown by causing a current of 
warm air to impinge ona thin section of quartz while under the microscope. 
These investigations have led to several theories concerning the temperature 
and pressure at which granite was crystallised. The heat must at least have 
been equal to the critical temperature of water, viz., 790 deg. F., or the heat of 
melting zinc, and the pressure immense. Some of the bubbles of liquified gas 
are ina state of perpetual motion, as if trying to escape from their minute 
prison-house, which movement some of the slides exhibited remarkably well. 
The reasons for this curious phenomenon do not seem to be well understood, 
though several causes have been assigned for it. The paper was illustrated by 
many microscopical sections besides those mentioned, and was listened to with 
great interest. March 7.—Mr. R. W. Chase exhibited a specimen of the White- 
tailed Eagle, Haliaétus albicilla, shot at Stornoway, Isle of Lewis, and also some 
parasites (mounted) taken from the bird. Professor T. W. Bridge read a paper on 
“Deep-Sea Fishes,” in which he gave an account of the recent additions to our 
knowledge of this subject. Before 1876 not more than thirty deep-sea forms 
were discovered; now, through the voyage of the (Challenger, more than 300 are 
known. A deep-sea tish may be defined as one which lives at a depth of more 
than 200 or 250 fathoms. At these great depths, reaching from that limit down 
to 4,500 fathoms, the animals are subject to peculiar conditions, which have 
modified the species in accordance with their environment. (1) There is at that 
depth no trace of sunlight. (2: At all depths below 1,000 fathoms the water is 
everywhere only a few degrees above freezing point. (3) The pressure at 800 
fathoms ainounts to one ton per square inch, at 1,600 Lo two tons, and so on 
Whilst at the surface animals live under a pressure of lbs, only per square 


4 REPORTS OF SOCIETIES. 


inch. But difference of pressure is comparatively ineffective to produce any 
change, as the pressure without is always exactly counterbalanced by the 
pressure within. (4) The deep-sea fishes, which are mostly carnivorous, live on 

smaller fishes; these again depend for their sustenance on the remains of surface 
forms, which, when dead, sink slowly towards the bottom. They also live on 
alge whichare similarly sinking. The stomachs of fishes taken from 4,500 fathoms 
have been found to contain sea-weed. The modifications effected by these con- 
ditions are of three kinds:—(1) In the absence of sun-light the colours of the 
fishes are mostly of a simple kind, as black or silvery ; only in a few cases do we 
meet with such colours as purple. The eyes are modified in two ways—they 
either become smaller and disappear, or are greatly enlarged, or 
if they remain unchanged the fish is provided in addition with 
sensitive tactile organs, such as long streaming tentacles, which atone 
for the want of sufficient vision. But the most remarkable case is 
where we see the production of accessory visual and light-producing organs. 
On some species is found a row of accessory eyes, ranged longitudinally down 
each side of the body, and also on the tail. These consist of parts answering to 
the cornea, the crystalline lens, the vitreous humour, the retina, and the optic 
nerve of the human eye, and it is impossible to resist the conclusion that they 
are eyes capable of seeing. Still more strangely, between them are placed 
glandular structures secreting a mucus which emits a phosphorescent 
light. These are really so many small lamps, and thus the animal 
is a source of light to itself. Very many other marine forms are 
phosphorescent, and there is in these great depths, no doubt, a magnificent 
systein of submarine lighting. (2.) The skeletons of many deep-sea fishes, when 
brought to the surface, are excessively spongy, the calcareous matter is wanting, 
and the muscles are flabby. This appearance, however, may be owing to the 
rapid change of pressure to which they are subjected when raised from the 
depths. The minute quantities of gas contained in the blood and other fluids 
must expand and rupture the tissues. (3.) At all great depths the conditions 
are practically the same all over the world, so that there is nothing to prevent 
deep-sea fishes from migrating to any part of the deep sea. Accordingly we find 
that many of them have a wide range, not only over the Atlantic, but also over 
the Pacific. Uniformity of conditions produces uniformity of distribution. In 
the ocean depths there exist no effective barriers like that furnished by a 
mountain range on the surface of the earth. Mr. W. R. Hughes called attention 
to the various orders of marine animals in which phosphorescence occurs, instane- 
ing especially the phosphorescent. light observed by the members of the 
Marine Excursion to Oban in the Pennatula which they captured on that occasion. 
March 14th.—BroLoGicaL SECTION—Mr. 8. Wilkins exhibited Prunus spinosa 
(the blackthorn) in bloom, from Dorset; Mr. Morley exhibited Hymenophyllum 
Wilsoni, crested, from North Wales, and Stigeoclonium protenswm, from Barnt 
Green; My. Blatch exhibited Leptusa fumida and Phloeopora corticaiis, two 
species of coleoptera, from Sutton Coldfield, both rare, and new to the district. 
Mr. R. W. Chase exhibited four specimens of a rare migrant, Plectrophanes 
lapponica, taken near Brighton. Mr. J. EB. Bagnall exhibited Riccia glauca from 
Erdington, also stigmas and pollen of the two forms of Primula vulgaris, show- 
ing a difference in character of the long and short styles, and also in the size of 
the pollen. Mr. W. B. Grove exhibited and described on behalf of Mr. A. W. 
Wills, who was unavoidably absent, a series of microscopic slides, illustrating 
the Palmellacez, a family of confervoid alge, growing in water or on damp 
surfaces. March 2lst—Mr. Bolton exhibited a great number of specimens of the 
beautiful Holis Landsburgii, and other marine organisms, from Bangor.—Myr. 

. Goode read the general report drawn up by himself and Mr. W. P. Marshall, on 
the dredging operations at Oban in July last. He gave a description of the mode 
in which the dredging was carried on, the apparatus used, which was exhibited, 
and a list of the dredging stations, together with an abstract of the material 
obtained at each. The report also contained a number of valuable suggestions 
for improving the apparatus and the manner of usiug it in future dredging 
excursions, 


REPORTS OF SOCIETIES. 95 


BIRMINGHAM MICROSCOPISTS' AND NATURALISTS’ UNION.— 
February 6th —A meeting devoted to Special Entomology. Exhibited by Mr. 
J. W. Neville, Slide of Dissections of House Spider, showing falces, tongue, &c. 
by Mr.Wykes, Proboscis of Moth showing organs of taste),and Eggs of Blow-Fly 
by Mr. Delicate, Common Flea, stained; by Mr. Darley, Foreign Lepidoptera ; 
by Mr. Poland, Stuffed Specimens of Night Jar (foreign); by Mr. Bradbury, 
Micro Dissections of the Colorado Beetle. = February 13th :—Exhibited by Mr. 
Darley, Pale Brindled Beauty, -and Dotted Porder {Moths, from Sutton; by Mr. 
Baxter, Ophiocoma rosula under microscope ; by Mr. Moore, ‘ ommon Stickleback, 
which was infested in‘ remarkable manner by a fungoid growth, proceeding in 
tufts two-and-a-half inches in length, entirely covering the tail and a third of the 
creature ; a paper, “ Hints on Dry Mounting,” was read by Mr. Baxter. February 
20th.—Microscopical and General—Exhibited by Mr. J. W. Neville, Skin of 
Syntpta adherens, showing anchors and plates in situ; by Mr. Wykes, Sand, 
from Trent, containing foraminifera; by Mr. Delicate, Skin of Lizard, under the 
mlicroscope; by Mr. Dunn, Marine Algz, Polysiphonia fastigiita showing 
antheridia, also Chylocladia articu’ata. February 27th.—Exhibited by Mr. 
Delicate, Slide of Polycistina, from Barbadoes chalk; a paper was read on 
“Tee and its Work,” by Mr. Hindmarsh. 


CHELTENHAM NATURAL SCIENCE SOCIETY.—This Society has been 
doing admirable work during the winter by the reading of papers of high quality 
on various interesting subjects, on the regular meeting nights; and devoting 
extra nights to aseries of connected addresses, by competent authorities, dealing 
with the lower forms of life. The president, Dr."T. Wright, F.R.S., started this 
series with “An Outline of the Animal Kingdom ;” Dr, A. Pullar next read a paper 
on * The Protozoa” (the simplest forms of life); on the third evening, Dr. Edward 
T. Wilson treated of the ‘‘ Porifera and Cvelenterata.” In each case the papers 
were fully illustrated by specimens under the microscope,&c. On the 13th of April, 
Dr. Wright will occupy the fourth and last extra night of the session with a 
paper on the “ Echinodermata.” The example of this Society might be followed 
With great advantage by many other natural history societies. 


THE OXFORDSHIRE NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY.—February 14th.— 
At the University Museum, Professor Westwood, M.A., F.L.S.,in the chair. Mr. 
H. Macpherson, B.A., read “ Notes on the-Year 1881” (which have appeared in 
extenso in the “ Zoologist”), dwelling especially on his researchesin the Auvergne, 
about Geneva, and in Paris. The objects noted included the edible Frog, the 
palmate Newt, Vipers. blue-throated Warbler, etc. He then read a continuance 
of his notes on the Goldfinch, which will be printed in a future number. Mr. O. 
Vy. Aplin, President of the Ornithological section, read a summary of the 
Ornithological Occurrences in North Oxfordshire for the year 1881. Prof. West- 
wood, F.L.S., then exhibited some plates of various Oak Galls, mentioning as a 
curious fact in the life history of one of the species that the early brood pro- 
duced a different Gall, from which emerged an insect so very dissimilar from the 
latter brood as to be distinguished by a separate name and placed in a different 
genus, a fact which had only recently been pointed out. Prof. Westwood also 
exhibited and described a mole’s nest which had been presented to the Museum. 
There was also exhibited by Mr. Macpherson for Mr. Darby a specimen of the 
tufted Duck, shot near Oxford, and two of his own specimens—a hybrid between 
the Bullfinch and Goldfinch—and a Lapland Bunting from Kent.—My. Aplin 
showed a Hairy Woodpecker, supposed to have been killed in North Oxon about 
five years ago; a Snow Bunting, found in Aston-leWalls, Northamptonshire, 
January, 1879; a Crossbill, in Bodicote, Oxfordshire, in red plumage; a blue 
variety of egg of common partridge, taken near Banbury from a nest containing 
other eggs of the normal colour; eggs of Tree Sparrow, from North Oxon; and 
Alcedo ispida—England, and Alcedo Bengalensis—India, pointing out their 
resemblance in colour, but great difference in size. <A. Bengalensis takes the 
place of ispida in the East, and may almost be considered as the eastern form, 


YG REPORTS OF SOCIETIES. 


March 9th, at the University Museum, Professor Westwood, M.A., F.L.S., presid- 
ing.—E. B. Poulton, Esq., M.A., delivered a lecture on the geological causes of 
varied scenery. He commenced by describing the term “rock,” because it was 
on the various forms of rock of harder or softer nature that the various denuding 
agents, subaérial or otherwise, ‘acted with greater or lesser power. The action 
of the atmosphere, the rainfall, and the great power exerted by glaciers 
over rocks, wearing them away in different manners, were fully described. 
Taking a stand-point, the Lecturer said, on one of the Malvern hills, and looking 
eastward, one would observe the hills dwindling gradually till the gently-undu- 
lating country, such as his audience were familiar with, presented itself. This 
country was all formed of rocks of a newer era than the hill of Gneiss on which 
the observer stood. Looking west to Wales, the mountains became higher, and 
of more rugged outline, just as they were composed of older and harder strata—the 
Cambrian or Silurian rocks—while on the eastern side they were made up of 
newer and softer rocks—oolites, lias, &c.—with their strata gently dipping east- 
ward. So that, from the relative hardness of the rocks was caused, on the one 
hand, the rugged, mountainous district of Wales, while the softer rocks produced 
the gently-undulating land of central and eastern England. My. Poulton then 
gave a striking instance of a piece of this flat, fertile region being contained in a 
mountainous district, as in the Vale of Clwyd, about St. Asaph. So, too, the 
valley of the Conway showed that an older and a newer formation of a similar rock 
gave a distinct character to the scenery; the lower and older Silurian, on one 
side, made steep cliffs, on which but little vegetation, save the pine could grow: 
while the other, of softer and newer rock (the upper Silurian) made a gentle 
slope, on which grew a rich vegetation. Mr. Poulton then alluded to the fact 
that the short and steep hills were all met with in going from Oxford to Reading, 
although the latter place was really lower than Oxford; while, on the 
return journey, long, gentle inclines were met with ; and this was caused by the 
strike of all the strata facing northwards, while the gentle inclines were down 
the “dip” of the strata. The sinuous course of the river itself was also 
determined by the rocks, the river running along the out-crop, and then 
suddenly cutting its way through the ridges. He then described the terms 
“synelinal” and “ anticlinal,” and gave Snowdon as an interesting example of 
the former. The lecture was concluded by a description of geology, as influencing 
plant and animal distribution, the migration of birds, and the specialisation of 
animal forms. Mr. Macpherson read a short note on the nidification of the 
Serin-finch, in the Isle of Wight, which had been noticed by Mrs. Prestwich, in 
1868, near Freshwater, this being almost the first verified occurrence in Great 
Britain. A collection of plants from Cincinnati was exhibited by Mr. G. C. 
Druce. 

BLACKBURN FIELD NATURALISTS’ SOCIETY.—-The present session 
was opened by a meeting and conversazione, held on 16th February last, in the 
Free Library. The Mayor of |I-lackburn presided, and recommended the 
members to devote themselves chiefly to the study of local natural history. 
The Rey. J. Shortt, M.A., one of the vice-presidents, read a most interesting 
paper on ‘The Study of Nature in the Field,” in which he enlarged on it as a 
fascinating and instructive study. He claimed for the Society that it was a truly 
philanthropic one. “Its object,’ he said, ‘is to promote genuine human enjoy- 
ment, by furnishing men and women with an unfailing, inexhaustible source of 
amusement and interest. There can be no tedium of life toone who enters 
thoroughly into its spirit.” A large display of microscopical and other natural 
history objects then engaged the attention of the company, and Mr. J. D. Geddes, 
the secretary, exhibited a variety of living and other objects by means of the 
oxyhydrogen microscope. A well-arranged musical programme added to the 
pleasures of a most enjoyable evening. 


— 


Errata.—In February number, page 34, omit bottom line. Page 
35, insert same line between second and third lines from bottom. 
Page 36, lines 9 to 11, read 0-014 in., 0-001 in., 0-003 in. by 0:002 in, 


PLATE fla. 


“Reece ace 


Fig6 x 680. 


Wricet, Dain. Peyton & Co. LitH, 


THE MYXOMYCETES. 


THE MYXOMYCETES. 97 


THE MYXOMYCETES. 


BY W. B. GROVE B.A., 
Hon. Sec. Birmingham Natural History and Microscopical Society. 


(Continued from page 77.) 
DEVELOPMENT OF A SPORE. 


Let us now trace the development of the spore of a typical Myxo- 
mycete: When one of these is placed in suitable conditions, as in 
water, it dehisces, and its contents pass out as a transparent, colourless 
sphere of protoplasm, possessing sometimes a nucleus and a contractile 
vacuole.* This remains for a time motionless, but soon we can perceive 
little undulations of its contour, which gradually increase in extent 
until the shape becomes elongate, and then suddenly there is developed 
at the end next the nucleus a long flagellum, which flickers gently at 
first, then more rapidly, and at last attains power enough to move the 
body from its position. The object then resembles an ordinary free- 
swimming flagellate monad. After swimming about for a few 
hours or days it sinks to the bottom of the water, and there 
creeps about by throwing out pseudopodia, while it still retains 
its flagellum, and in this state it resembles the Infusoria 
known as Mastigamoesba and Reptomonas. The flagellum is then 
absorbed, and the creature becomes extremely similar to an ordinary 
amoeba. Both in this stage and the preceding it increases by fission, 
and takes in solid particles of matter, and apparently extracts the 
nutriment from them just as an amceba does. This point seems to be 
set at rest by the very definite observations that have been made, and 
is acknowledged by Sachs, who places the Myxomycetes among the 
Fungi, as much as by Saville Kent, who claims them for the Protozoa, 
although some mycologists appear to regard the statement as incorrect. 
De Bary and Cienkowski both witnessed the ingestion of solid food. 
Saville Kent fed his specimens upon carmine, and after a time found 
the solid particles embedded in the protoplasm, just as we find diatoms 
in an ordinary ameeba. 


DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES IN PLATE IIA. 


Fig. 1.—Craterium pedunculatum, Trent. 

Fig. 2.—Capillitium and spores of the same 

Fig. 3.—Trichia fallax, Pers. 

Fig. 4.—Elater and spores of the same. 

Fig. Pye of portion of elater of the same, to show arrangement of 
spirals. 

Fig. 6.—a, b, ¢, e, f, spores of Physarum cinereum, (Batsch.) dehiscing in water ; 
d, Jess usual form, with the protoplasm divided into two masses. 

Fig. 7.—Didymium squamulosum, (A. & §.), var. costatum. 

All the figures are drawn from nature, except fig. 5, which is diagrammatic. 


* See Plate IIL., Fig. 6. : + Grevillea, ix., 43. 


ERRATUM.—In the previous number, p. 77, the value of a micro-millimeter 
was inadvertently misstated ; it should be ;A;oth of a millimeter, 


98 THE MYXOMYCETES. 


It may be as well to pause here for a while to point out the 
significance of these facts. The capacity of taking in solid food 
is usually considered the prerogative of animals; plants imbibe 
their food in a liquid condition; and Saville Kent, who insists 
that the statement in this naked form furnishes a distinct line of 
demarcation between the Animal and Vegetable Kingdoms, considers 
that this one point, well established, decides the question. But if we 
consider the difference more deeply, I do not see that it affects the 
controversy in any way. Why do plants usually imbibe their food in 
a liquid form? Because the protoplasm of plants has the habit of 
surrounding itself with a wall of cellulose, in which are no pores 
capable of admitting solid particles of even microscopically visible 
size. Animals on the contrary have a mouth, by which they can take 
in particles of various sizes according to the capacity of the opening, 
or else, as in the Rhizopoda, their protoplasm is not surrounded by an 
impermeable wall. In either case, however, the nutriment is reduced 
to a liquid form, by digestion, before it actually enters and becomes a 
part of the substance of the body. 

If, then, we should meet with a plant in which the protoplasm was 
naked, we should expect it to possess also the power of ingesting solid 
food. It need not be said that naked protoplasm is met with in the 
Vegetable Kingdom, asin all kinds of spermatozoa or antherozoids, and 
the zoospores of Algse, and you will remember the curious observations 
of Francis Darwin upon the protrusion of naked protoplasmic filaments 
from certain glands on the leaves of the Teasel, and also from the 
cells of the stem of Agaricus muscarius.* The real difficulty is 
to explain why these fungi do not develop cellulose coats to their 
protoplasm, not to account for their taking in solid food. The 
flagellum, too, is nothing more than a minute thread of protoplasm 
projected from the body, and is possessed alike by the gonidia of 
Volvox, and most zoospores and antherozoids. 

Again, the possession of a contractile vesicle is urged as a proof 
that these creatures cannot be plants. Saville Kent says that, 
according to his observations, a rhythmically pulsating vesicle is 
possessed by none but members of the Animal Kingdom. But here 
there is a great temptation to reason in a circle; first, to make the 
possession of a contractile vesicle the criterion of animality, and then 
to declare that none except animals possess one. There are, no doubt, 
a few difficulties in the way. Our esteemed member, Mr. Wills, 
quotes, though without actually approving it, the statement of Busk, 
that the gonidia of Volvox, when young, possess one or more contractile 
vesicles. Saville Kent tries to explain the origin of the state- 
ment by the supposition that Uroglena was mistaken for Volvox. 
But the zoospores of Peronospora, of Cystopus, of some Saprolegniex, 
of Ulothrix, of Chatophora, of some Palmellaces, of IMicrospora 
floccosa, and of Stigeoclonium tenue, etc., have also been observed to be 
furnished with contractile vacuoles.} 


* “Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science,” 1878, pp. 74-82. 
+ Huxley, “Science and Culture,” pp. 164,170, and “Com ptes Rendus,” June 16, 1879, 


THE MYXOMYCETES. 99 


Lastly, it may be objected that the power of amceboid movement 
is characteristic of animal organisms. But, here again, the Volvocines 
come to our aid. Archer, in 1862, observed the primordial cells of 
Stephanosphera (an Alga allied to Volvox) leave the hyaline sphere in 
which they are usually contained, and move about the field exactly in 
the manner of agreen Ameba.* In fact, although they moved, like 
Amoeba, by extensions and retractions of pseudopodia, they went so fast 
that they might have given even Lithamaba discus fifty micro-milli- 
meters start out of a hundred, and yet have won therace. Various other 
cases of the same kind are recorded among mosses, alge, fungi, etc.,+ and 
Sachs instances the amceba-like movement of the protoplasm which 
escapes from a ruptured cell of Vaucheria, as similar in its character.} 


We left our Myxomycete in an amceboid form, creeping over the 
matrix upon which it grew, increasing by fission, and feeding perhaps 
upon the bacteria and other organised substances in the fluid. In this 
state it has received the name of Myxamceba. Where one spore has 
germinated there will probably be many more, and these, creeping 
about, meet and unite with one another in gradually increasing 
numbers, and at last form a mass, technically known as a plasmodium, 
which is relatively of colossal size, and which creeps about in a 
reticulate manner over the matrix.§ It sends out pseudopodia in 
various directions, and retracts them again, just like a gigantic amoba 
or some species of Foraminifera. 


Moreover this plasmodium consists of an outer denser transparent 
layer not containing granules, and an inner granular mass in which 
are embedded a number of contractile vesicles derived from the units 
of which the mass was formed. The plasmodium is continually 
moving while the conditions are favourable: those of the larger species 
can creep some distance and ascend bushes and plants. A distinct 
circulation or cyclosis can be observed in the contents, a streaming 
motion of the protoplasm, like that of Nitella, but more resembling 
the motion of the reticulated protoplasm of the Foraminifera, as in 
Gromia and Labyrinthula. 


‘Should the conditions become unfavourable, this plasmodium will 
pass into an encysted or resting stage, but if they continue suitable, 
the net-work begins to contract and to put forth outgrowths upwards 
of the form of the future sporangia. It then forms a firm membrane 
on the outside, usually without any trace of structure, while the 
enclosed mass proceeds to resolve itself into spores by free cell 
formation. If the sporangium is to contain threads, part of the 
protoplasm collects into stringy filaments. The lime is crystallised 


* “Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science,” 1865, pp. 116, 185. 
+ “Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science,” 1862, pp. 96-103. 
t+ Sachs’ Botany, p. 41. 

__ § Lhave seen a plasmodium of Physarum cinerewm, forming a patch of jelly- 
like substance nearly as large as one’s hand, which roamed about the surface of a 
rotten stump for three weeks, and finally retreating to the base formed its 
sporangia in a few hours. In a day or two the sporangia were ripe and dehisced, 
wd in a week nothing was left but their bleached and empty bases. 


100 THE MYXOMYCETES—NOTES ON BEAVERS, 


out, either in the wall of the sporangium or in the capillitium, or in 
both, and the water is expelled or evaporates. This process takes 
place very quickly, and thus the cycle of development is completed. 


In a few instances, as in Enerthenema and Ophiotheca, the spores 
are described as being attached to the threads, but it is possible that 
this is a mistake, and that the spores are really always free, being 
formed like those of the Ascomycetes. Certainly I could find no trace 
of their attachment in any specimen of Enerthenema which I have 
examined.* It will be seen that, in this formation of the spores by 
endogenous division, the Myxomycetes differ essentially from the 
Trichogastres and the Nidulariacei, between which they are placed in 
Berkeley’s classification, as well as from the other Gastromycetes, in 
which the spores are always borne upon sporophores, just as in the 
higher group. 


It is but just to say that the foregoing account of the germination 
of the spores is not uncontradicted. Both Berkeley and Currey + 
mention having observed the spore of a Myxomycete germinate in the 
ordinary way by the emission of a hyphal filament ; but we may more 
easily suppose that in these cases the spore of some extraneous species 
was accidentally present than that all other observers are wrong, or 
that both methods of germination are possible. Van Tieghem has 
recently described a modification of the process related above, where 
the myxamcebe, instead of forming a plasmodium in which the units 
of which it is composed are undistinguishable, remain completely 
independent though aggregated together, each forming itself into 
a single spore with a cellulose coat.} 


(Lo be continued.) 


NOTES ON BEAVERS AND THE BUTE BEAVERY:.$ 
BY EGBERT DE HAMEL. 


Amongst the Mammalia is a most interesting group of animals, 
many species of which exist or have existed in Great Britain, whose 
domestic economy is to a large extent unobserved owing to their 
extreme timidity and consequent shy and nocturnal habits, albeit their 
names are for the most part familiar to us. I refer to the order 
Rodentia, or gnawing animals, which includes the various genera of rat, 
mouse, squirrel, hare, rabbit, porcupine, capybara, guinea-pig, and the 
subject of my present paper, the beaver. 


* Dr. Quelet has recently asserted that the spores of all species are borne on 
the threads as sporophores, apparently on his own authority. But then he 
also calls the plasmodium by the totally inappropriate name of mycelium — 
“J. de Photo. et de Micro.,” 1881, translated in “Northern Microscopist,” 
March, 1882. 

+ “Tyansactions of the Linnean Society,” Xxiv., p. 156. 

+ Van Tieghem, Bull. Soc. Bot. France, xxvii., pp. 317—22. 

§ Read before the Birmingham Natural History and Microscopical Society, 
February 14th, 1882, 


NOTES ON BEAVERS. 101 


The chief characteristics of this order are the incisor teeth in the 
centre of each jaw, the absence of canine teeth, and the wide space 
between the incisor and molar teeth, an arrangement admirably 
qualifying them for gnawing solid substances, to which end the 
incisors are enamelled only on the front surface, so that the back part 
being softer is by gnawing worn away fastest, and the cutting edge 
kept sharp. To remedy the loss of substance a constant growth takes 
place from the root; they are, moreover, semicircular in form, three- 
fourths of which being buried in the jaw adds enormously to their 
power. The molar teeth are broad and calculated for masticating 
vegetable food ; the articulation of the lower jaw works in a longi- 
tudinal groove in the skull, affording great facilities for grinding their 
food : the feet are furnished with toes and nails, and are more or less 
webbed ; the fore paws are remarkably handlike, the hind legs much 
the longest. 

I shall now confine my observations to the ‘‘species”” Beaver, and 
endeavour, first, to point out to you such of its life-history as I have 
been able to gather from the many writers on the subject, following 
these particulars with a description of what I witnessed on the occasion 
of aspecial visit paid to the Marquis of Bute’s beavery at Mount 
Stuart, near Rothesay, in the island of Bute, at the latter end of 
August, 1878. 

The earliest notice we have of the beaver occurs during the 9th 
century, where we find that whilst an otter’s skin was only worth 
twelve pence, that of the Llosdlydan or beaver was valued at one 
hundred and twenty pence. 

This animal was not uncommon in the rivers of Wales towards the 
close of the 12th century. Giraldus Cambrensis informs us that the 
species became extinct in 1188, but according to some historians it was 
a native of Scotland and England until the 15th century. It has not 
been found in Ireland or any trace of its existence recorded there. 


There are two living species of beavers, the one inhabiting Europe 
and Asia (Castor Fiber) being still found in Siberia on the river 
Pelyin, five having been captured there so recently as 1876; and a few 
colonies exist on the banks of the Weser, Rhone, and Danube. Lord 
Clermont in his ‘‘ Guide to European Quadrupeds,” published in 1859, 
stated, ‘ it is found in greatly reduced numbers on the Danube, Rhine, 
and Rhone, on which last it inflicts considerable injury to the willow 
plantations.” It is rare in Russia, except on the Dwina and Petchora, 
but numerous in Tartary and the Caucasus. 


The other variety (Castor Canadensis) inhabits North America, 
comprising in its range a district bounded on the south by California, 
on the west and east by Vancouver's Island and Newfoundland, and 
north by the limit of trees, some distance within the Arctic circle. 


Along with these two species lived in Pre-Glacial times a gigantic 
beaver known to science as Cuvier’s. It did not, however, survive the 
Glacial period, The smaller and more recent species possibly with- 


102 NOTES ON BEAVERS. 


stood the intense cold by migrating to southern Europe. The com- 
parison in size between these two beavers, at one time contemporaneous, 
coupled with anatomical characters, seems to preclude the possibility 
of the larger being a more highly developed race of the smaller. 

The bones of beavers have been dug up in the lower brick earths of 
the Thames and under the streets of London; and there can be no 
doubt that at one time the beaver built its dam on this river and its 
tributaries. Its remains were also found by Pengelly in Kent’s Cavern, 
near Torquay. 

In appearance the beaver is like a great rat—about two feet long 
and one foot high, its body thick and heavy, weighing about 34lbs. ; the 
head is compressed and somewhat arched at the front, the upper part 
rather narrow, the snout much so; the eyes are placed rather high on 
the head, and the pupils are rounded ; the short ears are almost con- 
cealed by the fur; the skins (a good one when dried weighs about 
2lbs.) are covered by two sorts of hair, of which one is long, rather 
stiff, elastic, gray two-thirds of its length, the remainder being tipped 
with shining reddish-brown points ; the other short, thick, tufted, and 
soft, being of different shades of silver gray or ight lead colour; the 
hair is shortest on the head and feet; the hind legs are longer than 
the fore, and the hind feet only completely webbed ; there are five toes 
on each foot; the tail is ten or eleven inches long, and, except the part 
nearest the body, entirely covered with hexagonal scales ; it is flattened 
horizontally, and nearly oval inshape. From a habit the creature has 
of giving self-satisfied slaps with this organ, the idea has been enter- 
tained that it uses it for a trowel; but this is now known to be an 
error ; it is certainly employed as a means of alarm. 

The incisor teeth are semi-circular in shape, the enamel orange- 
coloured and intensely hard. Before the introduction of iron the 
Indians fixed them in handles and employed them as chisels for 
carving wood and horn. 

These animals secrete a peculiar substance known as castoreum, 
extensively used by the slave and dog-rib tribes of Indians in the manu- 
facture of medicine, and as a perfume for enticing both beaver and 
lynx to the traps or snares laid for them. 

The flesh and tail are amongst the most prized dainties of Indian 
epicures: the former when first smoked and then broiled is not at all 
unwelcome food ; the latter when boiled is a noted article of trapper 
luxury, though, forsooth, if the truth must be told, somewhat gristly 
and fat, and rather too much for the stomach of anyone but a north- 
western hunter or explorer. ‘‘ He is a devil of a fellow,” they say on 
the Rocky Mountain slopes, ‘‘ he can eat two beavers’ tails.” 

The scrapings of the beaver’s skin form one of the strongest 
descriptions of glue, not affected by water, and used by the Indians as 
paint for their paddles. 


Smellie, in his ‘‘ Philosophy of Natural History,” devotes a chapter 
to the Society of animals, in which he reminds us that the associating 


o 


NOTES ON BEAVERS. 103 


principle from which so many advantages are derived, is not confined 
to the human species, but extends in some instances to every class of » 
animals. 

Man possesses a portion of the reasoning faculty highly superior to 
that of any other animal. He alone enjoys the power of expressing 
his ideas by articulate and artificial language. With its aid, and the 
habit of association, the human intellect in the progress of time 
arrives at a high degree of perfection. 

Society gives rise to virtue, honour, government, subordination, art, 
science, order, happiness; under its auspices, as in a fertile climate, 
human talents germinate and are expanded, tke mechanical and 
liberal arts flourish ; poets, orators, historians, philosophers, lawyers, 
physicists, ‘‘ microscopists,” and theologians are produced, and its 
advantages are immense despite the inconveniences, hardships, 
injustice, oppressions, and cruelties which too often originate from it. 

Now Society may be divided into two kinds—Ist, Proper Societies, 
in which the individuals not only live together in numbers, but also 
carry on operations having a direct tendency to promote the welfare of 
the community ; and 2nd, Improper Societies, in which the individuals 
merely herd together from the love of company, without carrying on 
any common operation. 

Next to the intelligence exhibited in human society, that of the 
beavers is most conspicuous. Their operations in preparing, fashioning, 
and transporting the heavy materials for building their winter 
habitations are truly astonishing, and when we read their history we 
are apt to think we are perusing the history of man in a period of 
society not inconsiderably advanced. 

It is only by the united strength and co-operation of numbers that 
the beavers could be enabled to produce such wonderful effects ; for in 
a solitary state,as they at present appear in some northern parts of 
Europe, the beavers are timid and stupid animals; they neither 
associate, nor attempt to construct villages, but content themselves 
with digging holes in the earth. 

Like men under the oppression of despotic governments, the spirit 
of the European beavers is depressed and their genius extinguished 
by terror and a perpetual and necessary attention to individual 
safety. 

The northern parts of Europe are now so populous, and the 
animals there are so perpetually hunted for the sake of their furs, that 
they have no opportunity of associating, and of course those wonderful 
marks of their sagacitv, which they exhibit in the remote and unin- 
habited regions of North America, are no longer to be found. 

The society of beavers is one of peace and of affection. They 
never quarrel or injure one another, except during the period of court- 
ship, for even amongst beavers Eve is ever the cause of evil, but 
live together in different numbers, according to the dimensions of 
particular cabins, in the most perfect harmony, 


104 NOTES ON BEAVERS. 


The principle of their union is neither monarchical nor despotic, for 
the inhabitants of the different cabins, as well as those of the whole 
village, seem to acknowledge no chief or leader whatever. Their asso- 
ciation presents to our observation a model of a pure and perfect 
republic, the only basis of which is mutual and unequivocal attachment. 


I have already drawn your attention to the difference that oppression 
occasions in the animate works of nature, and this because I find in 
reading numerous authors on the subject that their accounts of the 
works and their opinions of the intelligence of these most interesting 
mammals differ very considerably, and at the same time with much 
apparent truthfulness. I also note that the older observers, i.e., those 
who studied these animals when their fur first came into great request, 
and therefore at a time when persecution had not wrought its natural 
result in the degradation of the species, give glowing accounts of their 
wonderful villages; whilst living writers ‘‘pooh-pooh” all this as a 
legend, and declare their structures, though parallel in idea, to be 
slovenly and indifferent. I shall prefer those descriptions which best 
illustrate the palmy days of the species. 

Tn the fall of the year the beavers generally migrate up stream to 
a more favourable situation for procuring a supply of winter food. 
About January their tracks may be seen in the snow near the outlet 
of the lakes, where young fir trees abound, their bark now being pre- 
ferred, as the sap has not risen in the willow and alder; some of the 
beavers become torpid during January, especially those living near 
lakes, swamps, or large sheets of water, which are frozen. 

If February is open the beavers begin to come out of their retreats 
and frequent any running water near them; but it is generally March 
before the bulk of them vacate their winter quarters. When they appear 
they are lean, but their furs are still good, and continue so until the 
middle of May. 

About the end of March they begin to ‘ call.” Both males and 
females ‘‘ call and answer” one another. Sometimes on one ‘“ calling” 
half-a-dozen will answer from different parts of the lake. They occa- 
sionally ‘ call” as late as August. Males fight during this season most 
fiercely ; hardly a skin is without scars, and large pieces are often bitten 
out of their tails. 

The young are born about the end of June, and are about three or 
four in number ; but whether produced in the houses, hovels, or amongst 
the sedge, is not known fcr a certainty. 

When this interesting event is expected, the old male takes the 
young of last year (for sometimes as many as three generations will 
remain around the paternal abode) and retires several miles up ariver, 
considerately remaining there as long as requisite. 

The young at first are called ‘‘ kittens ;’ when twelve months old, 
‘‘small medlars ;” at two years, “ big medlars;” and in the third year, 
when they also have families, 't old beavers.”’ 


(1'o be continued.) 


DERBYSHIRE LAND AND FRESHWATER SHELLS 105 


DERBYSHIRE LAND AND FRESHWATER SHELLS. 
CLASS I., CONCHIFERA. 


FAMILY I., SPHARIIDA. 
GENUS I., SPHZRIUM. 
Spherium corneum, very common. 
var. flavescens, canal at Cromford, Bretby. 
rivicola, Canal at Matlock and Willington. 
lacustre, var. Ryckholtii, Pool near Winster. 
GENUS II., PISIDIUM. 
Pisidium amnicum, Canal at Ambergate. 
fontinale, Stanton in the Peak. 
var. cinerea, Stanton in the Peak. 
pusillum, Pools near Winster. 
var. obtusalis, Pools near Winster. 
nitidum, Via Gellia. 


FAMILY II., UNIONID. 
GENUS I., UNIO. 
Unio tumidus, Canals at Cromford and Willington. 
var. radiata, Park Pond, Repton. 
var. Ovalis, 
pictorum, Cromford Canal, Park Pond, Repton. 
GENUS II., ANODONTA. 
Anodonta cygnea, common. 
var. Zellensis, Park Pond, Repton. 
anatina, 
var. ventricosa, _,, 4 
var. complanata, ES 


FAMILY II, DREISSENID®. 


GENUS I., DREISSENA. 
Dreissena polymorpha, Canal at Willington. 


” ” 


CLASS II., GASTEROPODA. 
ORDER I., PECTINIBRANCHIATA. 
FAMILY I., NERITIDA. 


GENUS I., NERITINA. 
Neritina fluviatilis, Canal, Willington. 


FAMILY II., PALUDINIDA. 


GENUS I., PALUDINA. 
Paludina vivipara, common. 


GENUS II., BYTHINIA. 
Bythinia tentaculata, common. 
var. decollata, Cromford. 
Leachii, Eggington. 
FAMILY III., VALVATIDA. 
GENUS I., VALVATA. 
Valvata piscinalis, common. 
ORDER II., PULMONOBRANCHIATA. 
FAMILY I., LIMNAIDA. 


GENUS I., PLANORBIS. 
Planorbis Alina: Pond at Milton. 
glaber, Pits near Willington, 


106 DERBYSHIRE LAND AND FRESHWATER SHELLS. 


Planorbis spirorbis, Cromford Canal. 
vortex, common in ponds and canals. 


carinatus, 7 a 
corneus, “ ys 
contortus, Old Trent, Ponds at Repton. 
complanatus. 


var. albida, Top Dam, Repton. 
GENUS II., PHYSA. 
Physa hypnorum, River Dove; ditches, Repton. 
fontinalis, common. 
GENUS III., LIMN#A. 
Limnea peregra, common. 
var. ovata, Matlock. 
var. acuminata, Matlock. 
var. picta, rare, pool at Winster. 
auricularia, Cromford Canal and Repton. 
var. acuta. A 
stagnalis, common. 
palustris, Old Trent, near Repton. 
var. elongata, Old Trent, near Repton. 
var. tincta, =. . 
var, albida, . a 
truncatula, common in ditches. 
var. major, Winster. 


GENUS IV., ANCYLUS. 


Ancylus fluviatilis, River Derwent, Repton Brook. 
var. albida, Pond near Ambergate. 
lacustris, River Trent, near Newton Solney. 
var. albida, ,, ~ Ff 


TERRESTRIAL. 
FAMILY I., LIMACIDZ. 


GENUS I. 
Arion ater, common. 
flavus, a 
hortensis, ,, 
GENUS Il., LIMAX. 
Limax agrestis, common. 
maximus, es 
FAMILY IIl., HELICIDA. 
GENUS I., SUCCINEA. 
Succinea putris, common. 
elegans, edge of pools in Via Gellia. 
GENUS II., VITRINA. 
Vitrina pellucida, common. 
GENUS III., ZONITES. 


Zonites cellarius, common. 
var. albida, Miller’s Dale. 
alliarius, Ae and Repton. 
nitidulus, common. 
radiatulus, Repton. 
nitidus, s 


DERBYSHIRE LAND AND FRESHWATER SHELLS. 107 


Zonites excavatus, Robin’s Wood, near Repton. 
var. vitrina, Robin’s Wood, near Repton. 
crystallinus, Miller’s Dale, Repton. 
fulvus, Robin’s Wood, near Repton. 
var. Mortoni, Robin’s Wood, near Repton. 


GENUS IV., HELIX. 

Helix aculeata, Robin’s Wood, near Repton. 
aspersa, Repton (not common in the Peak.) 
nemoralis, common. 

var. hortensis, Matlock, Repton, &c. 
var. hybrida, 6 ns 
var. major, Youlgreave. 
arbustorum, plentiful at Matlock and Dovedale. 
var. flavescens, Winster. 
var. albida, 
var. alpestris, Monsal Dale. 
rufescens, scarce, a few specimens at Matlock. 
concinna, common. 
var. albida, Monsal Dale. 
hispida, common. 
virgata, near Ticknall. 
caperata, Ticknall Quarry. 
ericetorum, Dovedale ind Monsal Dale. 
var. ‘albida, Dovedale. 
rotundata, common. 
rupestris, Dovedale. 
pygmza, Matlock. 
pulchella, Repton. 
lapicida, common in Peak District. 
var. albida, Matlock. 
GENUS V., BULIMUS. 
Bulimus obscurus, common in Via Gellia, Matlock, &c. 


GENUS VI., PUPA. 
Pupa umbilicata, common on limestone rocks. 
edentula, Winster. 
marginata, Dovedale. 
GENUS VII., VERTIGO. 
Vertigo edentula, Bretby Wood, near Repton. 
GENUS VIII., BALIA. 
Balia perversa, on rocks under moss at Matlock, but not common. 
GENUS IX., CLAUSILIA. 
Clausilia rugosa, common. 
var. albida, Matlock. 
laminata, locally plentiful, Matlock. 
GENUS X., COCHLICOPA. 
Cochlicopa tridens, a few specimens at Matlock. 
lubrica, common. 
GENUS XI., ACHATINA. 
Achatina acicula, Repton, Miller’s Dale. 


In compiling the foregoing List of the Land and Freshwater Shells 
of Derbyshire, I am indebted to Mr. J. Hagger and Mr. Edward Collier 
for their kind co-operation. The list is corrected to October last. 

H. Mites, The Vicarage, Winster, Derby, 


108 THE FLORA OF WARWICKSHIRE. 


THE FLORA OF WARWICKSHIRE. 


AN ACCOUNT OF THE FLOWERING PLANTS AND FERNS 


JO, 


10f, 


OF THE COUNTY OF WARWICK. 


BY JAMES E. BAGNALL. 


(Continued fron page 85.) 
ROSACEA —Continued. 
RUBUS, continued. 


macrophyllus, Weihe. Large-leaved Bramble. 
Native: July, August. 

a. umbrosus, Arrh. 

In hedges, heaths, and quarries. Rather common. 


. Sutton Park; Coleshill Heath; Ansley; Bentley Park. 
. Rounshill Lane; lanes about Coventry, etc. 


b. macrophyllus, W. and N. 
Hedges and bushy places. Rather common. 


. Shelly Lane; Bentley Heath; Shirley Street; Trickley Coppice ; 


Arley, etc. 


. Green Lanes, near Coventry, 7. Kirk, Herb. Brit. Mus.; Hill Clump, 


Honington, Fredk. Townsend; Kenilworth Heath; Dunchurch 
Road, near Rugby. 

c. Schlechtendalii, W. and N. 

In hedges, woods, and heath lands. Local. 


. Sutton Park, abundant; confirmed by Professor Babington. 


Baulk Lane, Berkswell; road from Nuneaton to Atherstone, 
near the turn for Hartshill; lanes about Baddesley Clinton. 

A form closely allied to this is abundant in Haywoods. Itis amore 
glandular plant than the type, but agrees well in general 
characters with a plant which Professor Babington considers to 
be R. Schlechtendalii. 

d. amplificatus, Lees. 

In hedges and woods. Locally common. 


. Lanes about Solihull; Coleshill Heath; Arley, etc. 
. ‘Hedges, Old Park, Warwick,” IT. B., Exchange Club Report, 1879 ; 


near Rugby; Coventry and Kenilworth, abundant. 
e. glabratus, Rubi Germ. 
In woods and on heath lands. Local. 


. Sutton Park, abundant; determined by Professor Babington. 


Small wood in Wheyporridge Lane, Solihull; lane at Min- 
worth; School Rough, Marston Green; lane from Meriden to 
Hampton-in-Arden. 

A marked form allied to R. macrophyllus, abundant at Hartshill in 
stone quarries. 


mucronulatus, Bor. Cuspidate-leaved Bramble. 
Native: In hedges, banks, and woods. Local. July, August. 


. Hartshill Wood! Bab. Brit. Rub., p. 162; Marston Green; Bentley 


Park; near Atherstone, on the Tamworth Road; Trickley 
Coppice. 

Dilke Lane, Rowington ; Crackley Wood, Kenilworth. 

The plants in Bentley Park and Hartshill Wood are more glandular 
than the type, and are probably the R. festivus, Mill. See 
‘‘ Notes on Rubi, Journal of Bot.,” 1878, p. 116. 


{HE FLORA OF WARWICKSHIRE. 109 


R, Sprengelii, Weihe. Sprengel’s Bramble. 

Native: In woods, on banks andheaths. Locally common. July, 
August. 

I. Atherstone! Bab. Brit. Rub., p. 166; Herd. Brit. Mus.; Ansley Coal- 

: field Heath ; near Coleshill Pool; Chelmsley Wood; Marston 
Green; Sutton Park, abundant; Four Ashes, Knowle; Lanes 
about Solihull and Shirley. 

II. Near Rugby! confirmed by Professor Babington; specimen from 
Rev. A. Bloxam, Herb. Bor. ; Cathiron Lane, near Brinklow. 
Both the varieties of this species occur in the county, but although 
widely different in their extreme forms, seem to blend into each 
other so truly that I have not here attempted toseparate them. 
c. rubicolor, Blox., MS. 

I. ‘Near Mancetter, Warwickshire (Rey. A. Bloxam), from which place 
he has kindly supplied me with specimens.” ,» yme, W.B., ed. 
ah rable 1hSt0E 

Although I have made special visits to this locality, the exact 
whereabouts having been communicated by the Rev. A. Bloxam, 
I have not been able to find the plant. 


R. Bloxamii, Lees. Bloxam’s Bramble. 

Native: In hedges, woods, and heaths. Locally common. July, 
August. 

I. Near Hartshill! dA. Blox., Herb. Bor., 1846, confirmed by Prof. 
Babington ; near Atherstone, Bab. Brit. Rub., p. 177; Ansley 
Heath ; Arley; Coleshill Heath ; Middleton Heath; Sutton 
Park; near Little Hell, &c. 

Il. Near Rugby! A. Blox., Herb. Bor.; lanes about Brandon; Rouns- 
hill Lane, Kenilworth ; lanes about Allesley. 

A form of this, which Professor Babington considers closely 
resembles the R. thyrsiflorus in the Rubi Germanici (tab. 34), 
was found by Mr. T. Kirk near Kenilworth; Bab. Brit. Rub., 
p- 171. I find a similar form in Hay Lane, Solihull. 


R. Hystrix, Weihe. Hedgehog Bramble. 
Native: In woods and hedges. Rather rare. July, August. 

I. Atherstone, Bab. Brit. Rub., p. 176; Hoare Park, near Shustoke ; 
lane by Bentley Park; field path from Ansley Coalfield to 
Hurtshill Wood; Arley Wood; lane from Mancetter to Oldbury ; 
Darnell Hurst, Sutton Park. 

Il. Combe Woods ; Crackley Wood, Kenilworth. 


R. rosaceus, Weihe. Rose-flowered Bramble. 
Native: Woods and hedges. Rather rare. July, August. 
I, Near Hoare Park, Atherstone Road; confirmed by Professor 
Babington; near Meriden Shafts, and Boultbie Wood, Ballard’s 
Green, Arley. 
II. Near Corley Village ; abundant in Combe Abbey Wood, end nearest 
Brinklow ; Alveston pastures. 
R. scaber, Weile. Rough Bramble. 
Native: On damp heaths and in woods. Rather rare. July, August. 
I. Hartshill Wood, A. Bloxam, Herb. Bor., 1847; Sutton Park, 
abundant, two distinct forms here ; Trickley Coppice. 
II. Rounshill Lane, near Kenilworth ; Old Park, Warwick. 


R, rudis, Weihe. Coarse Bramble. 
Native: In hedges and bushy places. Local. July, August. 
I. Sutton Park ; lanes between Hurley and Whitacre; Ansley Coal- 
field; lane by Iron Wood, Oldbury; Ansley; Shelly and 
Shirley, near Solihull; Damson Lane, Solihull, &e. 


110 THE FLORA OF WARWICKSHIRE. 


jut 


R. 


ie 
1G 


R. 


Me 
qs 
i 


1. 


Compton Wynyates, I’. Townsend ; near Oakley Wood ; near Leek 
Wootton; Kenilworth; near Combe Abbey; Corley Moor; 
Arrow Lane; Oversley Wood, &c. 

A small-leaved variety, the microphyllus of Bloxam’s fasciculus, 
occurs on heath lands near Sutton, and near Leek Wootton. 

Radula, Weihe. Iile-stenuned Bramble. 

Native: In hedges. Common. July, August. 

Sutton Park; Middleton Heath; Marston Green; Forge Mills; 
Solihull, &e. 

Near Rugby; Harboro’ Magna; Allesley ; Kenilworth; Oversley 
Wood, &c.; (near Kenilworth Castle, 4. Bloxam, Herb. Bor., 
1846.) 

Two distinctly marked forms of this sub-species occur throughout 
the county. but as I have seen no authentic specimens of the 
described varieties, | have not here attempted to separate them. 

Koehleri, Weihe. Koehler’s Bramble. 

Native: In hedges, woods, and heathlands. 

a. Koehleri. Rather rare. 

Kingsbury Wood; Slowly Hill; meadows near Maxtoke Castle ;* 
Sutton Park ;* road from Honily to Balsall Street. 

Road to Combe Abbey from Coventry, 1880. 

Var. b. infestus, Bab. Rather rare. 

Bentley Park; Merivale; near Stockingford Village ; Sutton Park, 
abundant on the heathlands. 

Var. c. pallidus, Weihe. Kather common. 

More or less abundant throughout the county. 

In Trickley Coppice I tind a variety of this which closely resembles 

the variety R. cavatifolius, Mill. 


. fusco-ater, Weihe. Brownish-black Bramble. 


Native: In hedges and woods. Rare. July, August. 


. Sutton Park, Bab. Brit. Rub., p. 216; lane at Minworth, Notes on 


Rubi, Journal of Bot., 1878, p. 176. 
Wyken Lane, near Coventry, Bab. Brit. Rub., p. 216; near Oakley 
Wood. 


.emersistylus, Miill. (R. Bagnallii, Blox). 


Native: In woods and hedges. Rare. July, August. 


I. Abundant in Haywoods; Herb. Brit. Mus., 1877, J. HE. Bagnall. 


106 


A description is given of this variety by Professor Babington in 
Notes on Rubi, Journal of Bot., 1878, pp. 175-6, where it is 
considered to be a variety of R. emersistylus, Mill. Professor 
Babington adds some valuable and interesting remarks to the 
description. 


. diversifolius, Lindl. Various-leaved Bramble. 


Native: In hedges, woods, etc. Locally common. July, August. 


. Middleton Heath ; near Langley ; lanes about Wishaw; Olton Canal 


Bank, near Knowle ; Coleshill Heath, ete. 

Hill Clump, Honington; J. Townsend; road from Stratford to 
Alcester ; Shelfield. 

A form which Professor Babington considers near R. horrefactus, 
Miill, from a wood near Tardebigge. A strongly marked variety 
occurs in the lane from Brandon to Twelve o’clock Riding. On 
this Professor Babington remarks: ‘It is very like the plant 
noticed from Waith in ‘ The British Rubi,’ p. 224. At present 
I place it under R. diversifolius, for I do not think it belongs to 
R. Koehleri. It is a very beautiful plant.” 


* The plants from these stations authenticated by Professor Babington, 


THE FLORA OF WARWICKSHIRE. ik 


Coe 


R. Lejeunii, Weihe. Lejeune’s Bramble. 
Native: In woods and on hedge banks. Rare. July, August. 
I. Near Maxtoke Priory, Rev. d. Blox., MS. Note, 1877: Friars’ 
Wood, Bentley Park; lane by Bentley Park; border of small 
wood near Oldbury. 


R. Guntheri, WVeihe. Gunther's Bramble. 
Native: In woods and on damp heaths. Rather rare. July, August. 
I. Abundant in Hartshill Wood! 4. Blox., Herb. Bor., 1846; Atherstone 
Outwoods; Bab. Brit. Rub., p. 238; Sutton Parkin several places ; 
Friars’ Wood, Bentley Park; wood near Hoare Park; Ather- 
stone Road. 
II. Fern Hill Wood; Haywoods; spinney at Baddesley Clinton; Old 
Park Wood, near Arrow. 


R. humifusus, Weihe. Trailing Bramble. 
Native: In woods. Very rare. July, August. 
‘** Reported from Warwickshire,” Syme EH. B., iii., 18). 


R, foliosus, Weihe. Leafy-flowered Bramble. 

Native: In woods and hedges. Rare. July and August. 

I. Annesley Coalfield Heath! Syme, HE. B., iii., 190; Hartshill Wood ! 
Bub. Brit. Rub., p. 245; lane from Hartshill to Mancetter ; stone 
quarries between Nuneaton and Hartshill; very abundant in 
the Ansley Coalfield district in 1877, but is being rapidly 
destroyed there by the building operations which are being 
carried on. 

Dr. Boswellsays in E.B., iii., 190, ‘‘ Apparently confined to Warwick- 
shire.’ Mr. T. R. Archer Briggs, however, has kindly sent me 
from Devonshire specimens of a plant named &. foliosus by the 
Rey. A. Bloxam. It differs from the Warwickshire plant in 
the form of its leaflets, and in the clothing and armature of the 
barren stem, and is in my opinion nearer to the figure in ‘* Rubi 
Germ,” t. 28, than is the Warwickshire plant. 

Var. atro-rubens, Blox. 

Native: In hedges and woods. Locally abundant. 

I. Sutton Park; lane from Chelmsley Wood to Marston Green ; lane 
near Plant’s Brook, Minworth; lanes about Solihull; Temple 
Balsall; coppice at Elmdon; near Knowle; Herb. Brit. Mus., 
J. HE. B. 

II. Haywoods; Dilke’s Lane, Kingswood; Tile Hill Wood; Alveston 
Pastures Wood. 

A valuable comment on this plant is given in ‘‘ Notes on Rubi,” 

Journal of Bot., 1878, p. 197. 


R. glandulosus, Bell. Glandular-stemmed Bramble. 
Native: In woods. Rare. July, August. 
a. Bellardi. 
I. Hartshill Wood: wood above Hoare Park, Atherstone Road. 
Sub-var dentatus, Blox. 
I. Atherstone; (Blox.), Bab. Brit. Rub., p. 253; wood near Hoare Park, 
Atherstone Road ; near Boultbie Wood, Fillongley ; Hartshill 
Wood. 
II. Wood near Allesley, Coventry Road; Anstey Wood, near Wooton 
Wawen. 
Var. b. hirtus, Wald. 
I. Borders of Weigh Wood, Fillongley. 
Il. Haywoods. 


Sub-var, rotundifolius, Blox, 


112 THE FLORA OF WARWICKSHIRE. 


I. Border of a small wood between Bentley Park and Oldbury ; lane 
above Hoare Park. 


R, Balfourianus, Blox. Balfour's Bramble. 
Native: In hedges. Locally common. July, August. 
I. Lanes about Shirley and Solihull, abundant ; near Packington Hall ; 
near Stonebridge. 
II. Near Rugby! 4. Blow., 1847, Herb. Bor.; near Coventry! T. Kirk, 
Herb. Bor.; Mill Lane, Coventry (Kirk), Bab. Brit. Rub., 
p. 261 ; Lutterworth Road, near Combe Abbey; Twelve o’clock 
Riding, Combe Woods; Tile Hill. 
A variety, which may be tenuiarmatus, Lees, near Hoare Park, 
Over Whitacre. 


(To be continued.) 


MIDLAND UNION OF NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETIES.* 
(Continued from Vol. IV., page 217.) 


Tue Burron-on-TrEeNt Natura History anD ARCHHOLOGICAL SOCIETY 
dates from October, 1876. It numbered on the lst January, 1881, 
136 Ordinary Members, paying an annual subscription of 5s. per 
annum ; five Honorary Members; and fifteen Associates, paying 1s. 
per annum. The number of Ordinary Members and Associates 
increased considerably during the past twelve months. Hvening meet- 
ings are held about once a month, from October to March, ending with 
the Annual Meeting at the end of March. Six or more General Field 
Meetings are usually held each year, mostly in the summer. The 
Geological Section (under Mr. Heron) has fortnightly walks and other 
excursions during the winter, and monthly ones in summer. Field 
and Evening Meetings are also arranged specially for the Associates. 
About fourteen papers have been read before the Society during the 
year. The Society publishes a carefully prepared Report and Trans- 
actions, a yearly Calendar of Nature, made up from the observations of 
Members ; and a valuable record of Local Meteorology. The discovery 
of ancient remains at Stapenhill, in the borough of Burton-on-Trent, 
has afforded the Society scope for some interesting work, of which 
thefollowing account has been forwarded to the Council by Mr. 
Heron, the secretary of the Exploration Committee :—‘t At the 
Annual Meeting of the Society held on March 28th, 1881, the 
Mayor, Alderman Evershed, in the chair, Dr. Perks, on behalf of the 
Exploration Committee, gave a statement relative to the discoveries 
recently made at Stapenhill. Early in February, as some workmen 
were excavating for clay in the brickfield at Stapenhill, belonging to 
Messrs. Chamberlain and Haynes, they came across what afterwards 
proved to be two cinerary urns containing cremated bones; 
unfortunately, when they came into the possession of the Society 
they were broken into several fragments, many of which were missing. 
Shortly after this discovery was made, the men, whilst continuing 
their excavations, came across some skeletons. Near the head of one 
of these a large spear head was found. Mr. Chamberlain, who was 
present when this was discovered, immediately communicated with 
the Society, who thereupon took up the work of excavating in a 


* The accompanying particulars of the Societies are printed from the Report 
of the Council presented to the Annual Meeting at Cheltenham, held last year, 


MIDLAND UNION—SOCIETIES. 113 


systematic manner, by driving trenches 3ft. wide, and at intervals of 
3ft. apart across the brickfield from north to south. These explora- 
tions resulted in showing that a very valuable archeological find had 
been made, and that an extensive Pagan Saxon burial ground had 
existed here. The graves being opened up, objects usually 
characteristic of Saxon interments were found, such as sepulchral 
urns, some of them highly ornamented with bosses and cord-like 
patterns in relief. In some of the urns were found burnt human 
bones, with beads, &c. Several fibule, iron knives, spear heads, and 
bronze ornaments were also found. Since then the explorations have 
been carried on more extensively, and probably some years will elapse 
before the investigations will be completed.’ Mr. Robert Thornewill, 
The Abbey, Burton-on-Trent, is the President; and Mr. C. U. Tripp, 
M.A., Grammar School, Burton-on-Trent and Mr. J. O. Sullivan, the 
Hon. General Secretaries; Mr. J. Heron and Mr. T. C. Martin, the Hon. 
Secretaries for Excursions. 


THE CHELTENHAM NaruraL ScreNcE Socrery was commenced in 
January, 1878. It has ninety-seven Members, paying 10s. yearly, 
and four Honorary Members. Meetings are held on the third 
Thursday of the month from October to April; the General 
Meeting is held on the first Thursday in October. During 
the last Session seven papers, described as “all exceedingly 
interesting and of a high order,” were read before the Society. 
At present the Society has not published an Annual Report, 
but it issues to the Members, monthly during the Session, a full 
report of the papers read and the discussions thereon, reprinted from 
one of the local newspapers. The President, (who is also the 
honoured President of this Union,) Dr. Thomas Wright, F.R.S., 
F.G.S., 4, 5t. Margaret’s Terrace, Cheltenham, has won a world-wide 
reputation by his grand monographs, published by the Palzonto- 
graphical Society, on ‘ British Fossil Echinodermata,” Oolitic and 
Cretaceous, and ‘** The Lias Ammonites of the British Islands.” The 
Hon. Sec. is Colonel Basevi, Elm Lodge, Prestbury, Cheltenham. 


Tue Duptry anp Mipnanp Gronoeican AND Screntiric Socrery AND 
Firip Cuvs dates from 1862, and has 148 Members subscribing 10s. 6d. 
a year, and fifteen Honorary Members. It holds a winter Meeting 
for business, and has six or seven Field Meetings during the summer, 
which are largely attended. The papers read before it are limited to a 
description of the Geology of the districts visited during its excursions. 
It publishes Transactions from time to time. This Society organised 
the successful excursion of the Union at its first Annual Meeting in 
1878, including the inspection of the underground workings (2584 
yards deep) of the Lye Cross Coal Pit, at Rowley, by more than 400 
Members and Friends of the Union, many of whom were ladies. Mr. 
Alfred Freer, M.R.C.S., Stourbridge, is the President, and Mr. W. 
Madeley, Kingswinford, near Dudley, the Secretary. 


Tue Evesnam Narvrauists’ Fretp Crus was formed on the Ist July, 
1873. It has 33 Members, who pay a subscription of 2s. 6d. annually. 
It meets monthly, and during the summer has excursions monthly. 
One of its Members, Mr. R. F. Tomes, F.G.S., has for some time past 
been engaged in the study of Fossil Corals; and has contributed 
papers to the Journal of the Geological Society. The Society does not 
publish an Annual Report. The President is Mr. Thomas James 
Slatter, F.G.S., The Bank, Evesham; and the Hon, Sec. Mr. Thomas 
E, Doeg, Evesham, 


114 MIDLAND UNION—SOCIETIES. 


Tue Leicester Literary anD PuriLosopHican Socrery held its first 
Meeting in September, 1835, and is one of the oldest Societies in the 
Union. At its last Annual Meeting the rollof Members contained the 
names of 279 subscribing 21s. annually, twenty-two Lady Associates 
subscribing 10s. 6d. annually, and twenty-four Hon. Members; total, 
325. The Society publishes its transactions and an Annual Report. 
From the last published report it appears that during the forty-fifth 
session of the Society, fourteen Ordinary Meetings were held, at which 
the usual number of six professional and eight non-professional 
lectures were delivered. The Natural History Section held fifteen 
Meetings. This Section has for some time past been busily occupied 
with the preparation of a Leicestershire Flora upon the basis of 
Coleman’s MS.- The plan of the work has been finally determined, 
and the materials collected are beingrapidly putin form; it will,however, 
be a considerable time yet before the work is ready for the press. The 
Society has also Geological, Microscopical, Meteorological,Archzological, 
and Fine Art Sections, and renders important services to the Town 
Museum, of which Mr. Montagu Browne, F.Z.S., a Member of the 
Union, is Curator. The Society makes one excursion annually. The 
Natural History section makes several excursions during the summer. 
The Rey. Joseph Wood, Leicester, is President of the Society; 
Mr. Geo. Hull, London Road, Leicester, and Mr. W. Simpson, 47, 
New Walk, Leicester, are the Hon. Secs. The second Annual Meeting 
of the Union (1879) was held in connection with this Society. 


Tue NorrHaMpTronsHIRE Naturat History Soctery anp Freip Ciup 
was formed on March 7th, 1876. It numbered about 140 Members on 
ist January last. The annual subscription is 10s. Meetings are held 
monthly. Sectional meetings for special branches of science are held 
occasionally in addition. Whole-day excursions are made monthly 
during five months of summer and autumn; evening walks, starting 
about 5 o’clock p.m., are made at intervals of about a fortnight. Five 
papers were read before the Society during the past year. The Society 
has a Photographical Section which has provided the Society with a 
number of valuable albums of local scenery and buildings. Some of 
the most important labours of this Society are: expended on the 
quarterly Journal, which is issued to the Members free of charge, and 
to Honorary and Corresponding Members at the cost price, viz., 5s. 
per annum. Six numbers have at present been issued, each containing 
a photograph of some remarkable Northamptonshire tree, the 
photograph taken by a member of the Photographical Section, and 
the tree described by Mr. R. G. Scriven. Of the papers which have at 
present appeared in this journal, and which are of special local value, 
the following are the principal :—‘“ Birds of Northamptonshire,” by the 
Lord Lilford, F.L.S., F.Z.S. ete.; ‘‘ Northants Flora,” by Mr. G. C. 
Druce, F.L.S., and ‘‘ Local Geology,” by Mr. B. Thompson, F.G.5., 
F.C.S.; besides these, each number contains Meteorological reports 
from different stations in the county, summarised by Mr. H. Terry, 
reports of meetings of the Society, and various other papers and notes 
relating to general science. The journal is edited by the Rev. S. J. W. 
Sanders, M.A., Mr. R. G. Seriven, and Mr. B. Thompson, F.G.S., 
F.C.S. It is hoped eventually to print papers dealing with the whole 
of the Natural History of Northamptonshire. The Right Hon. the 
Lord Lilford, Lilford Hall, Oundle, is the President of the Society, and 
Mr. T. L. Cordeaux, Queen’s Cottage, Northampton, and Mr. C. E. 
Crick, 1, the Horsemarket. Northampton, are the Honorary Secretaries. 
The Annual Meeting of the Union was held in connection with this 
Society in 1880, 

(To be continued, ) 


REVIEW. 115 


Acbielv. 


A Sketch of the Geology of Lincolnshire. By W.J. Harrison, F.G.S. 
(in ‘* White’s Directory, History, and Gazetteer of Lincolnshire.”’) 
Sheffield, 1881. 


Tur appearance of this ‘“‘ Sketch” will be welcome to a number of 
students of the science of Geology who live in Lincoln or in the 
bordering counties, or whose business or pleasure takes them thither ; 
the more so since accurate and reliable information on the subject has 
not hitherto been readily obtainable. The study of the geology of 
Lincolnshire has been until quite recently more neglected than that of 
any other district of equal size in England, and this work is probably 
the first attempt to give a complete account of the whole of the rocks 
of the county. Isolated papers have, deed, been given by various 
authors on a variety of special subjects connected with the geology of 
the district, but for the inost part these lie buried in the volumes of 
the journals of the Geological and other learned Societies. To Mr. 
Harrison belongs the credit of having satisfactorily accomplished the 
task of compiling from these hidden sources a connected and readable 
account of the geological structure of the county. 


Commencing with a general introduction to the science of Geology, 
accompanied by a table of the order of the succession of the stratified 
rocks, and followed by a list of the works that have hitherto been 
published which bear upon the geology of Lincolnshire, the author 
proceeds to describe the general structure of the district. The 
question of the extension of the older rocks beneath Lincolnshire is 
first considered, some clue as to which was recently furnished by the 
unsuccessful boring for coal at South Scarle, between Newark and 
Lincoln. Mr. Harrison rightly concludes that productive coal measures 
do underlie the western half of the county, but at such great depths 
(3,000ft. to 4,000ft.) that it will be difficult, if not impossible, ever to 
work them profitably. The stratified rocks of Mesozoic age that show 
at the surface, viz., the Keuper and Rhetic, Lias and Oolite, Neoco- 
mian and Cretaceous formations are then treated in détail, their 
lithological and paleontological characters described, and their 
geographical distribution indicated. The Pleistocene rocks are next 
examined. These deposits are of considerable importance in Lincoln- 
shire. They include the Fen Beds—accumulations of gravel, silt, and 
peat, and buried forests, that occupy an area of 1,300 square miles, 
about half of which lie in the county of Lincoln. In conclusion, the 
author has a few words to say on the evidence of pre-historic man in 

* Lincolnshire. 


Mr. Harrison has evidently derived considerable assistance from a 
knowledge of the work of the officers of the Geological Survey in the 
southern portion of the district. It is to be hoped that the hostile influ- 
ences which are perpetually endeavouring to prematurely hasten the com 


116 REVIEW—METEOROLOGY. 


pletion of this grand work may not cause the survey of North Lincoln- 
shire to be sceamped. In different parts of that district there are contained 
in certain of the Secondary rocks very valuable deposits of iron ore, in 
particular the Frodingham stone from the dm. semicostatus zone of 
the Lower Lias, of which ore no less than 695,000 tons, valued at 
over £100,000, were raised in 1879. It is of the highest importance 
that the outcrops of this band of ironstone should be accurately 
traced by trained hands. The same remark will apply to the more 
important building stones of the district. Another important work of 
the Survey is the special mapping of the superficial deposits. ‘The 
value of the knowledge this will give the Lincolnshire farmer of the 
nature of the soils and sub-soils of his land is pointed out by the 
author. 


All who take an interest in the county—and, on account of the 
rapid growth of the mineral industry, as well as of the increasing 
popularity of the sea-side resorts, the number of these is increasing 
every year—should possess themselves of a copy of Mr. Harrison’s 
able treatise. 

E. Witson, F.G.S. 


METEOROLOGY OF THE MIDLAND 
THE WEATHER OF MARCH, 1882. 


BY CLEMENT L. WRAGGE, F.R.G.S., F.M.S., ETC. 


March was generally dry, with an unusually high temperature. 
Strong gales or winds occurred early in the month, a period of fine 
and calmer weather followed, succeeded by tempestuous weather 
during the last week, with snow. At Orleton the mean temperature 
was more than three degrees above the average of twenty years. But 
comparatively little rain fell during the first three weeks. The 
highest pressure occurred on the 15th, when the barometer corrected 
and reduced to sea level read 30:6; the lowest reading was noted on 
the 1st and was 28°8. The mean amount of cloud was about 6:1 
(scale 0 to 10), and the mean relative humidity 83°/,. West-south- 
westerly winds prevailed. The highest reading in sun’s rays was 
115°8 at Loughborough, and the lowest on grass 18°2 at Hodsock. 
Bright sunshine 118°2 hours at Hodsock, 121-4 at Strelley, 162°9 at 
Marlborough. At Blackpool ozone was registered on thirty days, and 
the daily average was 7:3. The mean temperature of the soil at 
Strelley, at a depth of one foot, was 42-4. Sea temperature at 
Scarborough 43:8, or 2°3 degrees warmer than the preceding five years’ 
average. Several lunar halos and lunar corone were observed. 
Vegetation at some places about a month in advance. 


3 
STATION. OBSERVER. ae 
- 


OUTPOST STATIONS. 
Spital Cemetery, Carlisle ....|I. Cartmell, Esq., F.M.S. ../2°30 


Scarborough (@)............4 F. Shaw, Esq., F.M.S....... 152 
Blackpool (a)—South Shore.. |C. T.Ward,Esq., B.A.,F.M.S.|2°66 
Llandudno (@) .........00005 J. Nicol, Esq., M.D......... 2°62 
Lowestoft (a) ...|/H. E. Miller, Ksq., F.M.S...|1°10 
RRMHTIEN ES) vince rence cinesses saa W. Adams, Esq., C.E. ....../2'26 
Altarnun, near Launceston (c)|/Rev. J. Power, M.A. ...... 3°98 
RROGTIEIN CG) area cociac cavcicien W. T. Radford, Esq., M.D./1°10 
Les Ruettes Brayes,Guernsey|A. Collenette, Esq., F.M.S./2°62 
(a) 
GUBTHRGY(G) cecc covcsccases F. C. Carey, Esq., M.D...../1°82 
MIDLAND STATIONS. 
HEREFORDSHIRE. 
Burghill (a) ...... (eesteacctes T. A. Chapman, Esq., M.D.| ‘91 
SHROPSHIRE. 
Woolstnston .......cceeeees Rev. B.D: Carr’ cesccccccs 2°62 
More Rectory.. .|Rev. A. S. Male.. -|2°01 
Dowles, near Bewdley ...... J. M. Downing, Esq. ......|1°67 
WORCESTERSHIRE. 
Orleton, near Tenbury (a)....|T. H. Davis, Esq., F.M.S. ..}1°28 
West Malvern ...........00. A. H. Hartland, Ksq. ...... 1:26 
Evesham ........ .-./T. J. Slatter, Esq., F.G.S.../1°14 
Pedmore ........ .../E. R. Marten, Hsq. ........ 1°47 
Stourbridge .......... pae|] NEES We OMOKION (oeawsleeicccis 1°21 
Cowney Bank, Dudley ...... Mr, B6ale) vaccscccee oes [1°46 
STAFFORDSHIRE. 
Dennis, Stourbridge (a)...... C.Webb, Esq. ..... Sodeno | eel 
J, 2g ee ..»|Rev. W. H. Bolton ........ 1°22 
Walsall...... aeiete wes |N. Mi. Bent, EQ. csccccsess 2°33 
Lichfield, .......... -|J. P. Roberts, Hsq. ........ 168 


Burton-on-Trent (c)... ..|C. U. Tripp, Esq., F.M.S. ..{1°61 
Weston-under-Lyziard ...|Hon. & Rev. J. Bridgeman}1-94 
Wrottesley (@) .........00 ..|K. Simpson, Esq. .......... 1°70 
Barlaston (a) .... W. Scott, Esq., F.M.S. 2 

Tean (c) Rev. G. T. Ryves, F.M.S. ../1°84 
Heath House, Cheadle (a) ..|J. C. Philips, Esq., F.M.S. |2°C7 
Oakamoor, Churnet Valley (a)|G. Williams ........ eeeeee [3°30 
Alstonfield ......cccscccccsee Rev. W. H. Purchas ....../2°85 


DERBYSHIRE. 
Stony Middleton .. 
Spondon ........ 


.|Rev. Urban Smith ........ 
J. T. Barber, H8q...c.00.. 


NOTTINGHAMSHIRE. 
Hodsock Priory, Worksop (a)|H. Mellish, Esq., F.M.S. ..)1°24 
Park Hill, Nottingham (a)..|H. F. Johnson, Esq. ..../1°60 
oe / LT 
- {17 


BRRUEY (L) worse ccscoeccviiniss T. L,.K. Edge, Esq. .......-|1°77 

Wuxferd | .<.c... eeaenvanerade J.N. Dufty, Esq., F.G.S. ..|1°79 
RUTLANDSHIRE. 

Uppingham........ seeeeeeess| Rev. G. H. Mullins, M.A. ..}1°21 
LEICESTERSHIRE. 

Loughborough (a).........04+ W. Berridge, Esq., F.M.S...| 135 

MPH cle wean crsecctanscneces J. Hames, Nsq....... eeeeee til 

Ashby Magna .........ce00e Mr. T. Carter .........+ vee / 124 

IRSEVOTER(D) vcwwcceccesnecse T. Macaulay, Esq. ........|1°34 

Waltham-le-Wold .......... Edwin Ball, Esq. ..........|1'34 

Dalby Hall ()) ccicccesceccnes G. Jones, Esq........- seses) (8S 

Coston Kectory, Melton (a) ..|Rev. A. M. Rendell...... ee] “98 
WARWICKSHIRE. 

Henley-in-Arden ........ «-.-|T. H. G. Newton, Esq. ..../1'82 

Kenilworth (a) ..............|F. Slade, Esq., C.E., ¥.M.S.|1°64 

Rugby School (c) ........ «...|Rev. T. N. Hutchinson ..../1'32 

NORTHAMPTONSHIRE. 

Sedgebrooke, Northampton |C. A. Markham, Esq. ......{1°41 

TOWcester .o.2..00 .|J. Webb, Ksq. +113 

Kettering...... .-|J. Wallis, Esq. ........ ooo [l'39 

OXFORDSHIRE. 
Radcliffe Observatory, Ox. (a)|The Staff ......0...eeeee00-/1'72 
WILTSHIRE. 
Marlborough (a) ............|Rev. T. A. Preston, F.M.S.|1'86 
GLOUCESTERSHIRE, 
Cheltenham (a) ...........005 R. Tyrer, Esq., B.A., F.M.S./1752 


“39 


tH WkATHER OF MARCH. 
—— a Ss RAINFALL. 


Greatest fall 
in 24 hours. 


25 


18 


‘a) At these Stations Stevenson’s Thermometer Screen is in use, and the values may be regarded 


as strictly intercomparable. 


All observations received on the new Form except those marked (0). 
(c) Gluisher’s pattern of thermometer screen employed at these stations, 
‘Lhe Beacon Stoop observations will appear at foot in next number. 


117 


SHADE TEMP, 


Absolute 
Maximum. 
Deg! Date. 
575 20 
66°3 16 
54°7 24 
56°3 10 
620 16 
569 15 
65'0 17 
56°7 24 
59°38 18 
59°0 18 
63°7 18 
63°0 18 
59°0 18 
67°0 10 
648 16 
64°0 18 
58°3 | 11, 18 
64-0 18 
590 18 
57°0 18 
64°5| 16, 18 
60°0 10 
57°0 10 
68°0 18 
65°0| 16, 18 
610] 10, 16 
612 18 
65°0 18 
63 U 18 
613 18 
538 8 
6u'4 16 
61°0| 18, 19 
64:1] 16, 18 
64°5 18 
625 18 
59°0} 10 
619 18 
65°2 18 
63°0) 16, 18 
fs 18 
57°0|7, 10, 18 
59°0 10 
65°0 18 
63°0| 18 
619 18 
63°4 18 
66°0 18 
59°0 19 
640 18 
641 18 
62°0| 18 


Absolute 
Minimum 
Deg.| Date. 
30° 7 
316 22 
is Si By 
\34°0| 21 
}28:0| 18 
315 22 
|28°0 3 
31'3| 23 
315 22 
35°8 22 
28°6 4 
27°0 22 
28'0| 22, 23 
19} 28 
26°7 4 
26°5 21 
27°8 23 
26°0| 8,22 
26°0 22 
28°0 21 
280} 28 
27°0| 8,22 
29°0} 8,21 
28°0| 3,13 
26°0 23 
27°0| 4,22 
263} 22 
4B°8| 22 
25°0 23 
-75 22 
27°9 14 
212] 22 
270/ 81 
26°3 | 17,28 
20°5 22 
27°0 4 
27°0| 28,24 
28°2] 238 
272) 23 
27°70; 2B 
24°0 2 
26°0 23 
240 23 
23°5 23 
25°0)} 28 
26°9 23 
2772) 23 
260) 14 
29°0 23 
29°0) 28 
26°2 23 
25°0} 28 


118 CORRESPONDENCE. 


Correspondence. 


AppERs IN Surton Parx.—The Adder has for some time been 
considered scarce at Sutton Park, but on March 19th five large ones 
were taken on the common, near Streetly Wood, by Mr. F. Shrive, 
and on March 26th another specimen was taken near the same place. 
Many traces of others were seen.—H. Insuey, Birmingham. 

ForaMINIFERA IN THE TriAs.—In the ‘ Quarterly Journal of the 
Geological Society,” vol. xvi., p. 452, Professor Rupert Jones, and Mr. 
W. R. Parker, describe a series of foraminifera, which they state were 
obtained from certain blue clays of Keuper age, associated with the 
gypsum beds at Chellaston, near Derby. Since the publication of this 
paper these fossils have been referred to by various authors as being of 
high importance in connection with the study of the Triassic Rocks. No 
other observers, however, have confirmed the observations of Messrs. 
Jones and Parker, although, to my own knowledge, large quantities of 
clay from the locality and beds referred to have been examined with 
great care in a similar manner. I have heard it publicly stated, on 
more than one occasion, that the specimen of clay which was examined 
by the authors, was not obtained by them from the rock in situ, so that it 
is possible that some mistake may have been made in the collection, 
or during the transfer of the clay. Now I know well that the 
gentlemen in question stand far too high in the worldof Science to wish 
to perpetuate an error, if such it be, which may have considerable 
influence on the researches which are now being made into the Triassic 
Rocks of the Midlands. If Professor Jones can give us any information, 
one way or the other, as to the source of the clay he examined, I can 
assure him that many working geologists of the Midlands will be truly 
thankful for it.—F. G. 5S. ; 

FosstnirERous PEBBLES IN THE BunTER.—Some years ago I was 
looking at a fresh-cut section of Bunter Pebble Beds, in one of the 
streets in the heart of Nottingham, when my attention was attracted by 
a pebble of rather unusual shape and character, not unlike a piece of 
roofing tile. It proved to be a fragment of indurated greyish-white 
shale, almost unwaterworn, which, when split open, was found to 
contain three or four minute impressions of a crinoid, apparently all 
of the same species, but in different stages of growth. Although very 
interesting, as being the first pebble containing a fossil that I had ever 
seen in the Bunter, it lay by in my drawers undetermined and well- 
nigh forgotten till just lately, when one of my students—Mr. J. 
Bradley—brought me another fossiliferous pebble, also found in the 
Bunter Pebble Beds, while excavating a grave in the General 
Cemetery, about half-a-mile from where the first pebble was found. 
This pebble was likewise very nearly as angular as it must have been 
when first broken off the parent rock, and the fossil it contained— 
one valve of a Strophomena—had not only lost its hinge, but was other- 
wise sadly mutilated. Imperfect and obscure as the fossils un- 
doubtedly are, however, Professor Etheridge (of the British Museum 
of Natural History, South Kensington), who very courteously undertook 
to examine them for me, was able to identify them, respectively, as 
Glyptocrinus basalis and Strophomena grandis, the latter a Caradoc form 
—indeed both, as Mr. Etheridge adds, Caradoc species. These pebbles, 
along with the quartzite containing Orthis redux, found by Mr. I. 
Jennings in a roadside stone-heap, but presumably derived from the 
Bunter (Mid. Nat., vol. ii. p. 286), are, I believe, the only fossiliferous 
pebbles yet found in that formation at Nottingham.—J. Suipmay, 
Nottingham. 


GLEANINGS—REPORTS. 119 


Mr. Cusrves Darwin, the greatest of naturalists, died on Wednesday, 
the 19th ultimo, in his 74th year, and was buried on the Wednesday 
following in Westminster Abbey, close to the spot where Sir Isaac 
Newton was buried in 1727. The funeral was attended by such numbers 
of the representative men of the time, of all classes and shades of 
opinion, as showed in the most decisive manner the national apprecia- 
tion of the claims of Mr. Darwin as a man and asaphilosopher. In our 
next number we hope to present our readers with a woodcut portrait of 
the great naturalist, reproduced from the exquisite medal cut by Mr. 
Moore for the ‘‘Darwin Prize,” which is open to members of the 
Midland Union of Natural History Societies. 


Sir Herewatp Wake’s Prize.—We remind our Entomological 
readers of the prize offered by the ex-President of the Midland Union 
for ‘‘ The best original Essay on the Life History of any one Genus of 
Insects indigenous to the Midland Counties, written by a member of 
one of the Societies in the Union.” The essays should be sent without 
delay to Sir Herewald Wake, Bart., Courteen Hall, Northampton. 


Reports of Societies. 


BIRMINGHAM NATURAL HISTORY AND MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETY.--- 
GEOLOGICAL SECTION.—March 28th. Mr. W. Harrison exhibited a fine specimen 
of pseudomorphous salt crystals from the red marl at Yardley. Mr. W. J, 
Harrison, F.G.S., gave an interesting lecture on “ The Quartzite Pebbles in the 
Drift.” These hard pebbles of various colours are very common in the midland 
counties of England, where they are used for road paving and repairing. They 
appear to have been derived from the pebble beds of the Bunter Conglomerate, 
one of the lower divisions of the Trias formation. This is, however, still doubted 
by some geologists, though the weight of evidence seems to be in its favour. 
The lecturer then proceeded to discuss the various theories which have been 
propounded to account for the first origin of these pebbles. Mr. Hull, of the 
Geological Survey, considered that they were brought from the Old Red Con- 
glomerates of Scotland ; but the distance is very great, and a recent investiga- 
tion of the latter has shown that the fossils in the quartzites are very different 
to those in this neighbourhood. Professor Bonney ascribes them to currents 
from the north-west of Scotland, basing his theory principally on microscopical 
examination. Others think that they came from Normandy, where the rocks 
are found in situ with similar fossils to those found in the pebbles of the 
drift. Similar fossils occur in great numbers in the pebble beds at 
Budleigh Salterton, in Devonshire. The Rev. P. B. Brodie advanced the 
opinion that they were due to a former land surface of older rocks which 
ran like a barrier across England. The lecturer adopted this view, and 
ably supported it by numerous facts and arguments, pointing out that 
the old rocks of Charnwood Forest, Malvern Hills, and the Wrekin appear to be 
remains of this ancient reef, and also that deep borings have proved the presence 
of bosses of these Palzeozoic formations under the newer beds. In the discus- 
sion which ensued other evidence in support of this view were adduced. The 
lecture was illustrated by many maps and diagrams, and by numerous 
specimens, principally from the Drift Beds at Moseley, including some excep- 
tionally well-preserved and unique specimens of Lingula Lesueuri—April 4th. 
Mr. R. W. Chase exhibited Larus minutus, the Little Gull, and Phalaropus 
fuiicarius, the Grey Phalarope. Mr. J. Levick made a few remarks on the pro- 
gress of the Society’s work during the past year,in which he mentioned the 
increased energy displayed in the study of fishes, birds, and fungi, and 
enumerated still unworked fields, in which rich harvests might be gathered. 
Dr. J,Anthony, F,R,C,P,, exhibited and described about ten kinds of pocket magni- 


120 REPORTS. 


fiers, and showed by diagrams on the black board their respective advantages, 
and how to obtain from each lens the utmost of which it was capable. 
The lecture, which was full of useful practical hints, was deservedly applauded. 
BIOLOGICAL SECTION.—April llth. Mr. Morley exhibited on behalf of Mr, W. R. 
Hughes a collection of plants from Brixham. Mr. R. M. Lloyd exhibited a 
curious insect, found in a fern case, which he had not yet been able to identify. 
Dr. A. Milnes Marshall gave Part IIL. (Pennatula phosphorea) of the Report on the 
Pennatulida collected in the Oban dredging excursion, prepared by himself, and 
Mr. W. i’. Marshall, which contained some new and interesting points in the 
structure of that genus. The report was illustrated by numerous diagrams and 
a beautiful series of preparations under the microscopes. April 18th.—Mr. 
R. W. Chase exhibited striking varieties (pied) of the common Bunting, the 
Linnet, and the Song Thrush, from Cambridgeshire, and a specimen of Ruticilla 
tithys, the Black Redstart, from near Brighton. Mr. J. Morley exhibited 
Spirotenia condensata and other Desmids living, and the head of the 
common wasp mounted without pressure by Mr. F. Enock. Mr. R. M. 
Lloyd exhibited a small molluse, Vertigo moulinsiana, from near Hitchin. 
Mr. W. B. Grove exhibited the Fungi collected during the Cheltenham 
excursion, and Spheria moriformis, from King’s Lynn. GEOLOGICAL 
SEcTion. — April 25th. Mr. W. J. Harrison exhibited Galena in 
Silurian Limestone and Coal, showing “slickensides” from a coal pit near 
Dudley, and specimens of Dolerite and Pitchstone from scotland. Mr. ©, H. 
Mather exhibited quartzite pebbles from the Bunter conglomerate of Great 
Barr, showing worm borings of Trachyderma Serrata. Myr. W. B. Grove showed 
microscopical sections of Puccinia wmbilica and Corticium sanguineum from 
Shifnal, Salop. Mr. J. E. Bagnall exhibited some mosses, Dicranwm montanum, 
from two new Warwickshire stations, and Sphagnum fimbriatum and Fontinalis 
antipyretica from the neighbourhood of Maxtoke. He also showed for Mr. J. Bragg 
a fasciated branch of Acer pseudo-platanus. Mr. T. H. Waller then read, on behalf 
of Mr. Dr. T.Wright, F.R.S., of : heltenham, a paper on “Basalt;” being the abstract 
of an address delivered to the members on the occasion of the visit of the 
fSociety to Oban. He described very vividly the volcanic rocks of that district, 
especially with relation to Staffa and Fingal’s ( ave, which the party visited. 
The paper was illustrated by sketches, photographs, and specimens, and was 
followed by an animated discussion. 


BIRMINGHAM MICROSCOPISTS’ AND NATURALISTS’ UNION.—March 
13th. Exhibited by Mr. Darley, an external parasite of Humble Bee. Mr. Dunn, 
Volvox globator, which had reappeared in an old locality. A paper, ‘‘How Rocks 
are Formed,” was read by Mr. H. Insley. Micro sections of Landovery Sand- 
stone and Lickey Quartzite were shown.—March 20th. First night of meeting 
in new quarters, Graham Street. Public admitted by ticket; 300 present. Mr. 
F. Shrive exhibited group of five Adders, caught at Sutton Park, (living,) also 
collection of British reptiles. Exhibited by Mr. Deakin, British Lepidoptera; by 
Mr. Boland, Conchological Collection. A number of microscopes were devoted 
to pond life, &e. Myr. Betteridge exhibited a pair of Smew, male and female, 
shot in the district. Mr. J. W. Neville delivered an address on “ The Work of 
the Society.’”—March 27th. Mr. J. W. Neville exhibited stomach of Common Flea; 
Mr. Darley, female Emperor Moth; Mr. Moore, Horsehair Worm, 6in. in length, 
A paper was read by Mr. Boland on “ The Natural History of the Silkworm.” 
Specimens were shown in illustration. 


DUDLEY AND MIDLAND GEOLOGICAL AND SCIENTIFIC SOCIETY 
AND FIELD CLUB.—The Annual Meeting was held in the Society’s 
Museum, Dudley, on Monday, the 17th April, when the (ommittee’s report 
and statement of accounts were received, and officers for the present 
year were elected. Subsequently, an address, illustrated by drawings and 
specimens, was delivered by Mr. W. J. Harrison, F.G.S., “On the Nature and 
Fossil Contents of the Quartzite Pebbles found in the Drift and Bunter Beds of 
the Midland Counties.” A number of interesting fossils and microscopic and 
other objects were exhibited, 


ee ed 


; Boo a Pa: . 


a... mn 


Plate i. 


xX 17 


L onguudinal Section atAA. 


ntral. 


Fig. 


S 
8 
are 
5 
: 


F. Huth, Lith® Edin? 


AM Marshall del 


PENNATULA PHOSPHOREA. 


REPORT ON 


THE PENNATULIDA. 


121 


BY A. 


REPORT ON THE PENNATULIDA 

COLLECTED IN THE OBAN 

OF THE BIRMINGHAM NATURAL HISTORY AND 
MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETY, JULY, 1881.* 


M.A., D.SC., PROFESSOR OF ZOOLOGY 


MILNES MARSHALL, 


IN OWENS COLLEGE, AND W. 


DREDGING EXCURSION 


P. MARSHALL, M.I.C.E. 


(Continued from page 56.) 


PART II.—Pennatunta PHosPHOREA. 


Linneus. 


Of this species two living specimens were obtained, of 54 and 42 


inches length respectively. 


They were both found in the same locality 


(Station I. of the General Report of the Dredging Excursion), two 


the object. 


DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES IN PLATE III. 
Figures 1 and 2, representing the female specimen, are drawn directly from 


Figs. 


3-7 are taken from the male specimen; 


figs. 3, 6, and 7 


being drawn direct with the camera from the original objects, while figs. 4and5 
are constructed from separate camera drawings of the several parts shown. Fig. 
8 is taken from one of the specimens from Naples. 

Alphabetical List of References. 


a. Rachis. | o. Mesentery. 
b. Stalk. ov. Egg of Entomostracon embedded 
c. Stem. | in mesenterial filament. 
d. Polype. p. Retractor muscle. 
dl. Leaf. | q. Protractor muscle. 
e. Zooid. | 7, Short mesenterial filament. 
f. Tentacle. | s. Long mesenterial filament. 
fo. Foreign body, swallowed as food. ¢. Ovum. 
g. Calyx. ts. Spermatosphere. 
h, Cavity in calyx process. u. Main canals of rachis. 
i. Spicule. v. Smaller canals. 
1. Coaenenchym, or fleshy body- w. Ectoderm. ° 
substance. a. Mesoderm. 
m. Mouth. y. Endoderm. 
n. Stomach. 
Fig. 1—Dorsal view of the female specimen. x 2. 


Fig. 2.—Ventral view of the female specimen, 


showing zooids on ventral 


surface of rachis: also ova at bases of leaves. x &. 


Fig. 3—Transverse section through the rachis of the male specimen, with the 
whole of the 13th left leaf, and the base of the 13th right leaf. Shows mode of 
formation of leaf by lateral fusion of polypes; also arrangement of zooids on 
rachis. On the right leaf the spicules are represented, but on the left they have 
been omitted for the sake of clearness. x 3. 


Fig 4.—Longitudinal section of a single polype along the line AA in Fig. 3; the 
plane of section being the plane of s1 symmetr y, perpendicular to the flat surface 
of the leaf: shows w hole structure of a polype. x 17. 

Fig. 5—Transverse section through six contiguous polypes taken along 
the line BB in Fig. 3, cutting the several polypes at different portions of their 
lengths. ‘the uppermost section passes through the calyx and base of the 
tentacles. The second section passes through the stomach, and shows the 
mesenteries and the arrangement of the retractor muscles. The third section . 
passes through the mesenterial filaments below the stomach, and shows their 
division into two small and six large ones: shows also food particles in the act 
of being digested by the filaments, anda ripe spermatosphere. The fourth, fifth, 
and sixth sections are below the lower ends of the short mesenterial filaments: 
they show the long filaments, and the various stages of development of the male 
reproductive organs. * 25, 

Fig. 6.—Transverse section through one of the smaller spicules. 

Fig. 7.—Transverse section through a large spicule. x 400. 

Fig. 8.—_Separate view of bare stem. x &. 


x 400. 


* Read before the Heninrnne Natural History and Microscopical Society, 
April 11th, 1882, 


122 REPORT ON THE PENNATULIDA. 


miles N.W. of Oban, and about a mile from the shore, in twenty 
fathoms water, one being brought up by the tangle and the other 
inside the dredge-net. A third, smaller, specimen obtained from the 
same locality was not preserved. 


The specimens prove on examination to be of different sexes, a 
rare piece of good fortune, which has enabled us to make our report 
far more complete than could otherwise have been the case, and 
also to give an account of the structure and development of the male 
reproductive organs of Pennatula, of which no satisfactory description 
has hitherto appeared. 


In order to investigate the anatomical structure a pair of leaves with 
the corresponding part of the rachis were removed from the male speci- 
men, the less perfect of the two, and of these sections were made in 
various planes. The knowledge obtained in this way, which was still 
deficient in many important points, we have supplemented by an exami- 
nation of specimens of Pennatula phosphorea in the Owens College 
museum, originally obtained from Naples, and in this way have been 
enabled to prepare a fairly complete account of the anatomy of 
Pennatula. Concerning the histology we have been less successful 
owing to the imperfect preservation of the specimens. 

As in the case of Funiculina, we have given special attention to the 
figures on Plate IIL., all of which have either been drawn directly from 
the objects themselves, or else constructed from camera drawings of 
the several parts shown. 

GENERAL ACCOUNT. 

The general appearance of Pennatula phosphorea is shown in Figs. 1 
and 2, the former figure representing the dorsal and the latter the 
opposite or ventral surface, both figures being drawn from the 
female specimen. 


Asin Funiculina there is a cylindrical axial portion, of which the 
lower 2ths, forming the stalk (Figs. 1 and 2b), are bare and in the 
living animal probably planted in the sea-bottom, while the upper 
3ths, or rachis (Fig. 2 a), support the polypes. 

These polypes are arranged in transverse rows along each side of 
the rachis, the several polypes of each row being fused together along 
nearly their whole length, so as to form broad horizontal leaves (Figs. 
1, 2, and 8 dl), projecting out at right angles to the rachis. The 
presence of these leaves forms the most marked point of difference 
between Pennatula and Funiculina, in which latter each polype is 
quite free from its neighbours and inserted independently into the 
rachis. 

As in Funiculina the polypes are placed along the dorsal and 
lateral surfaces of the rachis, but not on the ventral surface (Figs. 2 
and 3), which however, unlike Funiculina, is thickly studded with 
zooids (Figs. 2 and 3, e). 

As shown in Figs. 1 and 2 the leaves are not all of equal length ; 
the longest ones, in the female specimen, are at about one-third 


REPORT ON THE PENNATULIDA. 123 


of the length of the rachis above its commencement, from 
which point they diminish gradually in length towards the upper 
end of the rachis, and much more rapidly towards the lower end. The 
number of polypes composing the leaves varies according to the length 
of the leaf; the greatest number, found in the longest leaves, being 
twelve in the female specimen (Fig. 3 d), and inthe male fifteen ; while 
the topmost leaves consist of three or even only two polypes each. 


The rachis and leaves are of a deep red colour, due, not to the 
fleshy body-substance which is nearly colourless, but to red calcareous 
spicules which are present in immense numbers throughout these 
portions of the Pen (Figs. 3, 4, and 5 i). The stalk is much paler, the 
spicules in it being colourless. 

ANATOMICAL DESCRIPTION. 
1.—The Stalk and Rachis— 

Thestalk (Figs. 1, 2,3) which forms about 2-5ths of the entire length 
of the Pen, is cylindrical, with a diameter, in the female specimen, of 
0-21lin. along the grevter part of its length. The bottom third is 
somewhat dilated and bulbous, and the upper end, just at the junction 
of stalk and rachis, slightly constricted, forming as in Funiculina 
the narrowest portion of the stalk. 

As the Oban specimens were destined for museum purposes, we 
have been unable to investigate the structure of the stalk in them, and 
the following account is based on a series of preparations made from 
a couple of specimens in the Owens College Museum, obtained from 
Naples. 


The stalk is really a tube, being traversed along its whole length 
by an axial canal, whose diameter along the greater part of the length 
is about 4 that of the stalk itself, somewhat exceeding this in the upper 
and lower thirds, and being rather smaller in the middle third. At 
the bottom of the stalk this canal is said by Kdélliker to open to the 
exterior by a minute orifice, the existence of which we have, however, 
been unable to confirm. 

The central canal is divided into two along the whole length of the 
stalk by a longitudinal partition ; and in the upper half of the stalk, 
owing to the presence of two other partitions, into four, whereof one 
is dorsal, one ventral, and two lateral. 

The walls of the stalk present the following structure :—On 
the outer surface is an epidermis, which, although of some thickness, 
consists of only a single layer of closely-packed columnar cells. 
Beneath this is a thick connective-tissue layer, or dermis, forming 
from } to }the total thickness of the wall. Imbedded in this dermis 
are an immense number of calcareous spicules crossing one another at 
every conceivable angle, and set so closely together that in many 
places the connective tissue matrix is completely concealed by them. 
These spicules which, unlike the spicules of the rachis and leaves, are 
colourless, have an average length of 0-013in., and width of 0:001in., 
the total thickness of the dermis, to which they give considerable 
strength and toughness, being about 0-016in. 


124 REPORT ON THE PENNATULIDA. 


Beneath the dermis is a well-developed system of longitudinal 
muscles, arranged so as to form not a simple ring round the stalk, but 
an extremely sinuous or corrugated one, the loops being very deep and * 
close together, and the total thickness of the layer about } that of the 
entire wall. Within the layer of longitudinal muscles is a connective 
tissue layer of varying thickness in different parts, and traversed by 
ill-defined bands of muscular fibre whose general direction is parallel 
to the surface of the stalk, though not forming a distinct system of 
circular muscles. This layer forms also the basis of the septa or 
partitions dividing the central canal. Finally, the central canals are 
lined by a single layer of short columnar epithelial cells. 

The walls of the stalk are farther traversed by an irregular system 
of canals or vessels of no great size, the largest of which have a longi- 
tudinal direction and are situated in the loops formed by the layer of 
longitudinal muscles. 

The lower third of the stalk differs materially in appearance from 
the upper two-thirds. Its walls are softer and paler in colour, and 
owing to the action of the spirit in which the specimens have been 
preserved, are very distinctly wrinkled. This difference is due partly 
to the wall of the lower third being somewhat thinner than that of 
the upper part, but far more to the fact that in this portion the 
dermis, which, owing to its calcareous spicules, is the most rigid layer 
of the stalk, is barely half the thickness that it has above. 

We have described the stalk as seen in our spirit-preserved 
specimens, but before leaving it a point of some interest remains to 
be noticed. The stalk of Pennatula phosphorea is described and figured 
by some writers as of very much greater thickness than we have 
stated above, and is said to become inflated under certain circum- 
stances or at certain times of the day. Thus Sir John Dalyell* 
says that the whole Pen may distend itself with water, the 
distension being most marked in the stalk. He remarks that ‘‘ No one 
could anticipate the effect of intumescence from its form in a con- 
tracted state.” Also, that ‘‘it enlarges remarkably as evening comes 
on,” Pennatula being, according to him, “ strictly nocturnal,” and, at 
any rate in captivity, only expanding fully in the evening or at night. 

Johnston} also notices that ‘‘ when placed in a basin or plate of 
sea-water, Pennatule . . . . inflate the body until it becomes to 
a considerable degree transparent, and only streaked with interrupted 
lines of red.” 

On the otherhand, Panceri}, who has made careful observations on 
living Pennatule, holds that this state of distension is not a natural 
one. He says, ‘‘ When these zoophytes, living at a depth of 40 or 100 


oe Dalyell : “Rare and Remarkable Animals of Scotland,” Vol. ii., 1848, pp. 191- 
194, and Plate xliv. ae 
Johnston: “British Zoophytes,” Second Edition, 1847, Vol. ii., pp. 160-161; 
ae Figure 35, p. 158, where Pennatula phosphorea is figured with the stalk thus 
inflated. 
+ Panceri: “ Etudes sur la phosphorescence des animaux marins,” Annales 
des Sciences Naturelles, Cinquieme Série, tome 16, 1872, p. 15. 


or 


‘REPORT ON THE PENNATULIDA. 12 


metres (22 to 54 fathoms), or more, are suddenly removed from their 
natural resting place at the bottom of the sea, and transferred to an 
aquarium, they undergo so great a change in the pressure, temper- 
ature, degree ot saltness of the water, and conditions of existence 
generally, that they swell up gradually to an enormous extent—up to 
double their natural size.” He brings forward as further evidence that 
this dropsical condition is an unnatural one, the fact that Pennatule 
in thisstate respond exceedingly feebly to stimuli, whether mechanical, 
chemical, thermal, or electrical, to which, in their natural undistended 
condition they answer readily. 


The above quotations suggest two points for consideration :—(1.) Is 
this inflation of the stalk of Pennatula a constantly occurring or only 
an exceptional phenomenon? (2.) If constant, is it to be regarded as 
a normal oras an abnormal occurrence, due, as Panceri suggests, to the 
exceptional conditions under which the Pen is placed ? 


Concerning: the first point, the united testimony of Dalyell, 
Johnston, and Panceri proves that at any rate this inflation is no rare 
event under the conditions named; and through a valuable observa- 
tion of Mr. J. F. Goode, who kept the log of the Oban excursion, we are 
enabled to give some account of the process of inflation as it actually 
occurred in one of the Oban specimens. We learn from Mr. Goode’s 
MS. notes and from a drawing made by him at the time, that when one 
of the Pennatule—-the male specimen—was placed, immediately after 
its capture, in a shallow pan of sea-water, the stalk was at first 
cylindrical with a slightly bulbous extremity (very similar to Figs. 1 
and 2); but that shortly afterwards ‘‘it was seen to undergo a gradual 
change of form. A slight constriction took place near the extreme 
end, driving the fluid contents forward towards the upper part (near 
the rachis), which became much swollen, leaving only a small bulb at 
the opposite end. . . . . This form was not at all permanent, 
continued change still going on, evidently with the object of regaining 
its original form, the fluid seeming to oscillate from one end to the 
other. The above changes took place in the first twenty minutes from 
the time of capture.” 


With regard to the second point, which can, of course, only be 
settled by direct observations on living specimens, we will only 
remark here that Mr. Goode’s observation that at the moment of 
capture the proportions of the stalk were those we have decribed and 
figured from spirit specimens, is important testimony in favour 
of these proportions being the normal ones; and further, that 
Panceri’s suggestion appears to us to be of much weight, and that 
it is quite possible that it also gives the clue to Sir John 
Dalyell’s statement concerning the ‘ nocturnal habits” of Pen- 
natule. The bottom of the sea at twenty to forty fathoms 
depth must be very dark indeed as compared with the surface, and it 
seems to us very probable that a Pennatula ‘‘in a basin or plate of 
sea-water ’’ does not expand its polypes fully until the evening, simply 


126 REPORT ON THE PENNATULIDA. 


because it is only then that the amount of light approximates to what 
it ig accustomed to receive in the day time at the bottom of the sea. 


The rachis (Fig 2 a), or axial portion of the feather or polype- 
bearing part of the Pen, is widest about the junction of its middle 
and lower thirds. From this point, at which, in the female specimen, 
it has a width of 0:29in., it tapers gradually in both directions. Its 
dorsal surface (Fig. 1) is completely concealed by the polypes, and of 
the lateral surfaces only small portions are visible between the bases of 
the leaves. The ventral surface is, however, exposed along its whole 
length (Figs. 2 and 3); it is marked by a shallow median longitudinal 
groove, more pronounced in the female than the male specimen, and 
is studded all over with the zooids or rudimentary polypes. In colour 
it contrasts strongly with the stalk, being of a bright red colour, 
excepting the median groove which is pale yellow. 


The internal structure of the rachis is shown in Fig 3. The central 
canal, which is of very large size, is divided by the septa shown in 
this figure into four; a very large dorsal one, two large lateral ones, 
and asmall ventral one, crescentic in transverse section. In the great 
size of these canals, which do not appear to have been figured hitherto, 
Pennatula phosphorea contrasts remarkably with the allied species 
Pennatula rubra, as described and figured by Kolliker,* in which the 
dorsal canal is very small, and far removed from the others, which are 
themselves much smaller than in P. phosphorea. 

The structure of the wall on the mid-dorsal and on the ventral 
surfaces is, but for the presence of the zooids, much the same as that 
ot the stalk. Asingle-layered epidermis covers a thick dermis exceed- 
ingly thickly studded with calcareous spicules, packed together if 
possible even more closely than in the stalk; beneath the dermis is 
a well-developed layer of longitudinal muscles, having the same 
arrangement as in the stalk; and underneath this a connective-tissue 
layer which differs considerably from that of the stalk, for instead of 
forming a dense compact layer it has the character of a loose spongy 
meshwork, traversed by large irregular canals and passages, freely 
opening into one another and into the canal system between the folds 
of the longitudinal muscles. 


At the sides the structure of the wall between the several polype- 
leaves is much the same as that just described on the dorsal and 
ventral surfaces, with the exception that the longitudinal muscle layer 
is absent, and the spongy connective-tissue layer consequently thicker ; 
but opposite the bases of attachment of the leaves it is very different. 
As shown on the left-hand side of Fig. 3, the wall is here reduced to 
a thin connective-tissue membrane, separating the bottoms of the 
polype cavities from the main dorsal and lateral canals. 


The partitions separating the main canals from one another are, 
as in the stalk, formed by prolongations of the connective-tissue layer ; 


* Killiker: Anatomische-systematische Beschreibung der Alcyonarien. 
Erste Abtheilung: Die Pennatuliden, 1872, Plate VIIL., fig. 72. 


REPORT ON THE PENNATULIDA. Ari 


the canals themselves being lined by a single layer of epithelial cells. 
In the septum dividing the two lateral canals from one another is 
contained, as will be described more fully below, the calcareous axial 
rod or stem (Fig. 3, c.) 

The function of the whole canal system of Pennatulida is a matter 
of much uncertainty. The meshes of the spongy connective-tissue 
communicate freely with the cavities of both polypes and zooids, and 
also, according to Kélliker, with the main canal system of the rachis 
and stalk. The fluid inthis system is probably a nutritive one, mixed, 
however, very largely with sea-water; and the well developed 
muscular system may be supposed to have for its main function the 
maintaining, by compression of portions of the spongy connective- 
tissue meshwork, of currents from one part of the Pen to another, 
and in part to effect the slight movements of the leaves described by 
many writers, notably by Dalyell, who says that ‘the animal has 
also much control over the dimensions, reciprocal position, and 
direction of the lobes,’’* i.e., leaves. 
2.—The Stem— 

As in Funiculina, the stalk and rachis are traversed by a central 
firmly-calcified stem (Fig. 8), situated, as shown in Fig. 3c, in the 
middle of the septum dividing the two main lateral canals from one 
another. We have investigated the structure and anatomical relations 
of the stem in two of the specimens of Pennatula from Naples referred 
to above. 


The first of these specimens has a total length of 44in., whereof the 
stalk forms the lower 12in., and the rachis the remainder. The rachis 
bears twenty-seven leaves on each side, each of the larger ones being 
composed of eleven polypes. The stem (Fig. 8c,) is thickest at the 
point of junction of stalk and rachis, at which place it has a diameter 
of 0-044in. A point of considerable interest is that at this spot the 
stem is very distinctly quadrangular in transverse section, the sides 
being even slightly concave, as in Funiculina. This quadrangular 
shape of the stem of Pennatula appears to haye been hitherto very 
generally overlooked. From the point mentioned the stem extends 
down to the bottom of the stalk, preserving its quadrangular character 
until very close to the bottom where it becomes cylindrical. Its 
diameter diminishes at first very gradually, but in the bottom half- 
inch very rapidly. On reaching the bottom of the stalk it is bent 
back on itself, so as to form a hook, the loop of the hook being in 
contact with the bottom of the stalk, and the upturned limb of the 
hook, which is }in long, being extremely slender and only very 
imperfectly calcified. The extreme tip is bent back a second time 
towards the lower end of the stalk for a length of about Hin. 

In the rachis the stem loses its quadrangular character almost 
immediately, becoming cylindrical ; its transverse section being 
circular or somewhat oval (Fig. 3c). It tapers gradually in passing 


* Dalyell, op. cit., p. 192, 


128 REPORT ON THE PENNATULIDA. 


upwards, and on reaching a point $in. from the top of the rachis 
bends back on itself for a length of about din., ending in an extremely 
slender and flexible thread. 

In the second specimen, which has a total length of 54in., of which 
the stalk forms the lower 2in., and which has thirty-one leaves on each 
side of the rachis. each of the larger ones consisting of twelve polypes, 
the general relations are very similar. The stem is again distinctly 
quadrangular at the junction of stalk and rachis, its sides being even 
more decidedly concave than in the former specimen. The quad- 
rangular character is preserved until very near the bottom of the 
stalk. As before, the stem diminishes in diameter very slowly at first, 
but rapidly in the last half inch. It extends to the bottom of the 
stalk, and then turns back on itself for a length of tin., forming a hook 
and ending in a very slender thread. 

In the rachis the stem becomes cylindrical almost at once, and, 
unlike the former specimen, slightly increases at first in size, its 
greatest diameter, 0-047in., being attained about Sin. above the com- 
mencement of the rachis. From this point it tapers gradually to its 
upper end. It extends up as faras the level of the eighth pair of 
leaves, 2in. from the top, and then bends back on itself, forming a 
loop about fin. long, and ending as before in an exceedingly slender 
thread. 

In the Oban specimens we have been able to confirm the above 
description to a certain extent. Owing to the thinness of the wall of 
the lower end of the stalk, it is easy to satisfy oneself that the stem 
extends quite down to the bottom and then turns back on itself for a 
certain distance; also, that it is thin and flexible at this lower end. 
In the rachis it is, as shown in Fig. 3 c, oval in transverse section; 
and concerning its extent upwards, it appears, so far as can be deter- 
mined by external manipulation, to stop about half an inch from the 
top. 

The stem consists of a dense fibrous matrix, in which the fibres 
are mainly concentric, but partly radial, impregnated with calcareous 
salts. Unlike Funiculina, the central part of the stem is as firmly 
calcified as the exterior. 

The quadrangular character of the stem in the stalk is of interest, 
as it has hitherto been very generally considered diagnostic of 
Funiculina, which, however, unlike Pennatula, preserves the quad- 
rangular form in the rachis as well. 

Concerning the proportions of the stem at different parts of its 
length, the remarks that we have already made when considering 
Funiculina* apply also to Pennatula, the proportions being precisely 
those which, mechanically considered, adapt it most perfectly to the 
erect fposture with the stalk planted in the mud of the sea bottom. 
We shall return to this point further on. 

(To be continued. ) 


* Swpraspp. 5-6, 


MIDLAND UNION: NOTTINGHAM MEETING. 129 


MIDLAND UNION OF NATURAL HISTORY 
SOCIETIES. 


‘THE NOTTINGHAM MEETING OF 1882. 


ANNUAL MEETING. 


The Fifth Annual Meeting of the Midland Union of Natural History 
Societies will be held in the Lecture Theatre, at University College, 
Nottingham, on Thursday, June 15th, at Three o’clock, the President 
of the Union (Appleby Stephenson, Esq.) in the chair. The business 
of the Meeting will be to receive the Report of the Council and the 
Treasurer’s Accounts ; to fix the place of the next Annual Meeting in 
1883 ; to award the Darwin Medal for the year 1881-2; to consider any 
suggestions that Members may offer; to discuss the work of the Union 
during the coming year ; and to transact all necessary business. The 
President will open the Meeting with an Address. 


CONVERSAZIONE, &c. 


A ConvErsazIonE will be held at the Mechanics’ Institution, Mans- 
field Road, Nottingham, on Thursday evening, June 15th. There will 
be an exhibition of objects of general scientific interest, Microscopy, 
the various departments of Natural History, Archeology, and Art. 
Members of Societies in the Union willing to contribute Specimens, or 
to exhibit or lend Microscopes, will oblige by at once communicating 
with the Local Secretary, Mr. E. Wilson, 18, Low Pavement, 
Nottingham, from whom tickets (one shilling each) may also be 
obtained. 


The room of the Literary and Philosophical Society, at the School 
of Art, Waverley Street. Nottingham, will be opened as a Reception 
Room for Members of the Union and visitors, and letters may be 
addressed there. An Arrival Book will lie on the table, and it is hoped 
that visitors will enter their names and temporary addresses in it for 
the information of friends who may desire to communicate with them. 
The Library and Herbarium of the Society will be open to the 
inspection of Members of the Union. 


Locat ExcursioN To THE Hemiock Strong, Bramcote, Norrs.—On 
Thursday Morning, June 15th, arrangements will be made for a party 
to visit the ‘‘ Hemlock Stone” (a curious isolated rock of that part of 
the New Red Sandstone formation known as the Keuper Basement 
Beds), five miles from Nottingham, in conjunction with a party of the 
Leicester Literary and Philosophical Society. Breaks may be engaged 
at 2s. 6d. per head to leave Nottingham at 9.30 a.m., arriving in return 
at 12.0 noon. If a sufficient number send in their names to Mr. E. 
Wilson (Local Secretary) on or before Saturday, June 10th, he will 
engage carriages and arrange as to place of starting. 


Locau Instrrutions, Manuractures, &c.—On Thursday, June 15th, 
parties will be formed to visit the Art Museum at Nottingham Castle, 
which the Curator will show to the visitors; the University College, 
Laboratories, Natural History Museum, and Free Library, which will 
be shown by the Professors and the Librarian ; the Nottingham School 
of Art; and one or more Lace Manufactories in the neighbourhood. 


130 MIDLAND UNION: NOTTINGHAM MEETING. 


THE EXCURSIONS. 


On Friday, June 16th, there will be two Excursions, viz: one to 
Castleton, and the other to Belvoir Castle and district. 


Tue CastLEeTon Parry will leave Nottingham by the 9.50 a.m. (M.R.) 
train for Chapel-en-le-Frith. From Chapel the party will drive to 
Castleton. The Blue John Cavern, the Windy Knoll Limestone 
Quarry, and Mam Tor (‘The Shivering Mountain”) will be called at 
on the way. At Castleton dinner will be taken at 2.30. The Geo- 
logical and Archxological Museum, the Peak Cavern, Peveril Castle, 
and Cave Dale will be here inspected. The party will drive back to 
Chapel-en-le-Frith, passing through the Gorge of the Winnatts en 
route. Tea will here be taken at Seven o’clock. The return train 
leaves Chapel at 7.43 (via Derby) for Nottingham, arriving there at 
10.52. Tickets, Ten Shillings each, including dinner and tea. 


Tur Betvorr Parry will leave Nottingham by the 9.45 a.m. train 
(G.N.R.) to Elton. Here the Gypsum Pits (with Rhetic above) will 
be visited. From Elton the party will drive by Redmile to Belvoir, 
arriving about 11.30. By kind permission of His Grace the Duke of 
Rutland, the Castle and Grounds will be thrown open to Members of 
the Midland Union and their friends, The woods, country lanes, and 
stone quarries in the vicinity will afford matter of interest to the 
Botanist, Ornithologist, and Geologist, Luncheon will be taken at 
Two o’clock, At Three o’clock carriages will be ready for Croxton, 
Waltham, Stonesby, where Lincolnshire Limestone and Upper Lias 
may be seen. Thence the party will drive to Eastwell Ironstone Pits, 
and walk to Clawson Cutting to view the Drift. The return train 
leaves Clawson Station at 7.5 p.m., arriving at Nottingham at 7.50.; or 
an earlier return may be made by the 4.42 train, arriving at Nottingham 
at 5.27, Tickets Seven Shillings and Sixpence each, including luncheon, 


Tickets must be applied for not later than Saturday, June 10th, and 
may be procured from Mr. E. Wilson, 18, Low Pavement, Nottingham, 


The Nottingham Meeting promises to be a most successful one ; the 
local Societies. including the Nottingham Literary and Philosophical 
Society, the Nottingham Naturalist’s Society, and the Nottingham 
Working Men’s Naturalist’s Society, have worked together energetically 
to arrange the thorough and attractive programme laid down above ; 
several of the other Societies in the Union have made the days of the 
meeting a leading feature in their fixtures for the year, and we hope to 
see a meeting of Midland Naturalists worthy of the importance of a 
Union whose ranks comprise more than 3,000 members. 


The new University College will form an admirable centre for 
the business of the General Meeting, while the spacious rooms of the 
Mechanics’ Institute will give ample space for an interesting and 
instructive evening and exhibition of scientific objects of every class. 

The Excursions will only require fine weather to make them in the 
highest degree enjoyable. We can promise botanists a rare treat in the 
Alpine garden and shrubberies at Belvoir Castle ; whose galleries 
contain, too, many magnificent paintings. The excursion to this 
district will be under the care of Professor Blake, whose new book on 
‘“ Silurian Cephalopoda ” has just appeared. 

The Castleton excursion will be led by Messrs. J. J. Harris Teall 
and E. Wilson, and promises a long and very pleasant day. We trust 
that many old friends, among the scientific workers of the Midlands 
will meet at Nottingham, and that many new friendships will be 
made there, 


THE GOLDFINCH. leu 


THE GOLDFINCH (Cariduelis eleyans).* 


BY HUGH A. MACPHERSON, B.A. 


I propose to read to you to-day a brief resumé of the notes which I 
have collected on the Goldfinch since the reading of my first paper 
(published in ‘‘ Midland Naturalist,” Vol. IV., p. 225 et seq.) 

When I passed through Paris, June 2nd, 1881, I found the bird 
shops well supplied with fine, bright, mature males of this species. 
About 6 a.m. on June 24th, in the neighbourhood of Clermont, two 
immature birds passed me on the wing. Shortly afterwards I crept 
within a yard or two of two old males, feeding hungrily on the seeds 
of a ragged, yellow daisy. In the neighbourhood of Mont Dore, in 
Auvergne, to which we proceeded, goldfinches were numerous. They 
did not appear to breed in the wilder parts of the valley, but only in 
the immediate vicinity of the village, and on level ground. All requests 
for the patois names of small birds were met with the remark, 
**chardonneret,” regardless of identity. 


Even during the severest noonday heat the male finches sang 
vigorously to their sitting mates. On July 9th a little greypate strayed 
from a nest situated in one of the ash trees of our hotel garden. 
Glancing at the shoulders, I recognised it as a female, and recom- 
mended that it should be returned to its parents. As the nestlings of 
this family grew strong, they constantly fluttered about our garden and 
the adjoining park. Between July 15th and 20th I daily enjoyed the 
sight of two other broods in course of learning to fly. It was on July 
22nd that we came upon a very large body of goldfinches, engaged in 
feeding on the seeds of some large thistles on the edge of a cornfield. 
This occurred at a village where our horses baited, in the wild country 
between Mont Dore and Clermont. As I followed the goldfinches up 
and down, they grew timid, and some left the thistles; I counted 
between twenty and thirty, old and young, sitting in one long row on 
the telegraph wire above the road. Between this date and August 10th 
many young broods of goldfinches were to be seen on the south side of 
the town of Geneva. A tailor showed me a number of nestlings which 
he had reared by hand. At Interlaken, on August 19th, I saw four (or 
five) tiny chicks, straining eagerly out of their nest, in anxiety to secure 
the lion’s share. An old bird fed them repeatedly as I stood below; 
though the branch, at the extremity of which the nest was situated, 
might easily have been taken from any passing vehicle. The tree 
selected was a walnut, close to the Hotel Richardt. The only other 
goldfinch which I saw at Interlaken (and they failed to ascend to 
our quarters at Beatenberg) was an immature example, which flew 
past me in Interlaken on August 21. I did not meet with any more 
goldfinches until September 13, when, during a heavy shower, I came 
across two old birds and three young ones in a garden at Montreux. 


* Read before the Oxfordshire Natural History Society, February 14, 1882. 


132 THE GOLDFINCH. 


On September 14 my diary ran: ‘‘Such numbers of goldfinches are 
now feeding on the low thistles that stud much of the Rhone valley, 
before the river enters the lake. They fly in droves, varying from 
twenty to thirty, or thereabouts. Some of the males sing in the 
poplar trees. Food is so abundant that they do not admit a very close 
approach. Now and then a tiff arises, when they scold one another 
famously. Occasionally they rise high in the air and wheel en masse 
up and down the valley.” Most of these birds appeared to have 
partially moulted; but on September 28 I stood for a minute or two 
just under two examples, entirely in nest dress. On October 7 gold- 
finches were on flight in the neighbourhood of Geneva. The Marché 
des Oiseaux, on October 9, contained a large number of fresh caught 
examples, many of which were purchased for importation to England 
by Mr. Etable, the obliging dealer of Great Portland Street, who 
happened to transport his birds by the steamer which I myself crossed 
upon on October 10. At Paris, as also at Geneva, I met with fine 
white-throated examples, males, obtained in the environs of these two 
cities. 

After returning to England, I saw no goldfinches until November 
29, when I observed a single example perched on some teazle growing 
on the edge of the East Cliff at Eastbourne. 

During January, 1882, I examined as many caged examples as 
possible, from County Limerick, Hereford, and other quarters. Among 
the Irish birds were a male and a female of the bastard-cheverel 
variety, the male being as nearly as possible ‘ clean-cut.” 

In a German male, of great beauty, I noticed the crimson band on 
the neck, described p. 281, vol. iv., ‘‘ Midland Naturalist.” 


With regard to the goldfinch crossing with other native species, 
I have to report that a hybrid, reared in confinement, between a male 
goldfinch and a female siskin, was exhibited at the Alexandra Palace 
Bird Show in October last. This example, the only one which I am 
aware of as having been produced in England (for it has occurred pre- 
viously in Germany), exhibited little of the goldfinch tints, and re- 
minded most of those who saw it of a female siskin. Nevertheless, it 
had also a strong look of the young goldfinch, and may probably 
become brighter in years to come. 

My statement that the goldfinch is “eight or ten weeks” old when 
it commences to don the bright adult flourish, should probably be 
rather extended ; most young individuals moult in September, though 
some early birds commence the process in August. With regard to 
the late habits of nesting, characteristic of the goldfinch, my friend, 
Mr. J. Young (a member of the “ Ibis’’), kindly tells me that he found 
a completed nest on May-day, 1880, when the chaffinches were only 
beginning to build. He has noticed a preference on the part of this 
species for ilices. Mr. Aplin kindly suggests that the dark streaks to 
be seen on the flanks of most ‘‘dark”’ goldfinch males (as, indeed, on 
some canaries) may be attributed to the wild canary’s blood. 


THE GOLDFINCH. _ 1838 


The reason why the goldfinch is a favourite in sacred art is, of 
course, because of its crimson ‘ face,” as associated with legends of 
the Crucifixion. It only remains for me to say how strongly I feel 
that Members should support the protection which the Act of 
1880, with its penalty of £1 per goldfinch, endeavours to preserve this 
fast decreasing species. Probably upwards of a hundred goldfinches, 
on a rough computation of my own, were netted during last autumn 
in the neighbourhood of Oxford, although our bird-catchers complain 
of the unusual scarcity of this species. 

I am happy to say that such has not been the case in Mr. Aplin’s 
neighbourhood. It is certainly much to be regretted that the close 
season for this charming bird does not extend until the middle or end 
of October. The great mortality among grey-pates netted in August 
is one of the chief reasons for the fact that the demand for examples 
so much exceeds the supply. The bird upon the table before you is a 
female hybrid between the male goldfinch and female bullfinch. It 
was reared in confinement, on the outskirts of Oxford, during 1881.* 


THE MYXOMYCETES. 


BY W. B. GROVE, B.A., 
Hon. Sec. Birmingham Natural History ahd Microscopical Society. 


(Continued from page 100.) 
AFFINITIES OF THE MYXOMYCETES. 


We are now prepared to consider what the affinities of the Myxo- 
mycetes are, and it becomes at once apparent that the question, so far 
from being capable of settlement off-hand, as some would treat it, is 
really very complex; for the analogies which we can perceive between 
these organisms and other members of the animal and vegetable 
world are very numerous and far-reaching. It becomes a question, 
then, which analogies indicate affinity, and which are merely those 
apparently accidental resemblances which occur throughout every 
department of Nature. 


The sporangia bear a considerable likeness to those of some Gas- 
tromycetous Fungi, especially in the fact that the interior, when 
mature, is filled with a dusty mass of threads and spores, but as already 
mentioned the origin of the spores is quite different in the two cases. 
The sporangia resemble also more remotely the capsules of Mosses 
and Hepatice, while the spiral threads which are mixed with the 
spores of Trichia remind us of the elaters of the Jungermanniex ; but 
from these they differ in the fact that the elaters are cells, with a 
separable spiral coiled within, while the Trichia threads, even if it be 


(* Further data on the goldfinch, addressed to Hugh A. Macpherson, Esq., B.A., 
Oriel College, Oxford, would be thankfully received.—EDs., “Midland Naturalist.”} 


134 THE MYXOMYCETES. 


granted that they are cells, contain no spiral, the appearance being an 
optical effect produced merely by a rounded spirally-arranged eleva- 
tion of the outer wall.* The spores also outwardly are like the spores 
of many other Fungi, but the development of the spore is sui generis, 
and its contents, as soon as they have developed their flagellum, 
resemble common free-swimming monads, and in their creeping stage, 
first, the infusorian Mastigamceba, and, secondly, the rhizopod Ameeba. 
Again, we can compare the huge plasmodium formed by their union 
with the ramifications of the protruded protoplasm of the Foramini- 
fera, in which also the same cyclosis or slow circulation of the contents 
is observed. It may also be compared, according to Saville Kent, to 
the homogeneous sarcode which forms the basis of sponge structure, 
which in the same way is composed, if our authority be correct, by 
the amalgamation of a vast number of amcebiform units. Moreover, 
the substance of the threads which occur with the spores, according 
to the same author, bears some likeness to that of the keratose or 
horny fibres of the order of Sponges called Ceratina, while still more 
strangely the calcareous deposits in many species simulate those of 
the order of Sponges called Calcarea, and in a few, he says, even 
assume a regular six-rayed form, reminding one irresistibly of a sponge 
spicule. But in these respects the author’s enthusiasm seem to have 
outrun his judgment; the threads of the Myxomycetes are not of a 
very horny nature, nor are the crystals by any means so regularas he 
would imply. 

But, even allowing these resemblances, and that the Sponges 
belong to the Protozoa, can we find anything in the Protozoa at all 
comparable to the last spore-bearing stage of the Myxomycetes ? 
Saville Kent answers in the affirmative, and compares it with the 
encystment of species of Monas and Heteromita, such as has been 
revealed by the labours of Messrs. Dallinger and Drysdale, a process 
similar to which, according to Saville Kent’s own observations, is very 
prevalent among the Protozoa, although unknown a few years ago. 
The chief difference is one of degree, the sporangium in the Myxomy- 
cete being formed by the union of a vast number of amcebiform units, 
and in the Protozoan usually by the combination of afew only. But 
this difference is bridged over by those species with aggregated plasmo- 
dium, described by M. Van Tieghem (supposing them to belong really 
to the Myxomycetes), where the sporangium is formed at times by a 
small number of myxamcebe only.t 

The only real distinctiont between the Animal and the Vegetable 
Kingdoms (if there be one at all) is founded upon their physiology. 
Plants possess the power of building up organised substances out of 
dead matter ; animals require ready organised material for their food. 
Fungi, indeed, resemble animals in this respect, that they usually live 


* “Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science,’ 1855, pp. 15-21. But the 
opposite opinion has been maintained ; “‘ Transactions of the Linnean Society,” 
XX1., pp. 221-3, where, however, the figure contradicts the text. 

+ Van Tieghem, “ Bull. Soc. Bot. France,” xxvii., pp. 317-22. 

{ Huxley’s “Science and Culture,” p. 162. 


THE MYXOMYCETES. 135 


upon the nutriment already elaborated for them in vegetable cells, but 
that they do possess the characteristic power of plants every yeast 
cell thriving in Pasteur’s solution is a living witness. The 
Myxomycetes ingest solid particles within their protoplasm, but the 
quantity of nutriment thus obtained must be very small, and the 
huge masses, which are sometimes so quickly formed and in such 
unlikely places,* must depend for their growth chiefly upon inorganic 
material obtained from the water and the air surrounding them. 
They are, therefore, plants. But it may be urged that, if so, many 
monads must be plants also. This may be a ‘logical consequence,” 
but logical consequences have no terror for the seeker after truth. In 
the discussion of these questions there is no room for prejudices or 
personalities; the mind must calmly weigh the evidence, and judge 
without fear as without favour. 


Reviewing then the whole question, we decide at once that the position 
assigned to the Myxogastres by Fries is quite untenable. In fact, 
nearly the whole of Berkeley’s main classification (adopted in the Hand- 
book) is now out of date, and does not represent the present state of 
knowledge about the Fungi. Its chief recommendation is that it is 
easy to understand and apply, but it is in many respects nearly as 
artificial as was the system of Linnzus in the Phanerogams. 

Saville Kent’s contention also, that these organisms belong to the 
Protozoa, is as untenable. He lays the whole stress of his argument 
upon their mode of development, but it is usually allowed that the 
true position of any organism is determined by the affinities of its 
adult condition. He says, that ‘“‘ with those mycologists to whom 
every spore-capsule is necessarily a fungus, and whose vision is sealed 
to every organism beyond their special line of research, the Mycetozoa 
will to the end of time be Fungi still,’ and although it is to be 
feared that few mycologists will recognise themselves in that very 
comprehensive definition as those ‘‘ to whom every spore-capsule is 
necessarily a fungus,” yet they do for the present believe that they are 
“Fungi still.” But they must place them in a position like that 
assigned to them in the fourth (German) edition of Sachs’ Botany, 
where they are considered as one of the lowest and most aberrant 
groups of Fungi, forming equally with the lower Alge a point of 
approach to the Protozoa. 

FIRST LIST OF THE MYXOMYCETES OF THE NEIGHBOURHOOD OF 
BIRMINGHAM. 


The species are arranged according to the method of Rostafinski, 
with the synonyms of the ‘‘ Handbook” added. 


1.—Physarum cinereum (Batsch.), Didymiwm cinereum, Fr. Sutton, on a 


decayed, polyporus-covered stump. (See page 99.) Feb._- 
2.—P. sinuosum (Bull.), Angioridiwm sinuosum, Grey. Sutton park, on a 
dead holly leaf. Sep. 


* The Myxomycetes are found usually on rotten wood or other decaying 
substances, but they seem to be indifferent as to the matrix on which they 
grow. One species was found on iron which had been heated only a few hours 
before, another on a leaden tank, another on cinders. See Berkeley’s “ Intro- 
duction to Cryptogamic botany,” p. 340, 


136 THE MYXOMYCETES. 


3.—Craterium vulgare, Ditm., C. pedunculatum, Trent. Sutton Park 


and Olton Reservoir, on dead bramble twigs. Oct. 

4.—C. leucocephalum (Pers.) Sutton, on dead bark. Jan. 
5.—Tilmadoche nutans (Pers.), Physarum nutans, Pers. Sutton and 
in Sutton Park, on dead bark Oct., Nov. 
6.—Leocarpus fragilis (Dicks.), Diderma vernicosum, Pers. Sutton Park, 
on leaves of grass and stems and leaves of bilberry. Sep. 
7.—Didymiwm squamulosum (A. and §.), var. costatum. Oscott, on dead 
bark. Jan. 
8.—Chondrioderma difforme (Pers.), Diderma cyanescens, Fr. Sutton 
and Sutton Park, on dead bark. Oct., Nov. 
9.—Spumaria alba (Bull.) Sutton, on petioles of coltsfoot. Sep., Oct. 
10.—Stemonitis fusca (Roth.) Sutton, on dead wood. Sep. 
11.—Comatricha Friesiana (D By.), Stemonitis obtusata, Fr. Sutton, 
on dead wood and decayed polyporus. Oct.—Jan. 
12.—Enerthenema papillata (Pers.), EH. elegans, Bowman, not Cooke. 
Sutton, on rotting wood. Feb. 
13.—Reticularia lycoperdon (Bull.), R. wmbrina, Fr. Sutton and Oscott, 
on logs. Oct., Nov. 
14.—Trichia fallax, Pers. Sutton, on rotten wood. Oct.—Jan. 
15.—T.. varia, Pers. Sutton, on rotten wood. Aug.—Nov. 
16.—T. varia (Pers.), var. nigripes, T. wigripes, Pers. Oscott and 
Sutton, on rotten wood or bark. Nov.—Jan. 
17.—Prototrichia flagellifera (B. and Br.), Trichia (?) flagellifer, B. and 
Br. Sutton, on rotten wood or bark. Sep., Feb. 
18.—Hemiarcyria rubiformis (Pers.), Trichia rubiformis, Pers. Sutton, 
on rotten wood. Sep., Oct. 
19.—Arcyria punicea, Pers. Sutton, on rotten wood. Aug.—Oct. 
20.—A. cinerea (Bull.), A. cinerea, Schum. Sutton, on decorticated 
branches. Nov. 
21.—A. incarnata, Pers. Sutton, on rotten wood. Oct., Nov. 


22.—Perichena corticalis (Batsch), P. populina, Fr. Sutton and Sutton 
Park, on the inner side of dead bark, often covering a large 
aren. Sep.—Noy. 


THE FLORA OF WARWICKSHIRE. 
AN ACCOUNT OF THE FLOWERING PLANTS AND FERNS 
OF THE COUNTY OF WARWICK. 


BY JAMES E. BAGNALL,. 


(Continued from page 112.) 
ROSACE4—Continued. 


RUBUS, continued. 


R. corylifolius, Sm. Hazel-leaved Bramble. 
Native: In hedges. Rather common. June to August. 
a. sublustris, Lees. 
I. Near Sutton; near New Park, Middleton; Marston Green ; 
Hampton-in-Arden ; near Shelly Coppice, &e. 
II. Folly Lane, near Stoke, 7. Kirk, Herb. Brit, Mus. ; Myton, near 
Warwick; near Rugby. 
b. conjungens, Bab. Local, 


THE FLORA OF WARWICKSHIRE. 137 


Il. 


IE 


II. 


HIE 


10) 


. Sutton Park; named for me from this locality by Professor 


Babington. Lane near Solihull. 

Shrewley Common; Stoke Heath; Lutterworth Road, near 
Coomb Abbey ; Dunchurch Road, near Rugby. 

c. purpureus, Bab. Locally abundant. 


. Abundant in the lanes about Minworth and Curdworth; lane by 


Arley Station. A very leafy form of this near Astley. 
Banbury Road, near Warwick; Hatton ; abundant in the Banbury 
Road, from Stratford to Eatington; bridle road to 
Luddington. 
d. spinosissimus, Blox. Rare. 


. Abundant on a hedge bank in Monkspath Street; Wyken Lane, 


Coventry. 
A form, apparently like Bloxam’s specimen of R. deltoideus, Mill., 
in the fasciculus, occurs in a wet lane at Forge Mills. 


. altheifolius, Host. Mallow-leaved Bramble. 


Native: In hedges. Rare. July, August. 

Near Coventry, Rev. A. Blox.; the specimen in my own herbarium 
a very unsatisfactory one. Wyken Lane, Coventry, 1880; in 
a hedge near Salford Bridge, near Bidford ; in hedges between 
Alcester and Greit Alne; rough pastures near Honington 
Hall; Rounshill Lane, Kenilworth; Hearsall Lane, near 
Coventry. 


tuberculatus, Bab. Tubercular Bramble. 
Native: In hedges. Rather rare. July, August. 


. Lane from Solihull Railway Station to Shirley ; lane from Three 


May Poles to Warrener’s Heath ; lane out of Atherstone Road 
to Ridge Lane; Little Packington, near the Rectory. 

Hill Clump, Honington, F. Townsend. A form very near this 
species abundant on the Banbury Road, near Eatington ; 
Old Park, Warwick; Packwood Heath. 

A prostrate form on the heathy JOOS near Marston Green is 
very near this species. 


.cesius, Linn. Dewberry. 


Native : In woods and on banks. Locally abundant. June, July. 
a. umbrosus, Reich. 


. Salford, Rev. J. C.; Drayton Bushes, named by Professor Babing- 


ton; near Brinklow; near Princethorpe, Chesterton Wood; 
Alveston Pastures. 
b. tenuis, Bell-Salt. 


. Maxtoke Priory ruins; walls near Maxtoke Churchyard. 
. In a garden at Myton, Warwick; Oversley Hill, near Alcester ; 


Twelve o’clock Riding, Coomb Abbey ; Steeple Hill, Bidford. 
c. ulmifolius. Presl. 


. Near Bannersley Pool; Monkspath, near Shirley. 
. Hazeler, near Alcester, by the church on the banks of the River 


Alne; near the tollgate between Alcester and Red Hill; 
borders of Chesterton Wood ; Corley Moor. 

d. intermedius, Bab. 

Lane from Shelfield to Great Alne. 

The plant is identical with a specimen from the Rey. A. Bloxam. 


GEUM. 


. urbanum, Linn. Wood Avens. 


Native: On banks, in woods, &c. Common. May to July. 
Generally distributed. 


138 THE FLORA OF WARWICKSHIRE. 


G, intermedium, Ehrh. Intermediate Avens. 
Native: Indamp woods. Very rare. May, June. 
II. Chesterton and Ufton Woods, Y. and B.; brook, near Honily, 
H.B.; woods, near Coomb Abbey. 


G, rivale. Linn. Water Avens. 
Native: In woods and damp hedge banks. Rare. May, June. 
I. Arley Wood, W. T. Bree, Mag. Nat. Hist., iii., 165. Damp 
meadows, near Solihull. 
II. Near Wilmcote, Rev. A. Blox; Chesterton and Ufton Wood! 
Y. and B.; Rowington, Rev. P. Brodie; woods, near Coomb 
Abbey. Abundant. 
“In Warwickshire,” Ray Cat. Purton does not appear to have 
found this plant in the county. 


ROSA. 

R, spinosissima, Linn. Common Burnet Rose. 

Native: In hedges and on heath lands. Rather rare. June. 

II.—(Var.. flore rubro, at Guy’s Cliff, Rev. W. T. Bree, Purt., iii., 44. 5) 
Yarningdale Common ; Snitterfield Bushes; Hampton-on-the- 
Hill; Sherbourn; Norton Lindsay, H.B.; Lighthorne; 
Wellesbourn, Bolton King. Arrow Lane; Billesley; Haseler ; 
Oakley. 

Var. b. with aciculate peduncles. More rare. Chesterton Wood! 
High Down, near Bishop’s Tachbrook; Morton Morrell, 
H.B.; Little Alne. 
R. involuta, Sm. Sabine’s Rose. 
Native: In hedges and bushy places. Rare. June. 
a. Sabini. Woods. 
I. Near Hampton-in-Arden. 

II. ‘On high bank, Wood Bevington,” Purt., ili., 46. 

Near Oakley ; Tachbrook ; Lye Green, H.B.; Chesterton Wood. 
b. Doniana. Woods. Very rare. 

II. At Allesley! Rev. W. T. Bree, Purt., iii., 46: Claverdon, Bree, 
Mag. Nat. Hist., iii., 164; Woodloes, near Warwick! H.B. ; 
Coventry Road, near Kenilworth! H.B. 

[R. hibernica, Sm. Several bushes of this plant in Harborough Magna 
Churchyard, in 1875, which Mr. Bloxam informed me he had 
grown from seeds. | 


R. mollissima, Willd. Soft-leaved Rose. 
Native: In hedges. Rare. June, July. 

I. Lane above Hoare Park, Atherstone Road; Meadows near Blythe 
Bridge, confirmed by Dr. Christ; Wheyporridge Lane, 
Solihull; near Meriden Shafts. 

II. Pophills Lane, Purt., iii., 44; Oakley, H.B.; Allesley, Bolton King ! 
Wood by canal tunnel, near Tardebig; Arrow Lane. 
(R. villosa.) Portway between Alcester and Birmingham, Purt., 
jii., 44. 

R. tomentosa, Sm. Downy-leaved Rose. 

Native: In hedges, woods, and bushy places. Local. June, July. 

I. Sutton Park; Trickley Coppice; lane from Fillongley to 
Packington. 

I. Allesley; Bree, Mag. Nat. Hist., iii., 164. 

b. subglobosa, Sm. 

1. Coleshill Heath; near Blythe Hall; Trickley Coppice ; Four Oaks, 

near Sutton; near Maxtoke; Bentley Heath. 
11 Chesterton Wood, H.B.; Arrow Lane; near Exhall. 
d, scabriuscula, Sm. 


THE FLORA OF WARWICKSHIRE. 139 


I. Meadow path, Baulk Lane, Berkswell ; fide Dr. Christ. 

Il. Chesterton Wood, H.B., Herb. Brit. Mus. Haseler Common, H.B. 
Rowington ; Pinley Green. 

e. sylvestris, Woods. Rare. 

I. Near Shustoke. 

II. In the churchyard at Harborough Magna and in the Rectory 
garden, planted by Rey. A. Bloxam; Chesterton Wood! Wel- 
lesbourne Hastings! H.B.; near Harborough Magna! Rev. 4. 
Blox.; lane from Yarningale Common. Dr. Christ refers the 
specimen from the last four localities to R. fetida, Bast. The 
plant in the churchyard at Harborough Magna is the true 
plant ; the roots are from North Wales. 

Var. Deseglisei, from Rugby, and var. cuspidata, from near Ather- 
stone, are bothin Mr. Bloxam’s fasciculus of British Roses. I 
should refer the specimens I possess to R. fetida, Bast. 

R. rubiginosa. Linn. Hglantine, Sweet Briar. 

Native : In hedges and bushy places. Rare. June, July. 

I. Coleshill Heath ; meadow path from Solihull to Blythe Bridge. 

II. Alne Hills, above the village, Purt., i., 248: Hampton-on-the-Hill ; 
Crackley Wood, near Kenilworth ; Yarningale Common, H.B.; 
Salford Priors, Rev. J. C.; Bushy common, Billesley. 

R. micrantha, Sm. Small-flowered -weet Briar. 

Native: In woods and hedges. Local. June, July. 

I. Shustoke; lane from Knowle to Hampton-in-Arden ; a small neat- 
leaved form in Wheyporridge lane, Solihull; Coleshill Heath. 

II. Between Bidford and the Grange, at Allesley, Rev. W. T. Bree, 
Purt., iii., 40; Norton Lindsay, Chesterton Wood, Morton 
Morrell, H.B.; Bishop’s Green, Lighthorne, Bolton King; 
Shortwood Coppice, near Tardebig: Ragley Woods ; heathy 
pastures, Billesley; Drayton Bushes; Oakley: Wroxall; 
Itchington Holt, abundant. 

[b. Briggsii, Baker. Two or three bushes of this occur in Har- 
borough Magna churchyard and one bush in the Rectory 
garden ; these are grown from seeds set by the late Rev. A. 
Bloxam, sent to him by Mr. T. R. A. Briggs! These 
plants prove that this variety maintains its varietal characters 
true from seeds. } 

c. hystrix, Leman. Very rare. 

II. Heathy pastures, Billesley, named for me by Dr. Christ, 1880. 

(To be continued. ) 


MIDLAND UNION OF NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETIES.* 


(Continued from page 114.) 

Tae Norrincuam Lirerary anp PuinosopHican Socrery was founded 
in 1865, the inaugural meeting being held on the 23rd March of that 
year. It numbered 207 Members on Ist January, 1881, 90 being 
Members paying annual subscriptions of 21s., 98 Associates, of whom 
part pay 15s., and the remainder 10s. annually, and 19 Section- 
associates, each paying 5s. or 2s. 6d. annually. The ordinary meetings 
are held every alternate Thursday from the commencement of October 
to the end of March. Sectional meetings are held in addition. 
There are two excursions open to all the Members made annually in 
the summer. Excursions are also made by the sections for field work. 
Ten papers have peen read before the Society during the past twelve 


* The accompanying particulars of the Societies are printed from the Report 
of the Council presented to the Annual Meeting at Cheltenham, held last year, 


140 MIDLAND UNION—SOCIETIES. 


months. One of these on ‘The Permian Formation in the North- 
East of England,’”’ by Mr. Edward Wilson, F.G.S., published in the 
‘Midland Naturalist,” to whom the *‘ Darwin Medal” has been awarded. 
The Society publishes an Annual Report and Proceedings. Dr. T. 
Appleby Stephenson, Burns Street, Nottingham, is the President, and 
Mr. A. H. Scott White, B. Sc., B.A., 99, Waterloo Crescent, Notting- 
ham, and Mr. J. J. Harris Teall, M.A., F.G.S., All Saints’ Street, 
Nottingham, are the Honorary Secretaries. 


Tue NorrincHam Naturauists’ Soctery was formed in 1851. On 
1st January 1881, it consisted of 73 Members, who pay a subscription 
of 5s. a year. It meets on the first and third Wednesdays in each 
month; and twelve papers have been read before the Society during 
the year. It makes one excursion annually. One of its members, Mr. 
James Shipman, (a frequent and valued contributor to the ‘‘ Midland 
Naturalist,”) has been engaged in the study of the ‘“‘ Triassic Rocks of 
Cheshire and their Equivalents at Nottingham,” on which subject a 
Paper was communicated to the Society and published separately. The 
Society publishes an Annual Report. Dr. Claude Taylor, North 
Circus Street, Nottingham, is President; and Mr. Levi Lee, Drury 
Hill, Honorary Secretary. This Society has invited the Union to hold 
its meeting in 1882 at Nottingham. 

THE Oswestry AND WetsHpoon’ Naturauists’ Firetp CiLuB anp 
ArcH®oLocicaL Socrery, formed August, 1857, has thirty-nine Mem- 
bers, who subscribe 5s. each annually. No return has been made as to 
Meetings. Excursions are made monthly during the summer. Major 
Barnes, Brookside, Chirk, Ruabon, is President, and the Rev. Oswald 
M. Feilden, M.A., Frankton Rectory, Oswestry, Hon. Sec. 


THE OxrorpsHIRE Naturat History Socrery was founded in May, 
1880. On Ist January, 1881, it consisted of 40 Members. The annual 
subscription is 5s. Meetings are held fortnightly and excursions are 
made about every three weeks during term. During the past twelve 
months eleven papers have been read before the Society. Most of the 
Members are actively engaged in the study of some branch of Natural 
Science. Professor Westwood’s work is too well known to need more 
than a passing reference. The following names and the work which 
is specially occupying their attention just now will give some idea of 
the material of which this Society consists: Professor Lawson is engaged 
on Alg@; Mr. Bolton King, Phanerogamous Plants; Mr. H. Boswell, Mosses; 
Mr. G.C. Druce, 4 Flora of Oxfordshire ; Mr. Macpherson and Mr. Aplin, 
Ornithology ; Mr. E. B. Poulton, Geology. The Society intends pub- 
lishing a Report annually. Professor Westwood, F.L.S., Woodstock 
Road, Oxford, is the President; and Mr. G. C. Druce, F.L.S., 118, 
High Street, Oxford, is the Hon. Sec. 

Tue PETERBOROUGH NATURAL History, SCIENTIFIC, AND ARCHZOLOGICAL 
Socrery was formed in 1871. It now consists of 112 Members, being 
a considerable increase during the year. The annual subscrip- 
tion varies—some Members pay 5s., others 10s. 6d., 21s., £3 3s. 
During the winter the Meetings are bi-monthly; at other times of the 
year, monthly. Excursions are made weekly all through the summer, 
and the Bank Holidays are devoted to day excursions. Hight papers 
have been read before the Society during the past twelve months. 
From May, 1880, to May, 1881, the Society has made collections 
within a radius of ten miles (1) of Land and Fresh-water Shells ; 
(2) Plants from the Oxford clay and Fen-lands; (3) a Collection of 
Water-colour Drawings of British Wild Flowers has been commenced. 
The Society publishes an Annual Report. The Very Rev. the Dean of 
Peterborough, The Deanery, Peterborough, is President of the 
Society, and Mr. J. W. Bodger, 18, Cowgate, Peterborough, Hon, Sec, 


MIDLAND UNION—SOCIETIES. 141 


Tue Severn Vauitey Narvurauists’ Frenp Cuius, founded in 1863, 
held its first Meeting in the month of May of that year at Bridgnorth. 
It has sixty-seven Members, who pay a subscription of 5s. vearly; a 
number of Lady Members, who have paid an entrance fee of 5s., and 
are virtually life Members, (without power of voting ;) twelve Honorary 
Members, and the Officers of seven other Clubs, who are Honorary 
Members, ex-oficio. One Meeting is held in the winter for business 
purposes. Three excursions are made during the summer ; of these, two 
occupy one day each only; the third extends over two or three days. 
This Club claims to have originated this form of Meeting in 1868, at 
Llangollen, and has continued the practice every year since. It has 
recently made a two days’ visit to Tewkesbury. Mr. T. Martin 
Southwell, 57, West Cromwell Road, London, S.W., is President, and 
Mr. Rowland W. Ralph, Honnington Grange, Newport, Salop, the Hon. 
Secretary. 


THE SHROPSHIRE ARCHEOLOGICAL AND NaturaL History Socrery was 
originally formed in 1835, and reorganised in 1877. It has 248 
Members, each subscribing 21s. annually, and two Honorary Members. 
It holds one Meeting and makes one excursion every year. It 
publishes annually a volume of papers contributed by Members on 
Archeological subjects mainly. The Right Hon. the Earl of 
Bradford, Weston Park, Shifnal, is President of the Society, and Mr. 
F. Goyne, Dogpole, Shrewsbury, the Sec. 


THe Tamworth Natrurat History, GronoGicaL, AND ANTIQUARIAN 
Socrety was formed in May, 1871, and consists of 128 Members, paying 
5s. per annum. A Junior Branch, for young persons under the age of 
eighteen, has been commenced this year, the subscription being 1s. per 
annum. Prizes (books) are offered to the juvenile Members, as 
follows :—In Geology—For the best collection of coal measure fossils, 
with name of locality at which each specimen is obtained. In Botany 
—For the best twelve distinct and rarer local species of dried wild 
flowers, with date, locality, and name. In Icthyology—For the best 
list of local fish with an account of their habits and habitats. In 
Entomology—F or the best life history of any one insect that occurs 
locally. In Ornithology—For the best life history of one bird that 
occurs locally. In Zoology—For the best life history of one wild 
animal that occurs locally. In Archeology—For the best list of 
distinctive names of Fields, Houses, Lanes, and Brooks in the locality, 
stating their position. The ordinary meetings of the Society are held 
bi-monthly: excursions are made twice or thrice a year. Twenty 
papers have been read before the Society during the past twelve 
months. No Annual Report is published. The Society has invited 
the Union to hold its Annual Meeting in 1883 at Tamworth. Mr. W. 
Lucy, J.P., Tamworth, is the President for this year, and Mr. W. G. 
Davy, Elford, Tamworth, the Hon. Sec. 


Correspondence and Gleanings. 


ConcHoLocy.—On Saturday, May 6th, during an excursion to the 
Wren’s Nest, near Dudley, with the members of the Birmingham Micro- 
scopists’ and Naturalists’ Union, I found one specimen of Achatina 
acicula, a shell that is rare in this district.—J. Mantson. 


Bravers.—To the European rivers named by Mr. E. de Hamel as still 
frequented by Beavers the Elbe should be added. I saw an account of 


142 CORRESPONDENCE—REPORTS. 


the capture of one either in 1875 or 1876. It was, as near as I can 
remember, about 50 miles below Dresden; certainly between Dresden 
and Magdeburg, and Iam nearly certain above Wittenberg. I think 
I saw it in the ‘‘ Illustrierte Zeitung,” but am sorry to say I made no 
note of the occurrence at the time.—J. E. Crarx, Bootham, York. 


Minerats or THE Mipnanps.—I do not think Mr. Woodward has a 
record of Galena, from the Silurians of South Staffordshire. Mr. C. 
Cochrane, of Stourbridge (to whom I am indebted for much 
information respecting the geology of South Staffordshire), has in his 
collection a fine specimen of this mineral in a block of Silurian 
Limestone from near Dudley.—W. J. H. 


CamBrian Rocks 1x WaRrWICKSHIRE.—A very interesting and remark- 
able discovery has lately been made by Professor C. Lapworth and Mr. 
W.J. Harrison, of Birmingham. All the quartzite rocks which lie 
between Nuneaton and Hartshill, in Warwickshire, together with a 
considerable thickness of overlying shaly beds, belong to the Cambrian 
formation, instead of being millstone grit and coal-measures, as 
they were mapped by the Government Geological Survey. 
Midland workers in geology will no longer have to go so far as Wales 
to examine Cambrian rocks, or to seek for Cambrian fossils, for here, 
at their very doors, are the oldest positively fossiliferous strata in the 
world. The beds are being diligently worked, and details of this 
important discovery will shortly be made public. 


Aicipium or Cicrptum?—Almost all English botanists write the 
name of this genus of leaf-fungi with the 4, while the best French 
botanists have for several years adopted the correct spelling, @. 
Those who adopt the former spelling give its derivation from aixitew, 
‘to affect injuriously ;” but it requires very little knowledge of Greek 
to see that this etymology is impossible. As a matter of fact, the 
question is not one which admits of dispute. The original creator of 
the genus, John Hill, in his ‘‘ History of Plants,” published at London 
in 1773 (p. 64), indicates the derivation in the following terms :— 
“ AMicidium .... we have called this genus, distinguished by its 
peculiar cells, Aicidium, from the Greek oikidcov, cellula,” i.e., a little 
room or apartment. Here, it is true, the author or the printer (most 
probably the latter) has put instead of @; I say the printer, 
because in the index at the end we find Gicidium, and, as every one 
knows, the index, being printed last, affords the author an opportunity 
of correcting the typographical errors of the text. The interchange 
of these digraphs is one of the commonest of printer’s errors. Some 
compiler-botanists would, indeed, regard a typographical mistake of 
this sort as sacred; but Aicidium cannot come from oiklé:ovy, as John 
Hill says his word does; therefore his word was not Aicidium, but 
(Hcidium, a title very applicable to the pustules of these Uredinee. 
—See Bull. Soc. Bot. France, 1880, pp. 288-9.—W. B. Grove, B.A. 


“Rypmts of $ ig Serine, 


BIRMINGHAM NATURAL ae ae AND MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETY.— 
GENERAL MEETING, May 2nd. Mr. W. B. Grove presented to the Society, on 
behalf of Mr. C. B. Plowright, the eminent fungologist of King’s Lynn, a collec- 
tion of ninety Fungi, many of which have been discovered by Mr. Plowright 
himself since the publication of Cooke’s Handbook. The President described 
his visit to the meeting of the Royal Microscopical Society during the previous 


REPORTS OF SOCIETIES. 143 


week, and some of the chief novelties he had seen there. The Rev. J. E."Vize, 
M.A., then read a paper on “ English Wheat,” in which he traced its growth, and 
the enemies, animal and vegetable, which it has to contend with. He also spoke 
of the different sorts of wheat, and of the different ways in which the grain can 
be treated to obtain the various kinds of flour. He advocated strongly the use 
of semolina flour. The paper was illustrated by specimens of wheat, and the 
fungi which attack it, and by drawings on the black board. BIoLoGIcAL 
SECTION, May 9th.—Mr. Levick exhibited Volvowx globator, to show the cilia, and, 
on behalf of Mr. E. de Hamel, Fritillaria meleagris, from Tamworth. Mr. J. EB. 
Bagnall exhibited a number of mosses from St. Mintz and other localities in 
the Engadine, Cinclidotus aquaticus, named by Schimper, and other mosses 
collected and named by Lorentz; also Grimmia crinita, from the only known 
British station, near Hatton; Archidiwm phascoides,* Tetraplodon muioides, 
Phascum triquetrwm, and other microscopic objects. Mr. W. B. Grove 
exhibited Puccinia malvacearum, on mallow, from Alvechurch; Puccinia 
graminis (uredo form) on grass, from Barnt Green; @cidium wrtice, from 
Alvechurch. Myr. C. Pumphrey exhibited Cardamine pratensis, flore p eno, a 
field specimen. Mr. A. W. Wills exhibited a slide of Desmidiez containing more 
than fifty distinct species, many new or rare. Mr. J. Morley exhibited Drapar-- 
naldia. glomerata and four slides of Desmidiew. MicroscopicAL GENERAL 
MEETING, May 16th.—Mr. W. B. Grove exhibited Aspergtilus glaucus, common 
blue mould, on bread, to show the spores in situ. My. J. Morley exhibited 
Mesocarpus scalaris, Batrachospermum stagnale, and B. vagum. Mr. J. Levick 
exhibited Gicistes umbella, Tubicolaria naias, Melicerta ringens, Nassula ornata, 
and Trachelius ovwm. GEOLOGICAL SECTION, May 23rd —Mr. A. H, Atkins 
exhibited a pebble from a bed of drift sand near Castle Bromwich, which, as 
the impressions caused by intense pressure were distinctly visible, tended to 
prove the derivation of the Drift Beds from the Bunter Conglomerates, as these 
marks are characteristic of the latter formation. He also showed a piece of 
blood-red sandstone from Kinver Edge. Mr W. R. Hughes then read, on 
behalf of Dr Wright, of Cheltenham, a short paper on “Glaciation.” His 
remarks principally referred to glacial strie and vroches moutonnées occurring 
near Oban, and the paper was, in fact, the abstract of an address to the 
members of the Society on the occasion of their excursion to that place. Mr. 
A. H, Atkins then gave a short sketch of glacial action in the Midlands, and 
described some specimens lent by Mr W. J. Harrison to illustrate Dr. Wright's 
observations. After some remarks by the other members present, a cordial vote 
of thanks was accorded to Dr Wright for his interesting paper. 


BANBURYSHIRE NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY AND FIELD CLUB.— 
March 6th. Annual Meeting and Soirée, held in the Council Chamber and 
adjoining rooms of the Town Hall, which were beautifully decorated with pot 
flowers, palms, and ferns. A large number of members and their friends were 
present during the evening. The officers of the Society having been elected, and 
the reports adopted, the members proceeded to inspect the large and interest- 
ing collection of exhibits which had been brought together for the occasion. 
The Society commences its second session with over seventy members. The 
Hon. Secretaries for the present session are Mr. E. A. Walford, F.G.S., West 
Street, Banbury, and Mr. L. Gunn, Grimsbury, Banbury. April 6th.—Monthly 
Meeting, Mr. T. l‘eesley, F.C.S., President, in the Chair. The President read his 
Meteorological Report for February and March. The mean temperature of 
February was 405, being 15 above the average; mean height of barometer, 
29°842 inches; rain fell on fourteen days, amounting to 2°02 inches. The mean 
temperature of March was 43°9, being 2°5 above the average; mean height of 
barometer, 29°684 inches; rain fell on thirteen days, amounting to 117 inches; 
snow and sleet fell on the night of the 25th, to the amount of ‘62 inch; fog on 
seven days, and high winds ona like number. Mr. S. Stutterd, Vice-President, 
gave a short account of some curious habits of the Humble Bee. He spoke first 
of its habit of freeing itself from insect pests which had probably accumu- 


144 REPORTS OF SOCIETIES. 


lated during the winter hibernation. This it did by fixing itself firmly to 
to a wall by means of its fore legs, and scraping off the incumbrances with its 
other limbs. He then alluded to the flower Corydalis solida, which had so long 
a spur that few bees could get at the honey which lay at itsextremity. The bee 
solved the difficulty by biting a hole towards the end of the spur, and thence 
extracting the honey. Mr. O. V. Aplin read a paper on “ British Rodents, with 
some remarks on the order Rodentia.’ Having pointed out the characteristics 
of the order, he gave a short account of the British genera and species, alluding 
especially to those found in the district. He illustrated his remarks with 
specimens and drawings. The President exhibited specimens of, and made 
remarks on, the geology of the Banbury streets. He enumerated eight kinds, 
viz., (1) Quartzites, or “‘ Hartshill Stone;” (2) Kasalt; (3) Altered or Weathered 
Basalt; (4) Syenite; (5: Hornblende Granite; (6) Diorite or Greenstone; and 
(8) Pebble or Lydite, or Touchstone; and also described the structure and com- 
position of each kind and their various uses. Formsjfor phenological observa- 
tions during April were distributed. May 6th.—Field Day. An excursion was 
made to Edgehill. The members visited on their way the fine old church of 
Warmington—the’ exterior of which is principally of later Fourteenth 
Century or Decorated work, although there are traces of the materials 
of the preceding (Norman) Church having been rebuilt into the 
walls. Inthe churchyard was noticed a gravestone which records the burial 
on the 24th October, 1642, of Captain Gourdin (Gordon ?) who seems to have 
been mortally wounded in the battle of the preceding day. Arrived at Edgehill, 
the party proceeded to botanise in the woods. Lamium Galeobdolon was here 
found in abundance, this being the only locality for it in the district. The 
“blue bells,” which here grow in the greatest profusion, presented a beautiful 
sight. The ‘“Marlstone” Quarries ‘(long famous for their paving and grave- 
stones) having been reached, a short description of the beds, as well as of the 
zones of the middle and lower lias ‘‘ cropping out” on the slope of the hills, was 
given by the President and General Secretary, and copies of a diagram were 
distributed. This bed produces, by its weathering, the rich red soil of the 
north of Oxfordshire, and portions of the adjoining counties. At Edgehill 
House, the residence of J. N. Godson, Esq., the members and their friends 
were most hospitably entertained. The interval before tea afforded 
an opportunity of examining many interesting relics from the battlefield. 
Of especial interest was a basket-hilted sword, having on the guard a 
“ Saracen’s head,” the crest of the Earl Lindsay, who was mortally wounded 
in the battle. A short visit was then paid to the ‘‘ Red Horse,” a rude figure of 
the animal carved in the sloping turf, and said to commemorate the slaughter 
of his horse by the Earl of Warwick, at the battle of Towton, fought on Palm 
Sunday, 1461. Mr. Godson pointed out, as far as the hazy atmosphere would 
allow, the distant eminences visible from the spot, including a faint glimpse of 
the Malvern and the Clee hills. A sunset, somewhat hidden by clouds, but of 
which the rosy tints were of exquisite beauty, closed a most successful day. 
May ,8th.—Monthly Meeting. Mr. T. Beesley, F.C.S., President, in the Chair. 
Mr. J. E. Littleboy, of the Watford Natural History Society, read a most 
interesting paper on “The Migration of Birds.” He attributed migration to 
hereditary instinct or impulse, and accounted for southern migration in the 
autumn by the fact that the birds were compelled to do so by the exigencies of 
life, and for the northern movement inthe spring because the districts to 
which they resorted were not only their breeding haunts but their natural 
homes. It was, however, impossible to lay down any hard and fast line in 
reference to the subject, for contradictions of a difficult kind were met with at 
every turn. The coast lines were the great means by which migrants found their 
way, and these they followed. The paper was replete with most interesting and 
instructive matter bearing on the subject. After some little discussion on the 
paper, a warm vote of thanks was passed to Myr. Littleboy. Mr. Stutterd 
exhibited the Plantain Leopards-bane, Doronicum plantagineum, Linn. from 
Upper Boddington, which was new to the district. Forms for phenological 
observations during the month were distributed. 


REPORT ON THE PENNATULIDA. 145 


REPORT ON THE PENNATULIDA 
COLLECTED IN THE OBAN DREDGING EXCURSION 
OF THE BIRMINGHAM NATURAL HISTORY AND 
MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETY, JULY, 1881. 


BY A. MILNES MARSHALL, M.A., D.SC., PROFESSOR OF ZOOLOGY 
IN OWENS COLLEGE, AND W. P. MARSHALL, M.I.C.E. 


(Continued from page 128.) 


3.—The Polypes and Zooids— 


The differences between the two kinds of individual animals, 
polypes and zooids, composing the colony, are far more marked in 
Pennatula than in Funiculina, owing mainly to the fact that instead of 
both polypes and zooids being inserted separately into the rachis, the 
polypes are fused together to form the leaves, while the zooids, as in 
Funiculina, are planted independently of one another. 


The structure of one of these leaves is shown in Fig. 3. Hach 
leaf is triangular in shape, having a short base by which it is attached 
to the side of the rachis, and long dorsal and ventral borders. The 
leaf consists of a number of polypes placed side by side and fused 
together along nearly the whole of their length, the distal or mouth 
ends along being free. It is important to realise this fully, and to 
avoid the very common error of speaking of the polypes as ‘“ borne 
on or by the leaves.” The leaves simply consist of the polypes, each 
one of which is directly attached to the rachis. 


The free or oral ends of the polypes are situated along the dorsal 
border of the leaf; and each polype, as is clearly shown in Fig. 3, 
extends down to the rachis and is separately inserted into it. The 
consequence of this is that the several polypes composing a leaf are of 
very different lengths, the ones whose mouths are nearest the median 
plane of the whole Pennatula being very short, while those whose 
mouths are at or near the apex of the leaf are of very great length. 


It will further be seen from the figure that while the base of the 
triangular leaf is formed by the lower ends or bases of the several 
polypes, and the dorsal border by their free oral ends, the ventral 
border is formed exclusively by the most ventrally situated of the 
component polypes, which is also the longest of the whole set. The 
dorsal and ventral borders of the leaf are not quite straight, but 
curved as shown in the figure. 


The number of leaves in the male specimen is thirty-six on either 
side, and in the female thirty-four. The leaves are not arranged 
strictly in pairs on the opposite sides of the rachis; at certain parts 
they may be so paired, while in others they alternate regularly. The 
successive leaves are, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, placed very close 
together, their bases being separated by only a thin strip of the side 
of the rachis, less than half the thickness of a leaf. 


146 REPORT ON ''HE PENNATULIDA. 


As already noticed, and as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the leaves are 
not all of the same size; the largest, which have a length of fin. in the 
female specimen, being situated in it a little below the middle of the 
rachis, but in the male specimen a little above this point. This 
difference in the position of the largest leaves causes a characteristic 
difference in the general shape and appearance of the two specimens; 
a difference which may possibly prove to be an external sexual 
distinction, though we have as yet no further evidence in support of 
this suggestion. 

The number of component polypes varies, as already noticed, with 
the length of the leaf; the maximum number, fifteen in the male and 
twelve in the female specimen, being only found in the leaves about 
the middle of the series. 


The base of each leaf extends very nearly, but not quite, to the 
mid-dorsal line of the rachis (Fig. 3). The most dorsally situated 
polype of each leaf, which we have seen is also the shortest, usually 
projects over towards the opposite side beyond the middle line (Fig. 3), 
and these dorsal zooids projecting across the middle line alternately 
from either side give rise to the zigzag appearance seen down the mid- 
dorsal line in Fig. 1. 


Concerning the mode of development of the leaves we have noticed 
the following points. The most dorsally situated polype of a leaf is 
very often decidedly smaller than the other polypes, and this is especially 
the case in small and apparently young specimens. Towards both top 
and bottom of the rachis the leaves are smaller, and consist of fewer 
polypes than in the middle portion ; but between the top and bottom 
leaves there is this difference: in the top leaves all the polypes are 
large, fully formed, and of equal size; but in the leaves at the bottom 
of the rachis all the polypes are below the average size, the dorsal ones 
are the smallest of all, and may be rudimentary, while the more 
ventrally situated ones gradually increase in size, and the largest of all 
is the most ventral one. 


From these facts we conclude (1) that in the development of each 
leaf the ventral polypes are formed first, and the others in succession, 
one above the other, so that the the ventral polype of a leaf is not 
only always the longest but also always the oldest, while the most 
dorsally situated one is both the shortest and the youngest. Hach 
polype is thus at the time of its first appearance the most dorsal 
one of the leaf to which it belongs, and becomes subsequently pushed 
down towards the ventral surface by the formation of younger ones 
still more dorsally situated, space being provided for these new 
ones by the lateral growth of the rachis itself. This view also explains 
the fact, noticed above, that the most dorsal polype of each leat 
projects across the middle line over to the opposite side, this being the 
only direction in which its growth is not opposed by neighbouring 
polypes. (2) That the uppermost leaves are the first-formed ones, 
and therefore the oldest, and that new leaves are formed at the 
bottom of the rachis below the previously-formed ones, the lowest 
leaf being always the youngest. 


REPORT ON THE PENNATULIDA. 147 


These conclusions agree completely with what we have said 
already concerning Funiculina, in which, as in Pennatula, development 
of the polypes appears to proceed from the dorsal towards the ventral 
surface, and from below upwards, the ventral polypes being always the 
biggest and oldest, and the dorsal ones the smallest and youngest. 


The zooids, or rudimentary asexual individuals, cover as already 
noticed the whole ventral surface of the rachis excepting the median 
groove, which is often barely perceptible in the upper half of the Pen. 
They also extend up the sides of the rachis, between the bases of the 
leaves (Fig. 3 e), and form on the dorsal surface little clusters between 
each pair of leaves. The zooids exactly reverse the arrangement we 
have found to hold among the polypes, the ventral zooids being the 
smallest, and the dorsal clusters invariably the largest. In the case 
of the younger leaves these dorsal zooids are not much smaller than 
the youngest, or most dorsal polypes, and it is possible that they may 
develope into them, as we have supposed to occur in Funiculina. We 
have not, however, had sufficient material at our disposal to enable us 
to determine this point. 


4.—Anatomy of the Polypes. 


The polypes of Pennatula agree in all essential features with those 
of Funiculina already described,* the differences, which are of merely 
secondary importance, being due mainly to the fusion of the polypes 
to form leaves in Pennatula. 


The structure of the polypes is shown in Figs. 3, 4, and 5; Fig. 3 
representing a whole leaf, with its component polypes; Fig. 4, a 
longitudinal section through one polype taken along the line AA in 
Fig. 3 vertically to the surface of the leaf; whilst Fig. 5 represents a 
transverse section of the leaf along the line BB in Fig. 3, the section 
cutting the six most ventrally-situated polypes of the leaf at different 
points of their length. 

We propose now to consider the several parts of the polype, 
taking them in the same order as in the description of Funiculina. 


a. The Body-wall consists, as in Funiculina, of a firm gelatinous 
mesoderm (Fig. 5 x), clothed on its outer and inner surfaces by 
ectoderm, w, and endoderm, y, respectively. The mesoderm, and 
therefore the body-wall of which it forms the greater part of the 
substance, is thinner than in Funiculina, from which it differs further 
in being very thickly beset with the characteristic red calcareous 
spicules (Figs. 3, 4,57). These spicules are of very various sizes and 
placed in different directions, though usually with their long axes more 
or less parallel to that of the polypes ; their shape and other characters 
will be described further on. 


The partition walls between the several polypes of a leaf have the 
same structure as the external body-wall, but are very much thinner, 
the mesoderm being hardly thicker than the cellular endoderm 


* Supra, pp. 25—36. 


148 REPORT ON THE PENNATULIDA. 


clothing it ; they are also devoid of spicules (Fig. 5). These partitions 
are, so far as we have been able to determine, imperforate, so that the 
body cavities of the several polypes are completely separated from one 
another, and in this respect our observations accord with those of 
Kélliker on Pennatula, though in the allied genus Pterocides he has 
shown that wide apertures exist in the septa, thus placing the polypes 
in direct communication with one another 


The bottom of the polype cavity is separated from the dorsal or 
lateral canal of the rachis by a very thin wall (Figs. 3 and 4), and the 
cavities of the ventral polypes appear to communicate with the 
meshes of the spongy connective-tissue of the rachis-wall. 


The free oral ends of the polypes have thicker walls than the parts 
which are fused to form the leaf; and these free ends are strengthened 
by numerous very large and stout spicules, whose direction is 
mainly longitudinal. 


The longitudinal muscles of the rachis are uot prolonged into the 
leaves, the muscular system of which is extremely feebly developed. 

b. The Calyx.—As in Funiculina, the calyx (Figs. 3 and 4 g h,) is 
produced into eight hollow processes, alternating with the tentacles. 
These processes are longer and more pointed than in Funiculina, and 
are stiffened by very numerous spicules, many of which are of very 
large size; indeed the spicules are both more abundant and of greater 
size in the calyx than in any other part of the polype. In most of the 
polypes the ends of the spicules project freely beyond the ends of the 
processes for a short distance; but this condition is almost certainly 
to be ascribed to the action of the spirit in which the specimens are 
preserved having caused the fleshy body substance to contract and so 
leave the ends of the spicules bare. 

When the polypes are retracted, the calyx processes are by the 
action of the retractor muscles (Fig.6 p) pulled in towards one another, 
and meeting in the middle form a pointed conical cover completely 
protecting the entrance to the polype cavity (Fig. 3.) 

The calcareous spicules, which form so characteristic an element 
in the structure of /ennutula, may be described here. They occur in 
great numbers along the whole length of both upper and under surfaces 
of the leaves, being more closely placed along the lines of division 
between the component polypes (Fig. 5) than at the intervening 
portions. In the free oral ends of the polypes, and especially in the 
calices, they are far more numerous than in other parts of the polypes, 
being set so close together as to be almost in contact with one another. 


They are also, as we have seen, exceedingly abundant in the dermis 
of both stalk and rachis. 


The spicules, which are always mesodermal structures, vary much 
in size in different places. They are straight rods, about twenty times 
as long as they are wide. In the polypes the smallest spicules have a 
length of about 0:005in., while the largest ones measure 0-046in. long 
by 0:002in, wide, the average length being about 0:015in, The 


REPORT ON THE PENNATULIDA. 149 


transverse section varies in shape according to the size of the spicules. 
The smaller spicules are, as shown in Fig. 6, very distinctly triradiate, 
but of a heavier and less elegant pattern than in Funiculina (ec f, Plate 
I., Fig. 9). In the larger spicules the grooves between the ribs are 
filled up more or less completely, as shown in Fig. 7, while the largest 
spicules of all have entirely lost the triradiate character, and are 
circular in section. This relation between the size of the spicules and 
their shape in tranverse section appears to be a very constant one, so 
that for each length of spicule there is a characteristic shape in 
section, which is rarely departed from to any considerable extent. 


The spicules are not unfrequently rather wider in the middle than 
towards the ends, which latter are slightly rounded off. As already 
stated, the spicules are bright red, the red colour of the leaves and 
rachis being due entirely to them. 


ce. The Tentacles, as in Funiculina, are eight hollow processes of the 
body-wall placed round the mouth, and bearing on each side a row of 
from ten to fifteen hollow pinnules (Fig. 6, f). The tentacles are shown 
in transverse section near to their bases in the uppermost section of 
Fig. 5, which shows their structure at this part. Each consists of an 
outer Jayer or ectoderm, with abundant thread-cells or nematocysts ; 
an endoderm lining the central canal, and continuous with the 
endoderm of the body-cavity ; and a mesoderm, which at the sides and 
inner surface of the tentacle is thin, as in Funiculina, and consists 
principally of a layer of longitudinal muscles, with an inner much 
weaker layer of circular muscle-fibres. At the outer side of the 
tentacle the mesoderm (Fig. 5) is very much thicker, and resembles in 
structure the mesoderm of the body-wall, consisting, in addition to an 
outer layer of longitudinal muscles, of a gelatinous connective-tissue 
matrix in which are embedded a number of calcareous spicules 
(Fig. 5, i). 

The pinnules are at the lower end of the tentacle rather long, 
thin, and some distance apart; towards the upper end they become 
thicker and more closely set together. Their cavities open into the 
central cavity of the tentacle, and their structure is the same as that 
of the tentacle itself. They may even contain small calcareous 
spicules. 


d. The Stomach, as seen in Figs. 4 and 5, is very similar to that of 
Funiculina. It is short, and is entirely contained in the free portion of 
the polype. Its walls are thrown into transverse folds, which, when 
the polype is retracted, are approximated like the folds of a concertina 
so as to reduce the stomach to less than half its normal length. 


The walls of the stomach agree in structure with those of Funiculina, 
consisting of a thin glandular linmg membrane or ectoderm, which is 
distinctly ciliated, a thin connective-tissue mesodermal layer, anda 
moderately thick outer or endodermal layer, containing numerous 
spherical highly refractive granules similar to those described in 
Funiculina. 


150 REPORT ON THE PENNATULIDA. 


e. The Mesenteries, Figs. 4 and 5 o, eight in number, connect the 
stomach to the body wall, and extend below the stomach the whole 
length of the polype, right down to the rachis. They may be divided 
into a set of two, situated on the upper surface of the leaves, and 
bearing below the stomach the long mesenterial filaments s; and a 
set of six which bear the short mesenterial filaments 7, and of which 
two are attached to the under surface of the leaf, two to the dorsal wall 
of the polype, and two to the ventral wall. 

Around the stomach the eight mesenteries are arranged at nearly 
equal intervals, as shown in the second section of Fig. 5; but even 
here it will be noticed that the mesenteries are rather closer together 
toward the right-hand side of the figure, corresponding to the lower 
surface of the leaf, than they are on the left-hand side of the figure, or 
upper surface of the leat. 

Below the stomach, this asymmetry becomes still more marked, 
the set of six mesenteries becoming crowded together towards the 
under side of the leaf, while the two upper mesenteries, bearing the 
long mesenterial filaments s, move slightly away from one another, and 
become situated as shown in the lower section of Fig. 5, close to the 
partitions dividing the polype from its neighbours on either side. 

Still nearer the rachis, i.e., below the lower end of the short mesen- 
terial filaments, the six mesenteries become more irregularly arranged ; 
they now form (vide Fig. 4 0 and the three lower sections in Fig. 5 o) 
very small longitudinal ridges, only projecting a very short way into 
the cavity of the polype; as a rule, three of the six are situated on the 
under surface of the leaf, owing to one of the lateral ones shifting its 
attachment from the side to the under surface. This arrangement, 
which is acquired shortly below the lower end of the short mesenterial 
filaments (Fig. 4 7) persists down to the bottom of the polype cavity. 

The structure of the mesenteries and the arrangement of their 
muscular system is the same as in Funiculina. The retractor muscles 
of the polype—Figs. 4 and 5 p—arise from the body wall and run up in 
the mesenteries to be inserted into the mesodermal layer of the 
stomach; while the protractor muscles—Fig. 4 q—which are much 
feebler, arise from the upper part of the sides of the body, and running 
downwards and inwards in the mesenteries, are inserted, like the 
retractors, into the stomach wall. 

As shown in the second section of Fig. 5, the protractor muscles are 
situated on one face only of the mesenteries, and a comparison of this 
figure with Fig. 13 of Plate II. will show that the actual arrangement 
is the same as in Funiculina. The two upper mesenteries, which bear 
below the stomach the long mesenterial filaments, and are situated on 
the left hand side of both the figures referred to, have the retractor 
muscles on the sides facing away from one another; the two opposite 
mesenteries, those on the lower surface of the leaf and the right hand 
side of the figures, have the retractor muscles on the sides facing one 
another, while the intermediate or dorsal and ventral mesenteries bear 
the muscles on their right hand sides in the figures, 


REPORT ON THE PENNATULIDA. 151 


It is clear therefore, that as in Funiculina, there is only one bisecting 
plane that will divide the polype into two perfectly symmetrical halves, 
and it is also evident from Figs. 3 and 5, and from the description given 
above that the plane of symmetry is perpendicular to the flat surface of 
the leaf, and is therefore the plane of section adopted in Fig. 4. 

The retractor muscles pull back the bases of the tentacles at the 
same time shortening the stomach, as described above, so as to make 
room for them; the completion of the retraction of the tentacles is 
effected by their own intrinsic system of longitudinal muscles; 
and the final action of the great retractor muscles is by pulling on the 
bases of the calyx processes to bring these towards one another and so 
completely close the mouth of the polype cup. 


(To be continued. ) 


MIDLAND UNION OF NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETIES. 
NOTTINGHAM MEETING, JUNE 15ru, 1882. 


The Fifth Annual Meeting of the Union was held in the University 
College, Nottingham, on Thursday, the 15th of June. The Council of 
the Union assembled at half-past Twelve, when delegates were present 
representing fourteen Societies. Various Reports were received and 
considered ; the Nottingham G. R. S. Naturalists’ Society was formally 
admitted to the Union; and the invitation from Tamworth, to meet 
there in 1883, was accepted. 


The Annual General Meeting was held in the Lecture Theatre of 
the College, at Three o’clock, the President of the Union (Dr. Appleby 
Stephenson) in the chair. Among those present at the Council 
Meeting and General Meeting, were Messrs. H. R. Hind and C. 
O’Sullivan (Burton-on-Trent), 8. J. Newman and C. E. Crick (North- 
ampton), C. T. Musson and B. §. Dodd (Nottingham Naturalists’ 
Society), Rev. O. M. Feilden (Oswestry), Rev. Provost Warmoll and F. 
W. Crick (Bedford), F. T. Mott and Geo. Hull (Leicester), Horace Pearce 
(Stourbridge), J. Levick (Birmingham), E. D. de Hamel (Hon. 
Treasurer), Dr. Colin Campbell and T. Cooke (Tamworth), G. b. 
Rothera and Rev. Dr. Dixon (Nottingham L. & P. Society), Dr. A. C. 
Taylor, C. Wheatley, Dr. White, Dr. Ransom, Rev. J. F. McCallan, J. 
P. Briscoe, W. Rigby, C. Perry, J. T. Jepson, N. Allen, H. Blandy, E. 
G. Gordon, E. M. Kidd, &c., and the Hon. Secs. of the Union, W. J. 
Harrison (Birmingham) and E. Wilson (Nottingham). 


The minutes of the Cheltenham Meeting of June 16th, 1881, having 
been read and confirmed, the Presmpenr delivered his Address (which 
will appear in the next number of the Midland Naturalist). 


Mr. E. D. ve Hamex proposed, Mr. H. Pearce F.L.S., F.G.S., 
seconded, and it was unanimously resolved ‘‘ That the thanks of this 
Meeting be given to Appleby Stephenson, Esq., M.D., for his able and 
interesting Address, and that it be printed in the Midland Naturalist.” 


152 MIDLAND UNION—-GENERAL BUSINESS. 


Mr. W. J. Harrison then read the 


REPORT OF THE COUNCIL. 


The history of the Union during the past year has been a com- 
paratively uneventful one. No society has seceded, and but one 
additional society—the Nottingham G. R. 8. Naturalists’ Society— 
has been admitted to the Union. The name of the Derbyshire 
Naturalists’ Society has been removed from the following list, since 
it appears to have ceased to exist. The total number of Societies in the 
Union is now twenty-five, including— 


Banburyshire Natural History Society. 

Bedfordshire Natural History Society and Field Club. 
Birmingham Microscopists’ and Naturalists’ Union. 
Birmingham Natural History and Microscopical Society. 
Birmingham Philosophical Society. 

Birmingham and Midland Institute Scientific Society. 
Birmingham School Natural History Society. 
Burton-on-Trent Natural History and Archeological Society. 
Caradoc Field Club. 

Cheltenham Natural Science Society. 

Dudley and Midland Geological and Scientific Society and Field Club. 
Evesham Field Naturalists’ Club. 

Leicester Literary and Philosophical Society. 
Northamptonshire Natural History Society. 

Nottingham Literary and Philosophical Society. 

Nottingham Naturalists’ Society. 

Nottingham Working Men’s Naturalists’ Society. 
Nottingham G. R. S. Naturalists’ Society. 

Oswestry and Welshpool Naturalists’ Field Club, 
Oxfordshire Natural History Society. 

Peterborough Natural History and Scientific Society. 

Severn Valley Naturalists’ Field Club. 

Shropshire Archzological and Natural History Society. 
Stroud Natural History Society. 

Tamworth Natural History, Geological, and Antiquarian Society. 


It is impossible to give here a complete resumé of the work done 
by each Society during the year, interesting as such a record would be, 
partly because of the length to which it would extend, and partly 
because of the failure of the Secretaries of many of the Societies to 
furnish any particulars whatever of the work of their Society. The 
post of Hon, Secretary of a local Natural History or Literary Society 
is one which involves a great deal of trouble without much recompense, 
but it should certainly be considered as entailing on the holder the 
necessity of writing a reply after not less than, say, three applications 
from the governing body of the Union to which the said Local 
Secretary’s Society is supposed to belong. A full account of the 
position, number of members, officers, and general or detailed work of 
each Society in the Union, was, however, given in the last Report, and 
has been published in the Midland Naturalist. 


All, or nearly all, the Societies belonging to the Midland Union 
have held field meetings during the summer, when practical botanical, 
zoological, or geological work was carried out. Probably much more 
might be done at these field meetings if they were carried out on some 
definite plan, with some definite objects, and if the aid of experts 
(whose expenses should, of course, be defrayed) could be secured, to 
give short, practical demonstrations. 


MIDLAND UNION—-GENERAL BUSINESS. 1538 


During the winter evenings, lectures, and the exhibition and ex- 
planation of specimens, with an occasional conversazione, have 
continued and supplemented the work of the summer months. Here 
again, an interchange of lectures would be beneficial in many ways; 
the Council would request that all gentlemen who are willing to read 
papers, or give lectures, should send in their names to the Hon. Sec. 
of the Union, who would keep a register of them and communicate a 
list to the local Secretaries. 

By five or six of the Societies the evening lectures have been 
organized so as to form a course on some branch of Natural 
History ; or such a connected course, of a simple and elemen- 
tary character, has been given in addition to the regular evening 
meetings of the Society ; in this manner courses on Geology have been 
delivered to the Geological Section of the Birmingham Natural History 
Society, and to the Evesham Field Club, a course on the Invertebrata 
to the Cheltenham Natural Science Society, ete. ‘The success of these 
courses depends largely on their being couched in clear and simple 
language, and on their being well illustrated by specimens, diagrams, 
and the microscope ; it is not necessary, indeed it is almost impossible, 
that the whole of the course should be given by one person; but by 
six or eight members joining together the toil is lessened while the 
sum of the knowledge given forth remains the same. 

The Council notice with approval a plan for the encouragement of 
field-work, which has been adopted by the Northamptonshire Naturalists’ 
Society. Each working member is provided with a card, stating that 
the bearer is a member of the Society, and that permission has been 
given by the landowners of the district (whose names are printed on 
the card) to pass over and examine their demesnes for scientific pur- 
poses. The Council think that this plan might be more generally 
adopted, as keepers and others naturally look with suspicion upon 
casual visitors. 

Botany.—Two local floras are preparing for publication; Mr. 
Bagnall’s Flora of Warwickshire has been appearing for some time in 
the pages of the Midland Naturalist. If a sufficient number of sub- 
scribers can be obtained it is proposed to publish this valuable work 
in a separate form ; it willconstitute a volume of about 450 pages. 

The Flora of Leicestershire is being prepared by a Committee of the 
Leicester Literary and Philosophical Society, mainly under the 
direction of Mr. F. T. Mott. It is impossible to value too highly the 
publication of carefully prepared local lists, such as these two books 
willbe. They will not only throw light on many botanical problems 
of great interest, but they will furnish an aid to local workers and 
give a stimulus to local work, which should cause us to prize them 
highly. It is much to be desired that a flora of each county within 
the limits of the Midland Union should be carefully worked out. 

Geology.—The problem of the Glacial drift continues to prove itself 
one of the most difficult questions in geology. Probably local workers 
will do better to attack it piece-meal, or by sections, rather than to 
attempt its consideration as a whole at once. The existence, dimen- 
sions, &c., of large boulders is a point of great interest, and one which 
it is comparatively simple and easy to work out. 

During the year the quartzite pebbles which form su remarkable a 
feature in the drift between the Thames Valley on the south and the 
Pennine Range on the north, have been in part investigated;* they 


_.* “On the Quartzite Pebbles found in the Drift and in the Trias of the 
Midlands, and on their probable derivation.” By W. Jerome Harrison, F.G.S., 
in the Proceedings of the Birmingham Philosophical Society, Vol. I. 


154 MIDLAND UNION—GENERAL BUSINESS. 


have been found to be, to some extent, fossiliferous and to be derived 
from the Bunter Conglomerate, which latter formation is derived from 
a ridge of old land which extended from the Malverns to Charnwood 
Forest. Vestiges of this old land occur not only in Charnwood and the 
Malverns, but in the Hartshill Range of Warwickshire, and the Lickey 
Hills of Worcestershire; rocks of Cambrian and Pre-Cambrian age 
have quite recently been detected in both these localities ; rocks which 
had been wrongly mapped by the Geological Survey as Upper 
Silurians, Millstone Grit, and even as coal measures! It is most clear 
that the Government map should be very closely scrutinized and 
regarded with a ‘‘healthy scepticism” instead of the implicit acceptance 
with with it has hitherto been received. The neighbourhood of 
Nottingham has shown the same thing ; the able and long continued 
researches of Mr. James Shipman having enabled him to correct in 
many points the work of the Survey, and to construct the large-scale 
geological map of the town and neighbourhood which is exhibited at 
this meeting. 

Although in other branches of science less marked discoveries have 
been made, yet the progress has been satisfactory. In Entomology many 
beetles new to the Midlands, and one or two species which are probably 
new altogether, have been found by Mr. W. G. Blatch. 

The organ of the Union—The Midland Naturalist—has been issued 
with regularity during the year, and has maintained the high place in 
local scientific literature which it assumed on the appearance of the 
first number. It cannot be doubted that in future years the value of 
perfect sets of The Midland Naturalist to all scientific workers in the 
Midlands will be very great. It is greatly to be regretted that this 
Journal is not better supported by the members of the societies whose 
official organ it purports to be; the army of grumblers is very large, © 
but the number of those who render active aid of any kind is very 
small, and the whole burden devolves, and has devolved from the 
beginning, upon a few willing shoulders. The more important papers 
published during the year include ‘‘ The Desmidiez of North Wales,” 
by 4. W. Wills, ‘‘ Flora of Warwickshire,” by J. E. Bagnall, ‘* Entomo- 
logical Rambles,” by W. G. Blatch, ‘‘ Minerals of the Midlands,” by 
C. J. Woodward, ‘‘ Meteorology of the Months,” by C. L. Wragge, ‘The 
Permian Formation,’ by EH. Wilson, ‘‘ Ancient Inhabitants of the 
Cotswolds,” by H. Bird, ‘‘ A Nest-building Fish,” by Silvanus Wilkins, 
““Micratory Birds,” by O. V. Aplin, ‘‘ The Archean Rocks,” by Dr. C. 
Callaway, ‘“‘The Goldfinch,” by H. A. Macpherson, ‘‘ Fresh-water 
Aquaria,” by R. M. Lloyd, ‘‘Study of Fungi,’ by Dr. M. C. Cooke, 
‘Birds of Leicestershire,’ by T. Macaulay, ‘‘ Note on Bopyrus 
Squillarum,” by W. R. Hughes, ‘*‘ Report on Pennatulida,” by the Messrs. 
Marshall, ‘‘The Myxomycetes,” by W. B. Grove, ‘‘ Beavers and the Bute 
Beavery,” by EH. D. De Hamel, *‘ Derbyshire Land and Freshwater 
Shells,” by Rev. H. Milnes, &c., &e. Mr. W.J. Harrison has written 
several reviews of scientific works for the Magazine. 

Darwin Prize.—The award of the first Darwin Medal was made 
known at the fourth annual meeting of the Union, at Cheltenham, in 
1881. The medal could not be presented at that meeting, as the dies 
were not ready, but the delay is not to be regretted, since, as the 
medal was won by a Nottingham geologist—Mr. E. Wilson, F.G.S8., 
—there is a peculiar appropriateness in its actual presentation to that 
gentleman taking place at the present meeting. 

The subject of the Darwin Prize for 1882 was Biology. This subject 
is such an extremely wide and comprehensive one, and the difficulty 
of comparing papers on botanical subjects with papers on zoological 


MIDLAND UNION—-GENERAL BUSINESS. 155 


questions is so great, that it has been decided to separate the subject 
of Biology into the two branches of Zoology and Botany, and to make 
each of these the subject for a year’s work. The Darwin Medal will, 
therefore, be awarded in 

i882 for Zoology, 

1883 ,, Archeology, 

1884 ,, Botany, 

1885 ,, Geology. 
Tt has also been decided that all papers shall be eligible for the medal 
which have been sent in for publication in the Midland Naturalist since 
the expiration of the last term for which a medal was awarded for the 
same subject. For example, any paper on Geology received between 
March 31st, 1881, and March 31st, 1885, will be considered in awarding 
the Darwin Medal for 1885. 

At a meeting of the Management Committee of the Union, held in 
the Room of the Natural History and Microscopical Society, at Mason 
College, Birmingham, the following gentlemen were requested to act 
as adjudicators of the Darwin Medal for 1882 :— 

Prof. T. W. Bridge, M.A. 

H. J. Carter, Esq., F.R.S. 

Dr. Spencer Cobbold, F.R.S. 

Rev. W. Houghton, F.L.S. 

G. B. Rothera, Esq. . 
and Mr. W. J. Harrison, F.G.S., was requested to act as Secretary to 
the adjudicators. 

The Council has received from Mr. Harrison the following report :— 


‘ 


REPORT OF THE ADJUDICATORS OF THE Darwin Mepat, 1882. 


The adjudicators have great pleasure in awarding the Darwin Gold 
Medal for Zoology to Prof. A. M. Marshall, M.A., M.D., D.Sc., aud 
W. P. Marshall, M.I.C.E., for their paper on the ‘‘ Pennatulida,” now 
appearing in the magazine which is the organ of the Union—The 
Midland Naturalist. 

Each adjudicator made a searching and minute enquiry into the 
work submitted for their consideration, and the following extracts 
from their individual reports will indicate the care and thought 
bestowed by them upon the matter. 

Dr. SpENcER Copsotp, F'.R.S., writes :—‘‘ Considering the work 
done, I deemed it only fair that a prolonged and careful scrutiny 
should be made. I assign to the paper on the ‘‘ Pennatulida,” by Prof. 
A. M. Marshall, 100 marks. From the plan I have adopted it will be 
understood that the acquisition of 100 marks implies that this memoir 
is regarded by me as a practically, if not an absolutely, perfect paper 
of its kind.” 

H. J. Carrer, Esq., F.R.S., remarks :—‘‘ As to the ‘‘ Pennatulida ” 
paper by the Messrs. Marshall, this, in point of arrangement, descrip- 
tion, and illustration, is a very excellent and instructive contribution. 

Prof. T. W. Briper, M.A., states that ‘‘ The paper by Prof. Marshall 
and Mr. W. P. Marshall on the ‘‘ Pennatulida” is an able, admirably 
ilustrated paper, and contains several important additions to our 
knowledge of an interesting, but comparatively little-known group of 
animal forms. After quoting Kélliker’s scheme for the classification 
of the group, the authors give (1) a brief general account of the species, 
(2) an anatomical description, which includes an account of the 
mechanical properties of the skeleton, the anatomy and histology of 
the coenenchyma and polypes, and the polymorphism of the zooids. 
Reference is then made to the other existing species of Funiculina, 


156 MIDLAND UNION—-GENERAL BUSINESS. 


and the paper concludes with a discussion of the zoological position 
and affinities, the history and literature, the geographical distribution 
of the genus, with a brief note on specimens in the various English 
Museums. The paper is an exceedingly complete and useful com- 
pilation of the salient features in the anatomy, histology, geographical 
distribution, and affinities of a rare and interesting ‘‘ Pennatulid.” 
The beautiful plates accompanying the letterpress are original ; more- 
over they are of considerable value, inasmuch as they supplement the 
incomplete and often inaccurate figures given by Kdélliker in his 
classical work on the ‘‘ Pennatulida.” The paper also proves that 
Funiculina quadrangularis is not confined to the Mediterranean Sea and 
Scandinavia, as stated by Verrill and Gray, but is to be also regarded 
as a Scotch species. I regard the authors of this paper as fully 
deserving the award of the Darwin Medal.” 

The Rev. W. Houcuton, F'.L.S., etc., believes ‘‘that the Darwin Medal, 
bestowed annually, is doing much to promote investigation and observa- 
tion among the members of the Midland Union of Natural History 
Societies.” He adds that ‘‘the paper on the ‘‘ Pennatulida” is a 
valuable contribution to our knowledge, and displays an excellent 
method of scientific treatment.” 

G. B. Roruera, Esq., places Professor Marshall’s paper ‘in the 
rank of those which serve to illustrate more completely the methods 
and aims of science, by tracing out the evolution of the organisin and 
its relation to its environment: of this paper (on the “ Pennatulida ”’) 
it would be almost impossible to speak in terms of too high praise, 
- and I consider it in every sense deserving of the Darwin Medal.” 

The Council, therefore, recommend that the Darwin Medal for 
Zoology (1882) be awarded to the Messrs. Marshall, and they congratu- 
late the members upon the reception of so valuable a contribution to 
zoological literature as the paper on the Pennatulida to which the Gold 
Medal has been awarded. 

The death of the famous naturalist after whom the Darwin Prize 
was named, must be recorded here in terms of the deepest regret. Mr. 
Darwin strongly approved of the scheme of the Midland Union, and 
was one of the first subscribers to the Midland Naturalist. He entirely 
approved of the scheme according to which the Darwin Prize was to be 
awarded, and expressed great pleasure at its establishment. Your 
Council believe that the permanent endowment of the Darwin Prize 
and Medal would form a most fitting memorial of this great naturalist, 
who may fitly be called ‘‘ The Shakespeare of Science.” If we despair 
at his loss, knowing that ‘‘none but himself could be his parallel,” we 
may be comforted by reflecting that ‘‘ he was not for an age, but for all 
time,” for he has left us in his books a monument of insight and 
patient research which will aid and encourage every subsequent 
worker in the field of natural science. The sum required to endow 
the Darwin Medal would be about £250, and for such an object it is 
believed this sum could be readily raised. The Societies in large 
towns might each give a conversazione for this object, at which the 
work of Darwin should be specially illustrated, and the funds derived 
from the sale of admission tickets be devoted to the ‘‘ Darwin 
Memorial ”’ here proposed. 

The Mason Science College, Birmingham.—Allusion has been made 
to this valuable institution in each of the last two reports of the 
Council. It is gratifying to learn that the number of students 
continues to show a regular and rapid increase, the number on the 
books for the present term being 197. The Medical Students of the 
Queen’s College, Birmingham, now receive their scientific training in 
Chemistry, Physiology, and Botany, at the Mason College, an arrange- 
ment which is greatly to the advantage of both Institutions, 


MIDLAND UNION—-GENERAL BUSINESS. 157 


Mr. Hillhouse, B.A., of Cambridge, has been appointed Professor of 
Botany, and the class in this subject has made an excellent start. 
Professor Lapworth has established a practical class for Geology, and 
has, with yreat kindness, invited Birmingham geologists to join in the 
Saturday afternoon excursions made by this Class. 

The Scientific Library possessed by the Mason College now numbers 
oyer 10,000 volumes of the best books in all departments of science; it 
is greatly indebted to the fostering care of Dr. Heslop. 

Both the Birmingham Philosophical Society and the Birmingham 
Natural History and Microscopical Society are housed in the Mason 
College, to the mutual advantage of these Societies and the Institution. 

Birmingham Free Library.—The Reference Department will be 
opened in the new buildings on June 26th. Lists of the best books in 
every branch of science have been furnished (at the request of the 
Committee) by local experts in science, and were presented through 
the Birmingham Natural History and Microscopical Society. No pro- 
vincial library will contain a more complete set of valuable scientific 
publications. This work has been earnestly promoted by Mr. E. Tonks, 
B.C.L., who was the first President of the Midland Union. 

Science Teaching in Elementary Schools—The practical teaching of 
elementary science continues to be most successfully carried on in 56 
departments (28 Boys’ and 28 Girls’ Schools) of the Schools under 
the Birmingham School Board.* A Central Laboratory and Lecture 
Room is in course of erection, which will enable the work to be carried 
on more perfectly ; 2,000 children and 200 pupil-teachers now receive 
these science-lessons in Birmingham, and it cannot be doubted that in 
future years they will furnish a strong contingent of members to the 
ranks of the local scientific societies. Your Council record, with 
pleasure, a recent donation of £200 by the famous firm of Tangye 
Brothers (Messrs. R. and G. Tangye) to the Birmingham School 
Board for the purpose of establishing science scholarships. An ex- 
amination for eight science scholarships has recently been held- by 
Professor Poynting, of the Mason College, and in his report on the 
papers worked the examiner states that, ‘‘The answers, as a whole, 
speak very highly for the carefulness and accuracy of the teaching 
which the boys have received. Hardly any of the questions could be 
answered without independent thought on the part of the candidates, 
and I had very few answers show a want of such thought. The boys 
showed that they had seen and understood the experiments which they 
described ; that they had been taught to reason for themselves upon 
them, and that they were not merely using forms of words which they 
had learned without attaching physical ideas to them.” The trustees 
of Mason College have placed six free exhibitions at the disposal of the 
School Board, and the two first boys in the above examination will go 
for a time to the King Edward’s School, Birmingham, and after- 
wards to the Mason College, also receiving £25 per annum for their 
maintenance. The next six boys receive Scholarships of £10 per 
annum with free tuition in science; prizes of scientific books are 
awarded to those who stand next in merit. 

The Council note the appearance during the past year of a list* of 
the local Scientific and Literary Societies of England, classified 
according to their counties, and including about 190 names. The 
Midland Union includes only the central counties ; if similar associa- 
tions were formed for (1) the six northern counties, (2) the eastern and 
south-eastern counties, and (3) the southern and south-western 


_ ™ For a full accountof the system pursued see a paper by Mr. W. J. Harrison 
in the Proceedings of the Birmingham Philosophical Society, Vol. IL., p. 274. 


158 MIDLAND UNION—-GENERAL BUSINESS. 


counties, it cannot be doubted that the organisation would result in 
much good. A Yearly Conference of the officers of these four divisions 
might be held, with a general Congress of the members (say) every 
five (or ten) years. 

The following list of Scientific Societies in the Midlands which do 
not as yet belong to the Midland Union, is taken from the work referred 
to above. Itis greatly to be desired that all the Societies whose mem- 
bers do real work in science, as distinguished from those which are 
‘Popular Lecture” Societies only, should be welded into one homo- 
geneous whole, so as to ‘‘ keep touch ” with one another, and mutually 
aid and encourage one another. 


List of Societies in the Midlands which do not belong to the Union. 


DerrpysHireE.—Chesterfield and Derby Institute of Engineers. 

LEIcESTERSHIRE.—Scientific Association of Leicester. 

Loughborough Literary and Philosophical Society. 

Hertrorpsuire.— Watford Natural History Society, and Herts Field 

Club. 
HeEREFORDSHIRE.—The Woolhope Field Club. 
CaMBRIDGESHIRE.—Cambridge Field Naturalists’ Club and Entomological 
Society. 
Cambridge Natural Science Club. 
Bucxs.—High Wycombe Natural History Society. 
BerksHire.— Wellington College Natural Science Society. 
Newbury District Field Club. 
Reading Microscopical Society. 

WaRkwWIcksHIRE.—Smallheath Literary and Scientific Society. 
Warwickshire Natural History and Archeological Society. 
Warwickshire Natural History and Archeological Field Club. 
Rugby School Natural History Society. 

Leamington Philosophical Society. 

WoRCESTERSHIRE.— Worcestershire Natural History Society. 
Worcestershire Natural History Field Club. 

Malvern Field Club. 


In accordance with a suggestion made last year, application has 
been made to certain of the railway companies to extend to naturalists 
the privileges afforded to members of fishing clubs, of travelling to 
certain localities, and on half-holidays, at cheap rates. This applica- 
tion has hitherto not been successful, the difficulty being that the 
botanist or geologist does not usually carry about with him so much 
cumbrous apparatus as the angler, so that, while the errand of the 
latter is pretty plain to the booking clerk, there is no similar surety for 
the nature of the trip of the man of science ; but, besides this, several 
other difficulties presented themselves. 

The time of the Annual Meeting has hitherto been necessarily 
taken up with business relating to the establishment and organization 
of the Union. At future meetings it may be possible to arrange for the 
reading of short papers describing any important work done by 
members of the Union during the past year. 

An invitation to the Union to meet at Tamworth, in 1883, has been 
received from the Tamworth Natural History, Geological, and Anti- 
quarian Society, and the Council recommend its acceptance, feeling 
sure that the central position of the town, the attractive nature of the 


* In the “Geology of the Counties of England and of North and South 
Wales,” by W. Jerome Harrison, F.G.S. (London, Kelly and Co.) 


MIDLAND UNION—-GENERAL BUSINESS. 159 


neighbourhood, and the well-known energy of the members of the Local 
Society will ensure asuccessful and well-attended meeting. The Council 
recommended that Mr. W. G. Davy, of Tamworth, and Mr. W. Jerome 
Harrison, F.G.S., of Birmingham, be appointed General Honorary 
Secretaries for the ensuing year. 

It was resolved, on the motion of the President, seconded by the 
Rev. J. F. McCallan, that the report be received, adopted, and printed 
in the Midland Naturalist. 


PRESENTATION OF THE DARWIN MEDAL FOR 1881. 


The Prest1pEnt, in handing the Darwin Medal to Mr. Edward Wilson, 
F.G.S., said that it was no slight honour to have one’s name associated 
with that of Charles Darwin. This was the first medal that had been 
awarded by the Union, and he was very proud to think that it had 
been won by a Nottingham geologist. 

A vote of thanks to the adjudicators of the Darwin Medal was 
moved by Mr. J. P. Briscoe, seconded by Mr. W. Rigby, carried, and 
acknowledged by Mr. G. B. Rothera. A vote of thanks was also 
passed to Sir Herewald Wake, Bart., for his renewal of his offer of a 
prize for Entomology. 

Mr. W. J. Harriso; proposed, and it was resolved, ‘‘ that a copy of 
the Darwin Medal be presented to the family of the late Charles Darwin.” 
It was stated that the dies for the Medal had been most admirably 
executed by Mr. Joseph Moore, of Birmingham; it bore on one side a 
bas-relief bust of Darwin, and on the reverse a branch of coral, 
emblematic of one of the greatest researches of the deceased naturalist. 

Mr. E. D. de Hamel (hon. treasurer) next read his statement of 
accounts, from which it appeared that the receipts for the past year 
amounted to £27 13s. 11d., which, with a balance from the preceding 
year of £33 2s. 4dd., made a total of £60 16s. 3d.; the expenditure 
amounted to £55 5s. 7d., leaving a balance of £5 Os. 8d. Subscriptions, 
however, were still due from four Societies, amounting to £7 7s. 7d. 
For the Darwin Medal Die Fund a sum of £14 2s. 6d. had been either 
received or promised, the cost of the dies being £15. 

It was resolved that the Treasurer’s accounts be received, accepted, 
and entered on the minutes. 

Mr. W. J. Harrison (Birmingham), and Mr. W. G. Davy (Tamworth), 
were elected Hon. Secretaries, and Mr. Egbert de Hamel, Hon. 
Treasurer. 

The thanks of the meeting were given to the officers of the Union 
for their services during the past year; to the officers and members of 
the Nottingham Literary and Philosophical Society, Naturalists’ 
Society, Working Men’s Naturalists’ Society, and G. R. S. Naturalists’ 
Society, for the very complete and admirable arrangements made by 
. them for the present gathering; aud to the President of the Union 
(Dr. A. Stephenson) for his able and courteous conduct in the chair. 


VISIT TO THE HEMLOCK STONE. 


In the morning Mr. J. J. H. Teall, M.A., F.G.S., accompanied a 
party of visitors to the remarkable pillar of rock on Stapleford Hill, 
known as the Hemlock Stone. This rock is formed out of the Keuper 
Basement Beds, and, although the Government Geological Surveyor 
(Professor Hull) would assign its origin to the action of the sea, yet 
there can be no reasonable doubt but that it has been sculptured out 
by atmospheric denudation. 


160 MIDLAND UNION—GENERAL BUSINESS. 


VISITS TO LOCAL INSTITUTIONS, FACTORIES, &c. 


Few towns have advanced so rapidly as Nottingham has done 
during the last few years. The members of the Midland Union 
viewed with admiration the splendid Art Museum, which now occupies 
Nottingham Castle, and over which they were conducted by the able 
curator, Mr. Wallis. The School of Art is fitly housed near the 
Arboretum—a beautifully laid out public garden, belonging to the 
town. But the University College—a grand pile of buildings, having 
the Natural History Museum on one side, and the Free Library on 
the other—was considered the crowning-point of all. This fine 
Institution is supported at a total cost to the rates of about £6,000 per 
annum, but there can be no doubt that it will turn out the best invest- 
ment ever made by the public-spirited inhabitants of Nottingham. 
Many members visited one or other of the lace factories, and received 
ideas as to the complexity and perfection of the machinery employed 
which they will never forget. 


THE CONVERSAZIONE. 


The evening meeting was held in the Large Room and Lecture 
Hall of the Mechanics’ Institute. The local scientists and naturalists 
had taken great pains to collect a most extensive and interesting series 
of specimens illustrating nearly every branch of natural science; the 
members of the local soirée committee, too, must have worked extremely 
hard to display the objects in so satisfactory a manner The principal 
exhibitors were :—Mr. N. Allen, entomological specimens; Mr. T. 8. 
Bayin, section and cores of the boring for coal at South Scarle, 
Lincolnshire; Mr. F. Clements, historical maps, charts, &c., of 
Nottingham, illustrations of book ‘‘ From whence Nottingham Sprang,” 
antique brass clock, case of relics; Mrs. Cowen, fossils from the chalk 
and greensand formations; Mr. E. 8. Cowen, photographs of antiquities 
near Nottingham, drawings of vibration curves, drawings of tesselated 
pavement, at Barton, Notts; Mr. P. J. Cropper, collection of fossils ; 
' Mr. B.S. Dodd, marine alge, hydrozoa, British and European mollusca; 
Mr. W. J. Harrison, F.G.S., fossils in quartzite pebbles, specimens of 
Cambrian rocks from Dosthill and Hartshill, in Warwickshire; Mr. J.8. 
Hedderley, drawings of British wild flowers ; Mr. F. Jackson, geological 
specimens, antique bronzes, Roman plaque; Mr. A. L. Kohn, minerals 
and rocks of Auvergne, Central France, sketches uf extinct volcanoes, 
scientific worthies; Mr. L. Lee, cases of mounted specimens of 
mammals, birds, &c., with some skeletons of the same; Mr. J. Marriott, 
Lias fossils of Leicestershire ; Mr. C. T. Musson, local land and fresh- 
water shells, marine shells; Mr. H. Pearce, F.G.S., F.L.S., glacially 
striated stones, granite boulders, mineral specimens; Mr. C. Perry, 
local British insects; Mr. G. B. Rothera, orders of insecta, exotic 
lepidoptera, invertebrata, sponges, sea-pens, corals, starfish, shells, &c., 
specimens from the Lincolnshire coast (Skegness and Wainfleet), shells 
from North Devon, rock specimens, pass of Llanberis during the 
glacial period; Mr. W. Rigby, bird’s nests with eggs (local), gums and 
resins, young crocodile, just hatched, in spirits, crustacea; Messrs. 
Rose and Son, cases of herons, owls, grebe, fox, and teal, wild 
ducks, and the osprey in their natural habitats, chimpanzee ; 
Mr. J. Shipman, specimens of the Keuper basement. beds of Notting- 
hamshire, Staffordshire, and Cheshire, fossiliferous pebbles of the 
Nottingham Bunter sandstone, vegetable remains from the alluvium 
of the Leen Valley, local geological sections, new geological map of 
Nottingham; Mr. Louis Simon, half-horse power new noiseless gas 


MIDLAND UNION—-GENERAL BUSINESS. 161 


engine; the Rev. Edwin Smith, M.A., flint and other implements of 
the stone age found in the Trent Valley, near Nottingham, fossils 
from Cromer, bones and teeth of elephants, &c., beetles (chiefly local), 
rare British plants, galvanometers, showing currents in living plants 
and thermo-electric phenomena; Mr. Appleby Stephenson, M.D., 
Japanese, Indian, and Chinese curiosities, books of autographs, and 
rare prints; Mr. Stones, case of ferns; Mr. J. J. Harris Teall, M.A., 
F.G.S., microphotographs of rock sections; Mr. W. E. Thornton, local 
rock and other geological specimens; Mr. C. H. Torr, New Zealand 
ferns; Messrs. G. E. Webster and Co., sanitary gas stoves for green- 
houses and bedrooms; Mr. E. Wilson, F. G. S., Keuper fishes, Carboni- 
ferous fishes, local geological sketches and diagrams, photographs of 
rock scenery, flake of grey chalk from Channel Tunnel; Mr. D. 
Wright, stereoscopic gallery, with views of foreign scenery. Micro- 
scopes were exhibited by Messrs. H. Blandy, G. E. C. Casey, T. W. 
Cave, Mrs. Cowen, Messrs. C. E. Crick, R. T. Higham, J. Levick, 
H. Miller, C. Perry, H. E. Perry, John Rogers, G. B. Rothera, E. 
Smith, J. Smith, J. J. H. Teall, W. E. Thornton, and J. White. 


NOTES ON BEAVERS AND THE BUTE BEAVERY. 


BY EGBERT DE HAMEL. 


(Continued from page 104.) 

About the months of July and August the male beavers and last 
year’s young, who have been enjoying the spring and summer amongst 
the woods, collect in large numbers on the lakes and watercourses, on 
which they had left their houses and females in the spring, for the 
purpose of uniting into society, and of repairing or adding to their 
villages. 

These villages are very interesting, and consist of hovels, cabins, and 
stores, with the addition, in the case of a watercourse, of a dam, which 
is not required if the village is situated on a lake. 

The following description will give you a good general idea of the 
whole arrangement, to which I will afterwards add some further 
details :— 

In rivers or brooks where the water is subject to risings and fallings, 
they build a bank, which traverses the watercourse from one side to 
the other like a sluice, and is often 80 to 100 feet long by 10 or 12 
feet broad at the base. One on the Metapediac in New Brunswick was 
150 yards long, and by its aid the beavers had converted a stream about 
15 or 20 feet wide into a pool an acre in extent and 8 feet deep in the 
middle. This dam was semicircular and convex to the stream. The 
spot for building it had been chosen with remarkable judgment, and 
all natural features, such as little islands, rocks, and stumps of trees, 
had been turned to good account. The centre of this dam was about 
5 feet high, and so compact that it took two men with axes an hour to 
cut a 6-feet aperture through it. 

The camp was situated near the centre of the pool, on the original 
bank of the stream ; it was about the size and shape of an ordinary 


162 NOTES ON BEAVERS. 


haystack, a little flattened down ; rather more than two-thirds, about 8 
feet, showed above the water ; internally it contained one large circular 
apartment about 6 feet 6 inches in diameter; the roof, which was 
dome-shaped, being 2 feet 3 inches high in the centre, gradually sloping 
downwards to the edge; the floor was 10 inches above water mark, and 
contained four beds, made of chips of wood cut very fine; the walls 
were from 4 to 5 feet thick, made altogether of earth and wood. There 
were three entrances, all under water. 

Close to the camp was the storehouse, an accumulation of fresh 
logs and branches submerged in the water for winter use. There must 
have been half-a-dozen ordinary cart loads. They had been hauled 
60 yards by land and twice as far by water. Trees of all sizes, from a 
foot in diameter downwards, that had been felled by the beavers, lay 
scattered all around the pond and in the water, some freshly cut, 
others decayed and covered with moss. The boughs of the larger ones 
had been lopped off and carried to the storehouse, the bark of the 
stems being eaten on the spot. Smaller trees had been felled, cut into 
logs, and carried bodily off. Saplings the size of an axe handle had 
been cut as with one slanting blow of an axe, but the larger trees were 
gnawed all round, and dry sticks and roots that obstructed their 
roads had been cut neatly off at the proper breadth and the pieces 
thrown aside. 

In constructing a dam the beavers select a spot where two trees 
grow opposite to one another on each bank. These they fell in such 
a way that they meet in the bed of the stream, and are inclined 
upwards. This done, more trees above are cut down, and the pieces 
dragged along the roads I have described to the water and floated, 
under the guidance of two or more beavers, who take advantage of all 
side eddies as will suit the purpose, to the dam, against which they 
are placed horizontally. The interstices are next most carefully filled 
with grass, fibres, and tempered clay. Nature now lends her assistance 
by accumulating against the upper side the débris which would other- 
wise have travelled far beyond. Some of the boughs strike root, and 
the dam becomes so strong as to be used as a bridge by man and 
beast. Occasionally flood holes are made in it to permit the passage of 
water after rain, and all damage to it from whatever cause is instantly 
repaired. 

The dam being complete, and the water above it having been raised 
by its aid to a depth and width in proportion to the size of the colony, 
the next business is to build the houses, the sites of which are generally, 
but not always, chosen near the side. These are formed of water-logged 
sticks placed horizontally in the water; they have always two or more 
entrances, and a small chamber; the top of the house is very thick, to 
guard against attacks by animals (chief amongst these being the pan- 
ther, wolf, and wolverine), and as this roof is added to every seasun it 
is sometimes eight feet through, and during frost frozen as hard as 
iron. Mud and roots are used to make the house solid, but no mud is 
seen from the outside, as the top is covered with loose sticks left there 
by the beavers after eating off the bark. 


NOTES ON BEAVERS. 163 


The “swell” houses have two flats, and may accommodate as 
many as sixteen beavers. The lowest is on a level with the water ; the 
upper one is used to sleep in, and has communication with the water 
through the bottom ; the top one has also direct and covered communi- 
cation with another chamber on the land. The entrances, two in 
number, are subaqueous, and called angles, one being on the upper, 
the other on the lower side of the house. 

The beavers usually have two houses, a summer house and a winter 
house (just as we have a town house and a country house). The former 
is generally situated near the mouth of the brook, as the food of the 
beavers during the summer months consists in great measure of the 
stems and roots of the pond lily (Nuphar advena), which is called 
beaver-root by the settlers. 

Whilst the winter house is building the beavers often live in a deep 
hole in the bank, which is called a ‘‘ hovel” or ‘“‘ wash.” The entrance 
to this hole is always under water, and when it has extended some 
distance inland it rises to a chamber which is not only high and dry, 
but has a ventilating hole for the admission of air. 

Although birch and willow trees as large as a man’s thigh are 
frequently cut down, the beavers appear only to make use of the smaller 
branches, which are cut into suitable lengths and carried to the house, 
near which they are sunk by means of mud until a very considerable 
pile of them is raised to some height above the water. The beavers 
always draw their supply from the base of this stack, so as to feed on 
the most sodden bark. Until winter compels them to consume this 
store they feed upon the land or upon browse collected on the top 
of the house. Their principal food, however, consists of the bark 
of the aspen, willow, birch, poplar, and occasionally the alder. They 
rarely resort to the pine tribe unless from severe necessity. 

I will now proceed with my description of the Burr Bravery, so that 
you may compare an account of their actual doings in free or 
unmolested confinement with the review of the habits of the species I 
have just concluded. 

Having been favoured by Mr. Hughes, the great Birmingham 
Naturalist, with a letter of introduction to Mr. Barker, of Rothesay, 
and having also presented this letter and gained the latter gentleman’s 
cordial co-operation, we started from the Queen’s Hotel on a very 
beautiful morning, and after about an hour’s drive stopped between 
two of the Mount Stuart fir woods, whilst my friend summoned the 
keeper, Black, from his cottage hard by, to show and explain the 
“ Beavery ” to us. 

Crossing a stile and plunging at once into the depths of the wood, 
a sharp walk of some ten minutes found us close by a dwarf wall 
surmounted by a light iron fence. Climbing over this we entered an 
enclosure of some three acres, containing a valley whose banks were 
clothed with fir and an undergrowth of bracken, whilst along the 
bottom trickled a tiny burn. Within this space the Marquis of Bute, 
about four years since, turned out two pairs of beavers; but as he did not 


164 NOTES ON BEAVERS. 


know then that they required willow bark for their sustenance one pair 
perished. On willow branches being furnished to the other two they 
prospered, and at the present time (i.e., 1878) have increased to 
sixteen; and not only so, but curiously enough, the locally bred 
beavers have adapted themselves to their environment and taken to 
feeding on the fir bark, sooner than eat which their predecessors 
succumbed. 

The first thing that attracted my attention was a broad yellow ring 
round the base of many of the trees, and as we got nearer I saw they 
had been beautifully cut by the teeth of these animals, the chips (of 
which I brought a few to show you) being profusely scattered around. 
Then I observed that many trees were prostrate, and others quite 
ready for the final cut to fell them. When engaged in this opera- 
tion the beavers sit on their haunches, and, taking two horizontal cuts, 
tear out the piece between them, exactly as a carpenter does when 
reducing wood with his chisel; and in order to cause the tree to fall in 
the required direction (never failing in this unless an adverse wind 
springs up at the critical moment) they cut the wood away most on the 
opposite side, leaving a slender support a little thicker, but not much 
thicker, than one’s wrist. At this stage the beavers retire a little 
and inspect the tree, then all but one move to a safe distance, and that 
one proceeds cautiously with the cutting until the tree, with a graceful 
motion, obeys the will of its persecutor. 

As soon as the tree is down, the beavers separate the branches close 
to the stem and carry them away, then eat the bark off the butt, after 
which an old beaver scores the latter at equal distances of about two 
or three feet to indicate the spots at which it is to be divided into logs 
by the others. 

They had also been very busy tearing up the grass and turf in 
search of ‘‘ Tormentil root.”” We followed their example, and on 
tasting it recognised strongly the flavour of acorns. 

At this point the keeper again drew my attention to the little brook, 
whose top, so narrow was it, was often hidden with overhanging ferns, 
and assured me it was originally exactly the same right through the 
enclosure. Guess my astonishment then, for I had not heard so much 
about beavers at that time as you have to-night, when on 
turning a little knoll we came in view of a decent sized pond witha 
round island in the middle, and a dam at the lower end, making an 
average depth of about three feet of water. Proceeding a short distance 
farther we came upon a good fair pool, the size of which you may 
judge from the enlarged sketch I have here, which was published in 
the January, 1878, number of the ‘‘ Animal World,” and taken on the 
spot by Mr. Walter Severn. 

The dam at the lower end of this pool is semicircular, convex to 
the stream, 62 feet long by 10 feet wide, the greater part being under 
water and sloping to the pool. The top was about two feet wide, and 
so strong that the three of us walked over without hesitation or 
difficulty. One of the boughs used as a backing was as thick as a man’s 


NOTES ON BEAVERS. 165 


leg. Black, who frequently spends a night at the top of a tree to watch 
his charges at work (under the disadvantage of their doing most when the 
nights are darkest), saw this log deposited. He said the beaver floated 
it down stream to the dam, on whichit climbed and drew the log after 
it; then, placing the thin end against the back edge of the dam, it took 
the butt in its paws, and raising itself to its full height pushed it with 
such force and precision that it was at once so firmly fixed that 
although we grasped it fairly no movement was perceptible, In another 
spot a horizontal bough had been carefully wedged behind an upright fork. 

The sloping face of the dam was composed of clay and stones, the 
original material of the present ponds. This clay they puddle with 
their feet, make into balls, and pile in a heap in the middle of the 
pool until required. In carrying it through the water they hold it 
between the fore paws and the chin, swimming with the tail and webbed 
hind feet. If alarmed, or when in the act of diving, they strike the 
water with their tails, and thus occasion a loud report. 

Their house, which is near the right bank, looking down stream, 
is 9ft. high (5 of which are above water), 10ft. long, and Sit. wide, 
oval in shape, and difficult, in spite of its size, to recognise at first, 
owing to their having nearly covered it with growing turf, boughs and 
stems of fern, the leaves of which they had eaten. Along the top was — 
a backbone of boughs left open as a ventilator, and through which heat 
was perceptibly rising from the chamber within. Close to the water on 
the upper side was a narrow terrace, on which Black said the tenants 
liked to sun themselves when all was quiet. 

My friend climbed on the top of the house, to the consternation of 
the inmates, who bolted in al) directions, their hidden tracks being 
marked by lines of rising bubbles. In stepping back to land he put his 
foot on a tree stump, and instantly fell all his length. We found Le 
had gone through to the land chamber of the house. Black was horrified, 
I was delighted, and at once commenced an inspection. 

This chamber was as big as a wheel-barrow, and contained two 
beds of wood shavings like spills (a few of which I brought away), 
which are prepared by the beavers from the small boughs on the bark 
of which they have fed. The house side of this chamber had been 
built of boughs and sods, the projecting ends of the branches being 
neatly dressed off, and the stump of the tree had been hollowed until 
only a thin shell remained, which accounted for its having given 
way so unexpectedly. 

In the centre of the pool they collect their winter store of boughs, 
which, when complete, stands high out of the water, and is used from 
below. 

Round the sides of the pool they have made several burrows, or 
‘“ washes,” or ‘‘ hovels,” as they are variously called, which penetrate 
from 20 to 30 feet into the bank, where they rise above water-level and 
form a small chamber, in the top of which an air hole, stuffed full of 
sticks, is made from the inside for ventilation but not for egress. 
Between the submerged entrances to these holes, and the equally 


166 NOTES ON BEAVERS. 


subaqueous approaches to the house (one being on the upper and the 
other on its lower side), they have cut grooved channels in the bottom 
of the pool, which conduct them safely when diving from one to the 
other. Upon the bank they have numerous runs terminating in shallow 
water, the sides of which are marked by the débris of ferns and twigs. 

Their working hours are between 7 o’clock at night and 7 o’clock in 
the morning. One beaver is always on duty at each dam, and what- 
ever they do is achieved with great rapidity. Black thinks they breed 
in January, but all authorities are against this opinion, which is 
probably owing to the kittens first appearing in public about that time 
of the year. 

One fault alone I had to find with my little friends, and that was 
the apparent extravagance with which they had ‘‘ ringed” a very high 
percentage of the standing timber in the enclosure, without intending 
to promptly finish the work, as evidenced by the stale appearance of 
the chips. 

Beavers are captured either by trapping, drawing, or by storming 
their fortresses. 

In the first instance an iron trap is set close by the bank in shallow 
water, but with chain enough to reach into a depth of at least four 
feet. Upon the bank above a little castoreum, mixed with rum or 
cinnamon, is spilt; the beaver is attracted by the scent, and when 
caught dives into deep water, where the weight of the trap holds down 
and drowns it. Should it, by reason of the river having fallen, not reach 
the deep water, it will bite off its leg at a joint, draw the sinews out of 
the shoulder, and escape. 

The second method consists in noiselessly removing part of the 
dam. As soon as the beavers find the water sinking they come out of 
their houses and holes to repair the breach, and are then shot. 

Thirdly, the Indians search round the beaver pools for the ‘‘ washes,” 
opposite each of which they make a hole in the ice; the women then 
break intc the beaver-house. which affords the unfortunate animals 
the choice of three evils—either to stay under the ice and get drowned, 
or to stay in the house and be killed by the women, or bolt to their 
‘‘ washes ” and be killed by the men, who detect their entrance by the 
ripple in the ice-hole as they pass under, when the aperture is imme- 
diately staked, the ‘‘ wash” opened from above, and the poor beast caught, 
either by hand or with a hook made for the purpose. Sometimes they 
merely stake the two entrances to the house, break into it, and spear 
or tomahawk the imprisoned beavers ; or, if it is a lake, simply frighten 
the beavers out of their houses and shoot them as they come to the 
surface, as they cannot long exist without air. 

In 1808 the Hudson’s Bay Company imported 126,927 pelts, each 
worth about 19s. ; in 1820 only about 50,000, showing how rapidly their 
numbers were decreased. 

The fur when shaved off the pelts with asharp knife was winnowed 
in a tube to separate the long hair from the wool; the latter was then 
kneaded into felt, through which it worked until it appeared as a 
perfect surface on the other side, and was ready to make into hats, 


NOTES ON BEAVERS. 167 


As pets in confinement, beavers are most affectionate and enter- 
taining. Did time permit I could give you numberless anecdotes of 
their sagacity; but the length my paper has already reached pre- 
cludes any such extension. I trust that in what I have told you there 
is sufficient to convince you that if we, lords and tyrants of creation 
as we are, vacated the earth, the lower organisms of which the subject 
of our paper to-night is a good example, would find their lives far 
more agreeable, and a wider scope for the exercise of their intelligence. 

How far it rests with man to render the lives of animals more 
endurable I leave with you, and in conclusion add— 


“The heart is hard in nature * * * #* 
* * * * * * * that is not pleased 
With sight of animals enjoying life, 
Nor feels their happiness augment his own.” 


Correspondence, ete. 
Bee eee 
SAXIFRAGA GRANULATA.—Whilst entomologising in Repton Shrubs on 
the 20th of last May, I came across several plants of the Common 
Meadow Saxifrage (Saxifraga granulata; with double flowers. Have 
any of your readers noticed a similar variety?—T. Gipps, Bretby, 
Burton-on-Trent. 


Mereorotocy.—We are, unfortunately, unable to present in this 
issue our usual monthly reports on the weather. Mr. Clement 
_L. Wragge, to whom we are indebted for the reports which have 
appeared in our pages for some time past, has been so incessantly 
occupied in connection with his arduous meteorological work at Ben 
Nevis, that he has been unable to prepare the report on the weather 
of May in time for press. In the August number the reports will be 
resumed, and a synopsis for April and May (the omitted months) will 
also be given. 

(Ecrp1um.—If Mr. W. B. Grove’s reference is correct, as it appears 
to be, his correction of an old error is a valuable one. The word 
AKcidium has always been a stumbling-block to beginners. The Rey. 
M. J. Berkeley, in the ‘‘ British Flora,” and in his “ Outlines,” gives 
Persoon as the founder of the genus, and Mr. Berkeley is followed by 
Dr. M. C. Cooke, the Rev. John Stevenson in ‘“ Mycologia Scotica,” 
and by other authors. Mr. Berkeley gives the date of Mr. John Hill’s 
‘History of Plants” as 1751, not 1773 like Mr. Grove; these figures 
clearly antedate the writings of Persoon, which range from 1796 to 1828. 
Mr. Berkeley does not give the derivation of Aicidium from ailktfew, 
‘to affect injuriously,” but from aixoy, ‘‘ a wheel.”—W. G. S. 


-Repatts of Societies. 


BIRMINGHAM NATURAL HISTORY AND MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETY.— 
General Meeting, May 30th.—Mr. R. M. Lloyd exhibited Coprinus micaceus, 
from a fern case in Birmingham. Mr. W. B. Grove exhibited Puccini 
lychnidearum, from Holt Fleet, and Hurotium herbirum. My. W. J. Harrison 
exhibited slides, diagrams, models, etc., illustrating the best means of teaching 
Human Physiology, and lucidly explained the advantages of the same, Gehera] 


168 CORRESPONDENCE—REPORTS. 


Meeting. June 6th.—Mr. George Heaton exhibited seeds of plants, etc., washed 
by the Gulf Stream to the Coast of Donegal, N.W. of Ireland. Mr. W. B. Grove 
exhibited the following Fungi from Sutton, Nectrits ngwinea, Spheriaz ovini, 
and Peziz: fusariotdes, and also Ca/ocera cornea from dead wood at Rotten Park 
Reservoir. Mr. J. Morley exhibited Luzula albida, from his garden. Microscopical 
General Meeting, June 20th.—Mr. J. Madison exhibited Succinea putris, a 
white variety from Stonehouse, and Limnea peregra, var. ovata, having an 
additional interior lip. Mr. W. B. Grove exhibited Lycoga/a epidendrum (Wolf’s- 
milk Fungus), and Ti/madoche mutabilis, two Myxomycetes, from Sutton. 
Professor A. M. Marshall read the third and concluding part of the Report 
on the Pennatulida obtained at Oban, which treated of Virgularia mirabilis. 
At the end he thanked the Society for reproducing his drawings in such a 
worthy and successful manner. Mr. W. R. Hughes read a short note on an 
abnormal form of star-fish, Asterina gibbosa, with six instead of five rays. He 
showed the great interest of such a specimen from an evolutionist’s point of 
view, since the additional ray would tend in several ways to aid it in the 
struggle for existence. The specimen was exhibited as well as the normal form. 


BIRMINGHAM MICROSCOPISTS’ AND NATURALISTS’ UNION.—April 3rd. 
—A Meeting devoted to “Pond Life.” Exhibited by Mr.Wykes, great numberand 
variety of Rotifers found in tap water; by Mr. Dunn, Stephanoceros eichhornit; by 
Mr. J. W. Neville, Plocamium coccinewm in fruit; by Mr. Sheldon, Polytrichum 
commune, with Antheridia. April 17th.—Microscopical and General Meeting. 
Exhibited by Mr. Delicate, transverse section of Hedge Maple: by Mr. Darley, 
cocoon of Fox Moth; by Mr. H. Insley, Puccinia on leaf of Boxand Asterosporium 
hoffmanni from bark of Beech tree. April 24th.—Exhibited by Mr. Darley, 

_Pupa of May Fly, showing circulation of blood; by Mr. Dunn, Sucker-foot of 
Dytiscus marginalis; by Mr. Delicate, Section of Stem of Common Elm; by 
J. W. Neville, transverse section of Human Colon, and section of Human Lung. 
Paper on “The Circulation of the Blood,” by Mr. Madison.—May 1ist.— 
Microscopical and General Meeting. Exhibited by Mr. Dunn, parasite of Dor 
Beetle; by Mr. Darley, Ovipositor of Ichneumon Fly :Ophion); by Mr. F. Shrive, 
three Adders, from Sutton Park, living; by Mr. Bradbury, young of common 
Eel; by Mr. J. W. Neville, Hair of Sea Mouse; by Mr, Madison, an abnormal 
form of Limnea peregra, having a second lip within the mouth of the shell; by 
Mr. H. Insley, prothallus of Lastrea dilatata, growing, and the same mounted 
for the microscope, showing antherids and archegons ; also young plant emerging 
from prothallus. May 6th.—An excursion to the Wren’s Nest, Dudley. Fossils 
and land shells were the chief spoils. Among the latter, Achatina acicu’a, 
May 8th.—Specimens found at excursion exhibited. Paper: Notes on Daphnia. 
by Mr. Dunn. May 15.—Special Botany. Large number of common plants 
shown by Mr. Boland, specimens of Unio margaritifer, living. May 20th.— 
Excursion to Sutton Park. A specimen of Ribwort Plantain, found near 
Bracebridge Pool, showing an abnormal form of inflorescence. At the base of 
each spike two rows of smaller spikes, five in each row, alternating with each 
other, were formed. The small spikes were sessile, and nearly at right angles 
with the larger one. May 22nd.—Microscopical and General Meeting. Exhibited 
by Mr. Darley, large Ingrail and Tissue Moths, from Sutton Park; by Mr. 
Moore, imago of B. cynthia; by Mr. Sanderson, Lycopodium clavatum, from 
Yorkshire. , 


BIRMINGHAM SCHOOL NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY.—The usual 
Fortnightly Meeting was held on May 17th.—A paper was read by the President 
of the Botanical Section (J. Turner, Esq.), on “The Orchid Family.” The 
members were provided with specimens of Orchis morio, which was minutely 
describedin the paper. In concluding the President referred to the indefatigable 
labours of the late Mr. Charles Darwin in connection with the Orchid family. 
Some beautiful specimens of the Orchid family, lent by members of the Society, 
were exhibited, 


MIDLAND UNION——-PRESIDENT’S ADDRESS. 169 


MIDLAND UNION OF NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETIES. 


ADDRESS BY APPLEBY STEPHENSON, Esqa., M.D., 
PRESIDENT OF THE UNION. 


I cannot for a moment justify my appearance in this distinguished 
position, but at least I can explain it. I owe it entirely to the fact— 
not of any special fitness or suitability, and certainly of no desire— 
but simply to the accidental circumstance that for two consecutive 
years I was President of the ‘‘ Literary and Philosophical Society of 
Nottingham,” and so by “natural selection” it would seem it came to 
me. Yet in justification of myself I am bound to tell you I accepted 
this post of honour under pressure and under protest. I can only see 
one advantage that will accrue—my predecessors will by this contrast 
derive additional distinction and lustre, and ‘twill be far easier for any 
successor to succeed me than I now feel it to take the place of those 
that are past. Still, I must not be wanting in gratitude—if in gratula- 
tion—and must remember that the most important duty which 
devolves upon me, as President of your Union, is the delivery of an 
address at this, the annual meeting. In considering my incapacity 
to fulfil such a task properly—certainly to my own satisfaction—I am 
reminded of, though I cannot emulate, the poet Campbell’s ready wit 
when in a seeming dilemma. A young lady presented her album to 
him with the request that he ‘“‘ would write something original in it,” 
on which he at once penned these lines: 

‘¢ An ‘original something,’ 
Fair maid, you would woo me 
To write ; 
But how shall I begin? 
For I fear I have nothing original in me 
Excepting original sin!” 

However, it only remains for me to execute my task to the best of 
my ability, and, if I do not further dispraise myself, it is because to do 
so would be to find fault with those who have placed me here. 

I have thought my best course to take would be a brief notice of the 
special naturalistic peculiarities of this district, and on such I shall 
mainly address you. 


INTRODUCTION. 

The Union started with 17 Societies (January, 1878) ; the present 
number in the Union is 25. The Subscription for the first two yeurs, 
was 1d. per member, but this has since been raised (May, 1879) to 3d. 
per member. The present number of members in the Union is nearly 
3,000. 

Among the advantages of the Union may be named the manner in 
which it has \brought the various Midland Societies more closely 

together. In the first list issued by the projectors of the Union (January, 
1877) only 13 Societies are named, and several of these are wrongly 


170 MIDLAND UNION 


PRESIDENT’S ADDRESS. 


designated. The Annual Meetings have caused many acquaintances to 
be formed among scientific workers in the Midlands. Five vols. of 
The Midland Naturalist have been issued, which will form a permanent 
record of the work done by the various Societies. 

The Darwin Prize was founded 1881; and the first award was 
to a Nottingham geologist—E. Wilson, Esq., F.G.S. Mr. Darwin 
has always taken an interest in the Union, and was a subscriber 
from the first to its organ, he Midland Naturalist. 


T shall now offer a few remarks, first on ‘‘ General Geology” and 


the ‘‘ Glacial Drift Deposits,” for the sake of referring to the work 
which has been done by some of our members, and shall follow these 
by more extended notices of ‘‘ The Geology of the Nottingham District,” 
the ‘* Mollusca ” of the county, its ‘‘ Ornithology” and ‘‘ Botany.” 


GENERAL GEOLOGY. 


The work of the Geological Survey must not be considered as final, 
but only as indicating the lines for local research. Mr. Shipman has 
made important corrections and additions in the Nottingham district. 
Professor Lapworth and Mr. F. T. 8. Houghton have shown that 
the quartzite of the Lower Lickey Hills, near Bromsgrove, is not 
of Llandovery age, for which it was mapped by the Government 
Survey, but that it is immensely older, belonging to the Lower 
Cambrian formation. A patch of Llandovery sandstone rests, at 
one point, against the quartzite. Mr. W. J. Harrison has found that 
the rocks of Dosthill, in the North of Warwickshire, mapped as 
‘“Greenstone” by the Survey, are really fossiliferous Cambrian shales, 
traversed by dykes of diorite; the same geologist has shown, in con- 
junction with Prof, Lapworth, that the Hartshill quartzite, which 
forms a ridge between Nuneaton and Atherstone, is, together with a 
mass of overlying shaly beds, also of Cambrian age, being the 
equivalent of the Lickey rock. 


GLACIAL DRIFT DEPOSITS. 


Little progress has been made with this subject, the complexity 
and difficulty of which becomes yearly more apparent. Mr. Harrison 
has furnished Mr. Searles V. Wood with a number of observations 
made by himself on the drift of Leicestershire, and he has used 
these in his paper on the ‘‘ Newer Pliocene Period in England,” 
read before the Geological Society of London, and published in 
their journal (vol. 36, p. 457). In a paper Mr. Harrison lately read 
before the Philosophical Society of Birmingham, on the ‘“ Quartzite 
Pebbles in the Drift,’ he endeavours to show that these are derived 
firstly from the Bunter Conglomerate of the Trias. The latter bed is 
itself derived from an old Paleozoic ridge which stretched across 
Central England ; and not from the Old Red Conglomerate of Scotland, 
as the usually accepted theory put forth originally by Prof. E, Hull 
would have us believe. 


MIDLAND UNION—PRESIDENT’S ADDRESS. 171 


The question of the nature and origin of the Glacial Deposits is so 
wide and so difficult, that, for purposes of individual research, it is 
well to subdivide it. The quartzite pebbles form an easily recognisable 
division, and now that they have been shown to be fossiliferous, their 
study will prove highly interesting. 


THE GEOLOGY OF THE NOTTINGHAM DISTRICT. 


The rocks of Nottinghamshire though generally devoid of palaeon- 
tological interest—fossils as arule being conspicuous by their absence— 
are yet of interest from the important evidence they furnish as to the 
stratigraphical relationships of the lower Mesozoic to the upper Paleozoic 
formations. Exclusive of the post-Tertiary rocks, viz., glacial and 
alluvial clays, sands, and gravels, the rocks of Nottinghamshire 
naturally fall into two groups of easterly-dipping formations—the 
Carboniferous and the post-Carboniferous—which are separated from 
each other by a clearly defined unconformability,—an unconformity 
that is proved by the changing strike of the outcropping coal measures, 
and by the constantly increasing depth beneath the base of the 
Permian rocks of particular coal seams going east from the Magnesian 
Limestone escarpment on the borders of Notts and Derbyshire, and 
which may be seen in surface exposures at Kimberley, five miles west 
of Nottingham. 


The Coal Measures.—The only Carboniferous formations represented 
in Notts occupy but a small surface area on the western borders of the 
county, but without doubt underlie the newer rocks of the whole of 
the county, except perhaps in its southern extremity. The coal 
measures of Notts are of very great economic importance from the 
large and constantly increasing supplies of fossil fuel that are drawn 
from them, and they are destined to become of even greater import- 
ance in the future. The fossils of this series are almost entirely 
limited to the ordinary coal measure plants and mollusca, though 
scanty fish remains, a fossil scorpion and one or two limuloid and 
other crustacea, have been found. 


The Permian Formation—The lowest of the post-Carboniterous 
formations consists of the following sub-divisions:—Marl Slates 
with breccia at base, Lower Magnesian Limestone, Middle Permian 
Marls and Sandstone, Upper Magnesian Limestone and Upper 
Permian Marls. The last two divisions are, however, scarcely 
seen in the county. The limestone is largely quarried for 
building purposes, yielding a rough-hewn stone well adapted for outer 
walls, and isalso burnt for lime, while the marls are manufactured 
into bricks and pottery. The magnesian limestone, which dies out 
finally near Nottingham on the south, from its uniform durability has 
come to form a very evident dip slope from the high ground overlcoking 
the Derbyshire coalfield on the west to where it becomes covered by 
Triassic rocks on the east. For further information on these rocks, 
including some interesting speculations as to their probable origin, I 


172 MIDLAND UNION——PRESIDENT’S ADDRESS. 


must refer you to the paper by Mr. E. Wilson, F.G.S., ‘On the 
Permian Rocks of the North-east of Hngland,” published in last 
year’s Midland Naturalist, for which the first Darwin Medal has been 


awarded. 


Next above the Permian rocks and separated from them by a slight 
but still perceptible unconformity comes the Triassic series, the rocks 
of which, striking nearly due north and south, occupy the major portion 
of the county. The Lower Division, or Bunter Sandstone, is represented 
by the Lower Mottled Sandstone and the Pebble Beds. The Lower 
Mottled Sandstone yields moulding sand for the iron furnaces. It is 
well exposed at Mansfield, and at several points in the Leen Valley. 
The Pebble Beds are finely shown in the cliff-like eminence on which 
Nottingham Castle stands. The Bunter Sandstone occupies a consider- 
able area in North Notts, comprising much of the region once occupied 
by Sherwood Forest. Being a porous sandstone, resting on impervious 
strata, it forms an excellent natural reservoir for water supply. Its 
dryness also well adapts it as a site for building purposes. Being 
comparatively soft and easily hewn, dwelling places were hollowed out 
in it by the ancient inhabitants of the country. Hence the earliest 
Saxon settlers termed the place Suodena-gabam (the home of caves). 
The rock beneath the town is honeycombed by extensive cellars and 
long passages. At Snienton Hermitage some of the caves are still 
faced with doors and windows and inhabited, and the ‘‘ Park holes” 
bear traces of a primitive kind of sculpture. Beneath Nottingham 
Castle are extensive dungeons, aud the bold escarpment in front is tra- 
versed from top to bottom by a tortuous subterranean passage known as 
Mortimer’s Hole. The Upper Trias or Keuper series is represented by 
three subdivisions—the Basement Beds, the Waterstones, and the Red 
Marl. The Basement Beds, a fluctuating series of red and white coarse 
sandstones, are only well shown in Stapleford Hill and the Hemlock 
Stone, but have been temporarily exposed on the east side of Notting- 
ham. The Waterstones consist of alternating porous sandstones and 
red marls. They are exposed at several points on the east side of the 
town. Both these rocks have in past times been quarried for building 
purposes, and may be seen in several old walls and buildings. The 
Red Marl is a series of bright red clays with a few thin beds of hard 
white sandstone, with veins and sometimes thick beds of gypsum. 
The Red Marl and also the clays of the Waterstones have for long past 
been extensively worked for bricks on the high ground east of the 
town, and Nottingham may truthfully be said to have once lain on 
Mapperley Plains. The Triassic series is almost entirely destitute of 
fossil organisms. The Bunter Sandstone yields nothing excepting the 
occasional fossiliferous quartzite pebbles which have been derived from 
metamorphosed Silurian rocks. From the uppermost gypsiferous beds 
of the Red Marls a suite of Foraminifera has been described by 
Messrs. Parker and Jones, from Chellaston Hill (Derbyshire), but as 
these were not actually found in situa certain amount of doubt appears 
to hang over their authenticity as Triassic—a doubt that it would be 


MIDLAND UNION—-PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. 173 


satisfactory to see cleared up. A few fish scales have been found at 
Newark, annelid tracks occur now and then ; a Cheirotherium footprint 
was found some years ago by Mr. Irving at Colwick, and lately Mr. 
Wilson came upon quite a shoal of fishes ina seam of marl at the 
very base of the Waterstones in Colwick Wood. Above the Triassic 
rocks come the Rhetic beds, a thin series of dark-coloured shales 
which help to connect the Trias with the Lias. The outcrop of these 
beds strikes north and south and N.E. and §8.W. across the county, 
from Gainsborough to Newark, and thence by Elton and Stanton-on-the 
Wold into Leicestershire—and is often indicated by a low level-topped 
escarpment. Exposures of the Rhetics are rare, but they may bé seen 
in the gypsum pits at Newark-on-Trent, and there is a very good 
exposure at Gainsborough. 


Last of all comes the Lias. The lower Lias limestones and shales 
only are represented in Notts. They crown the high ground in the 
south of the county which runs from Bunny to Cropwell Wolds, and 
stretch thence to the Vale of Belvoir. The blue lias limestone is 
worked for cement at Barnston. A detailed account of the Lias would 
belong rather to the geology of Leicestershire than of Notts. The 
excursion to-morrow to Belvoir Castle under the able leadership of 
Professor Blake, will give the members of this Association an oppor- 
tunity of examining these rocks in that county. 


Glacial drift occurs in several places, usually as thin patches of 
sand and gravel, but does not as a rule attain a sufficient thickness to 
seriously modify the nature of the soil. The high ground extending 
from Robin Hood’s Hills through Annesley Park is thickly covered 
with drift. Near Blidworth are large isolated masses of cemented 
drift gravel. On the high ground, six miles south of Nottingham, 
where the Lias comes in, there isa great accumulation of Boulder Clay, 
which at Stanton-on-the-Wolds attains a thickness of sixty feet or 
more, and is largely constructed from the grinding down of the Lias, 
Rhetic, and Keuper shales of the district, but contains erratics which 
have come from considerable distances. 


The floor of the valley of the Trent, which has in this district an 
average width of about two miles, is occupied by alluvial deposits of 
gravel and sand, about twenty feet in thickness on the average, with a 
top crust of alluvial silt or mud or a peaty soil a foot or two in thick- 
ness. The Leen valley is occupied by a narrow fringe of similar 
deposits, as also are some of the smaller brooks and a rather extensive 
alluvial tlat formed of stiff dark clay, known as Bingham Moors, lies 
on the south-east side of the district. 


MOLLUSCA. 


In Mollusca the district is fairly well represented. We have 
recorded 100 species in the county of Notts out of about 130 British 
species. 


174 MIDLAND UNION—PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. 


We find that Nottinghamshire mainly consists of Triassic and 
Permian rocks, together with Oolitic Boulder Clays and Alluvyium to 
a smaller extent, the soil not being particularly rich in carbonate of 
lime. The land species are pretty equally distributed over these 
different formations, the sandy districts being least prolific of life in 
these forms, whilst the Magnesian Limestone districts are the richest. 

Of the freshwater species the greater number are to be found in 
the river valleys, the canals being richest in point of numbers, 
comparatively few species being found in the ponds above the river 
levels. Many of our best localities for rare species have disappeared 
through the march of improvements or trade enterprise ; notably in 
the case of a pond at Barton, where once was found a rare bivalve 
(Spherium lacustre) ; there are now none at all,on account of the enlarge- 
ment of the pond and the consequent destruction of the species. In 
the same way some of our best botanical hunting grounds are lost to 
us. Linley Wood is closed; Bulwell Bogs are gradually disappearing, 
owing to the encroachments of a railway; and a pond at Wollaton, 
‘in which once grew in profusion the beautiful water violet (Hottonia 
palustris), has now disappeared, and in its place is a hideous shale 
heap deposit from a neighbouring colliery. 

Amongst our locally rarer species of shells may be noted :— 


Spherium lacustre (var. Bronchiana). In Clumber Lake. 

Spherium ovale. Canal at Beeston. 

Planorbis lineatus, Highfield House lake (EK. J. Lowe), the furthest 
recorded northern locality. 

Limneza glutinosa. Found at Beeston Rylands by Mr. Lowe some 
years ago, but not lately found in the district. 

Ancylus lacustris. At Beeston, on the stems and leaves of aquatic 
plants. 

Testacella haliotidea. Introduced. Found at Welbeck Abbey. 

Helix revelata. Stanton-on-the-Wolds (E. J. Lowe). The only recorded 
inland locality, being generally found near the sea coast. 

Helix fusca. Highfield House (Lowe). Rare. 

», sericea 9 3 ” 

», lapicida. Pleasley Vale and Creswell Crags; also dead speci- 
mens at Halloughton; very plentiful on the rocks at Castleton 
and in Dove Dale. 

Pupa secale. Nottingham Castle (Lowe). 

» Yingeus. Highfield House (Lowe). 

Clausilia laminata. One dead specimen at Pleasley Common; at 
Matlock and Crich Hill. 

Achatina acicula. Plentiful in rejectamenta of a small stream at 
Tollerton ; also found at Colwick, Attenborough, and Highfield 
House. 

Cochlicopa tridens. Pleasley Vale, rare; and plentiful amongst moss at 
Belper. 

Balia perversa. Rare, Colwick and Highfield House. 

Vertigo pygmeea. Rare, Widmerpool and Wollaton. 


MIDLAND UNION 


PRESIDENTS ADDRESS. 5 


There are some peculiarities with respect to habitat that are 
interesting to geologists. Some kinds of freshwater univalves have the 
faculty of enduring a partial change or difference in their usual habitat 
which would be fatal to other kinds. Nilsson, the Swedish naturalist, 
relates that two species of Limnea described by him, as well as Neritina 
fluwwiatilis, live in the Baltic, adhering to sea-weeds, and sometimes at 
a distance from the mouth of any river. With these live certain 
marine mollusea, such as the common mussel and cockle, Mya arenaria, 
and Tellina Balthica. Limnza is Pulmonobranch, and Neritina is 
Pectinibranch. The same peculiarity has been observed in the case of 
a freshwater bivalve, though not of so permanent a character.* 


The common pond mussel (Anodonta cygnea) is said to live in the 
River Trent, which is salt at high water. The fresh water, being 
lighter, forms the upper stratum, while the sea water covers the bed 
of the river inhabited by the Anodonta. 


Dreissena polymorpha (a kind of mussel which abounds in many of 
our rivers and canals) M. Marcel de Serres is of opinion was originally 
marine, from the circumstance of the shells being found in tertiary 
strata of marine formation. The Russian traveller Pallas (who first 
discovered or made known this species) described one variety of it as 
marine, and the other as inhabiting fresh water. 


Planorbis corneus, a well-known and widely-distributed fresh water 
snail. Lister tried in vain to fix the purple dye yielded by this species 
in such quantity. 


Monstrosities, or abnormal forms of the Mollusca in this district 
have been rarely observed, particularly so among the land Mollusca. 


Species of Helix, during the pairing season, are furnished with 
erystalline darts, which they shoot at one another. These curious love 
weapons have been observed sticking to the bodies of snails after such 
conflicts. They are contained in a special pouch or receptacle ready for 
use. In some species each individual has only one of these missiles, 
in others two, and a few species have none at all. They are not often 
observed by conchologists. 


ORNITHOLOGY. 


Nottinghamshire, from its diversity of character, is rich in the 
variety of its feathered tribes. Here are vast tracts of cultivated land 
giving support to those species which thrive and increase on the fruits 
of man’s labour; there is also a large area of wood and waste almost 
in its primitive condition, harbouring other species, which invariably 
retire before the encroachments of the axe and plough; many large 
ponds or lakes, fed by rivulets, giving an asylum to aquatic birds, 
and the great river Trent, attracting not only the various ducks and 
waders, the denizens of fresh water, but also those of marine origin, 
many of which appear to migrate from the south-western coast, 


* Jeffreys, vol, 1, chap. vi. (ci,) 


176 MIDLAND UNION—-PRESIDENT’S ADDRESS. 


following the course of the Severn and Trent to the eastern shores in 
the spring or early summer, and returning westward in the autumn; 
three or four kinds of sea gull, three terns, and the green cormorant 
may be included in this category. 


Referring to the green cormorant, a remarkable circumstance 
occurred two or three years since, during an autumnal gale. A flight of 
these birds, not being able to make headway against the strong westerly 
wind, alighted on the tops of various high buildings in the town, and 
in this situation several were shot by city gunners. 


Amongst the rare birds procured in the neighbourhood may be 
mentioned the Rough-legged Buzzard, a winter visitor, the Peregrine 
Falcon, Osprey, Great Grey Shrike, Hoopoe, Bee-eater, Redneck 
Phalarope, Squacco Heron, Spotted Crake, Redneck Grebe, Little 
Bittern, White-fronted Goose, Lesser Tern, and others. The orni- 
thologist has in the county an opportunity of making acquaintance 
with the major part of the list of British birds, over 200 species being 
known, either resident or visiting this locality. 


BOTANY. 

The Flora is such as is found in moist meadow-land and woodland, 
and upon sandstone and Magnesian Limestone. No alpine or subalpine 
plants. The flora is an abundant one. In the county are found of 
flowering } lants 836 species belonging to 189 genera, and of flowerless 
plants 302 species belonging to 87 genera, that is, altogether, 1,138 
species belonging to 276 genera. Amongst rare plants may be 
mentioned: Crocus vernalis, the Spring Crocus, and Crocus nudiflorus, 
the Autumn Crocus. These have become for at least two centuries 
naturalised in the Nottingham meadows, and when in flower make 
such a show as can be seen nowhere else in Britain. Acre upon acre 
of meadow is so thickly covered that the green appearance of the 
fields is changed to a most lovely blue purple. Since building has 
encroached upon the meadow-land, however, the crocus is dying out. 
The only other locality in England where the crocus is found wild is 
at Mendham, Suffolk. 


Vinca major and minor, the greater and less Periwinkle, found near 
Colwick, near Farnsfield, and in Kirklington Wood. Paris quadrifolia, 
Herb Paris, found in Colwick Wood, at Aspley, and in Linby Wood. 
Parnassia palustris, Grass of Parnassus, in a close beyond Scottum, 
(Scotholme now), in bog land near Bulwell, &c. Silene nutans, the 
Nottingham catch-fly. This is found on the Castle Rock, and upon 
rocks at Sneinton. A variety is found upon Dover Cliffs. The Castle 
Rock is remarkable for the very large number of plants to be found 
upon it, many being of a somewhat rare description. 


Amongst distinguished botanists who have written upon or collected 
the county flora may be mentioned Deering. He published “‘ Catalogus 
Stirpium: a catalogue of plants naturally growing and commonly 
cultivated in divers parts of England, more especially about 


MIDLAND UNION—-PRESIDENT’S ADDRESS. MFT 


Nottingham. Distribution according to Mr. Ray. By C. Deering, 
M.D., Nottingham. Printed for the author by G. Ayscough, and 
sold by Rivington at the Bible and Crown, St. Paul’s Churchyard, 
London, 1738.” He refers (as to a newly-ascertained fact) to the 
dilatation produced in the pupil of the eye by application of 
a bit of leaf of Atropa Belladonna. In naming some habitats of 
plants, he refers to the Castle Rock, the Park, the Hell-closes 
by the Leen, the Nottingham Gallows; and names some plants 
that are now extinct in this neighbourhood, as the Nymphea alba, or 
White Water Lily, which he states is found in “the great Cheney 
Pool, and in a ditch between Lenton and Beeston.” He describes as a 
new plant, ‘ Solanum tuberosum esculentum, Battatos, of late much culti- 
ated, and turned to good account.” 


Ordoyno wrote ‘‘ Flora Nottinghamiensis: T. Ordoyno, nurseryman 
and seedsman, Newark, 1807,” dedicated to a botanist, Mrs. Sherbrooke, 
of Oxton. He mentions the fact of Dr. Smith acknowledging in his 

Flora Britannica,” the receipt of the Crocus from the above-named 
lady. 


Howitt wrote *‘ The Nottinghamshire Flora: containing the 
Flowering Plants, Ierns, Mosses, Hepatice, Lichens, Characee, and 
Alge: By Godfrey Howitt, M.D., London, 1839,” a small, but in- 
valuable work, embracing the facts as to local distribution observed by 
Deering, Ordoyno, Jowett, and himself. Jowett was a collector (and 
writer ?). Lowe, of Beeston High Fields, wrote ‘“‘A History of British 
Grasses,’ and also “Ferns, British and Exotic,’ both profusely 
illustrated, and the latter work an authority on the subject. Dr. 
Mitchell made a large collection of dried plants, now in the Museum 
of the University College. Lastly, Dr. Wilson largely verified Howitt’s 
book, and collected a nearly complete County Flora. This collection 
is the finest we have in the town; many of the specimens are quite 
remarkable for the beautiful preservation of the colours. An attempt 
is being made to make of this collection a Flora Britannica, but there 
are many gaps to fill up. 


At a meeting like this, composed largely of workers in natural 
history, it is impossible not to refer to the great naturalist who has 
recently departed from us, Charles R. Darwin. Always more or less 
an invalid, but ever an incessant worker, he had the good fortune to 
live to see his famous theory of evolution almost universally adopted— 
an anti-evolutionist being now as rare as an evolutionist once was. 
His modesty, justice, and fairness to others were proverbial. He was 
the intellectual parent of hundreds, and his burial at Westminster was 
a great testimonial to the growth of liberal thought among our clerics. 
In the future, Darwin must rank among the world’s foremost truth- 
seekers, after Plato and Cicero, and us the greatest man of science 
England has produced since Newton. 


178 MIDLAND UNION—PRESIDENT’S ADDRESS. 


Three duties now alone remain for me. In the first place, I must 
thank several gentlemen who have aided me in the preparation of this 
address, including Dr. Truman and Messrs. E. Wilson, B. §. Dodd, 
J.S. Hedderley, and W. J. Harrison. Then I wish to offer the warmest 
of welcomes to those visitors from the various scientific societies of 
the Midlands who have honoured and gratified us by their presence 
here to-day ; and, lastly, I desire to express my personal obligations to 
this audience for the patience and courteous attention with which 
they have favoured me. 


THE FLORA OF WARWICKSHIRE. 
AN ACCOUNT OF THE FLOWERING PLANTS AND FERNS 
OF THE COUNTY OF WARWICK. 


BY JAMES E. BAGNALL. 


(Continued from page 139. ) 


ROSACE 4—Continued. 


ROSA, continued. 


R. sepium, V'hwill. Small-leaved Sweetbriar. 
Native: In hedges. Veryrare. June. 
b. Billietii, Puget. 


II. ‘In a small hedge-row in a pasture field near Bidford Grange,” 
Bree, Purt., iii., 41. ‘In Britain I have seen this only from 
Allesley, in Warwickshire,” Baker, Mon. Brit. Roses, p. 224. 
Mr. Bloxam informed me that the late Rev. W. T. Bree trans- 
planted the rose from Bidford to his Rectory garden at Allesley. 
Bloxam’s fasciculus specimens were from this locality. 

d. pulverulenta, Bieb. 


Il. A single bush in a field in Cathiron Lane, near Harborough 
Magna! also by the Railway Crossing in the same lane, in 
1875! Rev. A. Blox. 


R. canina, Linn. Dog Rose. 
Native: In hedges, woods, heath lands, &c. June, July. 
a. lutetiana, Leman. Common. Area general. 
b. surculosa, Woods. Rather rare. 


I. Marston Green ; Coleshill Bog. 


II. Barnes Green, near Coventry, 7’. Kirk, Herb. Brit. Mus.; lane, 
Aston Cantlow to Billesley; lane near Exhall; fine form, 
with subglobose fruit, field path to Bilton Church, Rugby ; 
Cathiron Lane; Lutterworth Road, near Coomb Abbey; 
Itchington Holt. 

c. spherica, Gren. Rare. 
I. Robust form in lane to New Park, Middleton; Dosthill, in the 
Kingsbury Road. 
Il. Lane near the Golden Cross, Exhall. 
d. senticosa, Ach. 


I: 


106 


1G 


106 


Ut 


10 


Il. 


FLORA OF WARWICKSHIRE. ifs 


Wild lane near Knowle Railway Station; Hay Lane, near 
Solihull ; confirmed by Dr. Christ. 

e. dumalis, Beck. Common. Area general. 

f. biserrata, Merat. Rather rare. 


. Near Patrick Bridge, Hampton-in-Arden. 


Oakley Wood, H.B.; Shortwood Coppice, near Tardebig; Golden 
Cross Lane, Exhall, confirmed by Mr. J. G. Baker; near 
Harborough Magna, 1875. 

g.urbica. Leman, Common. Area general. 

I find a marked form at Over Green, near Wishaw, which Dr. 
Christ refers to R. platyphylla, Rau. 

h. frondosa, Steven. Very rare. 


. Near Patrick Bridge, Hampton-in-Arden. This is apparently the 


same plant as the Rey. A. Ley’s plant from Welsh Newton. 


Near Bishop’s Tachbrook, H.B. 
i. arvatica, Baker. WJather rare. 


. Curdworth Bridge, confirmed by Mr. J. G. Baker; Baker’s 


Lane, near Knowle; Hampton-in-Arden ; Baulk Lane, Berks- 
well. 


Harborough Magna, Rev. A. Blox. ; Milverton, Oakley Wood, H.B. ; 
Rowington Green. 

The plant from Baker’s Lane Dr. Christ considered to be the 
R. concinna, Puget. 

j. dumetorum. Thuill. Rather local. 


. Small-leaved form, Marston Green; lane to New Park; Baker’s 


Lane, Knowle; Baulk Lane: Over Whitacre, &c. 


Myton, Chesterton! Hatton! H. B.; Shrewley Common; Marl 
Cliff, a robust form with numerous flowers; Butler’s Lane, 
near Hewell Grange ; near Chesterton Wood. 

- obtusifolius, Desy. Baker, Journal of Bot., vili., 79, 80. Rather 
local. 


. Near Patrick Bridge, Hampton-in-Arden, Herb. Brit. Mus., J. E.B.; 


Brockhill Lane, near Berkswell; Coleshill Road from Stone- 
bridge ; Doe Bank, Sutton. 


Hampton-on-the-Hill; Hampton Lucy, H. B.; Beausale Common. 
m. tomentella, Leman. Rather local. 


. Sutton Park: Trickley ; Wishaw; Shustoke; Berkswell, &c. 


Myton, Kenilworth, H. B.; near Coomb Abbey; Harborough 
Magna; Cathiron Lane. 

A variety of this occurs at the north end of Sutton Park, which 
Dr. Christ refers to R. afinis, Rau. 

n. andegavensis, Bast. Rare. 


. Wheyporridge Lane, Solihull. 
EE: 


Myton, Pinley Green, H. B. Golden Cross Lane, Exhall; con- 
firmed by Dr. Christ and Mr. J. G. Baker. 
0. verticillacantha, Merat. Local. 


. Sutton Park; near the Cock, Wishaw; near Curdworth Bridge ; 


near Stonebridge, in the Coleshill Road, with glandular 
sepals; Solihull, in lane to Sharman’s Cross, with inter- 
mediate prickles, (I. latebrosa, of Déséglise.) The Solihull 


180 FLORA OF WARWICKSHIRE. 


103 


Il. 


100. 


plant is pronounced to be R. micrantha, nuda, Briqgsii, by Dr. 
Christ. I think he is mistaken. It has been confirmed as 
R. latebrosa by Mr. T. R. Archer Briggs, and is apparently 
identical with Mr. Briggs’s Devonshire specimens labelled 
R. latebrosa. 


Chesterton Wood! H.B.; Harborough Magna! Rev. A. Blow.; 
Shrewley Heath; Cold Comfort. 
p.collina, Jacq. Very rare. 


. Lane from Water Orton to Minworth; near the Cock Inn, 


Wishaw; an intermediate between this and R. ce@sia occurs 
near Curdworth Bridge. 
q. cesia, Smith. Rare. 


. Wheyporridge Lane, Solihull ; Over Green, near Wishaw. 
iTgle 


In several localities near Harborough Magna! Rev. A. Blox. ; 
Oakley Wood, H.B.; Shrewley Heath, near ShrewleyPool : 
a robust form, with clustered fruit, lane from Stratford-on- 
Avon to Loxley. 

s. decipiens, Dumort. Very rare. 


. Doe Bank, near Sutton. Herb. Brit. Mus., J.EB. 
10 


Near Cathiron Lane, Harborough Magna! Rev. 4. Blox. ; Rouns- 
hill Lane, Kenilworth, H.B. 
t. Reuteri, Godet. Rare. 


. Lane from Solihull to Sharman’s Cross, Herb. Brit. Mus., J.E.B. ; 


lane from Hartshill to Mancetter; lane from Slowly Hill to 
Over Whitacre; lane from Berkswell Station to Meriden. 


. Beausale Common, near Hatton, 1.6.; Hampton-on-the-Hill. 


u. suberistata, Baker. Rare. 


. Monkspath, near Shirley, near the Boxtrees. 
. Hedge at Hatton, with aciculate peduncles! H. B. Old Park, 


Warwick, H. B.; Allesley! Bolton King. Hampton-on-the- 
Hill; lane from Butler’s Hill to Bordesley Park. 
v. Hailstoni, Baker Very rare. 


In Shortwood Dingle, two or three bushes in 1872; named 
R. Hailstoni by Mr. J. G. Baker. 

Remarkable for having the intermediate armature of the Sabini 
group. 

w. implexa, Gren. Very rare. 


. Two bushes in Shelly Lane; this is closely related to R. Reuteri, 


but has the leaves hairy beneath. 
x. coriifolia, Fries. Very rare. 


. Lane from Water Orton to Minworth, Herb. Brit. Mus., J.E.B.; 


confirmed by Dr. Christ and Mr. J. G. Baker. In the 
Atherstone Road near Over Whitacre. 
y. Watsoni, Baker. Very rare. 


. Ash End near Middleton ; confirmed by Mr. J. G. Baker, 1872. 


Hedge below Middleton Village. 
a. Borreri, Woods. Very rare. 


. Lane to Shelly Farm, Solihull; Baulk Lane, Berkswell, Herb. 


Brit. Mus., J. E. Bagnall. 


Woodloes, Warwick! H.B. Butler’s Hill, near Tardebig. 
b. Bakeri, Deseg. Very rare. 


FLORA OF WARWICKSHIRE—SUMMER MIGRANTS. 181 


II. Old Park, Warwick! confirmed by Mr. J. G. Baker. H.B. I 
think that this plant is R. pulverulenta. 
c. marginata, Wallr. Very rare. 


I. Meadow near Blythe Bridge, Solihull; confirmed by Mr. J. G. 
Baker, but pronounced to be R. Reuteri by Dr. Christ. I think 
he is mistaken. Shelly Lane. 


TI. Near Baddesley Clinton ; Cold Comfort ; Butler’s Hill; Dr. Christ 
says the plants from the last three stations all belong to 
R. Blondeana, Rip.; this Mr. Baker quotes as a synonym for 
R. marginata, Wallr. 


R. stylosa (?), Desv.  Columnar-styled Dog Rose. 
Native: In hedges and woods. Very rare. June. 
d. gallicoides. Baker. 


II. Chesterton Wood! Warwickshire. H. Bromwich, Bak. Mon. 
This plant Dr. Christ believes to be a hybrid between R. arvensis 
and R. rubiginosa. I believe it to be a hybrid between 
RN. arvensis and R. spinossisima. Ido not think any variety of 
R. stylosa occurs in Warwickshire. 


R, arvensis, Huds. Field Rose. 
Native: On hedge banks, heaths, and in woods. Common. June, 
July. Area general. 
b. bibracteata, Bast. Rare. 


I. Near Bannersley Pool, Coleshill, Lane from Solihull to Shirley. 


II. Near Harborough Magna, Rev. A. B.; Loxley; plentiful, Butler’s 
Hill, near Tardebig. 
A setose glandular form, nearer typical arvensis, occurs by 
Chesterton Wood; this variety I have called R. setosa on my 
herbarium specimens. 


CRATEGUS. 


C. Oxyacantha, Linn. Hawthorn, Whitethorn. 
Native: In woods, on heathlands andin hedges. Common. May, 
june. 
a. oxyacanthoides, Thuill. Local. 
I. Near Solihull. Hedges near Packwood House. 
II. Chesterton Wood, H. B.; Old Park, Warwick! Y. and B.; 
Tredington, Newb.; Lapworth Street; Arrow Lane; Ufton 
Wood; Bascott Heath. 
b. monogyna. Jacq. 
Common. Area general. 


(To be continued. ) 


SUMMER MIGRANTS. 


NOTICE OF THE ARRIVAL OF MIGRATORY BIRDS IN NORTH 
OXON IN THE SPRING OF 1882, WITH NOTES. 


The early and genial spring which we have experienced this year, 
one might think, would have influenced our summer birds of passage, 
and induced them to put in an appearance at an earlier date than is 


182 SUMMER MIGRANTS. 


their wont. Such, however, as far as I have noticed here, does not 
seem to have been the case, at least to any great extent. One or two 
species were, perhaps, a trifle earlier ; whilst, at the same time, others 
were certainly behind time. The Chiffchaff, our earliest visitor, I did 
not notice till March 25th, when I observed one busily hawking for 
midges, which swarmed under the shelter of a tall hawthorn hedge 
already green. It frequently took the insects on the wing, flying out 
the distance of a few feet from the hedge after the manner of a fly- 
catcher, but generally preferred to sccure those within easier reach by 
flitting from twig to twig. Its song was faint, but, three days after, 
IT heard another ‘‘ chip-chopping” loudly. Swallows were reported 
here by the 6th April; I myself did not see them till the 13th, and 
they were not plentiful before the 17th. On the 12th I noticed a 
Willow-Wren in full song; this is about their average date. In another 
week the migrants began to arrive in strong force; on the 19th I 
noticed four new ones, viz.:—House Martin, Yellow Wagtail—rather 
ate this year,—Tree Pipit, in full song, and Redstart. The last named 
had young flying on June 10th. ‘There must have been a rush of 
migrants on the night of the 20th, for the next morning I noticed a 
dozen or more Common Whitethroats singing lustily within a short 
distance of one another, besides Sedge Warblers. It would appear, 
either that when the warblers reach this district only a portion of 
the detachments remain, whilst the others push on, or that they 
arrive here in small bodies, and then scatter. A species may be very 
plentiful one day in a certain locality—the hedges seeming alive with 
them—where a few days after but few will be noticed, whilst at the 
same time they will be found more generally diffused. Some such 
hypothesis as the above-mentioned seems necessary to account for 
this. The day following (20th) a Cornerake was captured in the town 
of Banbury, having probably come in contact with the telegraph wires, 
as it was a good deal injured. I did not hear any “ craking” until 
May 12th. It is difficult to say when the Cuckoo really did appear ; it 
was reported from the end of March onwards, but I could get no useful 
observation till the middle of April; by May 2nd they were plentiful, 
growing hoarse by the 18th, and on the 30th of that month I heard one 
ery, like Chaucer’s, ‘‘ three cuckoos to one coo.” On May morning I 
observed a pair of Lesser Whitethroats; this species, like its larger 
relative, will sing on the wing. On the evening of the next day a 
Blackeap sang beautifully. This bird generally arrives during the first 
or second week in April, and probably did so this season. I noticed 
three Swifts swinging round and screaming loudly on the 9th, and two 
days afterwards they were numerous. Turtle Doves appeared on the 
12th. A keeper told me the same evening that he had just seen a 
Common Sandpiper sit on their bridge wall, and that although the birds 
visited their moat every spring, he had never seen them settle on a 
wall before. They generally appear early in May. As I was walking 
in that neighbourhood on the evening of the 2nd, a small flock of birds 
passed me flying rapidly and rather low in the direction of the moat ; 


SUMMER MIGRANTS—FUNGI. 183 


it was growing dusk, so that I could not make sure, but I believe from 
their appearance they were Sandpipers. The Nightingale was noted 
here on the 19th April, but it grows very scarce. I did not hear it once, 
myself, till the middle of May, when, driving past a wood some miles 
from here, the beautiful song reached us from an adjacent thicket. 
I have observed a good many Garden Warblers, but not till long after 
their probable arrival; their sweet rich song is second only to the 
Nightingale’s, though that of the Blackcap runs them close. Passing 
along the road one morning I roused a party of Sparrows from some 
faggots on the roadside, and amongst them, strange to say, a Wryneck ; 
the light coloured patch between the shoulders makes this bird very 
conspicuous at a short distance. Spotted Flycatchers I did not see till 
May 21st, but they must have arrived earlier, as they had full-fledged 
young in the same garden by June 23rd. Sand-Martins were nesting 
when I visited a colony on May 29th. On June 16th, Whinchats had 
young well able to fly. A few days afterwards I was much pleased 
at watching a pair of these birds, which, doubtless, had young in 
the vicinity, flitting about over a field of mowing grass, and fre- 
quently settling on the large white flower heads of the cow parsnip 
(Heracleum sphondylium) which grew plentifully among the grass. 
When thus perched they looked extremely pretty, the brown and pale 
red tints of the male contrasting well with the white flowers and 
surrounding green. 
Banbury, Oxon, July, 1882. Ourver V. APLIN. 


FUNGI OF THE NEIGHBOURHOOD OF BIRMINGHAM. 


FIRST LIST, 1881-82.* 


AGARICINI. 


Agaricus (Amanita) phalloides, Fr. Sutton Park, borders of woods. 
Frequent. Sept.—Oct. 

Ag. (Am.) pantherinus, DC. Sutton Park, borders of woods. 
Sept.—Oct. 
. (Am.) rubescens, Pers. Sutton Park, open places among trees, in 
woods and their borders. Common. Summer and Autumn. 
g. (Am.) asper, Fr. Sutton Park, borders of woods. Sept. 
Ag. (Lepiota) rachodes, Vitt. Sutton Park, borders of woods. Sept. 
Ag. (Lep.) cristatus, Fr. Driffold Lane, Sutton. On chips and saw- 


Ag 


g 


dust. Sept.—Nov. 
Ag. (Lep.) granulosus, Batsch. Sutton Park, on the heath, and in the 
woods, amongst grass. Common. Sept.—Oct. 
Ag. (Armillaria) melleus, Vahl. Sutton Park, on old stumps. 
Abundant. Sept.—Nov 
Ag. (Tricholoma) rutilans, Schiff, Sutton Park, at the roots of pines, 
in Holly and Nut Hursts. Sept.—Oct. 
Ag. (Trich.) vaccinus, Pers. Sutton Park, in woods. Sept. 


* This list contains only those which I have myself observed, and which 
have been determined without doubt. I have to thank Messrs. M, C. Cooke 
and W. Phillips for kind help in naming some of them. 


184 FUNGI. 


Ag. (Trich.) saponaceous, Fr. Sutton Park, border of Lower Nut Hurst. 


Oct. 
Ag. (Trich.) nudus, Bull. Sutton Park, in woods, underneath the 
shelter of bushes. Common. Sept.—Nov. 
Ag. (Clitocybe) nebularis, Batsch. Roadside, near Sutton. Oct. 
Ag. (Clitoc.) phyllophilus, Fr. Sutton Park, in woods. Oct. 
Ag. (Clitoc.) cyathiformis, Fr. Small Heath; Driffold Lane, Sutton, 
amongst grass. Nov. 

Ag. (Clitoc.) brumalis, Fr. Sutton Park, in woods. Common. 
Oct.—Noy. 
Ag. (Clitoc.) laccatus, Scop. Common everywhere. Sept—Nov. 
The purple variety in Sutton Park, in woods. Sept. 
Ag. (Pleurotus) ostreatus, Jacq. Sutton Park and Driffold Lane, on 
dead trunks. Common. Sept.—Jan. 


Having eaten this, I can bear testimony to its delicious flavour, 
which is equal, if not superior, to that of the common mushroom. 
It was often 4 inches in diameter. 

Ag. (Pleur.) chioneus, Pers. Sutton Park, on fragments of bark. Rare. 


Oct. 
Ag. (Collybia) platyphyllus, Fr. Sutton Park, by the sides of alleys in 
the woods. Rare. Oct. 


Iam not sure that any of the specimens were other than the 
variety repens. 


Ag. (Coll.) maculatus, A. & 8. Sutton Park, on the heaths, among 
furze. Common. Sept.—Oct. 
Ag. (Coll.) butyraceus, Bull. Sutton Park, in woods. Oct. 
Ag. (Coll.) velutipes, Curt. Everywhere, on dead stumps and rails. 
Common. Aug.—May. 
Ag. (Coll.) cirrhatus, Schum. Sutton Park, amongst little heaps of 
dead leaves and sticks. Sept.—Oct. 
Ag. (Mycena) galericulatus, Scop. Common. On stumps, Sept.—Noy. 
Ag. (Myc.) acicula, Schaff. Sutton Park and Driffold Lane, on dead 
sticks. Sept.—June. 
Ag. (Myc.) galopus, Schrad. Sutton Park; Solihull. In woods, on 
dead sticks and leaves. Common. Sept.—June. 
Ag. (Myc.) epipterygius, Scop, Sutton Park; Solihull. On dead 
leaves. Common. Sept.—Oct. 


Ag. (Myc.) tenerrimus, Berk. Driffold Lane, Sutton, on dead bark. 
Oct.—Jan.—May. 


Ag. (Omphalia) umbelliferus, Linn. Sutton Park; Oscott. On banks. 


amongst grass. Sept.—Oct. 
Ag. (Chameota) echinatus, Roth. Driffold Lane, Sutton, on roots of 
elder. Rare. Oct.—Nov. 


Ag. (Pluteus) cervinus, Schaff. Driffold Lane, Sutton, on sawdust. 
- Sept.—Dec.—June. 

Ag. (Pholiota) heteroclitus, Fr. Driffold Lane, Sutton, on logs. 
Oct.—Nov. 

Ag. (Phol.) mutabilis, Schaff. Sutton Park; Oscott. On stumps. 
Sept.—Nov. 

Ag. (Galera) tener, Schaff. Olton, among grass. Oct. 

Ag. (Tubaria) furfuraceus, Pers. Driffold Lane, Sutton, on chips. Sept. 

Ag. (Stropharia) zruginosus, Curt. Common, especially among nettles. 


Aug.—Nov. 
Ag. (Strop.) semiglobatus, Batsch. Common. Sutton Park, etc. 
Sept.—Nov. 


Ag. (Hypholoma) sublateritius, Fr. Sutton Park, on stumps. Oct.—Nov. 
Ag. (Hyph.) fascicularis, Huds. Abundant,on stumps. Aug.—May. 


FUNGI—-METEOROLOGY. 185 


Ag. (Hyph.) udus, Pers. By Bracebridge Pool, Sutton Park. Rare. 
Oct. 

Ag. (Psilocybe) semilanceatus, Fr. On damp pasture, Sutton Park. 
Oct.—Nov. 


Pan.) fimiputris, Bull. Common, on dung. 
Psathyrella) disseminatus, Fr. Driffold Lane, Sutton, on bark. 


W. B. GROVE, B.A. 
(To be continued.) 


( 
( 
Ag. (Panzolus) separatus, L. Common, on dung. 
- ( 
g. ( 


fee OR OLOGY OF THE MIDLANDS 


BY CLEMENT L. WRAGGE, F.R.G.§S., F.M.S., ETC. 


THE WEATHER OF APRIL AND MAY, 1882. 


Aprit.—Very genial weather prevailed until the 12th, followed by 
a period of excessive rain, with thunderstorms, hail, and gales during 
the last week. The gale of the 29th reached the force of a hurricane 
at Marlborough. Temperature appears to have been much about the 
average. The rainfall, however, was much above the average, the 
totals being generally between 3 and 5in. ‘The barometer read 
highest on ‘the 8th, and lowest on the 29th, 30°440 and 28-915 being 
about the mean values respectively at 32 Fahr. and sea level for 
central districts. The mean amount of cloud may be given as 7:0 
(scale 0 to 10), and the mean relative humidity as83%. North-easterly 
winds were very frequent. The mean temperature of the soil at 
Strelley, at a depth of 1ft., was 45-4, and the total duration of sunshine 
139°8 hours. 

May.—Temperature was above, and rainfall generally about the 
average. Highest reading of barometer, 30°520, and lowest, 29°355, on 
the 17th and 24th respectively (means for Central England at 32 Fahr. 
and sea level). The mean amount of cloud was about 6:0 (scale, 0 to 
10), and mean relative humidity about 73%. North-easterly winds 
again very prevalent. The mean temperature of the soil at Strelley 
was 51°6 at depth of 1 foot; and duration of sunshine, 245-8 hours. 


THE WEATHER OF JUNH, 1882. 


This was a wet and unsettled month, with an abnormally low 
temperature, and ungenial weather generally. At Hodsock it was 
“the coldest and wettest June in eight years’ observations.” At Orleton 
the mean temperature was 24 degrees below the average of 20 years, 
and the rainfall was nearly double the average. The highest pressure 
was recorded on the 1st, when the barometer corrected and reduced to 
sea level at 32 Fah. read 30°365 over central England; and the lowest 
reading was 29-380, on the 9th, as means respectively. The mean 
amount of cloid was about 8:0 (scale 0 to 10), and the mean relative 
humidity 78 %. Westerly winds prevailed. The mean temperature 
of the soil at Strelley, at a depth of one foot, was 55:9; and the total 
duration of sunshine 144:7 hours. Snow was reported to have fallen 
in the Staffordshire moorlands. On Ben Nevis early in the month the 
snow averaged 4 feet in depth, and heavy snowfalls occurred after- 
wards, Sea temperature at Scarborough, 51-9. 


186 


THE WEATHER OF JUNE. 


RAINFALL. SHADE TEMP. 
: z S| Greatest falll=~| Absolute | Absolute 
STATION. OBSERVER. es in 24 hours, ee >| Maximum. | Minimum 
In.| In. | Date. |4#|Deg! Date. |Deg.| Date. 
| | 
OUTPOST STATIONS. 
Ben Nevis (a)......--....+++.|C. L. Wragge, Esq., F.M.S.|9'18]1°10 | 14 | 27 [sae] 29 
Fort William (a) ............|C. L. Wragge, Esq., F.M.S.'3°95| °75 17 20 (74:0 8¢ 
Spital Cemetery, Carlisle .... |I. Cartmell, Esq., F. M.S. . ./2°68} “40 8 | 16 |73'5 28 
Scarborough (a)......... .|W. C. Hughes..... siseverse 13° “72 10 | 20 |65°8 4 
Blackpool (a)—South Shore..|C. T. Ward,Ksq., B.A.,.F.M. “61 18 20 |67°9 26 
Llandudno (a) ..............|3. Nicol, Esq., NED) Esa 72 18 | 20 |685 28 
Lowestoft (a)... H. E. Miller, Esq., F.M. “70 18 | 16 |69°7 7 
Carmarthen (a) G. J. Hearder, Esq.. M.D... “49 17 (| 21 (72:8 30 
Cardiff (a)..... .|W. Adams, Esq., C.E. SA: 28] *82 5 | 20 |72°4 30 
Altarnun, near )|Rev. J. Power, F.M.S......./5°88 | 1°22 6 21 |72°0 30 
Sidmouth (@) .......ccess00s .|W. T. Radford, Esq., M.D./4°10} 60 28 99 7171 80 
Les Ruettes Brayes, Guernsey A. Collenette, Iisq., F.M.S.!2°91/ °84 |) 21 22 |68°6 30 
(a) | 
Guernsey (@) .... .......+.0.|F. C. Carey, Esq., M.D...../2°55| °61 21 | 22 |68°5 30 
MIDLAND STATIONS. ' 
| 
HEREFORDSHIRE. | 
Burghill (a) ..................|L, A. Chapman, Esq., M.D./2°64| *40 5 20 |74°2 28 368 17 
SHROPSHIRE. | 
Woolstaston ........-.......|Rev. KE. D. Carr ........ 418 "78 | 4 | 20 |78° 30 = |40°5 183 
Stokesay (a)..... seeesee.(M. D. La Touche . “80 4 18 |75°9 30 (35° 18 
More Rectory......--20se.00- Rev. A. S. Male........... “36 | *89 3 21 |75'0| 30 (36:0) 17 
Dowles, near Bewdley — «sss. |. M. Downing, Esq. veceeltoo| %o 5 20 |82°0 29 = |28°0 17 
WORCES'TERSHIRE. | 
Orleton, near Tenbury (a)....|T. H. Davis, Esq., F.M.S. ..|4°77 | 1°08 4 19 |76°0 30/372 13 
West Malvern ..... A. H. Hartland, Esq. ...... 2°94! *63 5 20 |750| 27 [385 12, 15 
Evesham .......... T. J. Slatter, Esq., F.G.S...|3* ‘| 22 19 |76°3 29 40° 13 
Pedmore ..........+ .(|E. R. Marten, Esq. nocd 4 18 |77°0| 27, 29 |40°0 16 
Stourbridge .............<..|Mr. J. Jefferies . 4 21 |75°0 28 (/41°0| 13, 19 
Cawney Bank, Dudley ......|Mr.C. Beale ....... ‘ 4 15 \66°0 30 =|41°0 12 
STAFFORDSHIRE. } 
Dennis, Stourbridge (a)......|C.Webb, Esq. ............/5'37 | 1°28 4 18 |73°0 27 ~=«|39°0 17 
INVER ceesiecnccemnecvcsies ss IveV. We Li. Bolton . --/4°82| *96 4 20 74°0 29 38°0 16 
Walsall . ...|N. BE, Best, Esq. ..... : “98 4 19 |67°0| 27, 30 |42°0/12, 16,17 
Lichfield . -..|J. P. Roberts, Esq. ...... 68 3 19 |76°0 80 = |38°0 16 
Burton-on- “Trent (G)\nom cence \C. U. Tripp, Esq., F.M.S. “90 5 21 |76°0 29 «(1360 17 
Wrottesley (a) .........-. ...|K. Simpson, Esq. .........- Bie “88 4 19 |72°1 29 |41°0| 13, 17 
Barlaston (@) ................/W. Scott, Esq., F.M.S. °38| 1°77 30 14 65'8 7 (|40°8) 1b 
Tean (c)_....-... secoeeee |ReV. G. T. Ryves ........+- p “Bt 8 19 |75'0| 30 850) 17 
Heath House, “Chendie (a) ..|J. C. Philips, Esq., F.M.S. |5°87| °95 | 4 15 69% 29 |40°6 18 
Oakamoor, Churnet V alley (a) Mr. J. Williams.. |6°75 | 2°00 4 1s (69°4 8 |82°7 20 
Alstonfield .................. (Rev. W. H. Purchas -/605| “84 ) 22 19 |74°3) 20, 28 332) 18 
DERBYSHIRE. | | | 
Stony Middleton ............|Rev. Urban Smith ...... .|6°41}1°10 | 22 20 730) 30 {3770} 16 
Spondon ..... eladiatere J. T. Barber, Esq..... seo" “61 | °8) 5 16 |} — = — = 
Fernslope, Belper............|F. J. Jackson, Esq. ....... "75 5 19 |74-0 29 «876 17 
NOTTINGHAMSHIRE. 
Hodsock Priory, Worksop (a)|H. Mellish, Esq., F.M.S. ..|/3'69/1°05 | 22 22 |72°2 3° 36°8| 17 
Strelley (a) ...... Sehceeiseeea| Lene Mudge. NS) celica ne 2°64] “67 22 18 |72°7 38°0; 13 
Duxford  veseecscascvccsvcrce (ds Ne» Dutty, Hsq., KG.S. ..|2°68)) “60 21 17 |69°0 /21, 26, 2g) 37°0 13 
RUTLANDSHIRE, 
Wpping ham sciccceciiscijstee sei ners H. Mullins, M.A.,/3°15| °98 3 20 |75'1 29 ‘395 13 
-M.S. | 
LEICESTERSHIRE. | 
Loughborough (a). +seees |W. Berridge, Esq., F.M.S.../4°13] °93 22, 17 746 20 =| 413 17 
Systonisscoscce tel somemens Sate) DateLamMenHBCaseeiisiee ce .« {4°11 | 1°22 22 21 |700} 3) |42°0) 13, 17 
Town Museum, Leicester ....|J. C. Smith, Esq. . ia‘e'viole 4-214] 209) | 22 15 |73°2 30 410 13 
Waltham-le-Wold ..........|Kdwin Ball, HIRE: cianeistetciaie +» /4°35 | 1°09 22 21 \74°0 28 «380; 18 
Dalby Hall..... onoadon .|G. Jones, Hsq........ Sonnnd| Pare) Ort) 22 19 |80°0 30.0 3840 1 
Coston Rectory, Melton @: ..|Rev. A. M. Rendell........ 3°68] *81 3 19 \69'8 29 =|380)| 1, 17 
WARWICKSHIRE, | 
St. Mary’s College, Oscott (a}|W. Middleton, Esq..... +eee/354| “49 22 17 |71'8 30 (41°9|] 36, 17 
Henley-in-Arden ...... ....../I. H. G. Newton, Esq. ./458| °66 | 18, 22 | 19 |75°0| 27, 30 38°0 16 
Kenilworth (a) ..... ..-|F. Slade, Esq., C. B., F. MS./3°95 “72 22 18 713 380 |37°9) 17 
Rugby School (c) ... ... |Rev. T. N. Hutchinson ..../4°75| 1°52 22 17 |710| 29 (40°0 1 
NORTHAMPYONSHIRE, | | 
Pitsford, Northampton. oeee../C. A. Markham, Esq. ....../3°64| °78 9 19 79°0 25 |36°0 17 
Powcester *.....sssee0000 00, J. Webb, Esa. .|8°22| °37 8 20 | — SS = 
Keetterinececcmmesutic ccs «...|/J. Wallis, Esq. . 2°70| °77 3 18 |72°0 30 42:0 13 
BEDFORDSHIRE. | 
Aspley Guise, Woburn (a)....|E.E. Dymond, Esq., F.M.S.|2°50| *62 3 18 |71'7| 27 |40°0| 13 
OXFORDSHIRE. | | 
Radcliffe Observatory, Ox. (a)|The Staff .......... eeecceee|o'30| °70 21 17 #710 29 =j41-1 17 
WILTSHIRE. 
Marlborough (a) .......... ..|Rev. T. A. Preston, F.M.S.)5'84 | 1°25 22 21 |70°2 27) 871 13 
GLOUCESTERSHIRE, 
Cheltenham (a) ........2.++ ..|R. Tyrer, Esq., B.A., F.M.S.|3°47| 52 | 26 | 19 |73°0| 29, 80 |345} 16 


(a) At these Stations Stevenson’s Thermometer Screen is in use, and the values may be regarded 


as strictly intercomparable. 


(c) Gluisher’s pattern of thermometer screen employed at these stations. 
Synopsis of the observations taken at my station on Beacon Stoop, 1,216 feet above sea, are unayoid- 
ably held over until a tuture number.—C. L. W. 


CORRESPONDENCE. 187 


Correspondence. 


ProrectivE RreseMBLANCcE.—While botanising recently in the New 
Forest, Hampshire, with Mr. Bolton King and Mr. G. Stapleton, we 
noticed on the head of the meadow thistle, Cardinis pratensis, a common 
skipper, which did not fly on our near approach, and seemed rather 
mysteriously fastened to it. Closer examination revealed the cause : 
a spider had seized it by its head, and its bite had already paralysed 
it. The curious fact is that the spider was exactly of the same colour 
as the thistle head, and its legs most difficult to distinguish from the 
florets. Through Professor Westwood’s kindness, I am enabled to say 
that the spider’s name is Z/'homisus abbreviatus, the peculiar colour and 
its six eyes, with the strange-shaped abdomen, making it a rather 
extraordinary creature. The colour is described as normally of a pale 
yellow—can it be chameleon like, the colour depending upon its home, 
which, in this case, was of most ‘ protective resemblance.”—G. C. 
Druces, F.L.S., Oxford. 


Eprtwetss.—Last week I saw four or five plants of the ‘‘ Edelweiss,” 
growing, and growing well, in a garden near Arnold, in Sherwood 
Forest. They were brought over by the owner some four years since, 
but did not show until the first of the last hard winters, when they 
came up, and are now fine plants. Facing east on a rockery border to 
a garden walk, they have every appearance of living well.—Hy. D. 
Crompton, lst July, 1882. 

(The plant is growing and thriving on a rockery at Moseley, near 
Birmingham, aspect the same—east.—Hps. M.N. | 


SILENE ANGLIcA. Linn.—I have recently found Silene anglica 
growing abundantly in a sandy field near Coleshill. Here I believe the 
plant is a native plant, as the field in question has never been under 
cultivation ; so that I now consider the plant native and not alien, as 
I formerly thought. In the stations mentioned in my notes on the 
Flora of Warwickshire, the plant is undoubtedly of foreign origin, of 
uncertain occurrence, and in the Sutton Park Station not truly 
established.—J. E. BaGnatu. 


WARWICKSHIRE Grasses.—In June last, I found an abundant growth 
of two comparatively rare Warwickshire grasses, viz., dvena pratensis 
and Koeleria cristata, near Hampton-in-Arden. This is the first time 
either of these grasses has been recorded for North Warwickshire. I 
have seen both in several localities belonging to what I have termed 
the Avon basin district, but have sought both in vain, until recently, in 
the Tame basin district.—J. E. BaGnatu. 


DicranuM mMontanumM.—Since I last noticed this moss as a Warwick- 
shire plant in the ‘‘ Midland Naturalist,” Vol. iv., page 116, I have made 
a special pointof collecting any moss that I found growing near the roots 
of oak trees, in woods, that bore any outward resemblance to this moss. 
I have invariably found that all the mosses I collected near the roots 
of oaks were Dicranwm montanum, whilst those collected high up the 
‘trunk have most frequently been Weissia cirrhata. In my former note 
I mentioned the characteristic differences between these plants, and 
need not here repeat them. By this minuter inspection of the likely 
habitats for Dicranum montanum, I have been able materially to increase 
my knowledge of its occurrence in Warwickshire, so that in addition to 


188 CORRESPONDENCE. 


the two stations formerly mentioned, I have now found it abundantly 
in Crackley Wood, near Kenilworth ; The Shawberries, near Shustoke ; 
Hardings Wood and Birch Moor Stump, near Maxtoke; Meriden 
Shafts and Boultbie Wood, near Fillongley (in all these stations on the 
oak) ; and sparingly on alder roots in Brown’s Wood, near Solihull.— 
J. KE. BaGNnauu. 


Paris Quaprirotia.—I yesterday found the Paris quadrifolia with 
six leaves ; but seeing in John’s ‘‘ Flowers of the Field ” that its name 
is derived from the ‘‘unvarying number of its leaves,’ I thought it 
might be of interest to make the fact known.—Cuaries Cocurane, The 
Grange, Stourbridge, July 6th, 1882. 


Paris quaprirotia (Herb Paris, Herb truelove, or one berry.) 
—Mr. Cochrane’s note on Paris quadrifolia is of much interest 
to myself, the 6-leaved form of this plant being of rare occurrence. 
I have never seen it. Smith (in ‘‘ English Botany”) and Hooker 
(in ‘British Flora’) describe the plant as having usually 4— 
rarely 5—leaves. Bentham and Babington say 4 leaves; but Hooker 
(in ‘‘ Student’s Flora ”’) says ‘‘ leaves 4 (rarely 3-8.”) Referring to the 
older botanists it is evident from his description that Gerarde (1633) 
had only seen the 4-leaved typical form; whilst Parkinson (1640) in 
his quaint style writes as follows :—‘ The ordinary Herba Paris, or 
Herbe true love, hath a small creeping roote, of a little binding, but 
unpleasant, loathsome taste, running here and there, under the upper 
crust of the ground, somewhat like a couch grass roote, but not so 
white, and not much lesser than the roote of the white wild Anemone, 
and almost of as darke a color, but much like thereunto in creeping; 
shooting forth stalks with leaves, some whereof carry no berries, and 
others doe, every stalk being smooth without joynts, and blackish 
greene, rising to the height of half a foote at the most, if it bear 
berries (for most commonly those that beare none, doe not rise fully 
so high) bearing at the top foure leaves, set directly one against another 
in the manner of a cross, or a lace or ribben, tyed as it is called in a 
true love’s knot, which are each of them a part somewhat like unto a 
Nightshade leafe, but somewhat broader (yea, in some places twice as 
broad as in others, for it will much vary), sometimes having but three 
leaves, and sometimes siz, and sometimes smaller and sometimes larger, 
either by a quarter or halfe, or, as I said before, twice as great,” &c. 
Speaking of the vertues of this plant, Parkinson tells us that ‘ although 
some formerly did account this herbe to be dangerous, if not deadly, as 
by the name of Aconitum, it may be gathered, because the forme thereof 
bred in them such a suspition, yet have not set downe any evill 
symptoms that it wrought;” and after relating certain experiments 
made upon dogs by Pena and Lobel, he states that ‘‘ the leaves or berries 
alone are also effectuall to expel poisons of all sorts, but especially that 
of the Aconites, also the plague and other infectious diseases; it hath 
been observed that some have been holpen thereby that have lyen long 
in a lingring sickness, and others that by witchcraft (as it was thought) 
were become half foolish, as wanting their wits and sences, by taking a 
dramme of the seedes or berries hereof in pouder every day for twenty 
days together, were perfectly restored to their former good estate and 
health,’ &c. Since writing the foregoing, I find a notice of the plant 
by Rev. J. S. Henslow (in ‘*‘ Mag. Nat. Hist.,” Vol. V., pp. 429-33), in 
which out of 1,500 specimens examined 1 had 3 leaves; 1,211, 4 leaves ; 
259, 5 leaves; and 29, 6 leaves. These observations were made by the 
great botanist above mentioned and Prof. Babington, then not so well 
known as now (only Mr. Babington then), from 1828 to 1832.—J. HE. 
BaGNaLu. 


189 


CORRESPONDENCE—REPORTS. 


Bomspyx Mort.—In examining some larve of Bombyx Mori some 
time ago I noticed a peculiarity in one of them so unusual that I lost 
no time in preparing it for the microscope. The peculiarity consisted 
in its having a double row of hooklets on its pro legs, the second row 
kteing about half-way up the pro leg, where it appeared they could 
be of but little use to the creature. This abnormal development (for 
I can regard it as nothing else) applied to all the pro legs, and the 
hooklets in each row were equally well formed. I have examined 
many larve of various kinds, but do not recollect seeing one with this 
feature before, and should like to know whether any of the readers of 
the ‘‘ Midland Naturalist” have met with a similar development.—M. 
Nevittze, Handsworth. 

‘Mr. Nrvinix sent with his note a beautiful drawing showing the 
abnormal hooklets in situ, which we regret we are unable to reproduce 
along with his note.—Ebps. M. N.) 


Aeports of Societies. 


BIRMINGHAM NATURAL HISTORY AND MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETY.— 
BIOLOGICAL SECTION. June 13th. Mr. J. E. Bagnall exhibited Escallonia rubra, 
a native of South America, peculiar for its glandular leaves, stems, and flowers, 
with microscopical preparations of the same, showing epidermis of leaves, 
sections of ovary and ovules; Aquilegia vulgaris, Columbine, from woods near 
Middleton ; also Bartramia Oederi, Encalypta procera, and other mosses from 
the Engadine. Mr. A. W. Wills exhibited Diatomaceze from Chester town 
water ; ditto, including Asterionella formosa, Cyclotella sp?, from Leicester 
waterworks filter beds; also Vaucheria, showing curious root growth. He pre- 
sented six slides of Alge to the Society’s cabinet—GEOLOGICAL SECTION. June 
27th. The fol'owing exhibits were made :—Mr. Bailey, two indented pebbles, 
from the Perry trial sinking, 320 feet below the surface; Mr. W. J. Harrison, a 
specimen of quartz felsite, from Nuneaton, and Monograpsus Salweyi, from 
Walsall; and Mr. W. B. Grove, Craterium minutum, one of the Myxomycetes, 
from astraw heap at Water Orton. Professor C. Lapworth, F.G.S., then delivered 
a very interesting lecture on “The Discovery of Cambrian Rocks in the 
Midlands.” He first referred to the Permian breccias of the Clent Hills, North- 
field, &c., and showed that the theory of Professor Ramsay, who ascribed their 
origin to glacial action, was probably erroneous, and that these beds, together 
with the breccias and conglomerates of the Trias, were most likely débris formed 
from ancient rocks now in great part below the surface. The lecturer said that 
traces of these old cliffs still remain; as, for instance, at the Lickey Hills, 
Nuneaton, the Wrekin, &c. The quartzite of the Lickey has generally been 
described as altered Llandovery sandstone, but is now proved to be of Cambrian 
age with fossiliferous Llandovery rocks resting uncomformably on its flanks. 
But what is still more remarkable is, that these quartzites in turn rest uncon- 
formably on beds of Archean or pre-Cambrian age. At Hartshill, near Nuneaton, 
a large bed of quartzite mapped by the survey as millstone grit is now proved to 
be Cambrian, and it is overlaid by shales, formerly marked as part of the coal 
measures, but which are found to contain characteristic Cambrian fossils, such 
as Agnostus, Obolella, Lingulella, &c. Till lately the Birmingham district was 
thought to have been accurately described!and mapped by the Geological Survey, 
but Professor Lapworth has during the past few months led the van in a 
remarkable series of discoveries. Several local geologists have ably followed 
his lead, and researches are still being carried on which will make considerable 
differences in the geological maps of this neighbourhood. The lecture was illus- 
trated by many specimens, diagrams, &c., and was followed by a brief discussion. 


190 REPORTS OF SOCIETIES. 


—GENERAL MEETING. July4th. My. S. Wilkins exhibited Merulius lacrymans, 
the “ Dry-rot Fungus.” Myr. W. B. Grove exhibited Polyporus betulinus, the 
birch Polyporus, from a dead tree at Harborne, and (on behalf of Mr. C. E. 
Robinson) #thalium septicum, the “ flowers of tan,’ from a tree at Edgbaston. 
Mr. J. Levick exhibited Lophopus crystallinus, from Barnt Green. Mr. J. 
Rabone exhibited (on behalf of Mr. J. Edwards) an abnormal proliferous rose, 
the centre of which was metamorphosed into three or four distinct but un- 
developed branches, each bearing many rose-buds. — BIOLOGICAL SECTION. 
July llth. Mr. Wagstaffe exhibited an abundant supply of Cosmarium botrytis, 
in conjugation, from near Quinton.—MICROSCcOPICAL GENERAL MEETING. July 
18th. Myr. J. Morley exhibited Pyrola minor, from Scotland, and Orobanche 
Hedere from Conway Castle. Mr. W. B. Grove exhibited three fungi: Chon- 
drioderma Michelii (a Myxomycete) on straw, Urocystis pompholygodes, on 
Ranunculus, and Coleosporium tussilaginis, on Coltsfoot. Mr. S. Wilkins ex- 
hibited the imago of a large Dragon-fly (4ischna affinis), female, which emerged 
on July 15th, with the four preceding moults shed this year (rearedin a small 
aquarium). Mr. Bagnall exhibited (on behalf of Mr. R. W. Chase) a large number 
of maritime plants, sent by him from Hunstanton, Norfolk. Mr. W. Southall 
exhibited two plants with proliferous growth, Alliwm vineale and Euphorbia 
cyparissias. 


BIRMINGHAM MICROSCOPISTS AND NATURALISTS’ UNION.—June 
5th. FREE PUBLIC LECTURE, “South Staffordshire Coalfield,’ by Mr. L. Percival. 
A collection of fossil ferns was shown by Mr. H. Insley.—June 12th. MIcko- 
SCOPICAL AND GENERAL NIGHT. Mr. J. W. Neville exhibited microscopical 
section of Astromyelon and peculiar woody tissue, from coal measures; Mr. H 
Insley, Stigmaria (Fossil) and transverse and vertical section of the same under 
microscope; Mr. Dunn, transverse section of Fern stem from coal measures ; 
Mr. Boland, Helix Nemoralis and its love darts, also Helix Concinna from 
Evesham.—June 19th. MiIcROSCOPICAL AND GENERAL. Mr. Bradbury exhibted 
an abnormal growth of Wallflower, in which nineteen stems had grown 
together, forming a broad blade-like stem, giving off leaves on each side, and 
flowers at the apex. The stems could be distinctly counted by the nodes at 
which leaves were given off. Mr. Betteridge exhibited a collection of common 
birds shot by himself in the neighbourhood, and the walking stick gun 
by which they were shot.—June 26th. Mr. J. A. Neville exhibited Phlota 
plumosa; Myr. Sanderson, Marchantia polymorpha in fruit; Mr. Darley, 
Bordered White Moth, Sutton Park. A paper was read by Mr. Deakin, 
“Notes on Parasites of Lepidoptera.” The paper was illustrated by a 
collection on pup and imagos, and the infesting parasites from various moths 
and butterflies. Mr. Darley showed ovipositor and proboscis of Ichneumeon 
Fly, Ophion latewm, and proboscis of a dipterous parasite, found preying upon 
various Lepidoptera. Mr. J. W. Neville exhibited skin of larva of Emperor Moth, 
which had been pierced by Ichneumeon Fly. 


BANBURYSHIRE NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY AND FIELD CLUB.— 
May 30th.— Evening walk to Wroxton to collect Microzoa, Some fine 
specimens of the polyzoon—Plumatella repens (exhibited at the June Meeting 
by Mr. E. A. Walford)--were procured, also many fine Desmids. The rarest 
species was the minute Dinobryon sertularia. June 3rd.—Excursion to Fenny 
Compton and Avon Dassett. Dog Roses (Rosa canina), Woodbine (Lonicera 
periclymenum), and Spindle Tree (Huonymus Europeus) were noticed in bloom 
on Hardwick Hill. At Farnborough Hill the botanists found the rare evergreen 
Alkanet (Anchusa sempervirens) in some abundance. The spoil banks formed by 
the opening of the canal tunnel were then visited, and some of the ordinary 
fossils of the Jamesoni zone of the middle Lias (G@ryphea obliqua, Pholadomya, 
Pecten, Lima, Spiriferina verrucosa, Waldheimia numismatis, and numerous 
Belemnites) were collected. The bank of E. & W. J. Railway was then taken, and 
the bands of argillaceous limestone crowded with fossils, and the lines of clay- 
stone nodules so characteristic of the beds noticed. Rain now coming on 


REPORTS OF SOCIETIES. 191 


heavily the visit to Avon Dassett was not attended with much advantage. June 
5th.—_MonTHLY MEETING.—Mry. T. Beesley, F.C.S., President, in the chair. The 
President read his Meteorological Report for April and May. Mean height of 
barometer for April, reduced to 32°, 29°348 in. : -highest 30°040 in. on the 8th, 
lowest 28'774 on the 28th. Mean temperature 46°7° (1° above average), maximum 
on the 21st 63°, minimum on the 16th 32°. Rain on nineteen days amounting to 
4inches. Mean height of barometer for May, 29°687in.: highest, 17th, 30°145in., 
lowest, 26th, 29°021in. Mean temperature 52°3°, about the average, maximum on 
30th 70°, minimum on 17th 35°. Rain on fourteen days amounting to 2°13 inches. 
A violent thunderstorm on the 22nd. Mr. O. V. Aplin, read the I henological 
report for the first quarter. The report showed an unusually forward state of 
vegetation. Many plants such as Red and White Dead Nettles, Shepherd's 
Purse, Whitlow Grass, and Field and Ivy-leaved Speedwells were in flower all 
the winter. By the third week in March the hawthorn hedges were quite green 
in slightly sheltered situations, and even the flower buds on some favoured 
bushes showed white by the end of the month. By the end of January many 
birds were in song, indeed some, as the Missel Thrush, Robin, Hedge Sparrow, 
and Wren, might be heard nearly every day through the winter. Gnats and 
Bees were to be seen on most days after the middle of January. The following 
were some of the earlier dates in the forms returned to Mr. Aplin:—Hazel, 
January 15th; Sweet Violet, February 1st; Coltsfoot, 15th Pilewort, 10th; 
Blackthorn, March 12th; Marsh Marigold, 17th. Rooks were building on March 
4th, and Frog spawn was noticed in masses on the 8th of that month. Mr. J. H. 
Coombes gave an interesting account of the River Lamprey ‘Petromyzon 
fluviatilis) which is found in most of the streams of the district. He minutely 
described the structure of this curious species, and explained that the 
Ammocetes branchialis (which has no teeth and undergoes metamorphosis) is 
now regarded as the young of the Lamprey. It takes four years to reach 
the adult stage, in which there is a persistent notochord but no true vertebre. 
It has a distinct skull, but no part of the skeleton is ossified, being represented, 
where present, by cartilage only. After some little discussion on the paper, a 
warm vote of thanks was awarded to Mr. Coombes. Mr. S. Stutterd and the 
President then spoke of an electrical phenomenon observed during the storm of 
the 22nd of May; some discussion followed, and it appeared to be the general 
opinion that the phenomenon was an instance of ball-lightning. The 
President recorded Lamium maculatum from Lower Tadmarton, which was 
new to the district. Mr. E. A. Walford exhibited a minute scarlet fungus— 
Peziza trechispora, from the railway bank at Fenny Compton, and noticeable 
for its spinulose spores. The President exhibited a “Snailery” containing 
some fine living specimens of the Great Roman or edible Snail :Helix pomatia) 
from Stonesfield, Oxon. 


PETERBOROUGH NATURAL HISTORY AND MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETY.— 
On Whit-Monday, May the 29th, forty members and friends of this Society made 
an excursion to the Decoy in Boro’ Fen, Croyland and Thorney. At the former 
place the party was received by the owner, J. B. Williams, Esq., and conducted 
over the Decoy and initiated into the art of taking the “‘ wild fowl.” This Decoy 
is situated between Peakirk and Croyland, in a very retired spot, being reached 
by a road which is planted on each side with willows flanked by ditches, the 
waters of which were carpeted with the delicate flowers of Ranunculus aquaticus, 
while the lovely showy spikes of Hottonia palustrus and the gay heads of Iris 
Pseud-acorus rose through its midst. The area of ground enclosing the Decoy is 
about nineteen acres, that of the water 24 acres. The pool is octagonal and has 
eight pipes leading from it which lie in the direction of the main points of the 
compass, 7.¢., N. N.E., 8. S.E., &c., &e. Every approach to the margin of the pool 
is carefully shut off by reed screens 6ft. high, or by trees and underwood. The 
eight areas between the pipes are thickly planted with willows (Salix Russelliana) 
from the trunks of which multitudes of Aspidiwm Filix-mas and Polypodium 
vulgare have sprung. Osiers (S. vitellina) are also thickly planted, and other 
trees and shrubs which afford good shelter, Coniwm maculatum is very 


192 REPORTS OF SOCIETIES. 


abundant. Paths are left in the thickets for the decoy-men, by which they reach 
the screen near the head-end or mouth of the pipes, another entrance being 
made near the point or small end, which is screened by two reed fences, so that 
a passer-by is not seen even from the small end of the pipe. The pipes consist 
ot a small end, the elbow, and the head-end, arched with netting, the meshes of 
which are from three to four square inches. A triangular piece of ground 
between the water of the pipe and the screen is called the back shore, and is 
made for the wild fowl to lodge upon. A narrow strip of Iand on the opposite 
side is called the fore shore. The head-end of the pipe is 15ft. across, at the 
elbow 12ft., and the small end 2ft. Here a movable net called the tunnel is 
placed, which opens to the pipe, and into which the wild fowl are driven and 
captured. The screens are so placed that the decoy-men can walk from the 
small-end of the pipe to the head-end without being seen by the birds, whether 
they are on the back shore or wing-pole. The piper (dog) is a necessary agent in 
the working of the decoy. He is early trained to leap over the board, receiving 
a piece of cheese as a reward ; never to bark or play when on duty, or to take any 
notice of the fowl. There are about forty ducks of a wild-duck colour called 
Decoy Ducks kept in the pool; they breed upon the shores, and are trained not to 
enter the pipes, but to come to the head-end in answer to a faint whistle, and 
there to be fed. This takes place principally at night, when the wild fowl 
have left the Decoy. The wild fowl generally come to the Decoy in August, 
and are left in quietude till November. The birds leave the Decoy as night 
approaches and return in the daytime for shelter and apparent security. If a 
north-easterly wind is blowing work will be commenced at the north pipe, so 
that the wind would blow from the point nearly tothe pool. The man throws 
the dog a piece of cheese, the i piper” leaps the nearest board fence, and runs 
along the fore-shore and returns through a small hole in one of the fences. 
The fowlers watch through little slits made in the screens. The man near the 
small end of the pipe gives sign by moving his hat in the air; another piece 
of cheese is thrown, the dog leaps again, tame ducks and wild ones are in the 
mouth of the pipe, the decoy man throws over the screen a few small dark 
seeds, the tame ducks begin to feed, the dog leaps again higher up the pipe, 
the wild fowl pursue him to gratify their curiosity, and leave the decoy ducks 
feeding; the man then comes to the open, and without noise drives the fowl 
into the small end of the pipe, and thence into the tunnel net, where the 
necks of the captives are wrung. The chief wild fowl are ducks, widgeon, and 
teal. Croyland Abbey was next visited, where an informal address was given by 
the Rev. T. H. Le Beuf, many additional points of interest being pointed out 
by the Rey. W. D. Sweeting. The party next repaired to a large clay section 
about a mile from Croyland, on the estate of Lord Normanton. The section 
consists of from eight to ten feet of a blue greasy clay, which contains num- 
erous land and marine shells, the trunks of trees, both erect and lying down, 
resting on from twelve to fourteen inches of peat, with green rush leaves, 
land and freshwater shells, and the roots of the trees, the whole resting 
on the boulder clay. It is evident that this deposit was made in a basin 
forming part of a large river mouth, The boulder clay came nearly to the 
surface, and the peat formed the ancient soil, subsidence took place, the 
area was figoded, the blue clay deposited after a lapse of a considerable 
time, and the whole of the land gradually raised to its existing level. At 
Thorney Abbey an address was given by the Rev. W. ). Sweeting, in which 
the details of its architecture, &c. were explained. The Annual Meeting of the 
Society was held on Monday, June 13th, when the report of the past year was 
read, and the election of officers took place. The Very Rey. the Dean of Peter- 
borough was unanimously re-elected President, and Mr. J. W. Bodger Honorary 
Secretary. Excursions have been made in the neighbourhood on the Monday 
evenings since the 12th June. 


EXCHANGE.—Canadian Minerals, Silurian and Pleistocene Fossils, and 
English Rhetic, Lias and Greensand Fossils, in exg¢hange for other Fossils or 
Books,—ARTHUR FLOYD, Stratford-upon-Avon, 


REPORT ON THE PENNATULIDA. 193 


REPORT ON THE PENNATULIDA 
COLLECTED IN THE OBAN DREDGING EXCURSION 
OF THE BIRMINGHAM NATURAL HISTORY AND 
MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETY, JULY, 1881. 


BY A. MILNES MARSHALL, M.A., D.SC., PROFESSOR OF ZOOLOGY 
IN OWENS COLLEGE, AND W. P. MARSHALL, M.I.C.E. 


(Continued from page 151.) 


PENNATULA PHospPHoREA (continued). 

f. The Mesenterial Filaments—The mesenterial filaments, which 
are simply the thickened edges of the mesenteries below the stomach, 
fall, as already noticed, into two groups: a set of two situated on the 
upper surface of the leaf and extending down to the bottom of the 
polype cavities, the long mesenterial filaments, Figs. 4 and 5s; and a set 
of six, the short mesenterial filaments, Figs. 4 and 5 r, which only 
extend a short way below the stomach. 

The long mesenterial filaments have the same character along the 
whole of their length. They are straight, or very slightly convoluted, 
and are in transverse section (Fig. 5 s) bifid, the filament and 
mesentery together having the appearance of a letter Y with very 
thick arms. Each arm consists of a thin stratum of connective tissue, 
clothed on its upper surface—that towards the upper surface of the 
leaf—by a thin layer of flat epithelial cells, and on its under surface by 
a single layer of elongated columnar ciliated cells, which are granular 
in appearance, and possibly in part of glandular nature. Concerning 
the function of these long mesenterial filaments we know nothing. 

The short mesenterial filaments, Figs. 4 and 5 r, are like those of 
Funiculina thick and much convoluted. They are rather shorter than 
those of Funiculina, being not quite so long as the stomach in its ex- 
panded condition, and their length is the same in all the polypes of 
the leaf, however long or short these themselves may be. They com- 
mence about the spot where the polypes become free from one another, 
so that the greater part or whole of their length is contained in the 
leaf proper. 

The structure of the short mesenterial filaments is, as shown in Figs. 
4 and 5, the same as in Fwniculina, each consisting of a connective 
tissue lamella clothed on each side by a thick layer of special glandular 
and ciliated endodermal cells. Concerning the function of these 
filaments we have been able to make some observations which tend to 
strongly confirm Dr. Krukenberg’s conclusions* that they are really 
digestive organs. 

In a number of the polypes we have observed solid bodies imbedded 
either partially or completely in the mesenterial filaments; examples of 
this are shown in the third section in Fig. 5, f 0. These bodies are 
clearly of a foreign nature; they are also evidently organised, and 
appear to be undergoing decomposition. From the observations of Dr. 


* Vide supra, p.34. 


194 REPORT ON THE PENNATULIDA. 


Krukenberg on the digestive properties of these mesenterial filaments 
in Sea-anemones, there can be no doubt that these foreign bodies are 
organisms or portions of organisms which have been swallowed 
as food and are undergoing digestion. In this case it is of 
great interest to notice the very marked power possessed by the fila- 
ments of wrapping themselves around the food particle, so as to attack 
it, as it were, from all sides at once. The importance of this operation 
is seen at once from Dr. Krukenberg’s account of the act of digestion 
as being a surface action, only occuring where there is actual contact 
between the filament and the food particle, and not effected by means 
of a fluid secretion poured out over the food. 

It is also important to notice that the endodermal cells of the 
mesenterial filaments must in order to effect this enveloping of the 
food, manifest active changes of form, 7.e., must be amoeboid, and the 
fact that those endoderm cells which are specially concerned in 
digestion are amoeboid has now been established in a considerable 
number of Calenterata.* 

In the case of one of the polypes of which we have prepared 
sections—the third section from the top in Fig. 5—an additional point 
of interest has presented itself. Lodged within the polype with its 
head just at the level of the bottom of the stomach, and its body lying 
imbedded among the mesenterial filaments, is an HMntomostracon, 
apparently one of those parasitic or semi-parasitic Copepoda in which 
the jaws are retained in a well developed condition, but the other 
appendages are rudimentary. The ovaries of this Copepoda are in a 
condition of great activity, containing very numerous oya in various 
stages of development. Many of the ripe ova have left the parent and 
are either lying freely in the body-cavity of the polype or else are 
embedded in the mesenterial filaments in the same manner as are the 
food particles described above. An instance of this is shown in the 
third section of Fig. 5 at ov, which shows also that the egg after 
becoming completely embedded in the mesenterial filament has 
commenced to develope, the stage figured being that in which it has 
divided into four equal segments. Other eggs from the same 
specimens have proceeded considerably further in their development. 

It is difficult in this case to determine whether, on the one hand, 
the Copepod has been swallowed as food and has escaped digestion so 
far owing to the thick cuticle covering and protecting its body, the 
eggs being also destined ultimately to serve as food, and being 
engulphed by the mesenterial filaments for that purpose, but having, 
owing to their firm investing membrane, not only escaped digestion, 
but been enabled to develope up to a certain point; or, on the other 
hand, whether we are not dealing with a parasitic animal which has 
planted itself at the bottom of the stomach, so as to intercept the food 


* For a summary of recent observations on the amceboid condition of the 
endoderm in C@lenterata and other forms, and for important observations on 
the process of digestion in the fresh-water Medusa Limnocodium, vide Lankester 
“On the Intracellular Digestion of Limnocodium,” Quarterly Journal of 
Microscopic Science, January, 1881, 


- 


REPORT ON THE PENNATULIDA. 195 


supplies captured by the polype, and which has found in the mesen- 
terial filaments a suitable nidus for the development of its eggs. 

Although the general appearance of the Entomostracon, which we 
have been unable to identify, suggests parasitic habits, and although 
there is no sign of either the animal itself or its eggs undergoing 
digestion, we are disposed, in the absence of any more definite 
evidence, to adopt the former view, though fully recognising the possi- 
bility that the latter one may prove to be correct. 

g. The Reproductive Organs. Concerning the reproductive organs of 
Pennatula, we have been able to make some observations of interest, 
owing to the fact that the two Oban specimens are of opposite sexes. 

Lacaze-Duthiers * was apparently the first to show that in Pennatula 
the male and female organs are borne on separate colonies. He 
examined, however, only a very small number of specimens, and 
‘merely records the fact that the sexes are distinct, without giving any 
description or figures of the reproductive organs. 

Koélliker+ also, though noticing that the sexes are distinct in 
Pennatula, describes thom very briefly, and gives no figures; indeed, 
no satisfactory account appears to have been published hitherto. 

Externally, there appears to be no definite or constant difference 
between the two sexes; a difference in shape between the two Oban 
specimens has already been alluded to as a possible distinction, but 
whether it is so or not could only be decided by an examination of a 
far larger number of specimens than we have had an opportunity of 
investigating. 

In the female specimen, Figs. 1 and 2, the reproductive 
organs are closely similar to those of Funiculinu. The edges of 
the six mesenteries which bear higher up the short thick 
filaments act as ovaries, and the ova appear as individual epithelial 
cells, which grow rapidly, and are from the start invested by a thin 
membranous sheath, and later on by a second outer, very thick and 
strong capsule, formed by the surrounding epithelial cells. During the 
greater part of their development the ova are attached by short stalks 
to the edge of the septa, and project freely into the body cavity of the 
polype. 

When ripe the ova become detached from the stalks and lie freely 
in the polype cavity. Hach ripe ovum is a spherical body about 0:015 
in.t diameter, consisting of a very dense pigmented outer capsule of 
great strength and considerable thickness, with its surface marked as 
in Funiculina by an irregular network of low ridges, and presenting at 
one spot a very conspicious aperture or micropyle for admission of the 
spermatozoa ; within this capsule is a second inner and much thinner 
membrane, inside which is the ovum itself; this consists of granular 
protoplasm imbedded in which, usually close to one side, is a very 


; * Lacaze-Duthiers, ‘‘Des Sexes chez les Alcyonaires.” Comptes Rendus de 
l’Academie Imperiale de Paris. 1865. Tome 60, pp. 840—843, 

+ Kolliker ; Op. cit., p. 125. 

1 In the account of Funiculina on p. 36, the diameter of the ova is stated by 
mistake to be 0°001 in., it should be 0'014 in., the thickness of the capsule 0-001 
in., and the size of the germinal vesicle 0°003 by 0°002 in, 


196 REPORT ON THE PENNATULIDA. 


large and evident germinal vesicle containing one or more large spher- 
ical germinal spots. 

Ova occur in all the leaves of the female specimen except the very 
youngest ones, those at the bottom of the rachis, and as a rule in each 
component polype of the leaf. They are far more abundant in all 
stages of development at the lower or basal end of the polypes, where 
they often form compact masses completely filling up the polype 
cavities, than at the upper ends. 

The ripe eggs are found in small numbers near the upper part of 
the polypes, and, as Johnston has pointed out, ‘‘ by a little pressure 
can be made to pass through the mouth.” * Lacaze-Duthiers holds 
that fertilization and the earliest stages of development are effected 
within the body of the parent, the embryo escaping as a ciliated 
planula, which, after swimming freely for a time, fixes itself, grows 
up and deyelopes by repeated budding into a Pennatula; and Dalyell’s 
description of the process as observed by himself in Virgularia strongly 
supports this view.+ 

The male reproductive organs are very similar to the female ones. 
They develope in exactly the same situation, and in a very similar 
manner. When adult, they are almost identically the same size as the 
ova, and have very much the same appearance, even under moderately 
high powers of the microscope. So close is the resemblance, and so com- 
pletely do the spermatospheres or spherical masses of spermatozoa 
(Figs. 3, 4, 5, ts) counterfeit the ova of the female, that nothing could 
be easier than to mistake the males for females. 

We ourselves fell into this error at first, and for some time were 
under the impression that our male specimen was, from the apparently 
obvious eggs that it contained in such large numbers, really a female; 
and it was only after cutting sections of these supposed eggs and 
examining them with high powers (7; in. and +, in.), that we discovered 
their real nature. 

Like the eggs in the female, the male organs are developed on the 
edges of the septa, which bear, higher up, the short, thick, mesenterial 
filaments. So far as we have been able to determine only four of these 
six septa bear these organs, namely, the dorsal and ventral pairs of 
each polype cavity, the pair belonging to the under surface of the leaf 
being, as a rule, if not indeed constantly, sterile. 

As in the female the reproductive organs are borne by all the leaves 
except the very youngest, and by all the polypes of each leaf, being far 
more abundant in all stages of development at the basal ends of the 
polypes than towards their free extremities. 

In the earliest stages of development that we have noticed, the 
male organs (Figs. 4 and 5, ts) are small knobs composed of spherical 
nucleated cells, surrounded by a capsule of flattened epithelial cells, 
and attached to the edge of the septum by a short stalk. 

In the next stage, the spermatosphere, as we may call it, has 


* Johnston: ‘ British Zoophytes,” vol. i., 2nd Ed., 1847, p. 159. 
+ Dalyell: “Tiare and Remarkable Animals of Scotland,” 1848, vol. ii., p. 188. 


REPORT ON THE PENNATULIDA. 197 


increased considerably in size, and the component sperm cells are 
far more numerous, though of smaller size, than before. A little later 
a central space appears in the middle of the spermatosphere, which 
has now a radiately striated aspect. Soon after this the spermato- 
sphere becomes detached from its stalk and lies free in the polype 
cavity. 

It is now a spherical body with an average diameter of 0:014in., 
and consists of an outer cellular capsule much thinner and less tough 
than that of the egg; and within this a very thin membranous coat ; 
inside which are an enormous number of minute, oval, highly refractive 
bodies, the heads of the spermatozoa, many of which have long fila- 
mentary tails attached to them. In the centre of the spermatosphere 
is a clear space in which no sperm cells or heads of spermatozoa are 
present, but in which the thread-like tails of the spermatozoa can be 
clearly distinguished under high powers of the microscope. 

Spermatospheres having this structure are found far forward 
in the polypes close to the mouths through which they undoubtedly 
escape ; but whether the spermatospheres break up on escaping from 
the polype into their constituent spermatozoa, or remain for a time in 
the condition described above, we have been unable to determine. 
We have seen no indication of a tendency to break up in any of the 
spermatospheres, and yet these have no inherent power of locomotion 
for the epithelial capsule enclosing them is not ciliated. 

In order to satisfy ourselves as to whether the sexes are really 
distinct, we have examined the reproductive organs from about a dozen 
different leaves of each of the specimens, selecting leaves from both 
sides and from very various parts, with the result that all the leaves 
examined of the one specimen bear male organs and of the other female 
from which we feel justified in concluding that Lacaze-Duthiers is 
correct in stating that the sexes in /ennatula are distinct. 

We have also investigated for the same purpose and in the same 
manner four specimens of Pennatula in the Owens College Museum, 
the result being to confirm the above conclusion in all cases. 

Our account of the male Pennatula will be found to agree very 
closely with the description given by Kdélliker* of the male in 
Halisceptrum, a genus belonging to the same family as Pennatula, and 
differing from it mainly in possessing no calcareous spicules in the 
leaves. Concerning the relative abundance of the two sexes, out of 
six specimens of Halisceptrum examined by Kolliker, five were females 
and only one a male; while of the six specimens of Pennatula we 
have had an opportunity of studying, two are females and four males. 
The close similarity, if not identity, in external form between the two 
sexes, and also the close resemblance of the spermatospheres to the 
ova, must make us very cautious about accepting statements concerning 
the sexuality of specimens, unless it is explicitly stated that the 
character of the genital products has been determined by the 
microscope. 


* Kolliker: Op. cit., pp. 164-167. 


198 REPORT ON THE PENNATULIDA. 


5.—Anatomy of the Zooids.— 


The zooids of Pennatula, like those of Funiculina, differ from the 
polypes in the following structural points, besides the difference in size 
and position already noticed :— 

1. Though there is a well-developed stomach, and as a rule a 
mouth as well, there are no tentacles or calyx. 

2. Alleight mesenteries are present around and supporting the 
stomach, but only two of the eight have their free edges below the 
stomach thickened to form mesenterial filaments. The two mesen- 
terial filaments present extend down to the bottom of the body cavity 
of the zooid, and clearly correspond to the two long slender filaments 
of the polypes. 

3. The zooids have no reproductive organs. The walls of the 
zooids are very thickly studded with calcareous spicules, and the lower 
ends of the zooid cavities communicate freely with the spongy canal 
system of the wall of the rachis. At least two thirds of the length of 
the zooid is embedded in the wall of the rachis, so that it is only by 
making sections of the rachis that the anatomy of the zooids can be 
ascertained. The smaller zooids have no mouths, and are therefore 
dependent for their nutriment on the supply brought by the canal 
system from the polypes. 


Zoological Position and Afinities— 

The general position of Pennatula in the order Pennatulida is shown 
in the table on page 1 of this report. The generic characters, as given 
by Kolliker,* are as follows :— 

“Genus: Pennatula—True Sea-pens, with well developed leaves, in 
which there are no zooids and no very large calcareous rodst but a 
number of small spicules. Zooids situated along the whole ventral 
surface of the rachis, and also on the lateral surfaces between the 
leaves. Polypes in cups, beset with calcareous spicules; calyx 
processes variable in number.” 

Kolliker distinguishes four species of Pennatula, whose leading 
characters are as follow :— 

1. Pennatula phosphorea. Leaves formed of single rows of polypes, 
eight to eighteen in number, eight calyx processes to each polype; 
reproductive organs contained in the leaves. 

2. Pennatula rubra. Leaves formed of single rows of polypes, 
twenty-five to forty-six in number, placed alternately, so as to give 
appearance of double rows. Calyx processes usually three or four to 
each polype; reproductive organs confined to the parts of the leaves 
within the rachis. 

3. Pennatula borealis. Large pens, up to thirty-two inches long; 
leaves thick, formed of two to four rows of polypes. 

4. Pennatula fimbriata. Leaves formed of two rows of polypes. 


* Kolliker: Op. cit., p. 122. + Asin Pteroeides, e.g. 


REPORT ON THE PENNATULIDA. 199 


Of Pennatula phosphorea, to which the Oban specimens clearly 
belong, three chief varieties are mentioned by Kolliker :— 

a. P. phosphorea, var. angustifolia. Leaves long and narrow ; polype 
heads few in number, and wide apart. 

b. VP. phosphorea, var. lancifolia. Leaves lanceolate ; polype heads 
numerous and placed close together. Of this variety, to which the 
Oban specimens are to be referred, Kélliker distinguishes four sub- 
varieties. 

ce. l. phosphorea, var. aculeata. Leaves narrow and some distance 
apart ; on ventral side of rachis, four to six rows of prominent spines, 
connected with the zooids. 


Habits 

1. The Natural Position of Pennatula.—On this point the various 
zoologists who have described Pennatula from living specimens differ 
remarkably. 

Ellis,* speaking of Pennatula, says :—‘* This genus of animals differs 
remarkably from all the other Zoophytes by their swimming freely 
about in the sea, and many of them having a muscular 
motion as they swim along. I know of none of them 
that fix themselves by their base, notwithstanding what has 
been wrote.” Other anatomists have described Pennatula as having 
the power of swimming freely, and Dr. Grant goes so far as to say 
that ‘‘a more singular and beautiful spectacle could scarcely be 
conceived than that of a deep purple P. phosphorea, with all its delicate 
transparent polypi expanded and emitting their usual brilliant 
phosphorescent light, sailing through the still and dark abyss by the 
regular and synchronous pulsations of the minute fringed arms of the 
whole polypi.” 

This is doubtless very beautiful, but unfortunately does not appear 
to have the smallest shred of direct evidence in its support. Itis 
difficult to get to the origin of these accounts, but this is apparently to 
be found in an observation of Bohadsch, whom we have already 
mentioned as the first describer of Funiculina. 

Bohadsch describes Pennatula as a deep-sea animal, which is 
sometimes caught ‘‘ with other fishes.” He notes its phosphorescent 
properties, to which we shall refer below, and then says ¢ that on one 
occasion, in the year 1749, while sailing in the Mediterranean, he 
observed some phosphorescent body about four feet below the surface 
of the water, and being at that time ‘‘in historia naturali minime 
versatus ’’ he asked the sailors what it was, and they told him that it 
was Penna, i.e., a sea-pen or sea-feather. 

Now Ellis avowedly obtained the greater part of his information 
concerning Pennatula from Bohadsch, and there is much reason for 
thinking that Dr. Grant’s account is based on that of Ellis, so that it 
would really seem asif Dr. Grant’s glowing description rests merely on 
a solitary observation made by a man who speaks of himself as 


* Ellis and Solander, Natural History of Zoophytes, 1786, p. 60. 
| Bohadsch “ De quibusdam animalibus marinis,” 1761, p. 107. 


200 REPORT ON THE PENNATULIDA. 


‘knowing very little indeed about natural history at the time”; an 
observation which consisted in looking over the side of a ship and 
seeing something phosphorescent in the water, whose shape he was 
unable to make out, but which the sailors told him was a Sea-pen. 

We are acordingly of opinion that the statements concerning 
Pennatula swimming freely cannot be accepted unless fresh evidence 
from direct observation is brought forward. 

Assuming then that Pennatula does not swim, there still remains 
the question as to what is the natural position of the pen; it un- 
doubtedly dwells at the bottom of the sea, but is it planted upright or 
does it lie horizontally on the bottom ? 

Sir John Dalyell, a very careful observer, expresses an opinion, 
though by no means a decided one, that the horizontal position is the 
natural one. He is however much troubled by the stem, whose use on 
his theory he is unable to understand.* A few other zoologists have 
adopted this view, prominent among whom is again Dr. Grant,} who 
says :—‘‘ the slow contraction of the Pennatula phosphorea coils up the 
thin flexible extremities of its calcareous axis, and moves the 
retroverted spines of its exterior surface so asto push the animal slowly 
along a rough surface.” 

Our own opinion is very strongly in favour of the now generally 
accepted view that Pennatula lives erect, planted in the sea-bottom. 
The absence of polypes on the stalk, the presence of the supporting 
calcareous stem, and especially the proportions of this stem in 
different parts of its length, and the pale colour of the stalk speak 
strongly in support of this view, to say nothing of the evidence yielded 
by the undoubted fact that in Virgularia the stalk is known to be 
planted in the mud of the sea-bottom. 

In connection with this question we would direct special attention 
to the powerful system of longitudinal muscles present in the stalk of 
Pennatula. These muscles, as previously noticed, are arranged round 
the stalk, not in a simple ring, but in a deeply corrugated layer, and 
the disposition of the muscular bands is such as to suggest the power 
not only of a considerable longitudinal contraction, but also of a 
partial lateral or spiral contraction. We are, in fact, disposed to view 
these muscular bands as affording a means whereby a slight wriggling 
movement of the stalk could be effected, such as would enable the 
Pennatula to burrow down into the soft mud to a certain extent; and 
that the pen is probably possessed of such a power is evident from 
the consideration that the mud in which it is planted must always be 
liable to be washed away by currents and other causes, in which 
case the Pennatula, if it had no power of burrowing, would fall 
prostrate at once, in consequence of the small total depth of its 
insertion in the mud. We shall return to this point when dealing with 
Virgularia. 

2. Phosphorescence.—The majority of the Pennatulida are phosphor- 


* Dalyell: ‘‘ Rare and Remarkable Animals of Scotland,” vol. ii., 1848, 
+ Grant: “ Outlines of Comparative Anatomy,” 1841, pp. 132-133, 


REPORT ON THE PENNATULIDA. 201 


escent, and P. phosphorea receives its specific name from the fact that 
it exhibits this phenomenon in an exceptional degree. 


This was well seen in the Oban specimens while living; the more 
perfect female specimen when suspended in a jar of sea-water in the 
dark, and irritated or excited by gently brushing the leaves, exhibited 
a fine display of phosphorescence, the different polypes when touched 
showing minute brilliant points of light which appeared to flash over 
the whole surface of the feather in rapid irregular corruscations. 

Edward Forbes made some interesting observations on the phos- 
phorescence of Pennatula, his main results being as follows:—The 
pen is phosphorescent only when irritated by touch ; the phosphores- 
cence appears at the place touched, and proceeds thence in an undulat- 
ing wave to the extremity of the rachis, but never in the opposite 
direction ; it is only the parts at and above the point of stimulation 
that show phosphorescence ; the light is emitted for a longer time from 
the point of stimulation than from the other luminous parts; detached 
portions may show phosphorescence. Forbes also says that ‘“ when 
plunged in fresh water, the Pennatula scatters sparks about in all 
directions—a most beautiful sight; but when plunged in spirit it does 
not do so, but remains phosphorescent for some time, the light dying 
gradually away, and, last of all, from the uppermost polypes. One 
remained phosphorescent for five minutes in spirit.” 


Dr. Wilson,* who, at the request of Forbes, made a direct investiga- 
tion of the phosphorescent properties of Pennatula, came to the con- 
clusion that the phosphorescence was not an electrical phenomenon, but 
was probably due to some ‘“‘ spontaneously inflammable substance.” 


The most careful and systematic observations on the phosphorescence 
of Fennatula are, however, those of Panceri,} who has arrived at several 
results of great interest. He finds that the light emanates exclusively 
from the polvpes and zooids, and not from all parts of these, but from 
certain special phosphorescent organs. ‘These ‘‘ cordoni luminosi”’ as 
he calls them are eight longitudinal bands of a fatty substance, 
situated on the outer wall of the stomach, one band in each of the 
compartments of the body cavity formed by the mesenteries (Fig. 5, 
second section); and that these phosphorescent organs retain their 
luminosity after removal from the polype. Panceri states that if any 
other portion of a polype exhibits phosphorescence it is merely due to the 
special organs having been broken up, probably by the act of stimulation. 

Panceri finds that phosphorescence may be excited by very various 
stimuli, mechanical, chemical, thermal, electrical, ete. He finds that 
if any point in the rachis be stimulated, luminous currents starting 
from the point of stimulation run both up and down the rachis and 
along the leaves to their extremities ; and that if a leaf be stimulated the 
current runs down the leaf to the rachis, then up and down the rachis 
and along all the other leaves to their extremities. 


* Vide Johnston’s “ British Zoophytes,” 2nd Ed., 1847, vol. 1., p. 150—155. 
+ Panceri. “ Etudes sur la Phosphorescence des Animaux Marins.” Annales 
des Sciences Naturelles. Cinquiéme Series, Tome xvi, 1872, pp. 13-21, 


202 REPORT ON THE PENNATULIDA. 


A further point of interest determined by Panceri is, that there is 
always a distinct interval between the application of the stimulus 
and the first appearance of phosphorescence, and that this latent 
period has a very constant duration of ¢ths of a second. 

It will be seen that these ‘‘ phosphorescent organs ” of Panceri are 
the same things as the ‘‘ hepatic cells” of Gosse, which have been 
described above both in Pennatula and Funiculina. * 

Geographical Distribution— 

Fennatula phosphorea is apparently a common species at various 
places round the British shores: Ellis says that ‘‘ great numbers have 
been taken on the coast of Scotland, especially near Aberdeen.” 

Dr. Gray mentions the coast of England and the Hebrides; and 
Kolliker gives as localities, besides the coast of England and Scotland, 
the Mediterranean, especially Naples and the Adriatic, the coast of 
France, and the Kattegat; to which Sars adds the whole coast of 
Norway, from Frederickshald to Christiansund. 


(To be continued. ) 


THE MINERALS OF THE MIDLANDS. 
BY C. J. WOODWARD, B.SC. 


(Continued from page 59.) 

As far as I can learn, little has been written respecting the minerals 
of the Midland district, but I propose now presenting to the readers of 
the ‘‘ Midland Naturalist” abstracts of the papers that have been 
already published. For this purpose ‘t Ormerod’s Index,” published by 
the Geological Society, is invaluable, as it gives an index of localities, 
with references to papers bearing on Mineralogy that have appeared 
in the Transactions of the Society. With the help of this index the 
following abstracts have been prepared :— 


DERBYSHIRE. 


‘* Notice accompanying Specimens of Lead Ore found in Loadstone 
from near Matlock, Derbyshire,” by Charles Stokes, Esq., F.R.S., &e. 
Read November 8rd, 1820. (Trans. Geolog. Soc. Second Series, 
vol. i., p. 163, 1824.) ‘* The specimens of galena from the neighbour- 
hood of Matlock which accompany this notice are from veins which 
have been washed with profit in the loadstone as well as in the lime- 
stone. One of them is from the Side Mine, under the High Tor, the 
other from the Seven Rakes Mine, on the right bank of the river, not 
far from the bridge. Mr. Tissington, the owner of the Side Mine, 
informs me that the veins in all instances he is acquainted with are 
continued through the loadstone, although they do not bear well in 
this rock; and also that a vein frequently changes its degree of 
inclination in passing through it, and sometimes after such a change in 
inclination the vein again returns at an abrupt angle, like a Y placed 
horizontally.” 


* Supra, p. 8. 


THE MINERALS OF THE MIDLANDS. 203 


NORTHAMPTONSHIRE. 
“On Allophane and an Allied Mineral found at Northampton,” by 
W. Douglas Herman. (Quart. Journ. Geo. Soc., vol. xxx., p. 235).—** Dr. 


Charles Berrill discovered a mineral resembling the Charlton 
Allophane in plysical properties in a pit opened in the ironstones of 
the Northampton Sand, (Inf. Oolite), in the grounds of the Northamp- 
ton Lunatic Asylum. It occurs as an amorphous, translucent, some- 
what hard and exceedingly brittle mineral, of a yellowish colour, 
inclining to red, and incrusting the surface of a sandstone rock. 


ANALYSIS. 
Northampton. Charlton. 
ite II. MEAN. 
Water expelled at 100°C. .. 24-70 24°88 24-80 27°11 
Water fixed at 100°C. os 14°54 14°54 14-54 15°80 
S10, 5c 23°09 22-92 23°01 20°50 
Al,O, we 31-24 31:42 31-33 31°34 
Fe,0, Be 2°35 2-18 2°26 — 
FeO a —_ _- — Bil 
CaO ce 2°51 2-48 2°49 1:92 
MgO Ste ‘O1 ‘01 ‘01 
Normal SOs ~ 1-28 1-28 1-28 1°69 
As bicarbonate co, S 2 — “= — 1:04 


99-72 Dore 99°72 Sera 


On the supposition that the mineral consists essentially of water 
fixed at 100°C., silica, and alumina, it would be represented by the 


formula 8A1,0,,15Si0, + 18H,O; but if the water that is given off 


2-3? 2 
at 100° be considered essential to its composition, it would be 
expressed by AI,O,,2Si0, + 5H,O. The mineral dried at 100° is 
exceedingly hygroscopic, speedily regaining almost the whole of the 
water it had lost, and that too in well-ground tightly-fitting watch 
glasses. Consult ‘‘ Midland Naturalist,” vol. v., p. 12. 


SHROPSHIRE. 

** Observations on the Wrekin and on the Great Coalfield of Shrop- 
shire,” by Arthur Aikin. (Trans. Geo. Soc., vol. i., 1811, p.191).—The 
references to mineral localities in this paper are so indefinite as to be of 
nouse. The curious band called Curlstone, occurring with the Penny- 
stone iron ore at Ketley and the neighbourhood, is noticed at pp. 196-7. 

‘Notice concerning the Shropshire Witherite,” by Arthur Aikin, 
Esq. (Trans. Geo. Soc., vol. iv., 1817, p. 438).—Refers to the Snail- 
beach Mine as the only one in which witherite has been found. After 
speaking of different ores it is stated that ‘‘in the lower part of the 
mine, where the vein is thick and sparry, the witherite is found in 
irregular masses, weighing from 40lbs. to 2cwt. or 3cwt., imbedded in 
heavy spar. It is called yellow spar by the miners, because if a 
candle is placed behind it the whole will glow with a yellowish light, 
a circumstance by which the miners distinguish it from heavy spar ; 
this latter, from the looseness of its texture, being in large masses quite 
opaque. The colour of the witherite is white, with the slightest 
possible, if any, tinge of yellow; its fracture is broad striated, 
approaching to straight foliated ; it is for the most part massive. I have 
seen only a single specimen that presented any indications of a regular 
crystalline form.” On analysis the mineral gave— | 


204 THE MINERALS OF THE MIDLANDS. 


Carbonate of barytes fe 4 per Lose 
Carbonate of strontites Ae Bt sficifl 
Sulphate of barytes oe a ai ) 
Silex oe as Ae ots i *D 
Alumina and oxide of iron ae = 45) 
99°05 
STAFFORDSHIRE. 


“ Account of a variety of Argillaceous Limestone found in connec- 
tion with the Ironstone of Staffordshire,” by the Rev. James Yates, 
M.A. (Trans. Geo. Soc., vol. v., 1819, p. 375).—Describes this as a 
variety of limestone called by the miners Curl. It was inspected at 
the Coppice Mine (near Coseley ?) It contains small veins of cale spar 
passing vertically and without interruption through both ironstone 
and curl beneath it. It has recently been employed in considerable 
quantities for making Roman cement. It occurs in Shropshire, as 
mentioned by Mr. Aikin, and at the Ketley ironworks was used for a 
time as a flux. Mr. Sowerby has given two representations of this 
mineral in his ‘ British Mineralogy,” vol. ii., plates 148, 149, and he 
states that it occurs near Sunderland, at Bartonsel, at Cumberland, at 
Boulby in Yorkshire, and in Derbyshire. The variety found in 
Derbyshire is described and figured in Martin’s ‘ Petrifacta Der- 
biensia,”’ Wigan, 1809, plate 27, fig. 4. It is found immediately 
above and attached to a stratum of ironstone which extends from 
Tupton Moor to Staveley. Incidentally it is mentioned in the paper 
that Werner gave to this substance the name of Dutenmergel or funnel 
marl, and that it occurs at G’ororps Mill, in Shoenen, and in the island 
of Bornholm, near the town of Ronne. 


WARWICKSHIRE. 


‘** Notice on the Black Oxide of Manganese of Warwickshire,” by 
S. Parkes. (Trans. Geo. Soc., second series, vol. i., 1824, p. 168).— 
The specimens exhibited to the Society were found at Harts- 
hill, near Atherstone. The manganese occurs in detached pieces 
distributed through the clay, weighing from one to fifty or sixty 
pounds each, and from one foot to six or eight feet below the surface 
of the ground. The first manganese was found on the estate of 
T. L. Ludford, Esq., of Ainsley Hall, about two miles from Atherstone. 
A poor man of the name of Hankinson, who possesses a small field 
adjoining Mr. Ludford’s estate, has since found manganese in his 
land, and has raised a considerable quantity. A man of the name of 
Davis has also raised some, and sold it at a good price to the bleachers 
in Lancashire. Dr. Power, of Atherstone, has taken a great interest 
in the discovery. 

WORCESTERSHIRE. 


‘“On the Mineralogy of the Malvern Hills,’ by Leonard Horner, 
Esq. (Trans. Geo. Soc., vol. i., p. 281).—A description of the hills is 
given, and afterwards in speaking of the unstratified rocks reference 
is made to the minerals occurring in the rocks. ‘ A great part of the 
End Hill is composed of granite, particularly on the west side, where 
it contains veins of quartz in several places. In the same part of the 
End Hill, but at a higher elevation than the granite, there is a rock 
which prevails very much throughout the whole range. It is of a 
purplish brown colour, with a fine close grained texture and an uneven 
fracture. It is composed of hornblende, felspar, and a little quartz; 
sometimes contains a small quantity of magnetic pyrites, and slender 
veins of compact epidote ; in the fissures of it crystallised sulphate of 


THE MINERALS OF THE MIDLANDS. 205 


barytes and minute rhomboidal crystals of ferriferous carbonate of 
lime are also occasionally met with. On the west side of the End Hill 
and in some part of the eastern side a rock is met with, the characters 
of which correspond very nearly with those of sienite. It is composed 
of hornblende and felspar, with a few spangles of mica.” . . . ‘The 
Epidote is found on the End Hill under various appearances; in some 
of these the crystalline forms peculiar to this substance may be seen, 
but I did not meet with any complete, well-defined crystals. It is most 
commonly found in a compact and granular state, forming small veins 
of a yellowish green colour, which sometimes pass through the granite 
and sometimes through the sienitic rocks.” . . . ‘On the north- 
east side of the Worcestershire Beacon, and in the road leading from 
Great Malvern to St. Ann’s Well, I found a rock of loose, coarse-grained 
texture, with an earthy fracture composed of mica and hornblende in a 
state of decomposition, mixed with red felspar.” . . . ‘This rock 
is traversed by a vein of sulphate of barytes about four inches in thick- 
ness, and which occasionally includes detached portions of the rock 
through which it passes. The particular spot where I saw this rock 
was where an excavation had been made in the hill round a house 
newly built, and as the rock was cut down to a considerable depth, a good 
section of it was exposed to view.” . . . . Speaking of the Wych, 
Mr. Horner writes: ‘‘I found here some small portions of a granite 
partially decomposed, and the surfaces of the fragments into which it 
breaks are covered with dendritical delineations of manganese.” : 
The road now mentioned (Worcester and Ledbury road) rises along the 
side of the valley above Little Malvern, and winds round the northern 
face of the Herefordshire Beacon. In making it the rock has been cut 
down considerably on one side. I found a greater uniformity in the 
rocks of this part of the range than in those which compose the 
northern half; there is less granite, and hornblende also occurs more 
rarely. The most prevalent rock is one of a pale flesh-colour of a fine 
grain, and chiefly composed of compact felspar; it is very full of 
fissures, so that it easily breaks into small irregular fragments, the 
surfaces of which are covered with yellow oxide of iron, and on some 
of these are dendritical delineations of manganese. They are occa- 
sionally covered with small rhomboidal crystals of spathose iron of a 
golden yellow colour, with a metallic lustre. Calcareous spar some- 
times in distinct crystals is likewise occasionally met with in it.” 

‘“A short way to the south of the Herefordshire Beacon there is a 
mass projecting above the surface, which consists of a fine conglomerate 
of a dark brown colour, composed of felspar, steatite, and calcareous 
spar, united by a ferro-argillaceous base, and containing some minute 
specks of a greenish-yellow substance, in diverging fibres, which is 
probably actinolite. The rock is attracted by a magnet. In a lane at 
the foot of the Herefordshire Beacon, on the western side, I found a 
vein of red hematite passing through a rock consisting of red felspar 
and quartz partially decomposed.” 

At the end of the paper are given analyses of the mineral waters 
of the Malvern Hills. I should insert them here, but I expect to 
meet with more recent analyses. Perhaps some of the readers of the 
‘** Midland Naturalist’ can help me here. 

**An Account of the Brine Springs at Droitwich,’ by Leonard 
Horner, F.R.S. (Trans. Geo. Soc., vol. ii., p. 94).--In this paper is 
given an analysis of the brine, and a quotation from Nash’s History 
of Worcestershire describes the rock sunk through for brine. Gypsum, 
miscalled “talc,” occurs apparently in considerable thickness—75 feet 
is mentioned—and on boring through this gypsum the brine rises and 
fills the pit. It is mentioned incidentally thet slender veins of 


206 THE MINERALS OF THE MIDLANDS. 


crystallised gypsum occur at Doder Hill. From the remarks of Nash 
it would seem that the springs are impregnated from a body of rock 
salt. 

“‘On the Chemical Geology of the Malvern Hills,” by the Rev. 
J. H. Timins, M.A. (Quar. Journ. Geo. Soc., vol. xxiii., p. 352).— 
The paper contains numerous analyses of the rocks of the Malvern 
Hills. 

The following rocks, containing minerals, are referred to among 
others. The numbers correspond to the Roman numerals in the original 
paper :— 


1.—Lava, forming thick bed north of Coal Hill—contains hornblende 
and felspar indistinctly crystallised. 
3.—Calcareous lava, with imperfectly crystallised hornblende and 
minute red felspar crystals; from the Valley of the White- 
leaved Oak. 
8.—Lava, from the footpath from Fowlett’s Farm to the Valley otf 
the White-leaved Oak—contains hydrated peroxide of iron in 
vesicular cavities. 
23.—Fine-grained greyish rock of the structure of sandstone, with 
occasional thin lines of epidote, from a band in the Hollybush 
sandstone on the east side of the eruptive rock quarried on the 
south-west side of Midsummer Hill, passing into felspar. 
25.—Lava, bed west of Castle Morton Common---matrix of a bluish 
colour; cavities filled with epidote. 
37.—Bedded rock, south of the cave, near the footpath—contains a 
few grains of olivine and a little quartz in cavities. 
57.—Fine-grained bed in diorite on the east slope of the North Hill— 
small crystals of hornblende, white uncrystallised felspar 
disseminated, and a little pyrites. 
59.—Diorite, south of the large quarry at North Malvern—black 
hornblende, quartz, and pink and pinkish white felspar, of 
which the cleavage resembles orthoclase, but the chemical 
constitution is more nearly that of andesine. 
62.—Trap near the summit of the West Peak of the Ragged Stone 
—dark bluish grey uncrystallised epidote in the interstices. 
68.—From a mass of trap immediately south of the cave, on the west 
side of the ridge.—The fragment analysed was taken from the 
part of it which is in the wood. It contains hornblende 
labradorite, glassy felspar, and garnet. Some parts of this 
mass of trap contain, in addition to the above, hypersthene. 
70._From the east slope of the buttresses of the Herefordshire 
Beacon, south of the deep ravine which divides the buttresses 
from east to west, and overlooking a farm house at the extreme 
end of Castle Morton Common—hornblende, labradorite, a 
little glassy felspar, epidote, and hematite. 
74._From an irregular mass a quarter of a mile from the cave, and 
to the north-east of it.—It contains hornblende, yellowish- 
red orthoclase, and felspar, with the iridescent appearance of 
labradorite. 
79._Smooth amygdaloidal trap or lava, containing epidote in vesicu- 
lar cavities, from the off-standing hill overlooking Little 
Malvern. 
91.—From the more central portion of the large trap mass over- 
looking Halley Mount—hornblende crystals, of which a few are 
annular, and brownish uncrystallised felspar. 
At the conclusion of the paper it was stated that ‘sulphate of 
baryta occurs in cavities and fissures, and as a cementing substance, 


THE MINERALS OF THE MIDLANDS. 207 


it has clearly been precipitated from a state of solution, and, being 
itself insoluble, it must have been formed by the decomposition of 
carbonate or silicate of baryta by soluble sulphates. Bisulphurets 
abound, generally as pyrites ; arseniates, south-west of the Midsummer 
Hill, and in the Ragged Stone; fluorides, in the trap dykes and lava 
beds, most abundantly in those of recent formation, as the bosses in 
the field near Fowlett’s Farm.” 


THE FLORA OF WARWICKSHIRE. 
ACCOUNT OF THE FLOWERING PLANTS AND FERNS 
OF THE COUNTY OF WARWICK. 


BY JAMES E. BAGNALL. 


(Continued from page 181.) 


ROSACEA —Continued. 
PYRUS. 

P. torminalis, Hhrh. Wild Service tree. 

Native: In hedges. Rare. June. 

I. Two or three trees in the foot road from Olton to Elmdon. 

II. On the footway to Mr. Petford’s, Alcester Park, Purt! 236. 
Claverdon, Bree, Mag. Nat. Hist., iii., 164; Great Alne; 
Oversley Wood. 

P. Aria, Hooker. Common Whitebeam. 

Native (?): In hedges and woods. Rare. June. 

I. Sutton Park, near Bracebridge and Blackroot Pools, Upper Nut- 
hurst; Marston Green. 

II. Ipsley! pointed out in several hedges about here by Mr. T. J. 
Slatter, but has not been seen in flower in this district. 
Bascott Heath; Ufton Wood; Allesley. 

I strongly doubt this tree being a native in any locality in which 
I have seen it in this county. 

P. rupicola, Syme, L.B. 

Denizen: In hedges. Very rare. June, July. 

II. A fine tree in the lane from Billesley to Red Hill, in good flower 
and fruit, 1873. I think it is an introduced plant in this 
locality. 

(P. pinnatijida. Sm. Several trees of this species near the Great 
Western Railway Station, Leamington; all, however, have 
been planted there }. 

P. Aucuparia, Gaert. Mountain Ash. 

Native: In woods and hedges. Locally common. May, June. 

I. Frequent in Sutton Park, springing up abundantly in the woods; 
New Park; Trickley; woods at Solihull, ete. 

Il. ‘It is very common in our woods here (Allesley), and, I believe, 
most other pluces.”—Rev. W. T. Bree, Purt. iii., 361, Note. 
Hatton; Haywoods! Y. and B. Oversley Wood, etc. 

P. communis, Linn. Wild Pear. 

Denizen: In woods and hedges. Rather rare. May. 

II. Great Alne! Kinwarton! Purt. i.,237. Hampton-on-the-Hill, Per. 
Fl., 43; Whitnash pastures, H. Bromwich, Herb. Brit. Mus.; 
Tachbrook, Rowington, Y. and B.; Stivichall; near Arbury, 
T. K., Phyt. i1., 990; near Arrow; Alcester; Red Hill; 
Spernall Ash; Drayton Rough Moors; Pinley; Bascott Heath ; 
near Pillerton. 


208 THE FLORA OF WARWICKSHIRE. 


This seems as truly a native in these localities as does the 
Mountain Ash or the Apple. Both the varieties are found in 
the county, but I have not always discriminated between them 
in my note book. 

P. Malus, Linn. Crab Apple or Wild Apple. 
Native: In woods and hedges. Rare and local. April, May. 
a. acerba. Local. 
I. Sutton Park; Coleshill Heath ; Solihull, etc. 
II. Near Bascott Hall, Y. and B., Bascott Heath; Bidford, etc. 
b. mitis. Rare. 
I. Near Arley Village. 
II. Beausale Common, Y. and B., near Rugby, R.S.R., 1868, 52. 
Bascott Heath ; Claverdon ; Red Hill; not unfrequent between 
Bascott Heath and Southam, 1876. 


LYTHRACEA. 


LYTHRUM. 


L, Salicaria, Linn. Purple Loosestrife. 
Native: By rivers, streams, pools, ete. Locally common. July to 
September. 
I. Sutton Park ; Middleton Park; Curdworth Bridge; Stonebridge ; 
Knowle, etc. 

Il. Emscote Bridge, Perry, Fl., 42. By the Leam and Avon, Y. and 
B. Honington, Tredington, Newb. Salford Priors! Rev. J. C., 
Stratford Canal, etc. 

[L. hyssopifolium, Linn. Occurred as a weed in the kitchen garden 
of Myton House, near Warwick, Cross. } 


PEPLIS. 


P. Portula, Linn. Water Purslune. 

Native: In pools, damp woods, and heathlands. Local. July to 
September. 

I. Coleshill Pool! Purt, i., 182. Sutton Park! Freeman, Phyt. i., 261. 
Near Chelmsley Wood; sand quarry, near Stonebridge; sand 
quarry, near Cornel’s End; drive by Chalcot Wood; 
Hartshill Hayes, etc. 

II. At the top of Spernal Lane, Purt. i, 182. Lye Green, near 
Claverdon! Y. and B. Kenilworth, H. B. Oversley Wood; 
Haywoods; Coomb Abbey Woods; Alveston Pastures, near 
Stratford-on-Avon. 


(To be continued. ) 


Mie OR OT OGY OF TR Mt Dp iA Nope. 
THE WEATHER OF JULY, 1882. 


BY CLEMENT L. WRAGGE, F.R.G.S., F.M.S., ETC. 


A cold, wet, cheerless, and unsummerlike month throughout the 
Midlands. Hay crops much retarded, ruined, or seriously damaged 
in parts of our district. 


— 


THE WEATHER OF JULY. 209 
7 es ___ RAINFALL. SHADE TEMP. 
f S| Greatest fall Absolute 
STATION. OBSERVER. es in 24 hours. Minimum 
In. | In. | Date. Deg] Date. |Deg.]|\ate. 
OUTPOST STATIONS. | 
Ben Nevis (a).... ..|C. L. Wragge, Esq., F.M.S.'9°65 | 1:60 3 53°8 82°4 24 
Fort William (a) .. .|C. L. Wragge, Esq., F.M.S./7'14 | 139 5 67'9 47°2| 7,27 
Spital Cemetery, Ca .... /I. Cartmell, Ksq., F.M.S. ..|1'66| *60 6 76°8 lagen 26 
Scarborough (a)............4. W. C. Hughes, Esq. ........ 2°74) °27 6 70'8 49°4 27 
Blackpool (a/—South Shore..|C. T.Ward.Esq., B.A.,F.M.S.|5°78 | °69 81 67°32 424 27 
Llandudno (ad) ........... wee 0. NICOL, Wsq:, MDs. .acjcsias 2°55] °43 24 700 49°2 27 
Lowestoft (a) ...... H. E. Miller, Ksq., F.M.S.../2°81] *74 ll 73°0 143°5 27 
Carmarthen (a) ..........+5. .|G. J. Hearder, Esq., M.D...|7°28| ‘81 l4 737 43°2 2! 
Altarnun, near Launceston (c)| kev. J. Power, F M.S....... 786) 139 9 75°0} 3, 14 |43°0} 27, 28 
BOmMOnth.G)) 52.0 cece sess ..|W. T. Radford, Esq., M.D.|3'48| *57 11 69°5 48:0] 27 
Les Ruettes Brayes,Guernsey |A. Collenette, Msq., F.M.S./2°82| 95 11 68°2 50°6 11 
(a) 
Guernsey (a) .... .........../F. C. Carey, Hsq., M.D...../2'84] °60 10 52°0 11 
MIDLAND STATIONS. 
HEREFORDSHIRE. 
Burghill (a) ................../T. A Chapman, Esq., M.D.|3'81| °90 1 42°7/ 31 
SHROPSHIRE. 
Woolstaston Rev. KH. D. Carr .........-/4'09| *70 11 1 |47°0| 10, 25 
Bishop's Castle .. RK. Griffiths, sq. ...... 89| *60 iL 1 410 b} 
More Rectory Rev. A. S. Male....:.... +--(4°11] 59 il 2 |40°0| 27, 31 
Dowles, near Bewdley ...... J. M. Downing, Esq. ......|8'01| °53 il 2  |38°0 20 
WORCESTERSHIRE. 
Orleton, near Tenbury (a).... |T. H. Davis, Esq., F.M.S. ..|3°50}1'32 11 416 10 
West Malvern A. H. Hartland, Isa. .. 52 | 2°30 11 46°5 9 
Evesham .... ./L. J. Slatter, Ksq., F.G.S...|8:76 | 1°12 11 46°8 81 
IELIONG eeaisieisiars (sive clcisise sisi Kk. R. Marten, sq. .... 3B°5! 89 il 44-0 28 
Stourbridge ......... seveeee |J. Jefferies, Hsq. ...... by 8 ll 410 26 
Cawney Bank, Dudley ....../C. Beale, Wsq..............- 6 il )46°U 9 
STAFFORDSHIRE, 
Dennis, Stourbridge (a)...... C.Webb, Esq. ..... wlelarsvaine : 13) 11 760 44:0 81 
GRIM GN) ciaiciae sie oe Se Capon aceite Rev. W. H. Bolton .... “92 ll 770 2 45°0|9, 26, 80 
SN Leite aciarcclelsiercrsve.sise ae N. 1K. Best, Esq. ...... 1:83 2 680 2 {47:0 v 
MMMM IRE ato arnt costa eos ate area cies J. P. Roberts, Kisq. ....... “81 il 76'0 29° 1430 26 
Burton-on-Trent (c) . .|C. U. Tripp, itsq., F.M.S. “70 28 7:0 2 410 2) 
Wrottesley (@) ... . |. Simpson, lsq. .. “88 ll 740 u 445 10 
Barlaston (a) ... |W. Scott, Esq., F.M.S. .. “51 6 IT2 2 (43-7 50 
SREMREIG), fecwcunnacie sec SBogoeh pene T. Kyves, M. *B4 11 750 2 420] 26, 80 
M.S. 
Heath House, Cheadle (a) ..|J. C. Philips, Esq., F.M.S. |3'86| ‘58 10 700 8, 4 |45°0 10 
Oakamoor, Churnet Valley (a)|Mr. J. Williams............/3°89| “50 12 73°38 41°6| 10, 11 
DERBYSHIRE. 
Stonv Middleton ...... .|Rev. U.. Smith ...... 5 “78 25 43°0 7 
Fernslope, Belper.. ‘ . |F. J. Jackson, Esq. .... 40 ll 440 27 
ERASED oa enn mynsTo 5m 6/0 (el einie J. T. Barber, Hsq.........../8°26| °d7 2 — — 
NOTTINGHAMSHIRE. 
Park Hill, Nottingham (a) ..|H.F. Johnson, Esq. ....../3°79] *Ad 13 45°7 10 
Hodsock Priory, Worksop (a)|H. Mellish, Hsq., F.M.S. ../2°41] ‘56 1b On 1 
BRIERPOEM: jclecccusisicces Stitoe ne J.N. Dutty, Wsq., F.G.S. ../2°52] °87 27 45° |1, 27, 81 
LEICESTERSHIRE. 
Loughborough (a)............|W. Berridge, Esq., F.M.S...|8°49} °55 11 45°6 7 
Syston ...... Goaspnodeoredo J. Hames, lisq....... /271) 39) 46°0 27 
Town Museum, Leicester ....|J.C. Smith, Esq. .... 336] ‘97 1l 468 10 
Ashby Magna ......... .....|/Rev. Cunon Willes .. 2°91] °79 ll 43°0| 30, 27 
Waltham-le-Wold  .......... Kdwin Bull, Esq. ..... -|3:05| *68 11 43°0 i 
Coston Rectory, Melton (a) ..|Rev. A. M. Rendell........ 2°86] “69 11 40°0 27 
WARWICKSHIRE. 
Kenilworth (a) .. ...-/F. Slade, Esq., C.E., F.M.S./8°71| °80 1 43°8 27 
Rugby School (c) .. +... /Rev. T. N. Hutchinson ....|/3°15} °89 10 446 7 
NORTHAMPLONSHIRE. 
Sedgebrooke, Northampton |C. A. Markham, Esq. ...... 4°44 | 1:20 11 42 27 
PROWTCERLOE foci cccevcces «++..|J. Webb, Isq. -/5°50 | 1°10 1L _ _ 
POMBREEAME sd ciate siacssioasesecic: (de WELLS, WAG. acces Sens oe eae tht 49°0| 1, 27 
BEDFORDSHIRE. 
Aspley Guise, Woburn (a)....|E. E. Dymond, Esq., F.M.S.|2°66 | 1°09 11 45°8 1 
OXFORDSHIRE. 
Radcliffe Observatory, Ox. (a)|The Staff ............00000e 8:16] ‘76 11 480} 1, 10 
GLOUCESTERSHIRE. 
Cheltenhain (a) ........ .s....|R. Tyrer, Esq., B.A., F.M.S./8°61 | 1°15 ll 40°4 81 


(a) At these Stations Stevenson’s Thermometer Screen is in use, and the values may be regarded 
(c) Gluisher’'s pattern of thermometer screen employed at these stations. 
New stations have been recently founded at Bedford and Stafford ; at the former place by the Bed- 
fordshire Natural History Society, at the latter by Mr. Clement L. Wragge ; and synopses of these new 
observations will appear in future numbers of the “ Midland Naturalist.” A short paper on “ Natural 


as strictly intercomparable. 


History Notes by Observers’ 


‘is intended for next Number. 


210 METEOROLOGY—CORRESPONDENCE. 


At Orleton ‘“‘the mean temperature of the month was more 
than 2 degrees below the average of 20 years, and the rainfall 
was much in excess.” Highest reading of barometer (at Kenil- 
worth) 30°43 on 27th; lowest 29:25, on the 6th. The mean amount 
of cloud was about 7:0 (scale 0 to 10), and the mean relative 
humidity 80 (saturation = 100). Southerly and westerly winds were 
very prevalent. The mean temperature of the soil at Hodsock at a 
depth of 1 foot was 60°9, and the duration of sunshine 162-8 hours. 
At Aspley Guise the duration of sunshine was 184 hours 20 minutes. 
Several thunderstorms occurred. A solar halo was noted at Lough- 
borough on the 12th. 


Correspondence. 


Paris QuaDRIFoLIA.—The correspondence in the August Number of 
the ‘‘ Midland Naturalist” is my excuse for mentioning that this plant 
is locally abundant in South Beds, usually growing on a subsoil of clay 
over chalk. It is no uncommon occurrence to find it with five or six 
leaves.—J. Saunpers, Luton. 


FonTINALIS ANTIPYRETICA.—This moss is fruiting abundantly this 
summer in some clear water ponds at Limbury, South Beds. So far 
as observed the fruiting stems are suspended almost perpendicularly 
in the water, and are attached to projecting submerged branches and 
overhanging root stumps. By carefully passing one’s hand along these 
stumps and branches the fruiting stems are easily recognised, as they 
have more scanty foliage and feel more wiry. Any of your readers 
who are interested in mosses may have a specimen by sending a 
stamped envelope to J. SaunpErs, Rothesay Road, Luton. 


MossEs NEW TO THE WARWICKSHIRE FrLora.—A short time since, when 
botanising in a wood near Maxtoke, I found Dicranwm fuscescens (Turn.) 
growing rather sparingly on the trunks of oak trees. This has not before 
been recorded for Warwickshire, and is also new as a record for Severn 
basin, i.e., Province VY. of Watson’s ‘*Compendium of the Cybele 
Britannica.” I[ also found another rare moss near Preston Bagot in 
the early part of July, namely, Orthotrichum rivulare (Turn.) This is 
new as a record for Warwickshire, and is a very interesting addition to 
our local Moss Flora.—J. E. BacGnaiu. 


HyseErnation oF Mortiusxs.—About the middle of August last (1881) 
I brought home from Pembrokeshire some specimens of Helix pisana. 
All were duly killed and cleaned except one, which was overlooked, 
and remained with some other specimens till June 18, when, on picking 
it up, meaning to clean out the supposed dry remains of the animal, 
I found that it was not dead. I at once placed it in a jar of water, 
having previously broken down the skin-like barriers of slime stretched 
across the mouth of the shell, and in a little under an hour and a 
quarter the animal crawled out of the jar, to all appearance none 
the worse for its ten months’ sleep. Everyone of course knows that 
snails retire during the winter months, appearing again with the mild 
showers of spring; but it is perhaps not so well known how quickly 
they are affected by a change in circumstances, and induced to come 


CORRESPONDENCE, 211 


forth to life and activity even after a retirement of unusually long 
duration.—O.tver V. Apiin, Banbury, Oxon., Aug., 1882. 


[The fact of mollusks being able to sustain life through long periods 
of hybernation, or to exist under conditions which would seem to an 
ordinary observer to ensure death, is well proven. The species in- 
habiting hot countries seem to be most capable of enduring long 
periods of cessation of active life. Water snails (dmpullaria) have 
been found alive after being in a drawer for five years in India; and 
South American Bulimi have been found alive after so long a period 
as twenty months in packages; and Madeiran Helices have been in 
pill boxes alive for thirty months. A specimen of Helix desertorwm 
from Egypt was fixed on a tablet in the British Museum in 1846, and 
in 1850 it was noticed that it had crawled out of its shell. It was taken 
off the tablet and immersed in tepid water, and revived thoroughly. 
Its portrait was taken, and may be seen in ‘‘ Woodward’s Manual,” a 
grand book. Australian fresh-water mussels have lived out of water 
fora year. I have known Littorina littorea keep alive in a box six 
weeks. Doubtless this is a power acquired by these creatures gradually 
through long periods of time, and under the varying conditions under 
which they are placed. A%stivation in summer Ccroughts is analogous 
+c hybernation in winter, although the action of the heart is more 
powerful in summer than in winter. To conchologists of any experi- 
ence it is known how quickly mollusca arise from their sleep, either in 
summer or winter, if the conditions of the atmosphere change—damp 
in summer, warm days in winter; and all who have observed these 
creatures abroad (tropics) have remarked how quickly, upon the occur- 
rence of rain after a dry period, the puddles become alive with snails 
and other aquatic life. In our own country it is curious to see how 
soon on the sandy dunes by the sea Helix virgata var. submaritima, and 
Bulimus acutus cover the ground in myriads after rain following hot 
days; and this has given rise to the idea that it sometimes rains snails. 
Much may be said on this matter did time permit. The incident 
related by Mr. Aplin is worthy of record as illustrating this power of 
sustaining life in a given species, and is an item of interest in its life- 
history.—G. Suerrirr Tye, Birmingham.) 


Learinc oF THE Oak anp AsH.—During the first and second weeks 
of May in the present year, the leafing of these trees was carefully 
noted. Many hundreds of them were observed in South Beds and 
North Herts, and with one exception the oak was before the ash. The 
exception was noteworthy. It was one of a row of several which were 
growing alternately with oaks. This was not only more forward in its 
leafing than the others, but more so than any of the oaks that were 
near. On a closer inspection it was observed that it was the only 
barren ash tree thereabout, and the conclusion arrived at was that, not 
having been exhausted by fruit-bearing, it was more vigorous, and 
hence unfolded its leaves under a less external stimulus. Subse- 
quently to this other trees were noted, and so far as limited 
observations were carried, the barren ash trees were more forward 
than those that had borne fruit the previous season.—J. SAUNDERS, 
Luton. 


(I think that Mr. Saunders is right in his opinion that the earlier 
leating of some of the ash trees he noticed was constitutional. I have 
noticed the same circumstances myself. In a former note, Vol. III., 
p. 145, I mentioned that some of the beeches in the lane from Duke 
Bridge, Maxtoke, were in full leaf, whilst other becches growing 80 


ny, CORRESPONDENCE. 


near them as to mingle their branches were as yet only in bud. I was 
in this lane again in the early part of this year, and again observed the 
same circumstance, and noticed, too, that the same individual trees 
showed exactly the same differences with regard to their leafing.— 
J. HK. BaGnatz. | 


Macroris Lasrara.—lIt is with very great pleasure that I am able to 
report the capture of this very rare British Bee, in fact, it is the rarest 
mentioned by the late Fred. Smith, Esq., in his intensely interesting 
‘‘ Monograph of the Bees of Great Britain,” published in 1855, and 
where he states that only three specimens (all males) were known, 
the last one captured by Samuel Stevens, Hsq., at Weybridge, July 4th, 
1842, more than forty years having passed before it has “ turned up” 
again in the same county. Ido not think I have gone out collecting 
bees in July and August without believing that I should at some time 
or other find this bee; and so firmly have I done this, that when a 
friend asked me just previous to my leaving London, ‘‘ What do you 
intend to catch when you are in the country ?” I answered, ‘‘ Macropis,” 
and this I did July 27th. I had just caught a large Halictus, on a 
thistle, and whilst holding it in my fingers I observed a bee flying 
along in a peculiar manner, quite different to anything I had yet seen. 
I did not wait to box the Halictus, but caught the other in a moment, 
feeling as I did so, that it was Macropis, though I had never seen a 
specimen in my life. I quickly examined my capture with my pocket 
lens, and positively started when I found the wings had but two sub- 
marginal-cells (most bees have three) ; but not feeling quite sure, I 
handed the bee to my friend, Sir Sidney Smith Saunders, who was 
with me at the time, and he immediately confirmed it, saying, ‘‘ Why, 
it’s Macropis!” After this I pill-boxed my grand capture, and though 
we searched the locality for some time, uo more were seen that day; 
but on the 29th I visited it again, standing in exactly the same spot 
for over 24 hours, watching most intently for anything passing, and I 
was rewarded by catching four males in succession, then a most 
lovely female. All were flying very rapidly over a patch of Wild 
Peppermint, but 1 cannot say whether they had any desire to alight 
thereon, as I did not give them time to consider. I may here mention 
that I would advise anyone desirous of capturing any rarity in a known 
locality to stand still and watch rather than walk up and down 
disturbing the flowers, for I have observed that bees (like ants) have 
their ‘‘runs,” passing and repassing the same flowers in their rapid 
flight. Since the above dates I have taken several more specimens 
collecting pollen from the beautiful Great Loosestrife Lysimachia 
vulgaris, which grows somewhat plentifully in the neighbourhood of 
Woking Station, and next season I hope to find the burrows, and also 
a few facts in the economy of this beautiful and rare bee. Mr. Bridgman 
took specimens of Macropis in the neighbourhood of Norwich some few 
years ago.—F rep. Enocx, Ferndale, Woking Station. 


Notres rromM MerRIoNrTHsHIRE.—I recently observed that in the 
process of draining a peat-bog in this neighbourhood (Llanbedr, 
Merionethshire) a number of boulders had been taken out from a 
trench, varying in size from one or two hundredweight downwards, 
and that others remained, all being white, and presenting an appear- 
ance as if they had been whitewashed. A fracture of the stone showed 
that the change of colour penetrated only to the depth of about the 
tenth of an inch, below which the metamorphic rock presented its 
usual blue or green appearance. The occurrence is, I apprehend, not 


CORRESPONDENCE—REPORTS. pits 


unusual, but I never noticed it so pronounced before; nor do I 
remember to have seen any explanation’ of the chemical change that 
has taken place, though that may be due to my want of knowledge. 
That oxidation has taken place, and that the humus acids of the peat 
may have been the cause, is all that I can suggest ; but this of itself is 
interesting when we consider how very: much longer the same rocks 
may remain buried in ordinary earth or clay; for example, in a 
moraine, of which there are so many instances near at hand, with almost 
no evidence of chemical action.—In common with, I believe, many 
of my moderately observant countrymen, I was under the impression 
. that pigs evinced a decided objection to enter cold water, unless it was 
only a few inches deep, and had at least the consistency of pea-soup. 
What was then my astonishment the other day, when fishing in the 
River Artro, Merionethshire, to see a fine young porker rush to the 
bank and take a header into a not very deep but very rapid stream. 
It was soon evident that he intended to make his way across, and, 
helped by the boulders, he gradually got nearer the other side. Once 
he was carried swiftly down, and, knowing the dangers below, I thought 
he was a lost pig; but a rock fortunately pulled him up, and at last he 
reached the opposite bank, and, crossing a second smaller stream, he 
cantered up amongst the trees, evidently with some object in view. 
According to the old stor y, pigs cut their throats when swimming down 
the tide. Ihave not the quotation at hand, but this is doubtless a 
libel, as most of our quadrupeds can swim. In this case he may have 
first ventured when the water was lower.—In the same river, on the 
same day, a small flatfish was taken with a worm at least a mile and 
a half beyond, and perbaps a hundred feet above tidal influence. This 
may not be extraordinary, but it seemed to me worthy of a note. The 
creature does not look ‘‘cut out” for ascending rapids, however little 
difficulty a salmon may find in doing so.—On the neighbouring rugged 
mountain of Rhinog-fawr there are numerous wild goats. It is the 
custom to hunt these down with the active sheep dogs. When one is 
singled out he is generally driven to take refuge on a very inaccessible 
ledge, and a man is let down with a rope to secure him. There are, I 
believe, very few wild goats left besides these in North Wales.—In the 
same district I was told that kites were numerous. I did not see ¢ any, 
but should have been glad to catch sight of those noble Lirds. 
Buzzards were plentiful, and I think these must be mis-called kites.— 
W. Sovran. 


Aeports of Societies. 


BIRMINGHAM NATURAL HISTORY AND MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETY.— 
GEOLOGICAL SEcTION—July 25.—The following exhibits were made:—Mr. J. 
Morley: Apiocystis Brauniana; and, on behalf of Miss Taunton,some eggs of the 
common snake from Stockbridge. Mr. W. Southall: Alliwm vineali, with 
viviparous buds (gemm) taking the place of flowers, and Euphorbia cyparissias, 
with proliferous flowers. Mr. C. Mantell, jun.: a microscopic section of rock 
cut from specimens brought from the Pre-Cambrian rocks near Nuneaton at the 
last excursion of the Geological Section; also some pebbles from California, 
near Harborne, showing the glacial strizw very well. Mr. E. Wagstaff: Frederi- 
cella Sultana, from near Harborne. Mr. R. W. Chase: Carduus nutans, Erythea 
centaureum, Spirea fillipendula, Lychnis Githago and Calaumintha acinos. all 


214 REPORTS OF SOCIETIES. 


from Hunstanton, near St. Edmund's, Norfolk. GrnuRAL Mrrtine — August 
1st.—Mr. J. Levick exhibited Leptodora hyalina from the Warwick Canal, near 
Solihull; also Actinophrys viridis and many Desmids from Sutton Park.—Mr. 
T. Bolton exhibited Lucernariu auricula from Swanage.—Mr. Wagstaff exhibited, 
as novel, the suckers of Dyticus marginalis, mounted dry while adhering to the 
cover-glass.—Mr, R.W. Chase exhibited Sulicornia herbacea, from Hunstanton.— 
Mr. W. B. Grove exhibited two Fungi, Hpichloé typhina, a curious parasite on 
grass-stems, from Hampton. It surrounds the stem just at the base of the 
upper leaf, preventing its further growth, and causing it to reseinble in miniature 
the Reed-mace (Typha). It is at first white, then yellow, and about an inch in 
length. Also Spherella rumicis, a common parasite on dock leaves, from 
Harborne. BroLoGicAL SEcTIoN—August 15th.—Mr. Wagstaff exhibited a fresh- 
water Alga from Barnt Green, which he believed to be a species of Cheetophora. 
—Mr. W. H. Wilkinson exhibited a slide of stellate hairs of Dewtzia scabra, pre- 
pared by Dr. J. G. Hunt, of Philadelphia, U.S.A. GmENERAL MEETING—August 
22nd—The President and Hon. Treasurer were appointed to represent the 
Society at the forthcoming meeting of the British Association at Southampton. 
—Mr. H. Miller exhibited Lacinularia socialis from Welshpool, forwarded by Mr. 
H. E. Forrest.—Mr. J. Levick exhibited Hzmatococcus, or the red stage of 
Protococcus, anda group of Stephanoceros Hichornii from Earlswood.—Mry. J. 
Morley exhibited Raphidia viridis, var. Marginata, from HEarlswood. 


BANBURYSHIRE NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY AND FIELD CLUB— 
July 1st—Frri.p DAY—EXCURSION TO AYNHO AND RAINSBOROUGH CAMP.—From 
Aynho station the party walked up the hill to the village, passing on their way 
over the Middle Lias, the Upper Lias, a clay nearly 100 feet thick, and a few feet 
of the sandy Inferior Oolite. Here they were joined by the Rev. E. W. and Miss 
Urquhart. A halt was made at an exposure of the lower beds of the Great 
Oolite, about fifteen feet in thickness, which are here seen to rest upon a little 
grey sand belonging to the Estuarine beds. Farther on a quarry of similar 
stone was noticed, but the junction with the sand is not reached. Many fossils, 
especially the fine Rhynchonellas, were obtained. A sand-pit of the Inferior 
Oolits was then visited, after which the party walked to Rainsborough Camp, 
collecting specimens of the Wild Liquorice (Astragalus glycyphyllos) by the way. 
This camp, which is unusually perfect, is situated on high ground, nearly 500 ft. 
above the sea, half a mile south of Charlton. It is of an irregular form, the 
longest diameter of the outer vallum being about 1,000 feet. Many remains have 
been found, but all of the time of the Romans. July 3rd—MoNTHLY MEETING— 
Mr. T. Beesley, F.C.S., President, in the chair.—The President read his Meteoro- 
logical Report for June. Mean height of barometer at 32°, 29°543 in.; highest on 
the 1st, 29°996 in.; lowest on the 9th, 29:037. Mean temperature, 56°‘1 (2° below 
average); maximum on the 29th, 72°5; minimum on the 17th, 40°. Rain on 
twenty-two days, amounting to 5'42 in., 2°04 in. being measured on the 22nd.— 
Mr. J. W. Symington read a paper on the Gape-worm (Scelerostoma syngamus), 
illustrated by drawings of the perfect insect and its worm-like larva. He 
gave a life-history of the insect, and described it minutely. The means of 
guarding against and destroying this pest of the chicken yard were carefully 
dealt with. The thanks of the meeting were unanimously accorded to Mr. 
Symington for his eminently practical and useful paper.—Mr. R. Charles 
Humfrey read a paper on the Caddis Worm. He said it was the larva of 
a trichopterous fly belonging to the natural order Phryganeide. A descrip- 
tion of the worm followed, showing its reasons for building a portable home 
as a protection, etc. The cases of all the known British species were treated of, 
the way in which the homes are built, the materials they are composed of, and 
the silky secretions used as a cement being fully discussed. The species described 
were Phryganea grandis, Limnephilus pellucidus, L. rhombicus, L. flavicornis, 
L. lunatus, Anabolia nervosa, Molana angustata, Sericostoma, and Setodes, good 
specimens of which were exhibited—all collected in the vicinity of Banbury 


REPORTS OF SOCIETIES. BUS 


within a few days of the meeting. Mention was also made of the way in which 
the larva could be forced to leave its home uninjured, and, being placed in a 
saucer of water with coloured beads, etc., its mode of building could be watched. 
A fine specimen of L. flavicornis thus engaged was shown. The paper was 
replete with interesting matter, Mr. Humfrey being warmly applauded at its 
conclusion.—Mr. S. Stutterd gave an account of two species of Smynthurus 
which he had lately noticed on Snap-dragons, illustrating his remarks by 
specimens under the microscope, and by drawings. He also exhibited living 
specimens of Smynthwrus luteus and S. pallipes, which at that time were 
abundant in gardens on the leaves of Snap-dragons and Phloxes. They are small 
insects of about 1°33 of an inch in length.—The President read a report of an 
excursion which some of the members had lately made to Stonesfield, Oxon, for 
the purpose of examining the beds of limestone yielding the well-known 
calcareous slates which still cover the roofs of many of the older houses in the 
town, and of collecting the rare snails for which the neighbourhood is famous, 
and the plants which love a limestone soil. The report contained much interest- 
ing matter. Lists of the various objects collected were on the table.—Mr. W. J. 
Patey exhibited specimens of, and read a note on, Cephalanthera grandiflora, 
which he had recently discovered near Faniborough, and which was new to the 
district. This is an Oxfordshire habitat, the beech copse in which the plant 
grew being just over the boundary.— The President exhibited Hesperis 
matronalis from Newbottle Spinney; Mr. R. C. Humfrey—l7 species of land 
shells collected at Stonesfield, amongst which were Helix pomatia, H. cantiana, 
H. caperata, H. pulchella, and Clausilia laminata; the President and Mr. 
BE. A. Walford, F.G.S.—chayracteristic fossils from the ~tonesfield beds; Mr. 
O. V. Aplin—Uredo saxifragarum, from Wroxton (new to the district), Geranium 
pusillum (rare in the neighbourhood), and plants collected at Stonesfield. 
July 3lst—MonTHLY Mrrrinc—My. T. Beesley, F.G.S., President, in the chair.— 
The President read his Meteorological Report for July. Mean height of baro- 
meter at 32°, 29°553; highest on the 27th, 30:065; lowest on the 15th, 29°028. Mean 
temperature, 60°.6 (0°.5 below average); max. on 2nd and 3rd, 75°; min. on the 8th, 
47°5. Rain fell on 2! days, amounting to 4°29 inches; thunder and lightning on 
the 2nd and 8th; hail on 7th and 8th. The abundance of weeds was mentioned, 
especially in the hedges, thistles and grasses almost hiding them. The weather 
was very unfavourable for hay-making.—The Rev. C. J. Bowen gave a most 
interesting account of “An afternoon in the Catacombs on the Appian Way.” 
He first commented upon the fact of the Appian Way being a continuation of 
the old Roman Watling Street which traverses England. It was the custom of 
the Romans to raise monuments to their dead by the wayside. Though, he said, 
a few of the Pagans buried their dead, yet such was an exceptional method: the 
bodies were burned, and the ashes were placed in brazen vases in tombs, called 
Columbarii. The columbarii were descended into by steps, and the little 
recesses in which the vases were placed were easily distinguishable from the 
square stone shelves used by the early Christians. The tombs were cutinakind 
of volcanic rock, called tufa granulare. The catacomb of San Calixto, so 
frequently visited, was only one of the many which surround Rome: there were 
reckoned to be from 500 to 600 miles of such mortuary subterranean passages. 
The longitudinal recesses in which the nterments were made were closed with 
tiles, which generally bore the brand of the reign in which they were manu- 
factured. The Cubiculi were often beautifully painted and decorated. So it was 
possible to determine not only the date of the tomb, but also, by aid of the 
designs and inscriptions, to find out what kind of martyrdom ennobled the occu- 
pants of these altar-tombs. Fastened to the cement of the loculi were found 
little bottles which had contained small portions of the blood of the martyrs. 
There were also in these recesses little oratories used by the early Christians with 
cemented roofs, in many cases beautifully decorated, those of the first century 
being the finest, those of subsequent date having been designed during the decline 
of art. Mr. Bowen exhibited some magnificently illustrated quarto volumes 
descriptive of the ground he had visited. The lecture was the first of a series. 
A warm vote of thanks to Mr. Bowen was passed. — Mr. E. A. Walford, F.G.5., 


216 REPORTS OF SOCIETIES. 


read a short paper on “ Naticu cincta, its surface-markings and variations in 
growth.” The characteristic feature of the shell was said to be the enormous 
increase in size of the lower or body whorl as compared with the spire. He 
pointed out two varieties, the one almost a counterpart of Phillip’s type species, 
the other variety having waved lines passing from the summit to the base of the 
whorls. The top of the whorls showed a deep channel and traces of encircling 
lines. The waved lines were instanced as disappearing towards the mouth of 
the shell, where the thickness of the test was reduced to one millimetre, and 
where the ordinary lines of growth were noticeable as being distinct from the 
waved lines.—The President exhibited a specimen of a species of grass (Bromus) 
which had attained the height of seven feet.—Mr. O. V. Aplin exhibited living 
examples of the Natterjack (Bufo calamita, Buon.), originally from Surrey, but 
lately purchased in Seven Dials and sent to him. 


OSWESTRY AND WELSHPOOL NATURALISTS’ FIELD CLUB AND 
ARCH OLOGICAL SOCIETY.—On Thursday, July 6th, there was an excursion 
of this Society in the neighbourhood of Talerddig. The party arrived at Carno 
Station at 1 p.m., and followed the course of the River Carno up to Talerddig. 
Here they took refuge from a heavy thunder shower. ‘This is the highest point 
of the Cambrian Railway. They then descended the great cutting which passes 
through beds of hard stone with layers of shale, on which are seen some good 
impressions of ancient wave-lines. This formation belongs to the Lower 
Silurian strata, but there is an absence of lime. About half way down the 
cutting there is a remarkable example of a natural arch or anticlinal ridge of 
strata on either side of the line, but the best is on the left hand. At this point 
the Lower Silurian beds give place to the Upper Silurian. A little lower down 
the party left the railway, and ascended the hills to the left, on the top of which 
there are some Druidic(?) remains consisting of four stones forming a square, 
called Lled Croen’r Yet, and not far off a perfect circle, about thirty yards in 
diameter, called Cerrig Caerau, and still farther on a smaller circle, called the 
Carnedd, the inner space of the latter being filled up with loose stones. Here 
there was a glorious view of the fine valley of the Twymyn, with Plynlimmon, 
Cader, and the Arans in the distance. They then descended the hill to Llan- 
brynmair, and walked down the valley to the Wynnstay Arms, where they did 
justice to an excellent tea. Among the plants found we may mention the small 
Butterfly Orchis (Habenaria bifolia); the blue and yellow Mountain Pansy 
(Viola lutea, with var. amend); a white Foxglove, and three species of the 
genus Lycopodium—clavatum, inundatuwm, and selago.—The next excursion 
of this Society was on Tuesday, August 15th. Meeting at Broxton Station in 
Cheshire, the party ascended the Broxton hills, and had a magnificent view from 
the summit, extending over the plain of Cheshire to the Mersey and the Dee on 
the one side, and to the Welsh hiils on the other. They explored some caves in 
the sandstone rock, said to be old workings for copper ; and then went on to 
Fowler’s Bench, the head of a picturesque ravine, commanding a beautiful peep 
at the distance. Here they entered the grounds of Peckforton Castle, and pro- 
ceeded along a grassy drive through the woods to the castle, over which they 
were shown by the kind permission of Lord Tollemache. Next they visited a 
well in the gardens at the foot of the hill, called Horsley Bath, and supposed to 
be of Roman construction. They then went on to Beeston Castle, the ruins of 
which crown an isolated hill, very precipitous on three sides, and only ap- 
proachable up the steep slope to the south. This castle was built by Ranulph, 
Earl of Chester, about the year 1200. It was very strong, and supplied with 
water from a well within the keep, said to have been 160 yards deep. In the 
Civil war the castle was besieged by the Parliamentary forces under Colonel 
Jones. The party returned home from Tattenhall station after a very pleasant 
excursion. There were no very rare botanical finds, but we may mention the 
Climbing Corydalis, Water Purslane (Peplis portula), Slender Cudweed (Filago 
minima ,and the Golden-rod (Solidago virgaured). 


i 

i 

i fed at 
Pe 
# 
& 
sae 
S 

} % 

re Ne 

i 

Hi 

i 


Bent ee ed eed 


IR 
Ea 
a 
] 
u 
t 
i 
i v 
i: Hy 
i nc 
" " 
1 1 
" i 
it 0 
4 1) 
H t 
; HH 
Hh ' 
it t 
i 6) 
* i 
i + 
t n 
HH Mt 
“ tf 
H 4 : 
4 tb 
‘ it ig 
tt 
2 uM 
' hy 
; Ht 
, u 
‘ W¥GFS se Ane 
ve . 
‘ 4 ‘ 
\ ay 
\ We ’ 
‘ » { 
aN 
\ Ys i 
‘ ‘, 
\ OF 
. ANG ix 
. wf 
Se Ns. 


AM Marshall & W.P. Marshall del. 


Pilate IV. 


Fig. 6. c Dorsal 


ay 


VIRGUDLARIA MIRA Bmians. 


Sin) 
y 


F. Huth Lith Edint 


REPORT ON THE PENNATULIDA. O17 


REPORT ON THE PENNATULIDA 


COLLECTED IN THE OBAN DREDGING EXCURSION 
OF THE BIRMINGHAM NATURAL HISTORY AND 
MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETY, JULY, 1881. 


BY A. MILNES MARSHALL, M.A., D.SC., PROFESSOR OF ZOOLOGY 
IN OWENS COLLEGE, AND W. P. MARSHALL, M.I.C.E. 


(Continued from page 202.) 


PART I11.—Vircutaria mirasinis. Lamarck. 

Of Virgularia mirabilis there were obtained— 

a. Seven living specimens, varying in length from six to ten inches. 

b. Two bare stems, of three and:six inches length respectively. 

The specimens were dredged at four spots: (1) off Dunollie Castle 
(Station I. of the General Report of the Dredging Excursion) ; (2) mid- 
way between Lismore Point and the mainland (Station III.) ; (3) the 
southern end of Kerrera Sound (Station IV.); and (4) off Lismore 
Point (Station VI.). In the first of these localities Virgularia was 
taken in company with Pennatula; and in the second and fourth with 
Funiculina. In all four cases the depth was about twenty fathoms, 
and the bottom mud. 


DESCRIPTION OF THE FicurEs IN Puate LY. 


Fig. lis reduced from a drawing made from the specimen in the Glasgow 
Museum, referred to in the text as the only specimen at present known to be 
perfect at the top. The dotted outline of the stalk has been copied from a figure 
by Dalyell. Figs.3 and 4 are drawn direct with the camera from one of the Oban 
specimens. Figs. 5,6, and 7 are constructed from separate camera drawings of 
the several parts shown, the preparations in all cases being from one of the 


Oban specimens. 
Alphabetical List of References. 


a. Rachis. | 0. Mesentery. 
b. Stalk. | ov, Egg of Entomostracon, embedded 
ec. Stem. in mesenterial filament. 
d. Polype. p. Retractor muscle. 
ad. Leaf. } ». Short mesenterial filament. 
dr. Rudimentary polype. s. Long mesenterial filament. 
e. Zooid. t. Ovum. 
& Tentacle. w. Main canals of rachis. 
0. Foreign body, swallowed as food. v. Small canals of rachis. 
g. Calyx. ve. Radial canals. 
h. Cavity in calyx. w. Ectoderm. 
im. Longitudinal muscles of rachis. a. Mesoderm. 
m,. Mouth. y. Endoderm. 


nn. Stomach. 


Fig. 1.—View of an entire specimen of Vi: gu’a'ia: the rachis drawn from the 
specimen in the Glasgow Museum, and the stalk copied from a figure by Dalyell, 
The figures along the left-hand side of the rachis indicate the pitch of the leaves 
at the points opposite which they are placed. ‘Thus the top figure (48) 
indicates that at this point the leaves occur at the rate of 48 perinch. x 3. 

Fig. 2.—The stem of the specimen in Fig. 1, drawn partly from actual 
measurements, and the lower part added from figures by Dalyell, and Koren 
and Danielssen. X 4. 

Fig. 3.—Dorsal view of a small portion of the rachis of one of the Oban 
specimens, showing one pair of leaves and part of a second pair, with the rachis 
connecting them. Shows clearly the characteristic bending upwards of the 
ventral angles of the leaves. X 6. 

Fig. 4.—Ventral view of the same specimen as in Fig. 3. Shows the bare 
ventral surface of the rachis; the mode of attachment of the leaves to the 
rachis; and the fusion of the polypes to form the leaves. X 6. 

Fig. 5—A transverse section of the rachis about its middle, with the whole of 
one leat and the base of its fellow of the opposite side. Shows structure of 


218 REPORT ON THE PENNATULIDA. 


As with Pennatula and Funiculina, so also with Virgularia, we have 
found the existing descriptions and figures to be very incomplete and, 
with few exceptions, inaccurate as well. English zoologists have 
hitherto been specially culpable in this respect. Virgularia has long 
been known to be abundant at many places along the Scotch coast, 
and yet the stock figure of this genus given in English books at the 
present day is not taken from a British specimen at all, but is copied 
from a figure by O. F. Miiller in his ‘ Zoologia Danica,” published in 
1776. This figure, the first ever published from a living specimen, and 
which in its original form is imperfect and unsatisfactory, has been 
copied and recopied, losing at each operation something of what 
truthfulness it originally possessed, until it has culminated in the 
absolutely unrecognisable travesty given in Gosse’s ‘‘ Marine Zoology,” 
or, worse still, in Nicholson’s ‘‘ Manual of Zoology,” a drawing which a 
moment’s glance at an actual specimen would have shown to be 
absolutely false. 

Partly in the hope of remoying this national reproach, and partly 
in the endeavour to utilise to the best advantage the specimens so 
freely placed at our disposal by the Birmingham Natural History 
Society, we have been led to attempt as complete a description of the 
anatomy of Virgularia, as the imperfect histological preservation 
of our material has permitted, and to illustrate our description by 
figures drawn with the camera from the objects themselves. 


GENERAL AccoUNT. 

In general appearance, as shown in Plate IV., Fig. I., Virgularia is 
in many respects intermediate between Funiculina and Pennatula ; for 
while it has the slender shape and proportions of the former (c7. Plate L., 
Fig. 1.), it agrees with the latter in that the polypes, instead of being 
inserted separately and independently into the rachis, are fused 
together so as to form leaves (cf. Plate III., Fig. 1). 

As in the other two genera, so also in Virgularia, we distinguish a 
cylindrical axial portion traversed by a central calcareous stem, and 
divisible intoan upper part, the rachis (Fig. 1. a) bearing the polypes, 
and a lower part or stalk (Fig. 1. b), which has no polypes, and is in the 
natural condition planted in the sea bottom. 

Concerning the stalk, however, the Oban specimens tell us nothing, 
for they are all broken short either at the junction of the stalk and 


rachis, with the stem, main canals, radial canals, and zooids; also the structure 
of the individual polypes, and their relations to one another and to the rachis. 
The most dorsal polype is represented entire; the others as if bisected 
horizontally. The several polypes are drawn in different degrees of expansion 
or retraction to show the alterations produced thereby in the arrangement of 
the parts, and especially in the calyx. X 14. 

Fig. 6.—Transverse section through the lower end of the rachis, showing the 
stem, main canals, radial canals, rudimentary polypes; and the ova, both 
mature and developing. X 18. 

Fig. 7A series of three transverse sections through different parts of 
polypes. The uppermost section passes through the base of the retracted 
tentacles, and through the csophageal portion of the stomach. The middle 
section passes through the mesenterial filaments just below the stomach, and 
shows the arrangement of the filaments in a set of two long ones and a set of six 
short ones. The lower section passes through the body-cavity below the short 
mesenterial filaments; it shows the two long filaments and the six ridge-like 
mesenteries which bear higher up the short filaments. X 24, 


REPORT ON THE PENNATULIDA. 219 


rachis, or else some distance above this point. More than this, in 
addition to this imperfection at the lower end, all the specimens are 
imperfect at the upper end also. 

All seven of the Oban specimens are, indeed, only fragments: in all 
cases both the tops and the stalks are wanting; in four specimens 
the fracture at the lower end has taken place at the junction of stalk 
and rachis; while in the remaining three it has occurred somewhat 
higher up, in the lower part of the rachis. 

This mutilated condition of the specimens of Virgularia is a very 
interesting point. It might at first be thought that the Birmingham 
Society had for some reason or other been exceptionally unlucky, but 
this is not the case. The concurrent testimony of all naturalists who 
have dredged or described Virgularia mirabilis agrees in showing that 
this mutilation is not exceptional, but is on the contrary the almost 
invariable rule. Dalyell, writing on this point, says :—‘‘ Neither can 
I certify from what I myself have seen, or from the narrative of others, 
that in this country it has occurred entire and unmutilated on any 
occasion whatever. I have not had the good fortune of finding a 
representation of it in the perfect state ;*’* and Koélliker, our greatest 
authority on the whole group of Pennatulida, remarks, that of V. mirabilis 
a perfect unmutilated specimen has never yet been seen.+ 

Specimens with the lower end or stalk complete are very rare, but 
a certain number have been described and figured by Dalyell, Kélliker, 
and others. No description has yet appeared, so far as we can 
ascertain, of a specimen with the upper end perfect, and Kdélliker ex- 
pressly states that he hasnever seenone. We have had the good fortune 
to find one such specimen in the Glasgow University Museum, believed 
to have been dredged off the west coast of Scotland, but with the 
exact locality and date of capture unrecorded. Though perfect at the 
top, this specimen, which is nine inches in length, is only a partial 
exception to the general rule concerning mutilation, for it is broken off 
below at what appears to be the usual place, the junction of rachis 
and stalk. 

From this Glasgow specimen, which will be more fully described 
further on, the upper part of Fig. 1 has been drawn; i.e., the rachis 
with its leaves of polypes. The stalk in this figure is copied from a 
figure given by Dalyell, and is indicated with dotted lines, as we have 
not ourselves had an opportunity of seeing it. 

The almost invariable mutilation which specimens of Virgularia 
undergo is certainly a point of great interest, more especially as it does 
not appear to affect either of the two allied genera, Funiculina and 
Pennatula, which are found living side by side with it, and may be 
brought up in the same haul of the dredge. We shall return to this 
point further on. 

The polypes, as already noticed, are fused together to form leaves, 


* Dalyell: ‘Rare and Remarkable Animals of Scotland,” 1848, Vol. IL., p. 181 
} Kolliker: Aleyonarien, 1872, p. 190. 


220 REPORY ON THE PENNATULIDA. 


and these leaves are placed in pairs along the whole length of the rachis 
(Fig. 1); the leaves in the middle of the rachis being further apart, 
and also rather larger than those at the two ends, but the difference in 
size being altogether insignificant in comparison with what occurs in 
Pennatula (cf. Pl. IL., Fig. 1). 

As in the two other genera, we distinguish in the rachis dorsal and 
ventral surfaces, the latter (Fig. 4) characterised by being bare and 
free from polypes along its whole length. 

Imbedded in the rachis at the bases of the leaves are the zooids or 
rudimentary polypes, shown in Fig. 5 e. 

The soft parts of Virgularia, contrary to what occurs in Funiculina 
and Pennatula, are completely destitute of spicules, calcification being 
limited to the axial rod or stem. 


AnatomicaL DESCRIPTION. 

1.—The Stalk and Rachis.— 

The stalk (Fig. 1, b), as we have seen, is not present in any of the 
Oban specimens. From the descriptions and figures given by Dalyell,* 
Kolliker,t and Sars,t it appears that in the few specimens in which it 
has been preserved the stalk is cylindrical, with a slightly bulbous 
extremity ; the dilated part, asin ?ennatula, having much thinner walls 
than the rest. 

The stalk is described as of considerable length, very much longer 
relatively to the whole colony than is the case in Funiculina. Dalyell 
figures a specimen in which the stalk is 84in. long;* and both Dalyell 
and Kolliker agree in representing the lower end of the stalk as bent 
up in the manner we have represented in Fig. 1. 


The longitudinal canals of the rachis are prolonged down the stalk, 
according to Kélliker. In its upper part there are four main canals— 
dorsal, ventral, and two lateral; but inthe lower part the lateral canals 
disappear, and the dorsal and ventral alone remain. 


The rachis is widest at its lower end, where the polype leaves are 
either absent or very rudimentary (Figs. land 6). As we pass upwards 
and the leaves get bigger, the rachis at first diminishes in width some- 
what rapidly (Fig. 1), but having attained a diameter of about 0-045in. 
it preserves this tolerably uniformly along the greater part of its 
length, tapering again gradually towards the upperend. Itis traversed 
throughout its length by four main longitudinal canals (Figs. 5 and 6 u), 
one of which is dorsal, one ventral, and two lateral; these canals, as 
noticed above, extending down into the stalk. 

The outer surface of the rachis is an epithelial layer forming 
the ectoderm; and the main canals have an epithelial endodermal 
lining. The rest of the substance of the rachis consists of mesoderm : 
this 1s very thin opposite the bases of the leaves, as seen in the 


* Dalyell: op. cit., Plate XLIIL., Fig. 7. 
+ K6élliker: op. cit., Taf. XV., Fig. 104. 
' Sars: “ Fauna littoralis Norvegix.” 


REPORT ON THE PENNATULIDA. 


221 


left-hand side of Fig.5; but is of some thickness between the leaves, 
as shown in the right-hand side of the same figure. It is traversed 
by a network of very fine canals, and contains also definitely arranged 
muscular fibres. These latter are chiefly longitudinal in direction: 
they form a well-defined layer, with a crenated outline when seen 
in transverse section, running along the dorsal surface of the rachis a 
short distance below the surface epithelium (Fig. 6, 1 m), and a similar 
layer along the ventral surface, shown in the same figure. In the 
stalk, according to Kélliker’s descriptions and figures, there is a con- 
tinuous sheath of muscle extending all round; but in the rachis this 
sheath is interrupted at the sides by the polypes, and so loses its 
regular arrangement. The dorsal and ventral portions remain, as we 
have just seen, unaltered, but the lateral portions are much changed : 
they persist in part as the protractor and retractor muscles of the 
polypes (Fig. 6, p). 

A deeper set of longitudina! muscles is developed in the lower part 
of the rachis in connection with the inner ends of the polype cavities: 
it is shown in Fig. 6. 

The polype cavities communicate with the lateral canals, as shown 
in the right-hand side of Fig. 6; but this connection appears only to 
take place towards the bottom of the rachis. Through its means ova 
are enabled to pass from the polypes into the lateral canals. 


On the ventral side of the rachis, and along its whole length, there 
is found a curious system of tubes, which we propose to speak of as the 
radial canals. These form two lateral masses (Figs. 5 and 6, v. c¢.) 
imbedded in the mesoderm on either side of the main ventral canal, 
each mass consisting of a number of branching tubes of tolerably 
uniform diameter, lined by a single layer of short columnar epithelial 
cells, which stain very readily with logwood or other colouring reagents. 
At intervals these tubes can be distinctly seen in transverse sections of 
the rachis to open into the main ventral canal, and such openings are 
shown in both Figs. 5 and 6. 


Just before reaching the main canal the tubes are slightly con- 
stricted, and their epithelial lining suddenly changes its character, 
and becomes conyerted into the much flatter epithelium of the main 
canals. At their outer ends the radial canals can sometimes be traced 
into continuity with a system of very fine canals with no distinct 
epithelial lining, which branch in an irregular way through the meso- 
derm of the rachis, and communicate both with the polype cavities and 
with the main canals of the rachis,and which clearly correspond to the 
fine nutrient canals traversing the mesoderm of both Funiculina and 
Pennatula. 

This system of ventral or radial canals has been described carefully 
by Kélliker in the genus Halisceptrum,* in which its main characters 
and relations appear to be the same as in Virgularia, though differing 


* Kolliker:: op, cit., pp. 169, 170, 


299 REPORT ON THE PENNATULIDA. 


in some points of detail. We are in much doubt concerning the 
function of these canals. Kolliker says they are to be regarded as a 
modification of the nutrient canals, and possibly subserving some 
special function. The epithelium lining them has a very glandular 
appearance, and, bearing in mind their position at the points of com- 
munication between, on the one hand, the fine canal system which 
penetrates the mesoderm in all directions, and 1s in communication 
with the polype cavities, and, on the other hand, the main canal 
system of the rachis and stalk, it has occurred to us that they may 
very possibly be excretory organs and act as kidneys, separating effete 
matters from the fluid in the fine nutrient canals, and discharging it 
into the main canal system. This view derives some slight support 
from the fact that in more than one case we have seen small collections 
of débris over the orifices from the radial canals into the main canal, 
which were apparently being discharged from the former into the latter. 


The chief difficulty in assigning this or indeed any other important 
function to this system of canals, lies in the fact that they are found only 
in certain members of the Pennatulida. They are present in Virgularia 
and Halisceptrum; but Pennatula and Funiculina have no trace of them. 
They can have nothing to do with the ova, for they are far too small 
to admit them; neither, so far as our observations go, do ova ever 
occur in the main radial canal, though, as we have seen, they do pass 
into the lateral canals. 


2.—The Stem.— 

The stem or calcareous axis of the rachis and stalk (Figs. 2, 3, 4,5, 
and 6, c), is cylindrical, firmly calcified, and brittle. According to 
Dalyell it contains as much as 85 per cent. of mineral matter, chiefly 
carbonate and phosphate of lime, and only 15 per cent. of animal 
matter. 

Not only does the stem of Virgularia differ from that of Pennatula 
or Funiculina in its greater brittleness, but the proportions at various 
parts of its length are also very different. Both in Pennatula and 
Funiculina the stem is thickest at or just above the junction of the stalk 
and rachis, from which point it tapers both upwards and downwards, 
ending at both ends in fine, imperfectly calcified, and very flexible points 
(vide Pl.1., Fig. 2, and Pl. IIIL., Fig.8). In Funiculina the stem extends 
the whole length of the colony, while in Pennatula the stem reaches the 
bottom of the stalk, but stops short some distance from the top of the 
rachis. In Pennatula it is also bent back on itself at both ends in the 
form of a hook. 


In Virgularia the stem (Fig. 2) extends the whole length of the 
colony. In the stalk, according to Dalyell, Kélliker, and Koren and 
Danielssen, the stem tapers gradually downwards, ending in a fine 
flexible point, which reaches to the bottom of the bulbous termination 
of the stalk, and then turns back on itself for a short distance, ending 
in a small hook, much as in Pennatula. In the rachis, starting 
from below at its junction with the stalk, the stem at first enlarges 


REPORT ON THE PENNATULIDA. 223 


slightly, attaining its maximum diameter at about the point marked ¢ in 
Fig. 2; above this point it diminishes in size, but very gradually, 
remaining of considerable thickness throughout the length of the 
rachis, and ending at its top in an abruptly truncated extremity. 


In the Oban specimens the diameter of the stem at its widest part 
varies from 0:026in. to 0:050in.; at its upper end, which, it must be 
remembered, is imperfect in all the specimens, from 0-016in. to 0-039in. 
The average taper from the widest part of the stem upwards is -002in. 
per inch length of stem. 


In the Glasgow specimen of Virgularia mirabilis, in which the top is 
perfect, the upper end of the stem projects above the top of the fleshy 
rachis for a length about equal to its own diameter; and a similar 
condition has been noticed by Herklots, Koren and Danielssen, and 
others, in perfect specimens of allied species of Virguluria. The most 
obvious explanation of this feature is that the fleshy coenosare has, 
owing to the action of the spirit in which the specimens are preserved, 
contracted slightly and so left the end of the stem bare; but there 
appears to be some doubt as to whether this is the true one. Koren 
and Danielssen speak on this point as follows :—‘‘ Herklots and several 
others have presumed that the reason of the axis being bare at the 
upper end is to be sought for in a contraction of the sarecosoma under 
the influence of the preserving liquid: this is, however, not the case ; 
on the contrary, we are convinced that it is a natural state, and not 
produced by any contraction of the ccoenosare. As well in this species 
(Virgularia afinis) as in many other genera and species, all the speci- 
mens exhibited during life the same bare axis, and likewise the 
sarcosoma connate with (attached by growth to) the axis at the place 
where the axis begins to be bare. In one specimen we even saw 
several serpule attached to the bare part.’ * This last statement is 
certainly strong evidence in favour of the view advocated by the 
Swedish naturalists, for the specimen in question was brought up 
living, and the serpule certainly could not have attached themselves to 
the stem unless it had been already bare while in the water. 

The present seems a suitable place to discuss further that curious 
mutilation of the specimens which we have seen to be so constant, nay 
almost universal, a feature of museum specimens of Virgularia mirabilis, 
and which applies also, though apparently in rather less degree, to 
other species of the genus as well. 

The facts on which all authorities are agreed are the following :— 

1.—The great majority of specimens of Virgularia mirabilis as brought 
to the surface by dredging are broken short at both ends. 

2.—The fracture at the upper end occurs at very variable situations, 
but that at the lower end occurs very commonly at the junction of 
stalk and rachis, and nearly always within a short distance of this 
point. ' 


* Sars, Koren and Danielssen; “Fauna Littoralis Norvegis,” Part 3, 1877, 
p. 91, note, . 


294 REPORT ON THE PENNATULIDA. 


3.—Specimens with perfect stalks are very rare, but a certain 
number have been obtained and described from various localities. 


4.,—Specimens with perfect tops appear, with the sole exception of 
the Glasgow specimen drawn in Fig 1, to be absolutely unknown. At 
any rate we have been unable to find any record of other specimens, 
and Kolliker, who has made a special study of the whole group, ex- 
pressly states that he does not know of the existence of any. 


Of these facts, acknowledged by all, no explanation has, so far 
as we can ascertain, been attempted hitherto. Under these cir- 
cumstances we would venture to submit the following considerations, 
although from want of direct evidence we cannot yet offer a complete 
explanaticn. In the first place it must be borne in mind that Virgularia 
is found living alongside of two other closely allied and very similarly 
constituted genera, viz., Funiculina and Pennatula, and may even be 
brought up at the same haul with one or other of these; and yet while 
the specimens of Virgularia are invariably broken, those of Funiculina 
or Pennatula are as invariably unmutilated. The cause of the mutilation 
is, therefore, to be sought for in some one or more of those points in 
which Virgularia differs from the other two genera, and which in some 
way or other determine that it shall be broken, while the allied forms 
remain entire. 


Now the chief points of contrast between Virgularia on the one 
hand, and Funiculina and Pennatula on the other, are— 

1.—The great brittleness of the stem of Virgularia, and the fact 
that, instead of tapering upwards to a fine flexible point, it remains of 
considerable thickness up to the very top of the rachis. 

2.—The length of the stalk in Virgularia, and its strongly marked 
hook-like termination. The stalk is much longer relatively than that 
of Funiculina, and is much longer absolutely than that of Pennatula. 


We know from the observations of Rumph and Darwin, to be 
noticed further on, that Virgularia lives with the stalk planted in the 
sea bottom, and the rachis freely projecting above it; and from an 
observation of Captain Lancaster’s* it appears to require a tolerably 
firm pull to draw out a Virgularia from its hole. 

We would therefore suggest that the fracture at the lower end is 
caused at the time of capture, and is due partly to the brittleness of 
the stem, and partly to the firm implanting of the stalk in the sea 
bottom. The usual site of the fracture—at the junction of rachis and 
stalk (vide Fig. 1)—strongly supports this view. for while on the one 
hand the dredge dragging along the bottom would snap off the stem 
exactly at this point, on the other the tangles brushing against the 
rachis higher up would bend and break it at the very same spot, i.e., 
its point of emergence from the ground. Knowing as we do that 
Virgularia when living undisturbed not only has the stalk, which is 
wanting in almost all dredged specimens, but also that the stalk is buried 


* Kerr’s “ Collection of Voyages,” vol. viii., p. 119, Quoted in Darwin’s 
“Naturalist’s Voyage round the World,” 


-_— 


REPORT ON THE PENNATULIDA. 225 


completely in the sea bottom, this part of the explanation seems to us 
entirely satisfactory. 

Concerning the fracture of the upper end, however, the case is 
different. The cause here must be an altogether different and inde- 
pendent one. It is almost inconceivable that any influence at the time 
of capture could invariably break off the tops of the specimens. Neither 
the dredge, northe rope,nor the tangles,could, so far as we can see, possibly 
effect this fracture: their tendency would always be, as we have just 
shown, to break the stem at its point of emergence from the ground. 
We are, therefore, driven to the conclusion that the upper fracture is 
not effected at the time of capture, but that Virgularia, while living 
undisturbed at the bottom of the sea, has already lost its top. ‘This is 
confirmed by an observation of Darwin,* who describes the Virgularia 
(Stylatula Darwinii of Kolliker) seen by him living on the shores of 
Patagonia as truncated at the upper end. 

Having thus narrowed our problem and defined its limits more 
precisely, we have now to determine, if possible, what are the causes 
which, acting normally during the life of a Virgularia, and quite 
independently of any influence exerted by man, lead to the almost 
invariable truncation of its upper end. 

The first explanation that suggested itself to us was, that in the 
ordinary course of growth the top, after attaining its full development, 
dies, withers up, and drops off, and in this way causes the truncation. 
This is at first sight an attractive theory, and accords well with the fact 
that the leaves at the bottom of the stalk are always small and 
immature, and gradually increase in size and development as we pass 
upwards ; i.e., that the development of leaves appears to proceed from 
below upwards. 

However, closer examination reveals fatal objections to this view. 
In the first place the actual upper ends of the specimens as dredged, 
show no sign whatever of disease, or of being about to perish. On 
the contrary, in all the specimens examined the rachis is perfectly 
healthy right up to the top. Secondly, the truncation does not occur 
always at or about the same spot in different specimens, but at 
various points of their length. In some (cf. Fig. 1) it occurs above 
the largest leaves, in others some way below them, and in others again 
about the position of the largest leaves; i.e., the widest part of the 
rachis. This variability is certainly not what we should expect were 
the truncation due to death from natural causes. Thirdly, even 
though it were true that the poiypes after living a certain time 
died and withered away at the top of the rachis, this would not 
account for the stem being invariably broken off at the junction of living 
and dead polypes. This stem contains, as we have seen, as much 
as 85 per cent. of mineral matter, and it could hardly be maintained 
that the death of the polypes encrusting it would so affect the stem as 
to cause it to continually break off at the exact boundary line between 


* Darwin; “ Naturalist’s Voyage Round the World,” 1860, p. 99. 


226 REPORT ON THE PENNATULIDA. 


living and dead polypes. The fact that the stems are frequently 
dredged up of dead specimens, from which the whole of the animal 
matter has been removed by decomposition, and which stems are very 
slightly if at all more brittle than stems of living specimens, proves conclu- 
sively that death of the polypes would not in any way cause or account 
for truncation of the stem as well. We are therefore compelled to 
reject this explanation altogether; firstly, because it has not been 
proved to be a true cause, for we have no evidence at all that the top 
does actually die down as suggested; and, secondly, even if a true 
cause, it is an insufficient one, because it leaves completely unexplained 
the truncation of the stem as well as of the soft parts. 


If the cause of the truncation then does not lie in the Virgularia 
itself, it must be some force acting on it from without. Fish or other 
marine animals knocking up against the colonies, and so breaking 
them off, could not account either for the invariable occurrence of the 
truncation or for its situation, for lateral blows would tend to cause 
fracture not high up the rachis, but, as already explained, at the point 
of emergence from the ground ; 7.c., junction of rachis and stalk. 


The only other explanation that occurred to us, and the one we 
advanced when presenting our report to the Birmingham Nataral 
History Society on June 20th, is that the truncation is due to the tops 
being habitually bitten or nibbled off as food by some marine animals, 
most probably fish. At the time of presenting our report, this expla- 
nation was offered as a pure hypothesis, in support of which we had 
no direct evidence, and to which we were driven simply from inability 
to conceive of any other that would satisfy the conditions of the 
problem. Since this time we have been fortunate enough to obtain 
direct evidence of a very striking and satisfactory nature in support 
of our view. 

Mr. R. D. Darbishire, of Manchester, to whom we mentioned the 
difficulty, told us he remembered many years ago taking specimens of 
Virgularia from the stomach of a haddock caught off Scarborough. 
Fortunately these specimens, which bear the date of the 9th November, 
1855, were preserved, and Mr. Darbishire has very kindly handed them 
over to us for examination. They consist of five fragments of 
Virgularia mirabilis, from three quarters of an inch to three inches in 
length, each fragment containing the portion of stem belonging to it, 
and all five showing evident signs of having undergone partial digestion. 


The most interesting point still remains to be noticed. Of these 
five fragments no fewer than three are tops, i.e. actual perfect upper 
ends, a point the significance of which is at once evident when we 
remember that of the specimens of Virgularia mirabilis dredged either 
off our own coast or elsewhere, only one single specimen—the one in 
the Glasgow Museum—is known to have a perfect top. 

Mr. Darbishire’s observation proves that fish do actually bite off 
and swallow as food fragments of Virgularia; also that they are able 
to find specimens with perfect tops, for which tops they would appear 


. eS SS <x&«o«™”SS~S-—s SS 


REPORT ON THE PENNATULIDA. DPA 


to have some special liking. It need hardly be pointed out that this 
furnishes the strongest possible confirmation of the theory we had been 
led to frame on purely independent grounds. 

Two points still require explanation. Firstly, why, if the fish bite 
off the tops and swallow them as food, do they not devour the whole 
of the rachis as well? Secondly, why do the fish eat the tops off 
Virgularia and leave untouched the allied genera, Pennatula and 
Funiculina, which are found growing alongside it, and of which the 
latter, at all events, would appear to be far more tempting as food, 
owing to the much greater bulk of fleshy substance it affords, and the 
much smaller thickness of its stem in the upper part. If it be 
supposed that the calcareous matter of the stem is the real attraction 
to the fish, it is difficult to understand why Pennatula, with its 
innumerable calcareous spicules, is allowed to escape. 

We shall return to both these points further on. 


(To be continued. ) 


BOTANICAL RAMBLES IN WARWICKSHIRE. 


In the latter part of August the eminent fungologist Dr. M. C. 
Cooke paid a visit to Warwickshire, and as I had the pleasure of 
accompanying him to Crackley Wood and Sutton Park during his 
stay here, it may be interesting to some of the readers of the ‘t Midland 
Naturalist” if I give a short account of our finds. The season was 
far from propitious from a Fungus point of view —the preceding dry 
weather having parched up the ground, so that although we found a 
few good things, they were only few, and occurred as solitary indi- 
viduals in most cases. 

Our first visit was to Crackley Wood, near Kenilworth, a locality 
that has been already worked and almost to exhaustion by the late 
Mrs. Russell. This lady not only recorded a long list of fungi from 
the district around Kenilworth, but also added to the value of her 
work by giving to the British Museum her beautiful illustrations of 
every species and variety she collected. 

Our first find was Amanita phalloides, a Jocal plant in the county. 
This we noticed on the grassy waysides outside the wood. 

In the wood we noticed Clitocybe laccatus, Collybia dryophilus, 
Collybia fusipes, which my learned friend informed me was esculent, 
but which certainly does not look tempting. Here and there among 
the grass were solitary specimens of the pretty little Mycena galopus, 
and Lactarius subdulcis, and the very poisonous Liberty Cap Psilocybe 
semilanceatus, and upon the fallen branches scattered about the wood, 
Grandinia granulosa, Trichoderma viride, Corticium Sambuci, and Bul- 
garia sarcoides. In addition to these we found a solitary specimen of 
Boletus subtomentosus, in which the upper portions or caps of two indi- 
viduals had become united, thus giving it the appearance of a Boletus 
with two stems. 

Our most interesting finds, however, were Russula rosacea, recorded 
doubtfully by Mrs. Russell; Polyporus nidulans, a very rare species, 
and new as a record for Warwickshire; and Clitocybe catinus, first 


228 BOTANICAL RAMBLES IN WARWICKSHIRE. 


discovered in 1881 near Ludlow. Crackley Wood is the second British 
station for this very rare fungus. We also noticed that the leaves of 
Lychnis diurna were plentifully infested with Puccinia lychnidearum. 

The following day we paid a visit to Sutton Park, and in passing 
over the grassy land bordering the Witton road Dr. Cooke collected 
two noticeable fungi, Pancolus leucophanes and P. phalenarum, both 
new to the county, and rare species. Sutton Park we found very 
barren of fungi, large areas being passed over without sighting even 
the commonest species. The most frequent, however, were Pancolus 
Jimiputris, Hypholoma appendiculata, H. sublateritius, Stropharia semi- 
globatus, and Pancolus separatus. In the woods Lactarius mitissimus, 
L. subdulcis, and occasional specimens of the beautiful Stinkhorn, 
Phallus impudicus. But the more interesting species noticed were 
Russula cyanoxantha, R. citrina, Inocybe asterosporus, very local, and 
Psilocybe udus, all rare, and some new as records for the county. 
Although the results of our fungi rambles were on these occasions 
very meagre, they were very pleasing to me, giving me the advantage 
of many a pleasant chat with an old friend and very genial companion. 

I may also mention that I recently found in meadows near Ather- 
stone-upon-Stour, one of the stalked Polyporei, which Dr. Cooke 
decided to be P. rufescens, also new as arecord for Warwickshire. 

J. E. Baenawy. 


ON A DRAGON iL y* 


By Sinvanus WILKINS. 


In April last I had the pleasure to win your kind attention to a 
short paper on Fish Rearing, written in plain ‘purpose to show that 
some practical work can be done with little or no cruelty or waste 
of life if your tools are of the right sort. 

I mentioned at the reading that I had been led to do this to refute 
a statement I had seen ‘‘that there was nothing to interest the 
naturalist in the Midlands, and that it was a district to be shunned.” 
The Stickleback, I hope, furnished to my companions a fair instance 
of fish life-history, in, it would be thought, the least likely of regions. 

I venture to fill up the allotted twenty minutes and space of five 
or six pages this time on Insect Life, limiting it, as before, to what 
anyone with patience may see or do, and as I am mildly indignant at 
the above aspersion against the Black Country as a lbel, it suggests 
itself to me to choose the Libellulina for our notice, because it so 
happens that this is quite as good a spot for watching the habits of 
the Dragon-fly as it was for the fish, and perhaps that insect, having 
all the parts in perfection that constitute a type insect, offers, take it 
for all in all, from the egg to the imago, as quaint a series of pictures 
as can be found in any one creature (excepting man, of course). 


* Read before the Birmingham Natural History and Microscopical Society, 
Nov. 22, 1881. 


. 


ON A DRAGON FLY. 229 


Space will limit me to mode of capture and life-habit mostly, anda 
full description of the mask apparatus, with its double joints and 
hinges, seems better suited to a mechanical magazine than one on 
natural history; but of its form and anatomy an excellent and full 
account can be found in Kirby and Spence’s or Westwood’s 
Entomology. 

The larve can be caught by sweeping against and through the 
vegetation round the sides of pools with a strong net, or they may 
be found in hollow pieces of old wood, into which they will crawl and 


_hide if placed in the shallows near the side; another good plan is 


to shovel up smartly some of the surface soil at the base of the 
rushes, etc., and throw it on the sloping bank, then with a fine rose- 
nozzle of a watering pot, wash out the mud steadily so that it drains 
back, when the chances are you will see one of the larve. 


This strange being seems as ill-born as Caliban, and is the veriest 
dragon from the beginning, for it would appear that it is the nature of the 
embryo—of this alone of all embryos—to have the trick of always taking 
an obverse position in the egg. 


The respiration might not incorrectly, I think, be called a 
perspiration only, and contains the principle of a patent to beat the 
screw propeller, if one only knew how to apply it, and one is set 
guessing if it is the inversion in the egg which has turned about the 
action of the breathing so curiously. I hope this order of being is not 
fated to be evil for ever because it had not the benefit of proper 
inspiration at first. 


As for the larva, it is more masked or truly larva-like than any other 
I know. Its form, in the parts of head, trunk, and abdomen, seems an 
ensemble preserved to us in microed size, typical of life on the 
malignant side that became dominant and monstrous through the 
three great geological periods. In its jaws it has the faculty for 
snapping possessed by the huge mollusc; in its neck and body seg- 
ments the writhing of the saurian; in its legs the grip of the 
cephalopod, and in the abdomen the vices that held to the mammalian. 


In habit it has the stealth ofa cat. It can prowl like a wolf, snatch 
like a monkey, snap like a crocodile, and bite like a bull-dog. 

In fact, in both its states of water and air it can do everything 
wicked, except the one thing it popularly is supposed to do best— 
namely, sting, and it has a mean way of rarely seizing anything larger 
or stronger than itself, choosing small fry and never tackling big folk. 

A caddis-worm, after the covering is cut off, makes a good supper 
for a dragon-fly larva; but it is careful to seize the caddis in the rear 
of the head for fear it would seem of the powerful mouth with which 
the latter is armed. These greedy creatures will also take an ordinary 
garden worm nearly every morning. One about their own length 
suits them best, for if the worm be too long so that one end of it can 
get a hold or purchase between two stones, it will draw away, dragging 
the larva until its large round jutting eyes meet the obstruction, and 


230 ON A DRAGON FLY, 


the enemy is peeled off to his amaze, if not to his damage. Whena 
worm disappears in this way the larvae will sometimes stay watching 
the opening for a long time with their heads turned down, and a little 
on one side, like a dog at a rat hole. 

The snatch of their jaw-forceps is so quick it takes good eyesight 
to see it; but a worm by its quickened movements when dropped into 
the water in front of them often causes them to miss once or twice, and 
the action repeated gives a good opportunity for catching sight of it. 
The worm can be lowered and dangled in front of them, held by just 
one turn of a fine silk thread, out of which they will drag it. They 
will gorge a worm their own length in two or three minutes, during 
which time the movement up and down of the abdomen in breathing 
is very marked, as if heaving to suck the foodin. The gorging is helped 
by the nippers, which take a fresh hold higher up before each piece 
is bitten off by the jaws and passed into the gullet. 


Although they will tackle a snail at times when hungry, with, 
however, the risk of being partly drawn into the mouth of the shell 
and held there for a time, they will, very strangely. let a snail slowly 
crawl along and over their body without starting away, as they mostly 
do when touched by other moving things in the water. I have thought 
that perhaps the sliding movement of the snail over them may groom 
or shampoo them, as it were, and clean off parasites and other attached 
things. 

In ordinary course, when no prey is in sight, their crawling 
motion is very slow, as if their watery home made them stiff and 
rheumatic; but this is only their artfulness, for they no sooner sight 
any choice food in motion at a short distance than their slow action 
is changed to one of great alertness. They raise their head and fore- 
part of their body by planting their first pair of legs like a carriage 
horse, and the action of the neck becomes grand, subtle, and free, as 
that of a snake or lizard, for a moment or two. They then advance 
like a cat after a bird, until within half an inch of their prey, when out 
shoot the jaw-calipers, and the object is seized. They will, however, if 
surprised with enticing prey, such as a young minnow, swim after it in 
rapid jerks, and make a dash at it as it moves; but they appear to think 
twice in view of the spines of the Stickleback, and conclude him to be 
sour. 

They are very careful, after a meal, to clean their face, removing all 
particles of skin or harder stuff that has not been sucked in, and 
which has got attached to their teeth and lips. ‘This they do with 
their jaw-forceps, and these they then sweep clean with their fore-legs 
after the manner of a fly or a young rabbit cleaning his whiskers. 

By means of its gluttony the larva stores up an energy for use in wing 
power in its aerial state more marvellous that Faure’s cell of condensed 
electrical force, but only to be more dragonian. I notice the clergy 
explain this voracity by kindly calling it the balance of nature. 
Angels, however, are not perhaps so pink as they are painted, and if 
evil be that which is out of harmony with the laws of man’s nature, 


ON A DRAGON FLY. 231 


one is bound to affirm at least in the Dragon-flies’ favour that their 
ways do no known harm to him or his. 

They are fond of a stick about a half-inch square in the aquarium 
to cling to, round which they will play bo-peep with you as you go 
near, slipping from side to side out of sight as you show yourself, but 
as if partly tamed with the regular feeding. They also prefer porous 
tile to smooth stones to hide under, as they can cling more easily to 
it. They refuse their food a day or two before each moult of skin, and 
the time of fasting is increased to about a week or ten days, just before 
they make the final change to the imago. During this period they 
climb up the stick or any stem to the surface, so as to expose their 
mouth and eyes slightly, and it is, I think, during this stage that the 
altered mode to breathing the common air is undergone. After this 
amphibious interval, the first hot day is chosen by them for the change 
to the higher life, the sight of which ought to be almost enough to 
awaken faith in an agnostic. 

I do not know how many times altogether they moult from the egg 
to the imago, but I have seen that they shed the skin four times during 
the last six months before the imago comes out. Throughout the 
whole time and process of the larval state it is very necessary to keep 
the water well aerated by balanced vegetation or a syringe. 

We will, if you please, resume our loafing at the old centre, namely, 
Edwards’ Pools at Bilston, and need not go far to see all we want, as 
they can always be found here in summer in the winged state. 


Choose the early hours of a fine day in July or August for a stroll 
round the borders of the pools. Near the edges or corners where the 
reeds, rushes, and flags are growing, you may soon find out by the 
numbers flying to and fro where these dragon-flies are colonised. 


It adds much to your chances of observing if you first mark out 
where they are located, for they are shy, and as symbolised by the 
large development of eye-faculty they are correspondingly swift in 
flight; but the kind chiefly found here—the Agrion—is, luckily for 
learners, the least active. The eye of this species seems a millenocular 
stereoscope, and is a wonder under the magnifier, looking like the round 
knob of the stopper of a glass decanter cut into ten thousand facets, 
each one of which is said to receive a picture of the objects around. 
What can the optic lobe of its microscopic brain be like? This is a 
fine point. The best mode I know of preserving specimens of this is 
never to catch any, but to leave them to enjoy their existence. Some 
procure them to cure them, but it is a ragged piece of business at 
the best, and certainly is no longer necessary for anyone who will 
become a member of the Birmingham Natural History Society, with 
access to the beautiful works on their form and colour to be found in 
its library. 

Don’t make any attempt to chase or run them down, but seating 
yourself very gently, where you can look about and have them fora 
yard or two within reach, you leave them to their sports. They will 


Zo, ON A DRAGON FLY. 


hawk around, but never go far afield, and by remaining in one spot 
you are more likely to catch sight of a larva, like a Captain Boyton, or a 
diver in his water-tight dress, coming up out of the water on to 
the vegetation. The male in the winged form rather bears out the rule 
of the gayer clothing, but mostly in primitive or simple colour, and is of 
the two sexes a little more active. The females settle more frequently 
on the vegetation. 


Very soon you will descry a male on the wing, which you keep in 
your eye as far as the range will admit without turning your head, 
on the look out for a partner. This is done with an elan that a 
Frenchman might admire, seizing her with such force, that sometimes, 
like a harrier overrunning his game, they topple over together. This 
brings their wings into such juxtaposition that their flight is impeded, 
and after a time they settle. Of about 200 sorts in England, nearly 
a tithe may be found here, mostly with blue about them, and to see 
this action of seizure you cannot resist the simile of a policeman chasing 
and securing a runaway. 


The plan to keep them captured until the deposit of the eggs begins 
is this: For catching the Stickleback without hurt, the best plan is the 
open silk thread net which I suggested (‘‘ Midland Naturalist,” 
1881, page 110). In this case, to make your work easy, you have ready 
a glass shade about seven inches across and ten inches high, such as 
is used to cover small chimney,ornaments. Let it be white and thin, 
with, if possible, a knob atthe top, attached to about a foot of fine 
wire or thread so as to hang it from the stout joint of a fishing rod or 
a stick about five feet long. If it hasn’t a knob you have to fix a 
lashing, which is awkward. You also have ready a thin piece of cork 
or light wood about nine or ten inches across. This is to slip under to 
stand the shade upon. Keep these and a pair of scissors all ready 
within reach. 


Having beforehand chosen a good spot and placed yourself where 
you may sight them, which you may soon do should the morning be a 
hot one, you select those closest to the edge of the land or just over it, 
and quietly bring round with your left hand the glass shade somewhat 
above them, and gently lower it over them, then slipping the piece 
of cork under it as a base, and having the scissors handy to cut any 
stems in the glass which you leave there for them to cling to. The 
open mesh of the net puzzles the fish, and you will find that the 
transparency of the glass, in a similar way, puzzles the insect, so 
that if it be carefully managed they will not be disturbed, and you 
have them secured in a erystal palace. 


This kind of glass shade, perforated with a hole through the knob 
at the top to let the air escape, can sometimes be used for securing 
water specimens by lowering it over them into the water. By 
standing your cork base with your glass shade upon it in the centre 
of a handkerchief, and tying the four corners over the top, you have a 
capital mode of sheepishly carrying your capture home, 


ON A DRAGON FLY. 238 


I assume, as before, that your aquarium is well prepared; but the 
vegetation should be such that there may be several stems or floating 
leaves on the surface. The more light and sun they get the better; 
so if you can work, as I was able to do, at a tank in a conservatory 
(Hawkesford’s) it is a great help. Before removing the glass shade 
and setting the cork afloat with your capture upon it, you need 
some kind of cover inverted over the aquarium. If you have the Agrion 
this may be a frame cover of leno lace, but if you have caught the 
larger kind they will gnaw through this, so it is best to invert another 
glass aquarium over them, turning in with them a good supply of flies, 
gnats, or spiders, which they will seize as they come across them, if 
they have not been hurt in transshipment. The full feeding is very 
necessary both in the larval and imago state. 


As it is well, however, to keep as near to natural conditions as 
possible, your best plan, I think, is this : Having left them on the pond 
side for an hour or two, you raise the glass shade and set the captives 
free. If deftly done it is likely the gentleman will take part in assisting 
his lady in the duty of egg depositing, which begins about mid-day and 
goes on throughout the afternoon. Suspending her by his claspers 
round her neck, lie sails away and brings her poised a few inches over 
the water, now and again lowering her with a sweeping stroke or dash 
down to the surface, she at the same moment releasing an egg at each 
dip. You may see this done to the number of twenty times or more 
by any one pair. There is an easy dancing action in this, which leads 
one to think that it is a great help to her in her efforts. 


Should, however, the lady be left to herself, she no less faithfully 
fulfils her duty to the future offspring she will never see; but it is 
manifestly a work of greater labour alone. She then alights on the 
stems or leaves of plants near the surface, and you may see her bend 
her long body into a curve until the ovipositor touches the plant, 
and the eggs are laid there, one at a time, and may be found upon it. 
As the leaf decays it carries them to the bottom. 


Most of the names of this genus imply a malignant power which 
is not inapt, and as I had my quirk last time at nomenclature 
I should not wish any scientist to arch his eyebrow again at me. I 
hope I regard all true science as the light of life and its laws. 

It is more than half a score years since my spare time and walks 
were given to observing in this district, but as I pass through it by 
train or tram I can see from the windows many of the old haunts of 
hydra and entozoa, insect and fish, that I am sure would well repay 
the visit of naturalists any fine day in summer. 

Mr. M‘Lennan, in his work on primitive marriage by theft or force, 
traces the ceremonies and modes of seizure among the early traditions 
of nearly every race. I fancy, however, he cannot well begin or stop 
at primitive man or even vertebrates, but may carry the traces far 
beyond all record, and spell out an exemplification of early wife capture 
in the habits of the Dragon-tfly. 


934 ON A DRAGON FLY. 


Haeckel, Spencer, Darwin, Sir John Lubbock, Grant Allen, and 
others try to show us by means of Biology, that every animal has been 
slowly moulded through a wonderful series of metamorphoses into its 
existing shape by surrounding conditions, and that each bears in its 
parts or form the traces, when we can read them, of its development 
or evolution, and that mankind, step by step, sums up into himself, 
more or less, along an endless line of ancestors, all the antecedent life of 
a small trifle of eons of old times. 

We may ask ourselves what kind of life has each race of man for 
the most part summed up into itself, and how much of the Dragon, for 
instance, has evolved or devolved for each of us. The manners, habits, 
and customs of a race, it has been suggested, are the key to this 
specialisation, and that running through the forms of lower life 
preserved to us we see the vestiges of all the earlier stages and changes. 


If you then will throw your fancy into the scene among the Dragon- 
flies you may not be mistaken in finding many of the phases of wife 
capture after the old order of things brought down to our own days, as 
M‘Lennan describes thein. 


Happily, with us, sweethearting has evolved from might into 
manners, from capture into courtesy, as Coventry Patmore depicts 
in the ‘‘ Angel in the House’’:— 


‘“Lo! how the woman once was woo’d— 
Forth leapt the savage from his lair 
And felled her! And to nuptials rude 
He dragged her, bleeding, by the hair. 
From that to Chloe’s dainty wiles 
And Portia’s dignified consent— 
What distance! But these Pagan styles, 
How far below Time’s fair intent. 
* * * * * 
Shall love where last I left him halt ? 
Nay ; none can fancy or foresee 
To how strange bliss may time exalt 
This nursling of civility.” 


FUNGI OF THE NEIGHBOURHOOD OF BIRMINGHAM. 


FIRST LIST, 1881-82. 
(Continued from page 185.) 


AGARICINI—continued. 


Ag. (Amanita) vaginatus, Bull. Water Orton; Sutton Park; Warley 

Woods. Sept. 
Ag. (Clitocybe) flaccidus, Sow. Sutton Park. Sept. 
Ag. (Pleurotus) ulmarius, Bull. Sutton Park. Sept. 
Ag. (Mycena) alcalinus, Fr. Sutton Park; Water Orton. Sept. 
Ag. (Mycena) sanguinolentus, A. and S. Hams Hall. Sept. 
Ag. (Pholiota) squarrosus, Mill. Driffold Lane, Sutton. Sept. 
Ag. (Flammula) gummosus, Lasch. Driffold Lane, Sutton. Oct. 


Ag. (Galera) hypnorum, Batsch. Sutton Park; Warley. Sept. 


FUNGI OF THE NEIGHBOURHOOD OF BIRMINGHAM. 935 


Ag. (Hypholoma) appendiculatus, Bull. Sutton Park. Sept., Oct. 
Ag. (Psathyra) corrugis, Pers. Sutton Park; Perry Barr. Feb.—Sept. 
Coprinus comatus, Fr. Edgbaston, W. Sowthall. Driffold Lane, 
Sutton ; Water Orton. Sept., Oct. 
C. atramentarius, Fr. Perry Barr; Sutton. Aug.—Oct. 
Having euten these two species, I can testify that they are fair 
substitutes for the common mushroom. 
C. similis, B. and Br. Driffold Lane, Sutton. On dead wood. Sept. 
C. micaceus, Fr. Oscott (Warwickshire); Sutton. Sept.—Nov. 
C. plicatilis, Fr. Perry Barr; Hampstead; Driffold Lane. July—Oct. 
Bolbitius titubans, Fr. Oscott (Wk.) ; Alvechurch ; Driffold Lane, 
Sutton. May—Noy. 
Cortinarius tabularis, Fr. Sutton Park. Sept. 
Paxillus involutus, Fr. Sutton Park, abundant; Solihull. In woods. 
Sept., Oct. 
Hygrophorus virgineus, Fr. In meadows, Olton; Warley. Oct. 
H. ceraceus, Fr. In meadow, Warley. Sept. 
H. miniatus, Fr. Sutton Park, in open ground, Lower Nut a 
ept. 
H. conicus, Fr. Amongst grass, Sutton. Aug. 
H. psittacinus, Fr. With H. miniatus, Sutton Park; Warley. Sept. 
Lactarius pubescens, Schrad. Sutton Park. Sept. 
L. quietus, Fr. Sutton Park, abundant. Sept.—Nov. 
L. rufus, Fr. Sutton Park, in woods, beneath firs. Sept. 
L. mitissimus, Fr. Sutton Park. Sept. 
L. subdulcis, Fr. Sutton Park; Warley. Sept., Oct. 
Russula nigricans, Fr. Hams Hall. Sept. 
R. virescens, Fr. Hams Hall. Sept. 
R. cyanoxantha, Fr. Sutton Park; Hams Hall. Sept., Oct. 
R. foetens, Fr. Sutton Park. Sept. 
R. emetica, Fr. Sutton Park, in woods. Sept., Oct. 
R. ochroleuca, Fr. Sutton Park; Solihull. Sept., Oct. 
R. fragilis, Fr. Sutton Park, in woods and their borders. Sept., Oct. 
R. citrina, Cooke. Sutton Park. Sept., Oct. 
R. alutacea, Fr. Sutton Park. Sept. 
Cantharellus aurantiacus, Fr. Sutton Park, amongst firs. Sept., Oct. 
Marasmius oreades, Fr. Oscott (Warwickshire). Sept., Oct. 
M. rotula, Fr. Sutton, on stumps. Sept. 


M. androsaceus, Fr. Sutton Park; Solihull. On dead leaves. 
Sept., Oct. 


W. B. Grove, B.A. 
(To be continued.) 


foe? BO ROL 0 GY OF. T HEB. MAD LANDS: 
THE WEATHER OF AUGUST, 1882. 
BY CLEMENT L. WRAGGE, F.R.G.S., F.M.S., ETC. 


The two distinct classes of weather marked the month of August. 
During the first fortnight the anti-cyclonic type prevailed, and it was 
fine, warm, and seasonable; while cyclonic conditions more or less 
ruled the second part of the month—bringing cloudy skies, reduction 
of temperature, rain, and unsettled weather, with thunder about the 
15th aud 24th, 


236 YHE WEATHER OF AUGUST. 


RAINFALL. |___ SH SHADK TEMP. 
4 = | Greatest fall |S Abzol Absolnte 
STATION. OBSERVER, Es in 24 hours.| = > Magnan Minimum 
y nad In. | In. | Date. |42/Dev| Date. |[Deg.|Dute. 
| and 
| 
OUTPOST STATIONS. | } 
| 
Ben Nevis (a)...........++.+.|C. L. Wragge, Esq., F.M.S./11°40| 1°97 20 =| 25 |59°6 8 (|81'°6 3 
Fort William (a) . seeees /C. L. Wragge, Esq., F.M.S.| 4°80] 1°15 13 17 |71':0 ll (390 81 
Spital Cemetery, Carlisle .... a Cartmell, Esq.. F. ‘M.S. 808| ‘56 28 13 /77°8| 14 (363), 31 
Scarborough (@)........+.-+ W. C. Hughes, Esq., F.M.S. | 167| ‘27 18 16/747) Jl |47°7 16 
Blackpool (a/—South Shore..|C. T. Ward, Esq.. B.A. »¥.M.S.| 2°96} 1°00 28 18 |74°3 440 16 
Llandudno (a) ..............|J.» Nicol. Ksq., M.D......... 3°15) ‘53 28 15 |70°6| 10, 13 |49°8| 28 
Lowestoft (a) ....... ....|H. E. Miller, Rsq., F.M.S...| 1°61] °52 22 12 |76°4 2 42°2 81 
Carmarthen (a) ..... -+../G. J. Hearder, Esq.. M.D...| 5°35| (98 15! 20 |77°2 9 [441 28 
CBr Gti )uencs aeacinneccaiiace Ne Adams, Esq., C.E. ......| 5°75] 1°14 22 | 16 |76:3 12 46°7 28 
Altarnun, near Launceston te) tev. J. Power, F M.S....... 5.18 | *82 25 | 18 |770 13 |48°0| 6,123 
Sidmouth (G)ines W. T. Radford, Esq., M.D.| 2°97| 1°18 81 | 16 |75°0 6 |48°2 
Guernsey (a) . .|F. C. Carey, Esq., M.D..... 2°65| ‘76 31 19 |755 12 514 7 


MIDLAND STATIONS. 


HEREFORDSHIRE. } 
Burghill (a) ..................|/L.A. Chapman, Esq., M.D.) 2°21] ‘S54 15 15 |77°9 6 |42°0 ll 
SILROPSHIRE, | 


Woolstaston ......-ceeceee.- |ReV. K. D. Carr i 55 22 117 |74°5 6 46°0 |16,23,24 
Bishop's Castle . R. Griffiths, Esq. 2°53] “7a 9% | 15 {81:0 9 /460 11 
Stokesayia).. M. D. La Touche 2° 65 92 14 |789] 10 |389| 28 
More Rectory ..|Rev. A. S. Male.... 2°15] °61 22 14 |77'0 12 +1430} 11, 30 
Dowles, near Bewdley «eee. |d. M. Downing, Esq. ......| 1°85] 0:38 22 13 |83°0 5 [380 2 
WORCESTERSHIRE, 
Orleton, near Tenbury (a).... ae H. Davis, Esq., F.M.S. 9°55 | 0°43 ep} 17 |80°2 G |41°0 il 
West Mulvern EieeeGreisiars .|A. H. Hartland, isa. eee] 299] *5O 15 18 |83°5 12 44°5 | 23, 27 
Evesham .........000. r J. Slatter, Esq., F. G. s. «| 1:85) °42 22 16 |77°3 12 45°0 24 
PEGMOLGmeee remiss ss ele KE. B. Marten, Esq. SoqOnOH ED hea) Onl 22 16 |87°0 12 43°0 | 10, 30 
Stourbridge ......... J. Jefferies, Hsq. ..........| 2°22] *52 22 14 |78'0 18 |44°0 | 28, 3 
Cawney Bank, Dudley . aoboo8 C. Beale, Hsq............0.- 9°45) °51 22 15 |72°0 12. (/45°0 15 
STAFFORDSHIRE, | 


Dennis, Biperhetiize (a) C.Webb, Esq. ..... 60 21 13 \80°0 12 \40°0 25 

Kinver ...... 9 Rev. W. H. Bolton 5D 22 14 |79°0 18  40°0 |10, 23,30 

VS EC noogaonscon N. EK. Best, Esq. 45 22, 16 |70'0| 1, 6, 9,/45°0 | 23, 31 
12, 13 | 

TMI CIALEL GUE oicterare = cinrs.e nie'e cieteiaieve J. P. Roberts, Esq. ........ 1:58] +35 22 17 |83°0 12 |430| 20 

Burton-on- Trent (c) ... C. U. Tripp, Esq., F.M.S. ..| 1:59] -85 24 15 |80°0 12 «+/39°0 31 

Wrottesley (a) ..............|H. Simpson, Esq. ......... «| 1°95} *53 22 15 |78'6 12 =|44°0 16 


Stafford (a) .. 
Barlaston (a) . 


.|L. McCallum, Esq. ........| 2°17] °42 22 15 |74°9 12 40°3 29 
. |W. Scott, Esq., F.M.S. ....| 8°69] ‘6a 13-23 | 16 |78°0 8 |43°0 31 


GEN A55acen soqa0aannaoe see T. Kyves, M.A.,| 2°86] °72 22 18 |76'8 12 41-0 31 
Ss | 
Heath House, Cheadle (a) ..|J. C. Philips, Esq., F.M Sy 2°68| *66 22 | 18 |73-9 12 (44:0 24 
Oakamoor, Churnet Valley (a) Mr. J. Williams.. 3:05] “86 23 20 |75°0| 18 41°0} 11, 20 
Beacon Stoop, Weaver Hills(a)| Mr. James Hall ... Br fa 5c) — — 695] — (400 — 
Alstonfield ............. -.e.e|Rev. W. H. Purchas ......| 4°24] °78 22 16 |79°5 9 381 24 
DERBYSHIRE, \ 
Stonv Middleton ............]Rev. U. Smith ......... o--| 316] 83] 29 17 |72°0|7,8,12,13/41°0 22 
Spondaniese- ne .cresee : ..|J. T. Barber, Itsq........ ---| 150] °33) 28 13 | — — — = 
Fernslope, Belper............|F. J. Jackson, Esq. ........| 1°69] *42 22 12 |76°0| 11, 12 |440| 24, 31 
NOUCING HAMSIIIRE. | 
Park Hill, Nottingham (a) ..|H. F. Johnson, Esq. ...... 150| °25 18 15 |77°8 12 «41°53 | 29, 31 
Hodsock Priory, Worksop (a)|H. Mellish, Esq., F.M.S. ..| 2:05) *62 22 17 |76°0 6 401 ] 
Strelley (a) ........... ssecece |X. Ls. K. Kdge, Msg. ........| 1°72| °8 28 17 ‘766 6 |41'9 31 
RUTLANDSHIRE. 
MO PpINE HAM sere cecslealeieee ee Bee H. Mullins, M.A.,| 1:58| 33 22, 14 |77°2 12 |44°2 31 
LEICESTERSHIRE. | 
Loughborough (a)............|W. Berridge, Esq., F.M.S...| 1-91) “46 18 12 (805 12 «|48°7 
BI VSEOR anc ce cis ne cele wen Menicic (URL MOR MELB I a eicien sic cizfe 206| °38 25 15 |74°0 12 ='45°0| 11, 31 
Town Museum, Leicester see ld. C. Smith, Hsq., .o...0c0 || 9°95) 44 25 15 |79°0 12 (42:0 
Ashby Magna ...... seeeeees|ReV. Cunon Willes ... 1°50} “44 25 =| «13 |78°0 2m | _ 
Waltham-le-Wold ....... eae een Ball, Esq. ..... -| 8°09] °65 25 18 (76°0 4 44-0 
Coston Rectory, Melton (a) ..|Rev. A. M. Rendell........ 2°72 | 0°58 25 18 |75°0 12 |89°8| 11, 16 
WARWICKSHIRE. | 
Henley-in-Arden ............/T. H. G. Newton, Esq. 2°68| 57 22 16 825 6 /403| 4, 31 
Kenilworth (a) . «eee |F. Slade, Esq., C. E., iM. S. 2°92| “74 22, 14 |76°5 5 6/410 11 
NOR'THAMPTOD RE. 
Pitsford, Northampton .. «sees. /C. A. Markham, Esq. ......| 1°76] °67 23 15 (85'0 12 410 21 
MOWCESHGM ce etes crete scveccene Deg WEDD US wine etsetsistsiceiv eis 2°07] °56 22 16 — _ = =< 
BEDFORDSHIRE. | 
HSCULOLG (Ch) )- cise a uineie cis sie nie .-|H. J. Sheppard, Esq. ...... 1°80} ‘0 15 18 |£0'2 12 144°8 31 
Aspley Guise, Woburn (@)..../E. KH. Dymond, Esq., F.M.S.| 1°50) ‘£0 22 13 |78°7 6 425 31 
OXFORDSHIRE | 
Radcliffe Observatory, Ox. (a)|The Staff ...............005 O94) -24 15 | 10 }78:7 6 |463|) 31 
GLOUCKSTERSILLKE, 
Chelten)iain (a) ........- .....|R. Tyrer, Iisq., B.A., F.M.S.| 2°95} °88 25 17 |7§71 6 {40°} 28 


(a) At these Stations Stevenson’s Thermometer Screen is in use, and the values may be regarded 
as strictly intercomparable. (c) Glaisher’s pattern of Thermometer Screen employed at these stations, 


METEOROLOGY —CORRESPONDENCRE. 237 


Indeed, the summer characteristics of these two great types of 
atmospheric change were wonderfully marked in contrast. Especially 
was this the case on Ben Nevis, by the way, where, on the 8th the 
dry bulb read 54° at 9 a.m., and the wet bulb 44°, with a fine, 
clear sky and great diathermancy; whereas saturation, with a biting 
cold, drizzling or heavy rain, an envelope of *‘ cloud-fog,” and very raw 
weather are the more usual conditions on the mountain, and which 
prevailed during the second part of the month. 


The highest reading of the barometer, corrected and reduced to 
mean sea-level, was 30°300 in central England, and occurred on the 
4th; the lowest, about 29-150, took place on the 23rd. The mean 
temperature appears to have been below the average. The amount of 
cloud was about 7-5 (scale 0 to 10), and relative humidity 80 % as means 
for the Midland District. Westerly winds prevailed. At Loughborough 
the solar radiation thermometer reached 139-2 on the 14th, and the 
terrestrial minimum at Hodsock, 35-9 on the 31st. Bright sunshine, 
178°6 hours at Hodsock, and 173-2 at Strelley. Mean temperature of 
soil at depth of one foot at Strelley, 59:1. The mean daily amount of 
ozone at Cheltenham was 2°6 (scale 0 to 10). Lunar halo at Lough- 
borough early on morning of 31st. ( 


Correspondence, ete. 


= —— = 


SHALL WE HAVE 4 Pace ror QueEstrions ?—An esteemed corres- 
pondent has made the following suggestion :— 


““T venture to submit that without at all tending to degrade the 
present high character of the ‘ Midland Naturalist,’ it would prove 
an element of popularity if a page in each number were set apart for 
answering questions relating to Natural Science, and naming speci- 
mens sent to the editors. The chief (perhaps the only objection) 
that presents itself is the additional trouble entailed on the editors. 
This need not be so great as appears at first sight. Volunteers may 
readily be found to take each his separate department, to whom all 
specimens and questions may be sent in time to enable him to answer 
for publication. Many a struggling student in out-lying places who 
has no friend at his elbow to answer the simple, but to him 
perplexing, questions that occur to him, would thus find in the 
‘Midland Naturalist’ a silemt ‘counsellor and guide,’ and numbers 
would be induced to subscribe who now find the contents of the work 
too much above them.” 

[We warmly thank our friend for his suggestion, and shall have very 
great pleasure in acting on it, and whenever any of our readers 
ask us for help and guidance in their studies, we will do our best 
to ensure for them the assistance and advice of at least some one 


of the many able naturalists whom we are proud to number 
among our staff of fellow-workers.—Eps, ‘‘ M. N.”} 


938 CORRESPONDENCE—REPORTS. 


A Broop or Hepernocs iy A Town Garprn.—On Wednesday, Sep- 
tember 6th, there was discovered in the garden of the Abbey, Burton- 
on-T'rent, a brood of six fine young Hedgehogs. The garden is 
bounded on one side by the River Trent, and on two others by walls, 
the approach to the remaining side lying through a densely populated 
part of the town ; and for the last eight years at least no Hedgehogs 
have been seen in the garden. It is difficult to understand how the 
brood just discovered got there. Can any of your readers suggest an 
explanation of the problem.—Cuas. F. Tuornewrin, Burton-on-Trent. 


New Locatrries ror Rare Warwicksuire Pranrs.— Recently I have 
found Comarum palustre in abundance in a marsh near Tile Hill; 
Spirea lilipendula in dry pastures near Alveston Heath; and Rosa 
collina and R. cesia in hedges near Tile Hill. All these arerare in the 
county.—J. EH. BaGnaut. 


New Ascosonus.—A fortnight ago I found a small Ascobolus on 
cow-dung at Water Orton which I was unable to name. I sent speci- 
mens to the well-known specialist in this group of fungi, Mr. W. 
Phillips, of Shrewsbury, and he decided it to be a species, Ascobolus 
minutissimus, Boud., not hitherto found in Britain. It is therefore a 
welcome addition to our local Flora.—W. B. Grovn, B.A., Sept. 20th. 


Gyantur Lacuenarit, Gmel., ss A WARWIcKSHIRE Pruant.—In the early 
part of August of the present year I found Ginanthe Lachenalii fairly 
abundant in a marshy coppice sear Stratford-upon-Avon. This is an 
interesting addition to the Warwickshire flora, and the more so from 
the fact of its being a semi-littoral plant, choosing rather salt-water 
marshes and the banks of tidal rivers than a fresh-water marsh in an 
inlandcounty. Inawood near the marsh mentioned, I also found another 
maritime plant, Carex distans. The Rev. W. W. Newbould in a recent 
communication, remarks ‘‘I have asuspicion thatit (Q@nanthe Lachenalii) 
is a plant becoming extinct in Warwickshire rather than a recent im- 
portation. It is curious that so many plants usually found under sea 
influences should grow thereabout; e.g., Juncus Gerardi, Carex 
distans, Apium gravcolens, all growing within a few miles of the same 
place.” I fully agree with the opinions of Mr. Newbould, and can 
state that in addition to the plants he mentions we also find in other 
parts of the Avon basin, Samolus Valerandi, Rumex maritimus, Scirpus 
Tabernemontani, and Scirpus maritinus, and I think that a careful exami- 
nation of the localities where these occur would also lead to the finding 
of Glaux maritima.—J. TW. BaGNan. 


Aeports of Societies. 


BIRMINGHAM NATURAL HISTORY AND MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETY.— 
GEOLOGICAL SECTION.—August 29th.—Mr. T. H. Waller, exhibited miscroscopical 
sections of Pre-Cambrian rock from Caldecott, near Nuneaton; Mr. C. A. 
Matley, a collection of fossiliferous quartzite pebbles, from the drift near 
Birmingham, some Sand Martin’s eggs, with peculiar markings, and a few 
agates, carnelians, and onyxes, from | uenos Ayres; Mr. C. Mantell, jun., two 
fossil corals, Isastrea oblonga (Oolite,) and Favosites cervicornis (Devonian,) 
both from Torquay ; Mr. G. F. ‘ hantrill, of the Liverpool Microscopical Society, 
a leaf of Anacharis alsinastrum, with a curious fungus growth showing some 
beautiful crystals; also some curious and interesting crystallisation in cast-iron 
and Portland cement, GENERAL MprntTinc—September dth,—Mr, W, G, Blatch 


REPORTS OF SOCIETINS. 239 


exhibited Cryptocephalus coryli and C. punctiger, two rare species of Coleoptera, 
from Cannock Chase; new to the district. Mr. W. B. Grove exhibited three 
species of Fungi: Stigmatea Robertiani, on green leaves of Herb Robert; 
Puccinia fabe, on leaves of bean; and P. compositarwm, on leaves of Centaurea 
nigra. BIOLOGICAL SECTION—September 12th.—Mr. W. B. Grove exhibited 
Erysiphe Linkii (the Mugwort Blight); also Peziza granulata and Alqgerita 
candida, from Water Orton. My. W.G. Blatch exhibited Dysdera Hombergii, a 
spider of the Senoculina group, found near Knowle, and new to the district. Mr. 
E. Wagstaff exhibited Hremosphera viridis, from Sutton Park.* My. Bolton 
exhibited a piece of seaweed (Ceratium), from Llandudno, on which were growing 
two species of Polyzoa (Membranipora pilosa and Bowerbankia imbricata), 
numerous specimens of the fry of mussels (Mytilus edulis) were attached, and 
another molluse (Rissoa cingillus) creeping over it. MicroscopIicaAL GENERAL 
MEETING—September 19th.—Mr. W. G. Blatch exhibited Hylecetus dermestoides, 
arare beetle found at Cannock Chase; new to the district. Mr. W. B. Grove 
exhibited Corticium ceruleum from Pembrokeshire, and Ascobolus minutis- 
simus, Boud., a fungus now found for the first time in Britain, at Water Orton. 
Mr. T. Bolton exhibited Bulbochete setigera. My. Blatch also exhibited a 
fragment from a large felsite boulder at Knowle. GronLoGican SEorron.— 
September 26th.—The following exhibits were made:—Mr. W. J. Harrison. 
F.G.S., a copy of the Darwin medal, in bronze, intended for presentation to the 
family of the late Mr. Charles Darwin; Mr. R. W. Chase, a collection of fossils 
lately obtained on the Norfolk coast, including typical specimens from the red 
and white chalk of Hunstanton; part of the antler of Cervus elaphus from 
Thornham, and several large bones and a goat’s skull from Beaucaster; Mr. 
W. 4H. Wilkinson, Cornus muscula, or Austrian cherry; Mr. W. Southall, Slate, 
bleached superficially through lying in a peat bog; Mr. T. H. Waller, a micro- 
scopical section of a boulder from Knowle; Mr. W. J. Harrison, jun., a specimen 
of Lingula Lesuewrti in a quartzite pebble from Billesley Lane, near Spark- 
brook; Mr. J. E. Bagnall, the following fungi from Middleton :— Boletus 
laricinus, B. scaber, Clitocybe wpithyophilus, Agaricus muscarius, and 
Cortinarius cinnamomeus; Mr. W. B. Grove, B.A., the following fungi :— 
Agaricus vaginatus, A. squarrosus, Hygrophorus virgineus, H. ceraceus, 
Fistulina hepatica, and Dedalea quercina. 


BIRMINGHAM AND MIDLAND INSTITUTE SCIENTIFIC SOCIETY.— 
September 6.—The Tenth Annual Meeting was held—Mr. C. B. Caswell in the 
Chair. The annual report stated that the present number of members was 180. 
Thirteen papers had been read, with an average attendance of 50°7 members. 
The total number of books issued during the year was 1145, and £2 16s. 3d. had 
been received in fines. During the session 52 volumes had been added to the 
library. During the past summer a section (now numbering 30 members) had 
been formed for the practical study of photography, one night per month being 
devoted to the section. The balance sheet showed a balance in hands of 
Treasurer of £5 3s. 54d. The report having been received and adopted, it was 
ordered to be printed for distribution among the members. Votes of thanks 
having been passed to the Officers and Committee for their services, also to the 
Council for granting the use of a room for the Society’s meetings, the following 
members were elected officers for the ensuing year :—Mr. C. R. Robinson, presi- 
dent; Mr. E. Evans, vice-president; Mr. C. J. Watson, treasurer; Mr. W.J. Morley, 
librarian; Mr. G. H. Twigg and Mr. C.J. Woodward, B.Sc., trustees; W.H. Cox, hon. 
sec. Mr. C. B. Caswell, F.L.C., the retiring President, then delivered an address on 
“The Value of Literary Culture to the Student of Science.” After referring to 
the progress which has been made in the matter of scientific education 
throughout the Kingdom, Mr. Caswell said that it was needless to urge its further 
development before the members of the Institute Scientific Society, who were 
not only convinced of its importance, but were, perhaps, in danger of coming to 
regard it as a complete education in itself. He deprecated the light estimation 


* This exhibit was omitted in last report. 


940 REPORTS OF SOCIETIES. 


in which literature, and especially poetry, was held by some students of science, 
and pointed out that although some of the early poets ignored, or even ridiculed, 
scientific teaching, it was gratefully accepted by modern poets, and actually 
used to illustrate and enforce their ideas. Mr. Caswell maintained that instead 
of being useless lumber to the man of science, literature is of great value to 
him in several ways. First, careful study of the best writers in our language is 
the only means of attaining the ease, clearness, and grace of expression, 
without which the communication of scientific knowledge will be laborious and 
unsuccessful. The lectures and addresses of Professors Huxley and Tyndall were 
pointed out as brilliant examples of the union of profound scientific knowledge 
with broad literary culture. The power of literature to liberate the mental 
faculties from the damaging influence of close attention to details was next 
referred to, and then its extreme value as an instrument for the cultivation of the 
imagination, without which it is difficult to realise the facts of science, and 
impossible to conduct the higher kinds of research. Finally, Mr. Caswell urged the 
importance of literature as a revealer of the moral and spiritual nature of man, 
as a teacher of the duties of domestic and political life, and as a corrective to 
the materialism of modern science. Passages were quoted from the writings 
of Mr. Tennyson, Mr. Carlyle, and Professor Tyndall reprobating materialism 
and denying that science can be all in all to men. Mr. Caswell concluded 
by referring to the inexhaustible pleasures to be derived from literature, 
and urged all scientific students from time to time to release their 
minds from the strain of their studies, and surrender themselves to the 
magical influence of genius, contending that after such recreation they would 
return to their work with renewed relish and vigour, and with faculties better 
fitted to bring those studies to a successful issue.—A hearty vote of thanks was 
passed to Mr. Caswell for his address and services during the year. 


BIRMINGHAM MICROSCOPISTS’ AND NATURALISTS’ UNION.—July 3rd. 
—H. Insley showed upper jaw and tongue of Helix nemoralis and longitudinal 
section of Beech root; Mr. Chaplin, section of human jaw; Mr. Searle, Achatina 
acicula, English and African. Paper by Mr. Delicate on “The Atmosphere.” July 
10th.—J. W. Neville, showed jaws of Dragon-fly (Agrion); Mr. Baxter, Cristatella 
mucedo; Mr. Darley, pair of Wood Tigers, Sutton Park; Mr. H. Insley, frond of 
Neuropteris, which had become bipinnate in the lower pinnules; Mr. Beteridge, 
pair of Wood Wrens, reared by hand (living). July 17th—Mr. Poland showed 
Helix sericea, H. concinna, and Zonites glaber. A paper was read by Mr. J. W. 
Neville, on ‘Our Common Diatoms,” which was well illustrated, and deposited 
in the library. Campylodiscus, from Black-root pool, Sutton Park, and Coscino- 
discus (fossil form) were shown. July 24th.—Mr. Cook showed Privet Hawk Moth; 
Mr. Darley, a collection of insects caught during the year (moths and butterflies); 
Mr. Moore, larva of great Dragon-fly, and gizzard of the same under microscope, 
showing remains of creatures fed upon; Mr. Madison, Helix obvoluta, Hampshire ; 
Mr. Darley, pair of Kestrel Hawks (young). July 29th.—Excursion to Salford 
Priors. July 31st.—Messrs. Deakin and Clark exhibited various land shells; Mr. 
Boland, abnormal form of Anodonta cygnea, which had formed each valve in a 
two lobed manner; Mr. J. Wykes, Floscularia ornata; Myr. H. Insley, fossil Lim- 
nea, Isle of Wight. August 7th—No meeting. August 14th—Mr. H. Insley 
showed shark’s teeth from Eocene seas, also spinal vertebree of Icthyosaurus ; 
Mr. Bradbury, Aicidium on Coltsfoot leaf. Mr. Delicate reported having cooked 
and eaten Anodonta anatina, and found them good food. SPECIAL GEoLOGY— 
August 21st.—Mr. Moore showed sections of mountain limestone, corals, and shells 
from Headon beds; Mr. Midgeley, Icthyoiites from the coalfields, Manchester ; 
Mr. J. W. Neville, section of flint showing Xanthidia; Mr. Grew, organic traces 
in fire coal; Mr. H. Insley, a collection of various ores and their accompanying 
rocks; Mr. Madison, oolitic fossil wood, Echinus (Lias), and Oyster :Greensand). 
August 28th.—Mr, Boland exhibited Echinus and shell of Pinna, from Tenby; 
Mr. H. Insley, Pecopteris from the coalfield, Bilston. Paper on ‘* The Sun,” by 
Mr. J. Grew. 


REPORT ON THE PENNATULIDA. 941 


REPORT ON THE PENNATULIDA 


COLLECTED IN THE OBAN DREDGING EXCURSION 
OF THE BIRMINGHAM NATURAL HISTORY AND 
MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETY, JULY, 1881. 


BY A. MILNES MARSHALL, M.A., D.SC., PROFESSOR OF ZOOLOGY 
IN OWENS COLLEGE, AND W. P. MARSHALL, M.I.C.E. 


(Continued from page 227.) 


PART III.—Vircurarra mirasiyis. Lamarck.—(Continued). 


3.—The Polypes and Zooids.— 


The general arrangement of the leaves is shown in Fig. 1; and the 
leaves, together with the polypes of which they are formed, in Figs. 3, 
4,and 5. In the Oban specimens each leaf is formed by the fusion of 
seven to eight polypes, placed side by side, the number being constant 
in all the leaves of any one specimen, but varying in different speci- 
mens. The leaves are arranged strictly in pairs at the two ends of the 
rachis, but about its middle often show slight irregularities, and may 
even alternate with one another for some little distance. 


At the bottom of the rachis there is no trace of leaves or polypes, 
but about an eighth of an inch higher up the leaves begin to appear as 
small transverse ridges: they are at first very close together, and the 
component polypes very small ; but passing upwards the polypes gradually 
get larger and the leaves wider apart. Having reached their maximum 
size and distance from one another, the leaves preserve these for some 
distance, and then, towards the top of the rachis, begin gradually to 
get smaller and closer together. 


In the Glasgow specimen, which has the rachis perfect at both top 
and bottom, we have been able to measure accurately the number of 
leaves in each inch length of the rachis. In the following table these 
numbers are shown, as well as the “ pitch” of the leaves at different 
parts of thelength. By “pitch” we mean the number of pairs of 
leaves per inch length of rachis; e.g., if in a given inch there are nine 
pairs of leaves, then the “ pitch” at that part of the rachis is 9; or 
again, if in a given quarter of an inch there are four pairs of leaves, 
this is at the rate of sixteen pairs in an inch, which is expressed by 
saying that the “ pitch” at this part is 16, 


242 REPORT ON THE PENNATULIDA. 


The total length of the rachis in the Glasgow specimen is 9 inches, 
and the pitch at different parts is as follows, commencing at the 
upper end :— 


First inch—first 4 inch.. 9pairsof leaves; i.e., pitch 72 
second? ,, i Fr 5 “1 48 
second t ” 4 ” ” ” ” 16 
pecond a 4,035. Vy, rr ” » 14 
Second ,, En a Oi 9% % ‘8 
Third 9 ee ee a 8 ” ” ” ” 8 
Fourth 9 . 74 ” ” ” ” 74 
Fifth ” 74 ” ” ” ” 74 
Sixth ” . on +. 8 ” ” ” ” 8 
Seventh ,, om ae evel poe > + ae dt! 
Highth ” ee oe eS ” ” ” ” 18 
Ninth ) elirst) inch. 2 es oa » ot 
third 4 ry Oo 17 ” ” ” ” 68 


Lower than this the leaves could not be accurately counted without 
putting the specimen under the microscope, which we had no oppor- 
tunity of doing. In Fig. 1, which is drawn from the Glasgow 
specimen, the numbers along the left-hand side of the figure indicate 
the pitch at the points opposite which they are placed; the number 
48, for instance, near the top of the figure, indicating that the pitch at 
this point is 48—i.e., that at this point the leaves are at the rate of 48 
to the inch. 

In the Oban specimens the tops are wanting, but the lower ends of 
the rachis are, in four out of the seven specimens, perfect; and in 
these we have measured the pitch at different points, in order to 
compare with the Glasgow specimen. In one specimen which we 
select as apparently a fairly typical one, the total length of rachis is, 
as in the Glasgow example, nine inches; but as the top has gone, the 
specimen when entire must have been considerably longer. The 
measurements of this specimen are as follows, commencing at the 
upper (truncated) end :— 


First inch 6c ae .. 6pairsof leaves ; i.e., pitch 6 
Second ” ee ee Fieve (6) ” ” ” ” 6 
Third . ie bia en orang ule r ion aati 
Fourth ” oo on so if ” ” ” ” 7 
Fifth ” on .- so ” ” ” ” 9 
Sixth ” oe . 50) Lz, ” ” ” ” 12 
Seventh ,, he cs pga ay ee 3 p re eS 
Highth ” ee o. oe 2B ” ” ” ” 23 
Ninth ” —first 4 inch .. 16 ” ” ” ” 32 

third 4 9 et LP, ” ” ” ” 48 


A comparison of this with the other Oban specimens has led us to 
a few general results of some interest. In the first place, we find that 
in no one of the specimens is the pitch at any part less than 6; i.e., in 
no part are there less than six pairs of leaves in an inch length of 
rachis. We have already seen that the largest of the leaves are those 
which are furthest apart, so that it would appear that, so far as the 
Oban specimens are concerned, the limits of growth of the leaves are 
reached when these have attained a distance from one another of 4 in. 


ES 


REPORT ON THE PENNATULIDA. 248 


In the table given above it will be seen that when this point has been 
reached growth stops, and in the upper three inches the pitch remains 
constant at the number 6; and the same thing applies to the other 
specimens as well. Secondly, in five out of the seven specimens the 
pitch at the upper end is 6, while in the remaining two specimens it is 
8. If, as we have tried to show above, this number 6 is the limit, 
and is only reached in those parts which have attained their full 
srowth ; i.e., in the parts at or about the middle of the entire colony 
(cf. Fig. 1), then these facts would seem to show that the tops are usually 
bitten off somewhere about, perhaps slightly above, the middle; i.e., 
that in the Oban specimens at any rate, the rachis, if complete, would 
be something like double its actual length. Concerning the growth of 
the leaves it is clear that, as in Pennatula, the seat of development 
of the leaves is at the lower end of the rachis. 

Although the leaves get smaller and closer together towards both 
upper and lower ends of the rachis, yet there is a great difference 
between the two cases. At the upper end, just as in Pennatula, though 
the leaves get smaller, the polypes remain fully formed—a point we 
have been able to con{irm by an examination of the specimens taken 
by Mr. Darbishire fro:n the haddock’s stomach. At the lower end of 
the rachis on the other hand, not only do the leaves get smaller, but their 
component polypes get more and more imperfect, and at last (Fig. 6, dr) 
become reduced to mere pit-like depressions of the surface. 

We conclude, therefore, that the topmost leaves are the oldest, the 
lowermost the youngest : that the seat of development of the leaves is 
the lower end of the rachis ; and that each actual leaf took its rise at 
this point, and gradually travelled upwards as new leaves were 
developed in succession below it; that the colony grows along its 
entire length, but that the limit of growth is reached, as already 
explained, when the distance between successive leaves amounts to 
4 inch; that this limit is never reached by the oldest or uppermost 
leaves, which remain permanently small and close together, but that 
as the colony gets older and older the pitch finally attained by the 
leaves get larger and larger, until its final limit is reached. 


It follows from this that all the part of a Virgularia above the point 
at which this final pitch is first attained has ceased to grow: and the part 
below it is still growing, but will cease to do so as soon as this limit is 
reached. 

It will be seen that in many respects this mode of growth agrees 
closely with that we have described in Pennatula. In both cases the 
point of origin of new leaves is the bottom of the rachis, and in both 
we have the same arrest of development after reaching a certain 
limit. 

In Virgularia, however, the successive leaves tend to separate from 
one another to a far greater extent than they do in Pennatula, while 
in the latter the lateral growth of the individual leaves is very much 
greater than in Virgularia. Another point of difference lies in the 
fact that while in Pennatula the several polypes of a leaf are developed 


944 REPORT ON THE PENNATULIDA, 


successively, in Virgularia they appear simultaneously, the youngest 
leaves having the same number of polypes as the oldest or most mature 
ones. 

Concerning the calcified stem it is clear that it also must grow so 
as to keep pace with the whole colony. From its extremely dense 
structure and the very large proportion of inorganic matter it contains, 
it seems very improbable that it can grow iuterstitially along its whole 
length ; indeed, it appears almost certain that growth only occurs by 
the addition of new matter, either at the ends or on the outside of that 
which is already formed. If it be also true, as noticed previously, that 
the top of the stem normally projects bare for a short distance above 
the top of the rachis, then it is clear that the stem can only grow in 
length by addition to its lower end i.e., that it is continually being 
pushed up, as it were, through the rachis from below, and that the 
growth of the stem in lergth, though not in thickness, is independent 
of that of the rachis. Increase in thickness is effected by the deposi- 
tion of successive laminz one outside another by the soft tissues of 
the rachis and stalk in contact with the stem. 

Though the several polypes of each leaf come into existence simul- 
taneously, and in the smallest leaves the number of polypes is the 
same as that in the most fully developed ones, yet we find that from 
the time of their very first appearance there is a gradual increase of size 
as we pass from the most dorsal polype of a leaf towards the most 
ventral one. ‘This is shown clearly for the fully developed leaf in 
Fig. 5, and for the early stages of development in Fig. 6. 

This difference in size between the dorsal and ventral polypes of a 
leaf might be explained, so far as the adult leaves are concerned, by 
the greater freedom and range of action, and consequent greater chances 
of obtaining food possessed by the ventral as contrasted with the 
dorsal polypes; but this explanation would hardly account for the 
difference in size being so marked in the very earliest stages of their 
development. We are disposed to think that the true explanation is 
that in the ancestral forms either of Virgularia itself, or that from which 
Virgularia was derived, the several polypes were, as in Funiculina and 
Pennatula at the present day, developed not simultaneously but 
successively one above another, the ventral ones first ; and that though 
Virgularia has lost this primitive character, and has acquired the habit 
of developing all the polypes of a leaf simultaneously, it has still 
retained indications of its ancestral habits in the greater size of the 
ventral polypes, even in their earliest stages. It is just possible that 
more careful examination than we have had the opportunity of making 
would show that the ventral polypes actually appear slightly before 
the dorsal ones, which would completely prove our case. We shall 
find further on additional evidence that Virgularia is less primitive 
than either of the two other allied genera, Funiculina or Pennatula. 

The dorsal polypes of each pair of leaves are (as shown in Figs. 3 
and 5) separated from one another by a very short interval at their 
bases, while the most ventral polypes (Figs. 4 and 5) are separated by 


REPORT ON THE PENNATULIDA. 245 


the whole width of the ventral surface of the rachis. In this respect 
Virgularia agrees with both the other genera. 

The Zooids in Virguluria are exceedingly rudimentary ; more so 
even than in Pennatula. They form small pit-like depressions on the 
sides of the rachis, placed in somewhat oblique rows at the bases of 
the leaves (Fig. 5 e). 


4.—Anatomy of the Polypes. 


The polypes of Virgularia as might be expected are essentially 
similar to those of Funiculina or Pennatula; resembling, owing to their 
fusion into leaves, those of the latter rather more closely than the 
former genus. 

The structure of the adult polypes is shown in Figs. 5 and 7, the 
former figure representing the seven polypes composing a leaf in their 
natural relation to one another and to the rachis ; while the latter figure 
represents transverse sections of three polypes taken at different parts 
of their length, the upper section passing through the stomach and 
the base of the tentacles ; the middle section through the mesenterial 
filaments immediately below the stomach ; and the bottom section 
passing through the lower part of the body cavity, not far from the 
rachis. 

Taking the component parts of the polypes in the same order as in 
the other two genera, we have to deal first with 

a. The Body-wall: consisting of a firm gelatinous mesoderm (Fig. 
7, x) covered on its outer surface by the ectoderm, w; and on its inner 
by the endoderm, y. Hctoderm and endoderm each consist of a single 
layer of epithelial cells, while the mesoderm is traversed by branching 
nucleated cells, and also by fine tubular channels, in connection with 
those of the rachis. 

This mesoderm is tough, and has considerable powers of resistance 
to re-agents ; it gives their definite shape to the polypes; and in speci- 
mens of Virgularia taken from a haddock’s stomach at Scarborough 
in a partially digested condition, the mesoderm alone had escaped, 
ectoderm, endoderm, and all the internal organs being in most cases 
dissolved out completely. 

At their lower ends the polype cavities (Fig. 5) are, as in Pennatula, 
separated by only very thin partitions from the main dorsal and 
lateral canals of the rachis; while the curious system of radial 
canals, (Fig. 5, vc) as already noticed, communicates with the 
body cavity of the most ventral polype of the leaf. 

We have not noticed any perforations in the walls separating the 
several polypes of a leat from one another, such as are described and 
figured by Kolliker as occurring in Halisceptrum and other genera. 

The body-walls of Virgularia, as already noticed, contain no 
spicules; differing in this respect most markedly from those of 
Pennatula. 

b. The Calyx.—This forms (Fig. 5, g), a wall surrounding the 
tentacles when these are either partially or wholly retracted. It 


246 REPORT ON THE PENNATULIDA. 


differs from the calyx both of Funiculina and Pennatula in several 
respects. It has no strengthening spicules, and it is not produced at 
its margin into pointed processes, alternating with the tentacles, as 
is the case in the other two genera. The most important point of 
difference, however, lies in the fact that while in Funiculina and 
Pennatula the calyx is a permanent fold of the body-wall, in Virgularia 
it is only a temporary one and disappears altogether when the tentacles 
are fully expanded. This will become clear at once from an 
examination of Fig. 5, in which the several polypes of the leaf are 
drawn in different stages of expansion or contraction. Thus the 
second and seventh polypes, numbering them in order from the dorsal 
to the ventral surface, are shown almost completely retracted, and in 
these the calyx forms a deep fold of the body-wall surrounding the 
whole length of the tentacles. In the third and fifth polypes the 
tentacles have commenced to protrude, and it will be seen that as they 
rise up the calyx wall unfolds with them. In the sixth polype the 
tentacles are almost fully expanded, and the calyx is now reduced to a 
very low wall surrounding their bases. The fourth polype is drawn in 
a fully expanded condition, and it will be seen that the calyx (Fig. 5, ), 
is completely unfolded, and has in fact ceased to exist; its position 
being indicated only by a slight wrinkling of the body-wall at the base 
of the tentacles, and even this disappearing in extreme protrusion of 
the tentacles. 

If this figure be compared with those already given of Funiculina 
(Plate II., Fig. 10) and Pennatula (Plate III., Fig. 4), it will be seen 
that the calyx is formed in exactly the same way in all three cases, by 
an infolding or inversion of the upper end of the body-wall; and that 
the difference, which is clearly connected with the existence or non- 
existence of spicules in the calyx, lies in the fact that in Virgularia 
this calyx-fold is completely everted and straightened out when the 
tentacles are fully expanded, while in the other two genera it is only 
partially so, the fold being to a certain extent permanent, the calyx 
still persisting even when the tentacles are protruded to their utmost 
extent. 

c. The Tentacles (Fig. 5) are very similar to those of the other two 
genera. They form a whorl of eight hollow processes arranged round 
the mouth, each bearing along its inner edge a double row of pinnules. 
Each tentacle consists of an outer layer of ectoderm cells continuous 
with those of the body-wall, a middle layer of mesoderm cells, con- 
sisting chiefly of muscular fibres arranged in an outer longitudinal and 
an inner circular layer, and an inner lining of endoderm cells continuous, 
as is seen in the fourth polype of Fig. 5, with the endoderm lining the 
body-cavity of the polype. 

Our specimens of Virgularia are in rather worse histological con- 
dition than those of either Funiculina or Pennatula, and we have been 
unable to determine with certainty whether thread-cells, the special 
defensive and offensive weapons of Celenterata, are present or absent. 
The point is one of some importance; for should they prove to be 


REPORT ON THE PENNATULIDA. 247 


absent we might find in this the explanation of Virgularia being 
habitually devoured as food, while Funiculina and Pennatula are 
allowed to go unharmed. 

This explanation is of course a purely hypothetical one, resting 
merely on our inability to find thread-cells in imperfectly preserved 
specimens. We have thought it worth while to record it, however, as 
it is one which the Society may have an opportunity at some future 
time of testing directly, and also because we know of certain other 
facts which seem to make it not altogether improbable. Thus we 
know from the observations of Kélliker, Koren and Danielssen, and 
others, that the truncation of the upper end occurs normally in certain 
species of Virgularia, but not in others; i.e., according to our theory, 
that certain species of Virgularia are habitually eaten as food by fish or 
other marine animals, while other species escape. We know also from 
an observation of Rumph made more than a century ago, that some 
species of Virgularia possess a very remarkable power of stinging, due 
evidently to the possession of thread-cells, while in other species this 
stinging power is not perceptible, at any rate to ourselves. 

Rumph’s observations are so important that we shall quote them 
here. His specimens of Virgularia, of a species which has been since 
named by Ko6lliker, in honour of its discoverer, Virgularia Rumphii, 
were obtained at Amboyna, a small island in the Malay Archipelago, 
east of Celebes. Concerning them, he says :*—‘‘ If one handles them 
incautiously one experiences a burning sensation, and the hand 
becomes red; then ensues a violent itching, followed by the appearance 
of pustules, as if one had been stung by nettles, lasting for three days.” 
Concerning another species, Virgularia juncea, Rumph remarks that he 
has not noticed thatit causes any distinct burning or itching in the hand, 
although he had pulled them up by hundreds. Neither does Darwin, in 
his account of the South American Virgularia, say anything concerning 
it possessing a power of stinging, which he could hardly have failed to 
notice had it been actually present. We know also that both of these 
latter species are habitually truncated, so that there seems sufficient 
evidence to warrant our making the suggestion that Virgularia mirabilis 
may be devoured because 1t possesses no thread-cells, while Funiculina 
escapes because it is richly armed with these defensive weapons. 

d. The Stomach.—The mouth, as shown in Fig. 5, m, is situated on 
the apex of a small papilla that rises up in the middle of the circle of 
tentacles, the outer wall of the papilla being continuous with the bases 
of the tentacles and the inner with the wall of the stomach. The 
mouth is a transverse slit (Fig. 7), whose long axis is at right angles 
to the flat surface of the leaf. The varying position of the mouth in 
different conditions of protrusion or retraction of the polype is well 
shown in the several polypes of Fig. 5. When the tentacles are 
completely retracted, as in the second and seventh polypes, the mouth 


*Rumph: “T’ Amboin ’sche Rariteitkamer,” p. 43, Amsterdam, 1741. We have 
been unable to refer directly to this work, and take our account from a quotation 
in Kolliker’s “Aleyonarien,” p. 204, 


948 REPORT ON THE PENNATULIDA. 


is some considerable distance below the margin of the calyx, while in 
the fully expanded fourth polype the mouth is seen to be some distance 
above the calyx margin. 

The mouth leads by a narrow cesophageal passage into the thick- 
walled stomach (n), which is thrown into folds closely similar to those 
of Funiculina or Pennatula. The concertina-like action of these folds 
as the polype is expanded or retracted is well shown in Fig. 5; in the 
retracted polype the folds of the stomach are closely pressed together, 
and the whole stomach is very short: when, on the other hand, the 
polype is protruded, the folds of the stomach-wall are pulled out, and 
the whole organ becomes at least double its previous length. 

As in the other two genera the stomach-wall consists of a thick 
inner lining of ectoderm cells, a thin mesodermal layer, and a fairly 
thick outer coat of endoderm cells continuous with those lining the 
body-cavity. 

e. The Mesenteries, like those of Funiculina and Pennatula, are eight 
vertical partitions or septa, uniting the body-walls and stomach 
together, and extending below the latter down to the bottom of the 
polype-cavity. 

Round the stomach the mesenteries are arranged at nearly equal 
intervals, two being attached to the upper surface of the leaf, two to 
the lower, and two to each of the partition walls separating the polype 
from its neighbours on either side. Below the stomach the arrange- 
ment becomes asymmetrical, in the manner already described as 
occurring in Pennatula; i.e., the two mesenteries attached to the 
upper surface of the leaf retain their position, or even move slightly 
away from one another, while the lateral ones shift downwards 
towards the lower surface. This change of position is well shown in 
the two lower sections of Fig. 7, which show also that while the upper 
two mesenteries remain of some width the whole way down the polype, 
the other six become very soon reduced to mere ridges. 

The arrangement of the muscles in the mesenteries is the same 
as in the other two genera. The strong retractor muscles (p), by which 
the polype and tentacles are withdrawn into the calyx and the folds of 
the stomach approximated to one another, are shown in the several 
polypes of Fig. 5. 

f. The Mesenterial Filaments—Here again the arrangement is 
closely similar to that of Funiculina or Pennatula; as in these genera, 
there are in each polype six short mesenterial filaments (Figs. 5 and 7 1), 
which are thickenings on the edges of the lateral and under pairs of 
mesenteries, and which, commencing at the lower end of the stomach, 
only extend a short way down the polype cavity ; and two long mesen- 
terial filaments, formed on the edges of the upper pair of mesenteries 
(Figs. 5 and 7 s), and extending down quite to the bottom of the polype 
cavity. All the mesenterial filaments are much convoluted, and the 
two long ones are much thicker than in either of the other two genera. 

We have obtained evidence concerning the digestive function of 
these mesenterial filaments of a precisely similar nature to that already 


ee 


REPORT ON THE PENNATULIDA. Q4A9 


brought forward in the case of Pennatula ; i.e., we have found foreign 
bodies, such as diatoms (Fig. 7, fo), imbedded in the filaments, and 
clearly undergoing digestion. As these bodies become completely en- 
velopedin and by the filaments, it is clear that these latter must huve 
the power of changing their shape and spreading round any body that 
may come in contact with them, a power that is probably due to 
amoeboid movements of the individual cells of the filaments. 

We described in Pennatula the presence of an Entomostracon, 
apparently a parasitic Copepod in the body-cavity of one of the 
polypes; and we noticed also that ripe ova had been discharged from 
the Entomostracon and were lying in various parts of the polype, some 
freely and some imbedded in the mesenterial filaments; also, that 
many of these ova had commenced to develop. 

We have found ova precisely similar to these present in large 
numbers in the polypes of Virgularia (Fig. 7, ov), and although we 
have not found the Entomostracon itself, we have no doubt, from the 
identical character of the eggs in the two cases, that those found in 
Virgularia belong to the same animal as those found in Pennatula, or to 
some very closely allied one. 

We have also found, what we were not aware of when writing our 
account of Pennatula, that Wntomostraca very closely similar to this 
one have already been found in corresponding situations in allied 
animals. 

In 1859 Bruzelius* described under the name of Lamippe rubra a 
parasitic crustacean which he found inhabiting specimens of Pennatula 
rubra taken off the west coast of Sweden. Not long afterwards 
Claparédet found at Naples an allied form, which he called Lamippe 
proteus, dwelling parasitically in specimens of Lobularia (Aleyonium ) 
digitata, and wrote a careful account with figures of both the male and 
female. 

Quite recently M. Joliet} has described and figured a third species 
of this genus obtained from Paralcyoniwm elegans, and which he names 
Lamippe Duthiérsii. He notices, like Claparéde, that the sexes are 
distinct, and lays stress on the remarkable changes of shape which the 
body undergoes, and which led Claparéde to name his species L. proteus. 
When at rest the animal is a somewhat cylindrical sac, about 0-04 
inch in length, with two pairs of jointed antenne at its anterior end in 
front of the mouth ; two small pairs of legs a short way behind the 
mouth ; a caudal-fork armed with sete; and a straight alimentary 
canal with a distinct anus. 

The HKntomostracon we found, as described, in Pennatula clearly 
belongs to the same genus. Unfortunately we have as yet come 
across only a single specimen, and as that one is in a series of transverse 


* Bruzelius: “ Ueber einenin der Pennatula rwbra lebenden Schmarotzer.” 
(Archiv. f. Naturgesch, 1859, bd. i., p. 286.) 
_ | Claparede: “‘ Miscellanées Zoologiques,” “ Annales des Science Naturelles,” 
“ Cinquieme Série,” tome viii., 1867, p. 23 seq. 
{ Lucien Joliet: ‘‘ Observations sur quelques Crustacés dela Mediterranée,” 
“ Archives de Zoologie experimentale ’ tome x., 1882, p. 101 seq. 


250 REPORT ON TH! PHNNATULIDA. 


sections it is impossible to make out all its characters. It, however, 
does not agree with either of the species already described, and is 
probably an additional species of this curious genus, and one which we 
name provisionally Lamippe Pennatule. 

Concerning the relations of Lamippe to the polype it inhabits, we 
were in doubt when describing Pennatula whether to regard it as a 
parasite or as an animal swallowed as food: it would appear now, 
from the additional evidence that has since come into our hands, that 
itis a true parasite. We have already mentioned that the eges de- 
velop up to a certain stage within the polype, and Joliet has shown 
that they hatch in this situation and then escape as free swimming 
Nauplii. We have found numerous empty egg-shells, but have seen 
no tree Nauplii. 

(Lo be continued.) 


FUNGI OF THE NEIGHBOURHOOD OF BIRMINGHAM. 


FIRST LIST, 1881-82. 
(Continued from page 235.) 


AGARICINI (continued). 


Ag. (Trich.) cuneifolius, Fr. Sutton. Oct. 
Ag. (Trich.) grammopodius, Bull. Sutton. Oct. 
Ag. (Trich.) brevipes, Bull. Sutton. Oct. 
Ag. (Trich.) humilis, Fr. Hdgbaston, C. R. Robinson; Sutton, on soil 

wet with dripping water. Oct. 
Ag. (Clitoc.) cerussatus, Fr. Sutton. Sept., Oct. 
Ag. (Clitoc.) flaccidus, Sow. (not Fries.) Sutton. Oct. 
Ag. (Coll.) radicatus, Relh. Quinton. Sept., Oct. 
Ag. (Myc.) filopes, Bull. Sutton. Oct. 
Ag. (Plut.) nanus, Pers. Great Barr, on an old oak gate-post. Oct. 
Ag. (Crepidotus) mollis, Schiff. Sutton. Oct. 
Ag. (Nauc.) melinoides, Fr. Sutton. Oct. 
Ag. (Hyph.) epixanthus, Fr. Sutton. Oct. 
Ag. (Hyph.) velutinus, Pers. Sparkhill. Oct. 
Ag. (Pan.) campanulatus, L. Great Barr. Oct. 
Coprinus niveus, Fr. Great Barr, on horse dung. Oct. 
C. radiatus, Fr. Water Orton, on cow dung. Sept., Oct. 
Bolbitius fragilis, Fr. Great Barr. Oct. 
Lactarius glyciosmus, Fr. Sutton. Distinguished by its pleasant 

scent. Sept., Oct. 
Panus s'ypticus, Fr. Great Barr. Oct. 

POLYPOREI. 

Boletus luteus, L. Sutton Park. Sept. 
B. badius, Fr. Sutton Park, (fide M. C. Cooke.) Sept., Oct. 
B. chrysenteron, Fr. Sutton Park, common. Sept., Oct. 
Polyporus squamosus, Fr. Barnt Green; Sutton. July, Aug. 


Young specimens of this, well cooked, are not be despised, as I 
can testify from actual trial. But everything depends upon the 
way in which they are cooked, 


FUNGI OF THE NEIGHBOURHOOD OF BIRMINGHAM. 251 


P. sulphureus, Fr. Perry Barr; Driffold Lane, Sutton, on logs 


(magnificent specimens). June—Sept. 
P. rutilans, Fr. Water Orton, on a felled willow. June—Sept. 
P. fumosus, Fr. Edgbaston, C. R. Robinson. This species was 
remarkable, when fresh, for an odour exactly like strong ketchup ; 
the pores were obsolete near the edge, forming a broad white 
margin underneath, exactly as in the allied species, P. adustus, 
from which it is, however, quite distinct. 
P. adustus, Fr. Sutton Park, on stumps. ; Sept. 
P. spumeus, Fr. Edgbaston, C. 2. Robinson. The specimen was 
attacked by Hypemyces rosellus. 
P. betulinus, Fr. Harborne, on a dead tree. Aug. 
P. igniarius, Fr. Barston, within a dead willow. Aug. 
P. annosus, Fr. Driffold Lane, Sutton. May. 
P. versicolor, Fr. Abundant everywhere. Autumn. 
P. medulla-panis, Fr. On bark. Sutton. Oct. 
P. sanguinolentus, Fr. Driffold Lane, Sutton, on rotton wood and 
soil; Great Barr. Sept., Oct. 
P. molluscus, Fr. Driffold Lane, Sutton. Rare. May. 
P. yaporarius, Fr. Sutton Park; Solihull, ete. Common. Aug.—Oct. 
Trametes gibbosa, Fr. On dead trunks, Sutton. Aug., Sept. 


Merulius lacrymans, Fr. Common in a barren state. In good fruit, 
Birmingham, S. Wilkins. Driffold Lane, Sutton. Aug., Sept., 
Fistulina hepatica, Fr. On old oaks, Sutton Park, and Four Oaks 


Park. Sept. 

This delicious fungus I have also eaten. 

HYDNEI. 

Hydnum udum, Fr. Ona standing birch, causing the bark to fall off, 
Quinton. Sept., Oct. 
H. niveum, Pers. Bromsgrove; Sutton. Aug., Sept. 
H. farinaceum, Pers. Sutton. April. 
Irpex obliquus, Fr. Sutton. March. 

AURICULARINI. 
Thelephora laciniata, P. Sutton Park, creeping over stones, sticks, 
bushes, etc., Lower Nut Hurst. Sept., Oct. 
Stereum purpureum, Fr. Driffold Lane, Sutton. Sept.—Noy. 
8. hirsutum, Fr. On stumps, ete. Common everywhere. ‘Sept.—Nov. 
5. sanguinolentum, Fr. On logs, Sutton Park. Sept. 
S. rugosum, Fr. Driffold Lane, Sutton. Sept. 
Corticium leve, Fr. On sticks, everywhere. Aug.—Oct. 
C. quercinum, P. Sutton; Sutton Park; Solihull; Olton; Quinton. 
On birch and other trees. Sept., Oct. 
C. cinereum, Fr. Oscott; Sutton. Sept., Oct. 
C. incarnatum, Fr. Sutton Park. Sept. 
Cypella capula, Fr. Alvechurch; Sutton Park. May—Oct. 
Solenia anomala, P. (not ochracea). Driffold Lane, Sutton, on planks. 
May—Oct. 

CLAVARIET. 
Clavaria inequalis, Mill. Sutton Park. Oct. 
C. vermiculata, Scop. Quinton, in a meadow. Oct. 
Calocera cornea, Fr. Driffold Lane, Sutton; Rotten Park Reservoir, 
Edgbaston. July, Aug. 
Typhula Grevillei, Fr. Harborne, on dead leaves. Dec. 
TREMELLINI. 

Tremella foliacea, P. On logs, Sutton Park. Sept., Oct. 
T. albida, Hud. Sutton; Sutton Park. Sept.—Nov. 


bo 
Or 
bo 


FUNGI OF THE NEIGHBOURHOOD OF BIRMINGHAM. 


T. tubercularia, Berk. Sutton Park. : Sept. 
T. torta, Willd. Onan old oak vate-post, Great Barr. Oct. 
Dacrymyces deliquescens, Dub. Driffold Lane, Sutton. Sept. 
D. stillatus, Nees. On rails and stumps, abundant. Aug., Sept. 


W_ B. Grove, B.A. 
(To be continued. ) 


FLOSCULARIA REGALIS. 


BY C. T. HUDSON, M.A., LL.D., F.R.M.S. 


This remarkable new floscule was sent to me a few days ago by 
Mr. Thomas Bolton, who found it on some Myriophyllum in a pond 
near Birmingham. 

The same weed bore specimens of F. campanulata, EF. ambigua 
(which is also one of Mr. Bolton’s discoveries), F. coronetta and 
F. ornata. The new rotifer has a nearly circular cup-shaped disc, the 
edge of which bears six slightly recurved processes ending in knobs 
covered with long radiating setee. The processes taper from their bases 
up to the knobs, and are set at regular distances round the cup, giving 
the rim quite a hexagonal appearance. 

The two processes which are nearest to the dorsal surface are shorter 
than the others, and between them rises a triangular lobe longer than 
any of the processes, and also crowned with a setee-bearing knob. The 
disc is thus a kind of cross between that of F. coronetta and F. ornata, 
only with this hitherto unique distinction, viz., that there are seven 
processes issuing from it. 

All the previously known floscules have either five or three such 
processes, and there is only one known species that has the latter 
number—Mr. Hood’s Ff. trifoliwm. Hhrenberg’s six-lobed IF’. proboscidea 
is no doubt the five-lobed IF’. campanulata. 

F. regalis (for so it is proposed to name it) is not one of the larger 
species. The majority of those I have seen were about ~,th of an inch, 
and the largest was 7,th. The smaller, and probably younger, ones were 
unusually transparent for floscules. The two eyes were readily found 
on the dorsal side, both by direct and by dark ground illumination. I 
was surprised also to find how easy it was to see the semicircle of small 
cilia which lies at the bottom of the cup on the ventral side. In the 
majority of the other species these are extremely difficult to make out. 
On the other hand, the tube of the new floscule was in every instance 
almost invisible, I could just make out its existence, but that was all. 
No great stress ought, however, to be laid on this, as the tubes of all 
species vary very much according to their habitat. 

I will only add to this brief description that the floscule, when 
fully expanded, usually extends outwards all the six linear processes, 
but curves inward the seventh triangular one over the cup-shaped diso, 
and uses both it and its sete to prevent the escape of its prey. 

Sept. 24th, 1882. 


THE FLORA OF WARWICKSHIRE. Ade 


THE FLORA OF WARWICKSHIRE. 
AN ACCOUNT OF THE FLOWERING PLANTS AND FERNS 
OF THE COUNTY OF WARWICK. 


BY JAMES E. BAGNALL. 


(Continued from page 208.) 


ONAGRACEAE. 
EPILOBIUM. 


E. angustifolium, Linn. Wild French Willow, or Rose-Bay. 
Native (?): In woods, copses, and on banks. Rare. July to 
September. 
I. Hedge bank, Balsall Common, H. B. Railway banks near Berks- 
well. 
ll. Ryton Wood, Bree, May. Nat. Hist. iii., 164; near Coton House, 
and near Coventry, Herb. Per.; By the side of the L. & N. W. 
Railway, near Whitley Common, Kirk. Phyt.ii.,990; Frankton 
and Lower Hill Morton, R. S. R., 1868; Fern Hill Wood! 
H. B.; Coppice on the Edge Hills, 1877; Crackley Wood, near 
Kenilworth, plentiful. 
b. brachycarpum. 
I. Near Mawkins Hall, Balsall Common, H. B.; Sutton Park! 
Rev. J. C. 
I do not think that either of these varieties is more than an alien 
in Warwickshire. 
E. hirsutum, Linn. Great Hairy Willow-herb. 
Native: By rivers, streams and ditches. Common. July to 
September. 
More or less frequent throughout the county. 
E. parviflorum, Schreb. Small-flowered Hairy Willow-herb. 
Native: In damp woods, by pools, &c. Locally common. July 
to September, Area general. 
E, montanum, Linn. Broad-leaved Willow-herb. 
Native: On banks, by waysides, and in woods. Common. June 
to August, or later. Area general. 
The variety with white flowers is apparently rare; the Rev. J. 
Gorle records it from Sheldon, and I have seen it in the Dun- 
church Road, near Rugby. 
E, roseum, Schreb. Smaill-flowered Smooth Willow-herb. 
Native: By streams, drains, and other damp places. Rather 
local. July to September. 
I. Sheldon, Rev. J. Gorle, 1836. Waterwork grounds, Aston; banks 
of stream near Packwood Church; marshy land, Blythe 
Bridge, Solihull; drains about Hartshill; marsh near Pack- 
ington. 
Several plants as weeds in my garden, Aston, 1880. 
II. Harborough Magna, Rev. A. B. Banks of the Avon and Leam, 
Radford, Y. and B. In a ditch near Essenhall, R. S. R., 1872; 
Honington! Newb.; Offchurch; Milverton; Kenilworth; 
| Stoneleigh; Charlcote, H. B.; Oversley Mill. 
| E. tetragonum, Linn. Long-podded Square-stalked Willow-herb. 
Native: In damp woods and marshy places. Rare. July to 
September. 
I, Water-works grounds, Aston. 


954 THE FLORA OF WARWICKSHIRE: 


II. Side of the Avon; marshes about Bidford! Purt. i., 91; between 
Warwick and Hampton-on-the-Hill, Per. Fl., 34; Treddington, 
near Brailes; Rectory Garden, Shipton, Newb.; Milverton; 
Myton ; Harbury, H. B.; Snitterfield; Chesterton, Herb. Per. 
Lane near Billesley; Alveston Pastures Wood, September 
1880, pointed out by the Rev. W. W. Newbould. 

E. obscurum, Schreb. Short-podded Square-stalked Willow-herb. 

Native: By streams, pools, and damp, marshy places. Local. 
June to September. 

I. Atherstone, Blox., Herb. Bab.; Sutton Park; New Park, Middle- 
ton; Coleshill; Hartshill; Hampton; Meriden; Waterworks 
ground, Aston; sand quarry above Stonebridge, ete. 

Ii. Wyken, 7. K., Herb. Bab.; Kenilworth; Beausale; Milverton, 
H.B.; Oversley Wood; Bearley Canal; Canal near Stratford- 
on-Avon, etc. 

E. palustre, Linn. Narrow-leaved Willow-herb. 

Native: In bogs, marshes, drains, and other wet places. Locally 
common. July to September. 

I. Coleshill Bog! /urt. i., 191; Sutton Park; Bannersley Pool; 
marsh near Packington ; near Middleton Hall; Hartshill. 

II. Wilmcote, Cheshire, Herb. Per.; Arbury Park, Kirk; Tredington, 
F. Townsend; Fern Hill; Kenilworth; Leek Wootton ; 
Haseler, H. B.; Oversley Wood; Stratford-on-Avon Canal ; 
Combe Woods. 

(ENOTHERA. 

[. biennis, L. on the banks of the Arrow, Purt. iii., 356; railway 
bank near Warwick Priory, H. B.; Milverton, H. B., Herb. 
Bab.; on the ground of New Waterworks, Coventry, Kirk. 
Phyt. ii., 969 ; lane near Solihull. } 

[G. odorata, Jacq., near Coleshill, single plant; railway bank 
near Warwick Priory. Both these species are readily selt-set, 
and cannot be more than strays from cultivation. | 


CIRCEA. 
C. lutetiana, Linn. Common Enchanter’s Nightshade. 
Native: In woods and shady lanes. Locally common. July to 
September. 
I. Wood near Escoles Green ; Marston Green ; Hartshill Hayes; Tile 
Hill Wood, with white flowers; lanes about Packwood, etc. ! 
II. Near Frankton Wood R. S. &., 1877; Iddecote Wood, Rev. J. Gorle; 
Salford, Rev. J. C.; Alveston Pastures; Honington; Oversley ; 
Combe Woods. 
C. alpina, Linn. Mountain Enchanter’s Nightshade. 
Alien: On walls. Very rare. July. 
I. Balsall Temple, Springfield, Rev. W. Bree, jun., Purt. i., 54; 
Temple Balsall, H. B., Herb. Per. 
The specimens in Perry’s Herbarium seem to belong to the var. 
intermedia. 
HALORAGIACEE. 
MYRIOPHYLLUM. 
M., verticillatum, Linn. Verticillate Water Milfoil. 
Native: In pools and canals. Very rare. July. 
I. Packington ; Countess of Aylesford, Bot. Guide, 636. 
b. pectinatum. 
Il. Wyken Rumps, Kirk, Herb. Per. ; Shrewley Pool; Brown’s Over 
Y. and B.; Sow Waste Canal. 
M, spicatum, Linn. Spiked Water Milfoil. 
Native: In pools, streams and canals. Rather rare. July. 


THE FLORA OF WARWICKSHIRE. 255 


I. Sutton Park; Coleshill Pool; pool in Berkswell Park; pool in 
Maxtoke Park. 

II. Black Pool between Spernal and Studley Church. In a pool at 
Sambourne, Purt, 1i., 459; Napton Hills, Kirk, Herb, Per. ; 
Chesterton Pool, Y. and B.; Compton Verney; Canal, War- 
wick, H. B.; Sow Waste Canal; Canal near Stratford-on- 
Avon; small pool near Birdingbury Wharf. 

M. alterniflorum, DC. Alternate Water Milfoil. 

Native: In rivers, streams, pools, and canals. Local. July. 

I. Sutton Park; River Blythe, near Stonebridge; Coleshill Pool; 
pool near Berkswell Hall. 

II. Allesley, H.B., Herb. / er. ; Compton Verney, Herb. Per.; Shrewley 
Pool; Chesterton Mill Pool, H. B.; pool near Farnborough. 

HIPPURIS. 

H. vulgaris, Linn. Common Mare’s Tail. 

Native: In pools. Very rare. June. 

I. Tamworth, Herb. Per. 

II. Compton Verney, H. B., Herb. Per.; Chesterton Mill Pool, 1872. 

CALLITRICHE. 

C. verna, Linn. Vernal Water Starwort. 

Native: In pools and streams. Very rare. May to July. 

IL. Woodloes, near Warwick? H. B. By the bridge at Honington, Newb.; 
pool in Banners Lane, Tile Hill. 

This species has been recorded for many Warwickshire stations, 
but I think incorrectly. During the present year I have 
visited every locality where it was supposed to occur, but 
have invariably found the plants to be either C. obtusangula, 
or that form of C. platycarpa which most nearly resembles 
C. verna. 

C. obtusangula, Le Gal. Obtuse-fruited Water Starwort. 

Native: In pools and streams. Rather rare. May to July. 

I. Sutton Park, very abundant in several oi the streams; stream 
near Hampton-in-Arden; stream near Brown’s Wood, Solihull. 

II. Chesterton Pool! H. B. Pool near Farnborough; pool near 
Chadshunt ; pool at Birdingbury. 

Hitherto overlooked or labelled C. verna by local botanists. 

C. stagnalis, Scop. Large-fruited Water Starwort. 

Native: In pools, streams, canals, damp sandy or clayey drives 
in woods, and onmud. Common. May to July. Area general. 

Two forms are common in the county—(1) a small form growing 
in sandy and clayey damp places in woods, and on mud, and 
always fruiting abundantly; (2) a larger, more robust form, 
growing in streams and pools; I can see no constant character 
by which these two forms may be distinguished. 

C. hamulata, Kutz. Hooked Water Starwort. 

Native: In pools and streams. Rare. June. 

I. Sutton Park; lane from Water Orton to Minworth 

(Var. pedunculata. Near Whitacre, 1872.) Near Arley Wood; 
Shrawberry Wood, Shustoke ; Butler’s Wood, Maxtoke. 

II. Var. sessilis. Bab. Stagnant waters in Arbury Deer Park, Kirk., 
Phyt. ti., 970; Herb. Per. Yarningale Common! Haseler, H.B.; 
pool in Banners Lane, Tile Hill. 

The var. sessilis appears to be the most frequent form. 

CUCURBITACEAE. 
BRYONIA. 

B. dioica, L. Red-berried Bryony. 

Native: In hedges and bushy places. Common. June, July. 
Area general, 


256 THE FLORA OF WARWICKSHIRE. 


GROSSULARIACE, 

A RIBES, 

R, Grossularia, Linn. Gooseberry. 

Denizen: In hedges. Rather rare. April. 

I. In a wood near Olton, W. B. Grove; Sutton Park; lanes near 
Marston Green; Water Orton; in a hedge near Hoare Park, 
Atherstone Road ; lane to Windmill, Packwood. 

II. Oversley Wood, and in hedges at a distance from any house, Purt. 
ii., 730; on the stump of a willow, by the side of the River 
Avon, Warwick, Per. Fl., 23; apparently wild, growing on 
carriage road to Brown’s Over, R. &. R., 1877; near Ryton-on- 
Dunsmore; near Pinley Green. 

R, alpinum, Linn. Tasteless Mountain Currant. 

Denizen: In woods. Very rare. 

I. In a wood on the south-west side of a pool at Edgbaston, plentiful, 
With., ed. 7, ii., 334; side of Edgbastcn Pool, Freeman, Phyt.,i., 261 

R. rubrum, Linn. Red Currant. 

Denizen : In woods and on river banks. Rare. May. 

I. A single bush in lane out of Wheyporridge Lane, Solihull, probably 
planted. 

II. On the banks of the Avon, near Warwick, Rev. W.T. Bree, Purt. 
iii., 19; side of the River Avon, between Emscote and War- 
wick, Per. Fl., 22; Coventry Wood, Arbury Hall, Kirk, 
Phyt. ii., 970; in hedges, between Newbold-on-Avon and 
Harboro’ Magna, also in a hedge near the Lime Works near 

. Lawford, R. S. R., 1877; Offchurch, H. B.; Old Park and 
River Avon, near Guy’s Cliff, H. B.; Salford, Rev. J. C. 

R. nigrum, Linn. Black Currant. 

Alien: Damp woods, hedges and river banks. Rare. May. ‘‘We 
observed it (R. nigrum) in Warwick,” Ray, Syn. iii., 456. 

II. On the banks of the Arrow in the Hamlet of Oversley, Purt., iii., 
20; in a boggy spinney, called ‘‘ The Alders,’’ Arbury Deer 
Park, Kirk, Phyt. ii., 970; banks of the Sherbourne, 7. Kirk, 
Herb. Brit. Mus. ; Ragley Wood. 

CRASSULACEAE. 
SEDUM. 
S. Telephium, Linn. Live-long or Everlasting Orpine. 
Native: In pastures and woods. Rare. July. 

II. Alne Hills, Pwrt. i., 218; woods, Allesley, Bree, Mag. Nat. Hist., 
lii., 164. Chesterton Wood. 

Although quite abundant in Chesterton Wood I have never found 
it in flower there. 

(S. album, Linn. White Stonecrop. 

Alien: On walls, roofs, and in quarries in marly and calcareous 
soils. Rather rare. June. 

II. On a wall at the back of Little Park Street, Coventry, Kirk, Phyt. 
ii., 970; Lighthorne, Y. and B.; roof at Berkswell, H. B.; 
quarry at Edge Hills, Dr. Baker ; roof of cottage at Lapworth ; 
walls about Temple Grafton and Binton; Edge Hills. } 

Although admitted here this plant has no claim to a place in the 
flora of this county in my own estimation. 

8. acre, Linn. Biting Stonecrop or Wall Pepper. 

Native: On walls, roofs, and like places. Local. June. 

I. Nuneaton Abbey; Hartshill Priory; walls at Meriden; walls and 
roofs at Coleshill, &c. 

II. Walls at Wixford! Purt. i., 218; about Warwick! very common, 
Per. Fl. 41; Salford! Rev. J. C.; on walls and roofs about 
Binton; Temple Grafton, 


. 
a 
' 
: 


THE FLORA OF WARWICKSHIRE. 257 


TS. sexangulare, Linn. Has been found on walls at Whitacre and 
Binton, but in both instances planted. | 

§. reflexum, Linn. Yellow Stonecrop. 

Denizen: On walls, roofs, ruins, &c. Local. July, August. 

I. Old walls, Nuneaton Abbey; Hartshill Priory. 

Il. On a wall at Salford! Alcester! &c., Purt. 1., 218; walls about 
Warwick! Bidford! &c., Per. Fl., 41; Kenilworth! H. B.; 
old walls at Bilton, Clifton, Hill Morton, R. S. R., 1877; old 
walls at Treddington! Iddicote, Newb.; Oversley Mill; banks 
near Wootton Wawen; near Napton-on-the-Hill. 

In most of the localities given above this plant is merely a 
stragegler from cultivation. The variety most frequently found 
is var. b albescens. 

SEMPERVIVUM. 

8. tectorum, Linn. Common House Leek. Cyphel. 

Alien: On roofs and walls, usually planted. Local. Rarely 
flowering. July. - 

I. Roofs about Whitacre; ruins, Hartshill Priory. 
II. Old walls, Warwick! H. B.; Tredington, Honington, ‘ planted,” 
; Newil., near Coventry ; Stratford-on-Avon, &c. 

Established on many old walls and roofs in both basins; but as 
I have never regarded this as other than a cultivated plant I 
have only rarely noticed its occurrence in my note-book. 

COTYLEDON. 

C. Umbilicus, Linn. Common Navelwort. Wall Pennywort. 

Native: On old walls and ruins. Very rare. June. 

I. Maxtoke Priory! Bree, Purt. i., ‘225. Coleshill, rare; Bree, 
N. B. G.; walls of Hartshill Priory! Canon Young. ~° 

II. On the walls of the area of Guy’s Cliff House! in the Old Pound, 

Coton-end, Warwick; Per. Fl. 41. 
(Z'o be continued.) 


Vy CG 
Avebiedus. 
EEE 

Geological Record for 1878: Edited by W. Wurirtaxer and W. H. 

Dauron. Pages xxxi. and 496. Published by Taylor and Francis. 

Price (to subscribers) 10s. 6d. 
Ir is to be regretted that this volume is so late in making its appear- 
ance. It is, of course, difficult for Mr. Whitaker so to manage his 
team of sub-editors as to obtain from each and all of them the same 
unwearying, continuous, and punctual attention as he himself, with 
his excellent coadjutor, Mr. Dalton, devotes to the task of cataloguing 
the geological work of each year; but there are plenty of able workers 
ready to lend a hand, and by making the necessary changes and, 
perhaps, by further sub-dividing the work, a more early issue may be 
hoped for in future, which, indeed, Mr. Whitaker promises. The 
1878 volume is a bulky one, containing the titles of 3530 books, papers, 
etc. Some of these are, however, omissions from previous years, from 
1874 (when the first volume of the Geological Record was published) 
to 1877 inclusive. We would suggest that it would be better to 
reserve these omitted papers, and publish a list of them, say once in 
every five or ten years, instead of every year as at present. They 
would then be far more easily referred to. 


258 REVIEWS. 


The book contains a list of all the works on geology, mineralogy, 
and paleontology, published during 1878, either in England or abroad, 
carefully classified, with a very brief reswmé of the contents of each 
paper. In the present volume the large number of entries appears to 
have had the effect of compelling the editors to restrict very much 
this resumé of each paper, which seems a pity, as in many cases it 
leaves us in doubt as to the full scope of the paper. The price of the 
book is so low (compared with its size and the quantity of matter it 
contains) that we feel sure the subscribers would prefer to pay, say 
15s., and receive a rather fuller account of each paper—an account 
which would in most cases save them from the trouble of obtaining 
the paper for themselves. As to time of issue it seems not unreason- 
able to ask that the volume for each year should appear during the 
first three months of the next year but one; for example, the volume 
for 1883 should be issued sometime between January and March, 
1885. W.J. H. 


“The Geology of the Neighbourhood of Chester” (80S. W., Price 2/-), and 
* The Geology of the Country around Prescot, Lancashire” (80 N.W.., 
price 3/-). Memoirs of the Geological Survey. 

Iv is refreshing to meet with a good account of a formation so 

comparatively little known as the Trias. For long years geologists 

have had to fall back for their knowledge of the Trias in its typical 
areas on the (very) general memoirs by Hull; but the Survey has at 
last furnished us with just the sort of detailed description of the 

Triassic Rocks of Cheshire and the adjacent parts of Lancashire that was 

longneeded. The memoir on the neighbourhood of Chester is entirely 

the work of Mr. Strahan, F.G.S., but the Prescot memoir is a third 
edition, by Mr. Strahan, of Prof. Hull’s work, which has been in print 
these twenty years. ‘The description of the various sub-divisions of 
the Trias is chiefly contained in the memoir on Chester, but in order 
to get a complete knowledge of one of the minor sub-divisions—the 

Frodsham Beds—it is necessary to follow it into the Prescot 

district. Although less than half of each memoir is taken up with the 

description of the Triassic Rocks, geologists will hail with something 
like delight the charmingly lucid, and we might even say graphic, 
account given of a formation that has too long remained obscure. 

Indeed, no physical feature or point of detail that one would suppose 

could strike a field geologist has been left unnoticed by Mr. Strahan, 

and workers in other Triassic areas will find these two memoirs very 
useful as text-books, as well as for comparison. 

For the first time in the classification of the English Trias, the 
Keuper is divided into three members in place of two, and we now 
have, in ascending order, the Keuper Basement Beds (hard red and 
white grits and breccias), Waterstones (soft brown sandstones and 
red marls), and the Keuper Marl. The separation of the hard con- 
glomeratic grits from the soft sandstones of the Waterstones is an 
important step in the right direction, both on economical and strati- 


REVIEWS—METEOROLOGY. 959 


graphical grounds, as it is shown that there is a distinct break between 
the two. Unfortunately, however, the new editions of the map showing 
these additional lines and corrections have been kept back for some 
unintelligible reason, although the work was done three years ago. 

Tt will startle many to find that after a careful examination of the 
evidence as furnished by the sections in Cheshire, Mr. Strahan comes 
to the conclusion that the supposed break between the Bunter and the 
Keuper, during which the English Triassic areas were believed to have 
formed land while the Muschelkalk of the Continent was accumulating, 
is « myth, and that “in this area the deposition of the Keuper followed 
on that of the Bunter under a continuance of the same physical con- 
ditions.” This conclusion is based on ‘the close similarity of the 
conglomeratic beds of the two ages, and the repetition of all the 
phenomena in the one that are observable in the other.” The only 
difficulty that presents itself to our mind in accepting the conclusion 
that there was no break between the Bunter and the Keuper in 
Cheshire is the sudden change in the texture of the rock that marks 
the dawn of the Keuper period, the highest beds of the Bunter con- 
sisting mostly of very fine rounded grains, while the Keuper is 
distinguished by the coarse and “sharp” or angular aspect of its 
component grains. This seems to point to considerable physical 
changes having taken place about this time. 

What it was that produced this remarkable change all over the 
Midlands at the dawn of the Keuper period must remain, we suppose, 
an interesting point for future research. With regard to the German 
Muschelkalk it will probably turn out (if it is ever really known) to be 
represented in England by the Keuper Basement Beds. 

The superficial deposits, with their numerous fossils, and the 
associated erratics, come in for a large share of attention, and are well 
illustrated with woodcuts; while an important section of each work is 
devoted to the various economical aspects of the rocks of each 
district. Appended are very useful lists of papers relating to the areas 
covered by the memoirs. These, it is scarcely necessary to add, are 
the work of Mr. W. Whitaker, B.A. 

J.5S. 


METEOROLOGY OF THE MIDLANDS. 


BY CLEMENT L. WRAGGE, F.R.G.S., F.M.S., ETC. 


THE WEATHER OF SEPTEMBER, 1882. 


During the first ten days the weather was fairly genial, but the 
remainder of the month was generally dull and cold. Fogs were 
frequent. Temperature was below the average; at Strelley by 2 deg., 
and at Orleton ‘the mean temperature of the month was nearly 3 deg. 
below the average, and was lower than that of any September, except 
that of 1877, for the last 21 years,” 


260 THE WEATHER OF SEPTEMBER. 


STATION. OBSERVER. 


OUTPOST STATIONS. 


Ben Nevis (a).........+.s++-.|C. L. Wragge, Esqa., F. 
Fort William (a) ............|C. L. Wragge, Esq., F. 
Spital Cemetery, Carlisle ....|I. Cartmell, Esq., F. ‘M.S 
Scarborough (@)........+2.00 ye Cc. Hughes, Esq., F.™ 
Blackpool (a)—South Shore..|C.'T. Ward, .Esq.. B. ae 


Llandudno (a) ..............|d. Nicol, Hsq., M.D......... 

Lowestoft (a)...... ...-.|H. KE. Miller, Esq., He = 

Carmarthen (@) .:....cs.0ce- G. J. Hearder, Esq., 

Altarnun, near Launceston (c)|Rev. J. Power, F M. 3. agonae 

Sidmouth (a) so... eee ence W. T. Radford, Esq., M.D.|3 * 

ae Ruettes Brayes Guernsey A. Collenette, Iisq., F. ME S$.) = 
a) 

eee (G)ijeeemeaie Siveteisinioiets F. C. Carey, Esq., M.D.....|3 "84 


MIDLAND STATIONS. 


HEREFORDSHIRE. 
Burghill (a) ................../T. A. Chapman, Esq., M.D.} 2°21 
SHROPSHIRE. 
Woolstaston .........- aimee RO Venki be OAEI Wt srs claraiaine ste 274 
Stokesay(a)........ M. D. La Touche ..........| 2°54 
More Rectory......0....0. erate EROW a Act S32 VEL Esterase ociceemne 2°36 
Dowles, near Bewdley ...... J. M. Downing, Esq. ......| 2°67 
WORCESTERSHIRE. 
Orleton, near Tenbury (a)....|T. H. Davis, Esq., F.M.S. ..| 3°14 
West Malvern A. H. Hartland, Iisq. ......} 2°85 
Evesham .......... T. J. Slatter, Msq., F.G.S...| 3°07 
Pedmore .......... K. B. Marten, Iisq. . 2°47 
Stourbridge Mr. J. Jefferies ...... 2°03 
STAFFORDSHIRE. 
Dennis, Stourbridge (a)......|C.Webb, Esq. ............| 2°24 
[Karnvereremtliniess soneeoes ++..-|Rev. W. H. Bolton . -| 2°58 
Walsall.. N. K. Best, Bsq. ....:2....} 3°C3 
Lichfield -|J. P. Rober ts, sq. ... 2°03 
Burton-on-Trent (c) Cc. U. Tripp, Esq., F.M. Ss. 2719 
Wrottesley (a) -.-|4. Simpson, Esq. .......... 2°24 
BANIRELON IVA) hee wisiamremirred on -|W. Scott, Esq., F.M.S. ....] 2°56 
Heath House, Cheadle (a). J.C. Philips, lisq., F.M.S. | 2°16 
Oakamoor, Churnet V alley (a) jibes MTU il BEE SERS A 
Nai Gites Goaskongecnos .-..-| Rev. W. H. Purchas ......| 3°33 
DERBYSHIR 
Stony Middleton ............ Rev. U. Smith- .....0......| 1°92 
Spondon “eee. «s>% See anifdin Ly BALDOR, Tusd se ra 2°22, 
Fernslope, Belper....... <oeee/K. J. Jackson, Hsq. ...2...-| 1°97 
NOTING HAMSHIRE. 
Park Hill, Nottingham (a)..|H.F. Johnson, Esq. ......} 4°09 
Hodsoeck Priory, Worksop (a)|H. Mellish, Esq., F.M.S. ..| 1:86 
Strelley (a) ............ seme [> du. ie, UGE, IUSQ! «21.05 Soo) | eels 
RUTLANDSHIRE. 
Uppingham..................|/Rev. G. H. Mullins, M.A.,} 2:23 
F.M.S. 
LEICESTERSHIRE. 
Loughborough (a) W. Berridge, Esq., F.M.S...| 1:98 
(Mado bobs codaseansbosaaacs J. Hames, Wsq. ............| 2°35 
Town Museum, Leicester ....|J. C. Smith, Esq. .... 251 
AshbyeN Rena ccewaccs cherie Rey. Canon Willes .. 2°65 
Waltham-le-Wold .......... Edwin Ball, Esq. .... 2°59 
Coston Rectory, Melton (a) ..|Rev. A. M. Rendell 2°61 
WARWICKSHIRE. 
St. Mary’s College, Oscott (a}|W. Middleton, Esq. ........| 2°30 
Henley-in-Arden ............ T. H. G. Newton, Esq. ....| 2°58 
Kenilworth (a) ..............|F. Slade, Esq., C.E., F.M.S.} 3°32 
Rugby School (c) ..... snobs .|Rev. T. N. Hutchinson ....| 2°73 
NORTHAMPTONSHIRE, 
Pitsford, Northampton ......|C. A. Markham, sae escees! 270 
MIOWCOREGE: Woe isre(eremn's cleeteinieie a J. Webb, Iisa. ..... y 
Kettering............. Besoin ton kd allis, Ii, adoona 
BEDFORDSHIRE. 
Bedford (a)......... eseeeeeee |H. J. Sheppard, Esq. ......| 2°05 
OXFORDSHIRE. 
Radcliffe Observatory, Ox. (a)|The Staff .......... Bcc we ea 
WILTSHIRE. 
Marlborough (a) ........... .|Rev. T. A. Preston, F.M.S.} 3°20 
GLOUCESTERSHIRE. 
Cheltenham (a) ...... oeeeeeee |. Tyrer, Hsq., B.A., F.M.S.) 3°23 


RAINFALL. SHADE TEMP. 
Greatest fall/+3| Absolute | Absolute 
in 24 hours. se Maximum. Minimum 
In. | Date. |AZ|Deg| Date. |Deg.|Date. 
1:09 27 «| 87 589] 22 

“68 |. 27 | 23 |639 1 

56 18 | 14 |70°2| 10 

18 12 | 14 \666| 2 

“45 2 | 16 (65°5 1 

“33 17 ‘| 18 |67-2 i 

“66 28 114 \709) 2 

90 1 | 19 \672 9 

1:32 27 «| 91/700) 4 

65 1 | 18 \6¢0) 4 

117 19 | 19 \670]} 1 

1:06 29 | 20 \67:0] 1, 9 |43°8| 14, 16 
+48 28 | 16 \672| 2 {20:0} 16 
“44 26 21/655} 16 [41:0] 18 
“46 98 | 19 |680| 16 |81:1| 16 
“38 28 | 19 |65°0| 1, 2 |320/12,13,14 
0°53 29 |15|750/ 8 |28°0| 16 
“58 28 | 20 |63-2 8 |s1'8} 15 
“69 28 116 695] 16 |375| 12 
“81 19 | 16 |67°8| 1, 2 [345] 16 
59 8 | 17 |710 7  |82°0 |11, 14,15 
40 | 98 | 15 \69°0| 3,17 |340| 14 
“43 20 | 15 |68°0|8,10,16|32°0| 16 
“47 3 | 17 |68-0 8 |32:0| 14 
69 28 | 22 \670| 22 |390| 14 
‘BD 98 5 |69°0 7 |340| 11, 14 
“50 28 | 15 |70°0 8 310] 15 
63 3 | 14 |648 3 |36°5| 15, 16 
“46 4 |13 \685| 16. |364| 12 
“34 3 | 13 \642 8 |389] 15 
“41 4 | 15 |64:9 8 30:7) 45 
"86 27 | 12 \693| 16 jas] 15 
“35 1 | 11 [66-0 8 320] 6 
“68 8 |wl—} — J—t = 
"62 1 | 14 |66-0 2 340] 15 
175 12 «| 15 |66°8 2 380] 15, 16 
87 98 | 15 |e72| § ‘|a1ra| 15 
“68 14 |668| 2 (359) 15 
66 98 | 18 |67°5| .7, 16 [379] 15 
37 98 |13\|700| 8 |327| 15 
51 28 | 17 |67-0 4 |370} 15 
“64 19 |8 |695| 8 340] 15 
+92 19 ;10|670| 4 \340] 16 
68 28 | 13 |68:0} 3 (40:0) 23 
“71 19 | 15 |67-0| 380 (|82:3| 15 
58 2s | 19 |67-2 9 |332| 12 
BT 19 | 16 |72°0 8 (33°0| 15, 16 
72 28 | 14 |668 2 |390| 15 
“68 19 | 14 |66-0 2 |352] 16 
72 19 | 13/720] 10 (32'0| 15, 16 
“93 9 | is}—| — j=] = 
68 | 19-28 | 13 |67-0| 3,4 (40:0) 15 
‘72 | 19 |i |es6| 10 (so4) 15 
ib) 19 | 14 |e7-4 3 |s57] 16 
“85 19 | 11 |66"5 3 387 4 
70 | 19 | 14 \67-4| 1 (|s40) 16 


(a) At these Stations Stevenson’s Thermometer Screen is in use, and the values may be regarded 
as strictly intercomparable. (c) Gluisher’s pattern of Thermometer Screen employed at these stations. 


METEOROLOGY—CORRESPONDENCE. 261 


Rainfall appears to have been also below the average. The highest 
pressure occurred on the 7th, when the barometer reduced to 32 deg. F., 
and sea-level read 30-480 in Central England ; and the lowest took place 
on the 27th, 29-247 being the value. 

The mean amount of cloud was about 6°5 (scale 0 to 10), and the 
mean relative humidity about 87% in the Midlands. Northerly winds 
prevailed. The mean temperature of the soil at Hodsock at a depth 
of one foot was 55°8, and at Strelley 53°5. At the former station 108-9 
hours of bright sunshine were recorded, at the latter 107-0 hours, or 
28%. The solar radiation thermometer (black bulb in vacuo) reached 
128-5 at Loughborough on the 7th, and the terrestrial minimum on 
grass 29-6 at Oxford on the 16th. The mean amount of ozone at the 
Radcliffe Observatory was 0:7 (scale 0 to 10). Thunderstorm on the 
3rd. Mean sea temperature at Scarborough 55-3, being 1-2 degrees 
above 5 years’ average. 


Correspondence, ete. 


AMBLYSTEGIUM RIPARIUM.—This moss has been fruiting abundantly 
during the summer just past in the ponds at Limbury, South Beds, 
where also Fontinalis antipyretica has been found in fruit, to which 
reference was made in the September number of the ‘‘ Midland 
Naturalist.” Since the notice just referred to was penned, both these 
mosses have been found in company fruiting copiously in a pond at 
Harlington, Beds, about five miles from the other station. At Limbury 
the plants that grew on stumps above the water produced numerous 
capsules on sete about an inch long; but besides these there were 
curious, elongate, submerged forms also in fruit. Some of these 
measured six to seven inches in length, bearing capsules from one to 
two inches from the base, with sete fully two inches long. These 
elongate forms produced a fair number of capsules, but not in such 
profusion as the aerial short stems, nor were they so well developed as 
those of the latter. It would appear from this and many other cases 
which might be cited that the vegetative and reproductive organs are 
usually developed in inverse ratio to each other. It should be stated 
that duplicates have been sent to Mr. Boswell for criticism and 
verification.—J. SAUNDERS. 


Osprey IN LetcestERSHIRE.—On Friday, October 13th, the keeper at 
Saddington Reservoir noticed a large hawk circling and soaring over 
the pool, every now and then making a rapid stoop towards the water. 
He was near enough to note the colour and markings of the bird, and 
T had no difficulty, from his description, in identifying it as an Osprey. 
On October 18th a bird, supposed to be an Osprey, was observed 
circling at a great elevation over Gumley Wood and Pool, which are 
only half-a-mile distant from Saddington; and on Sunday, October 
22nd, Rev. A. Matthews, of Gumley, saw an Osprey flying over his 
garden at 2 p.m., only 30 yds. to 40 yds. distant, and readily recognised 
the bird. From its large size he believed it to be a female,—THomas 
Macavray, M.R.C,S.L., &c. 


262 REPORTS OF SOCIETIES. 


Aeports of Societies. 


BIRMINGHAM NATURAL HISTORY AND MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETY.— 
GENERAL MEETING.—October 3rd.—Mr. W. B. Grove exhibited the following 
Fungi:—4g. radicatus and A. fimicola, from Warley; A. corrugis, from Sutton; 
Hygrophorus conicus, H. virgineus, and H. psittacinus, from Sutton; H. ceraceus 
and H. psittacinus, from Quinton; Cyathus vernicosus, from Sutton; Clavaria 
vermiculata, from Quinton; Hydnwm udum and Corticiwm quercinum, from 
Warley; and (on behalf of Mr. W. H. Wilkinson) Geaster fimbriatus, from 
Blockley, Oxon. Mr. J. Levick exhibited Tubicolaria naias, Gicistes umbella, 
Cohnia vroseo-persicina, Bursaria leucas, and other objects. Myr. T. Bolton 
exhibited Floscularia regalis, Huds., new to science; E. ambigua, lately new, 
both discovered by him near Birmingham; and F’, coronetta, new to the district, 
described in the ‘‘ Microscopical Journal,” 1869, since found near Dundee. Mr. 
J. Morley exhibited (on behalf of Mr. Burgess) Achnanthes longipes, Schizonema, 
and other diatoms. Mr. Wagstaff exhibited Synwra Uvella, from Northfield. 
BroLoGicaL SECTION.—October 10th.—Mr. W. R. Hughes exhibited (on behalf of 
Mr. George Heaton, Jun.) specimens of Gnaphaliwm leontopodium, the Swiss 
national flower (Edelweiss), taken in August last from the Engadine, 8,000 ft. above 
sea level; also Chrysanthemum segetum (common Marigold), from a field near 
Christchurch, Hants, showing bifurcation of peduncle and coalition of two 
capitula. Mr. les exhibited Nais digitata, also some excellent drawings of the 
same, showing the curious tentacles of the anal extremity. Mr. R. W. Chase 
exhibited a double nest of Fr ngilla celebs (the chaffinch), from Ely, each 
division containing eggs, and which, no doubt, two birds were employed in 
constructing. Mr. E. H. Wagstaff exhibited Dendrosoma radians, a species of 
Rhizopoda of the family Acinetina, from near Harborne. Mr. J. E. Bagnall 
exhibited Fungi from Ludlow: Cortinarius sub-ferrugineus, Hydiwm repandum, 
Tricholoma stans (rare), Lactarius insulsus, and L. widus; also from Maxtoke, 
Warwickshire, Lact rius hysginus (rare), L. vellereus, L. piperatus, L. 1 allidus 
(new to Warwickshire), Hygrophorus eburneus, Clitocybe cyathiformis, and 
other fungi. Mr. W. B. Grove exhibited Ag. (Nolanea) nigripes, Trog., from 
Sutton Park, a species determined by experts at the Woolhope Fungus Foray, 
and new to Great Britain; Oanthirellus tuwbeformis, from Shrewsbury, Nectria 
sanguinea, Peziza microcystis, Melampsora Euphorbia, Trichoderma viride, 
Hysterium pulicare, Aigerita candid1, and Epicoccum neglectum. Myr. W. 
Southall read a paper entitled ‘ Notes on Arable Land out of Cultivation.” The 
observations were made on a small uncultivated farm of five fields in the neigh- 
bourhood of Sidmouth, Devon, and the subject was treated both from an 
economical and botanical point of view. Asa result Mr. Southall recommended 
that where land was likely to remain uncultivated for any length of time tall- 
growing grasses should be sown at once, so that they might become established, 
and thereby keep out the noxious weeds. A discussion followed, in which the 
Chairman, Messrs. Morley, Bagnall, Sturge, and Greatheed, took part. 
MicroscopicaL GENERAL MEETING.—October 17th.—Mr. J. E. Bagnall exhibited 
Hydnum repandum, Craterellus cornucopioides (rare), Lactarius pyrogalus, 
Cantharellus tubeformis, Ag. Candollianus, and Ag. spermaticus (all four new to 
Warwickshire), Clitocybe fragrans, and other Fungi from Shustoke; also (for 
Mr. C. R. Robinson) Agaricus melaleucus, but the correctness of this determina- 
tion was questioned. Mr. W. B. Grove exhibited Ag. sublateritius, Ag. flaccidus, 
and Ag. brevipes, from Sutton; also (on behalf of Mr. Robinson) Polyporus fumosus, 
from Edgbaston. He also exhibited, beneath the microscopes, preparations 
showing the ccidia, uredo-spores, puccinia-spores, and other points connected 
with the life-history of the Corn-mildew and similar fungi, in illustration of his 
paper ‘Nomad Fungi: the Reclassification of the Uredine,” which will appear 
in the “Midland Naturalist.” GEOLOGICAL SEcTION.— October 24th.—The 
following exhibits were made:—Mr. A. H. Atkins, some fine specimens of 
Lingulella, from the Hollybush Sandstone, Malvern Hills; Mr. T, H, Waller, 


REPORTS OF SOCIETIES. 263 


sections of Picrite, from Inchcolm, Firth of Forth, including one with no olivine 
and much felspar; Mr. C. A. Matley, quartzite pebbles from the drift near 
Birmingham, containing Orthis Budleighensis, Lingula Lesueuri, Strophomena, 
and a trilobite tail; Mr. W. B. Grove, fungi from Great Barr and Sutton, 
Agaricus cerussatus, Ag. galericulatus, Ag. veluitipes, Ag. (Lepiot1) cristitus, 
Ag. (Pluteus) nanus (new to the district), Ag. (Crepidotus) mollis, Ag. separatus, 
Bolbit us fragilis, Coprinus micaceus, Hygrophorus conicus, Panus stypticus, 
Polyporus spumeus, P. annosus, P. sanguinolentus, Cheatomium elatum, Nectria 
coccinea, Hypomyces rosellus (a fungus parasite on Agarics or Polyporus), Dacty- 
lium roseum, Stysanus stemonitis, Tremella torta, and Arcyria incarnata; 
Mr. E. Wagstaff, Sarcina ventriculi, a fungus from the human stomach. 


BIRMINGHAM MICROSCOPISTS’ AND NATURALISTS’ UNION.— 
September 2nd.—Excursion to Salford Priors. September 4th.—A Meeting 
(Special), “Conchology.’ Mr. Madison exhibited Helix caperata var. sub- 
scalaris, and Clausilia laminata, from the Wren’s Nest; Mr. Boland, thirty- 
one species and varieties of land shell, from Tenby; Mr. Chaplain, Swallow-tail 
Butterfly, caught at Basingstoke ; Mr. J. W. Neville, shell and palate of Trochus. 
September 11th.—Mr. Deakin exhibited wing of Urania. September 18th— 
Paper by Mr. Parkes on the “ Life History of a Plant ;’ Mr. J. W. Neville showed 
transverse section of Hedge Maple; H. Insley, section of Sugar Cane. September 
23rd.—Excursion to Berkswell; Volvox Globator found. September 25th.—Mr. 
Darley exhibited fossils from Great Orme’s Head (corals and producti), also 
Helix virgata, Bulimus acutus; Myr. Bradbury, Swallow-tail Butterfly from 
Colorado; Mr. Wykes, Stentor; Mr. Dunn, Carchesium; H. Insley, leaves of 
Croton and Niphobolus, with ornate hairs; Mr. J. W. Neville, proboscis of Drone 
Fly. October 2nd.—Mr. H. Insley, mounted specimens of Fossil Wood, silicified 
and calcified; Mr. J. W. Neville gave an exposition of “Mounting Insects for 
the Microscope,” showing every process from the commencement to a finished 
mount. October 9th—Mr. H. Insley, showed a specimen of Limulus in a 
nodule of Clay Ironstone from the Derbyshire coalfield; Mr. Darley, larve of 
Broom Moth, Fox Moth, and Bordered White. 


BIRMINGHAM AND MIDLAND INSTITUTE SCIENTIFIC SOCIETY.— 
September 27th.—Mr. J. W. Oliver gave a short address on “The Cambrian Age 
of the Hartshill and Lickey Quartzites.’ He also gave an account of the dis- 
coveries recently made by Professor Lapworth. October 4th.—Mr. J. O.W. Barratt, 
B.Sc., read a paper on “ Siemens’ Regenerative Furnace.’ The principles on 
which these furnaces are made were carefully set forth, and thcn a detailed 
description of the gas producers and regenerative chambers was given, this being 
well illustrated by diagrams. An interesting discussion on the, practical value 
of these furnaces followed the paper. October 1lth—PHoTOGRAPHIC SECTION.— 
Mr. A. Pumphrey gave a practical demonstration on the working of the “ Gela- 
tine Films,” which proved very successful. October 18th.—Mr. J. J. Gilbert, 
F.M.S., read a paper on “ Weather Forecasts,” and explained in detail the 
various instruments used. He also described how a weather chart was prepared 
for the newspapers, and at great length went into the subject of the connexion 
of strong winds with barometric differences. He concluded by saying the science 
was still in its infancy, and the knowledge could only be obtained by a series of 
regular and accurate observations. 


BIRMINGHAM SCHOOL NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY.—Boranicau 
SEcCTION.—The first meeting of the term was held on the 11th of October, Mr. 
E. W. Badger, M.A., in the chair. A very interesting and instructive paper was 
read by the President (Mr. J. Turner, F.L.S.) on the Torula, or Yeast Plant. 
Specimens illustrating the paper were exhibited under the microscope by R. 
Moore. 


BANBURYSHIRE NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY AND FIELD CLUB— 
August 5th—FIrLD Day.—By the kind invitation of Archdeacon Holbech, the 
members made an Excursion to Farnborough Hall. Some time was spent in 


264 REPORTS OF SOCIETIES. 


exwinining the fine paintings of views in Venice, by Canaletti, and the numerous 
interesting family relics, trophies, and curiosities accumulated by members of 
the family during the last two or three centuries. In the hall was displayed, for 
the inspection of the visitors, a fine collection of minerals and fossils, containing 
choice specimens of fossil stems from: the coal, fossil shells from the Carbonif- 
erous Limestone, Greensand, and Tertiary beds, fossil-fishes from Monte Bolca, 
and fine specimens of schorl, etc. The party then walked through the planta- 
tions and grounds, collecting by the way specimens of Epipactis latifolia, and, 
taking a sweep round a neighbouring elevation—* Hall’s Hill’”—obtained a fine 
view over the Northamptonshire Marlstone escarpment. Hall's Hill, about 
G00ft. above the sea, is marked as Lower Lias on the Geological Survey map, but 
some indications led the geologists to believe (as, indeed, is actually the case in 
another spot, similarly marked, near Farnborough) that it is Upper Lias capped 
by Inferior Oolite. In few places can finer trees be seen than at Farnborough. 
The oaks and the ash are magnificent, not only for size but for picturesque 
grandeur, whilst the cedars—three of which, as tradition runs, were planted at 
the same time as three of those at Warwick Castle,and than which they are 
thought to be finer—are among the most beautiful of their race. A fine tulip 
tree (Lir odendron tulipifera) in full bloom, was by the aid of a pocket 
clinometer found to be approximately 75 feet in height. Tea was spread on one 
of the lawns (another noted beauty of the place), and that having been 
partaken of, the President took occasion to conyey the best thanks of the Society 
to Archdeacon and Mrs. Holbech for their most enjoyable day. Passing along 
the “ terrace”’—a magnificent walk of smooth, shaven turf, nearly 20 yards broad 
and half a mile long, and occupying the brow of a hill gently rising to the 
north (from the openings between the grand old trees bordering it views 
extending to the Malvern Hills are obtained)—and from thence through the 
park, the party reached their carriages, and taking leave of their kind hosts, 
reached home after a pleasant drive. September 4th—MonTHLY MEETING.— 
Mr. S. Stutterd, Vice-President, in the chair. The Meteorological Report for 
August by Mr. T. Beesley, F.C.S., was read. Barometer at 32 degrees—mean 
height, 29°376 ; highest on the 10th, 29°998 ; lowest on the 23rd, 28°824. Thermometer— 
mean temperature, 586 (1°55 below average) ; maximum on the 6th, 765; minimum 
on the 3lst, 44°5. Rainfall on sixteen days amounting to 2°26inches. Thunder 
and lightning on the 25th, lightning on the 12th, high winds on 20th, 22nd, and 
23rd. The Hon. Secretary read a note by Mr. Beesley, on “ The ‘ Rust’ of Wheat 
(Trichobasis rubigo-vera) and its Connection with the ‘Barberry Blight’” 
(Gicidium Berberidis), which, during the present year, had been found by Mr. 
Plowright to be different forms of the same fungus. The latter has long been 
credited by old-fashioned farmers as the cause of rust in wheat, and Mr. Beesley 
in speaking on the subject last year had given it as his opinion that there was 
some reason to believe they were right in their warfare against Barberry bushes 
in their hedges. Myr. Patey exhibited specimens of and read a note on Linaria 
repens which he had lately found by the side of the railway, and which was new 
to the district. This plant, like Linaria minor, Diplotaxis muralis, and Iberis 
amara, had probably come to us by spreading along the railway line. Mr. O. V. 
Aplin exhibited Orchis pyramidalis from the district, and specimens of Epipactis 
latifolia from Farnborough and the Chiltern Hills, and drew attention to the 
fact, as stated by Darwin, of the fertilisation of this species by wasps alone. 
The Chairman exhibited in some sea water, Laomeda geniculata (a campanularian 
polyp), a polyzoon (Membranipora sp.), a small nautiloid annelide | Spirorbis 
communis), and some diatoms, the finest being Plewrosigma elongatum. Myr. O. 
V. Aplin, also exhibited a specimen of the Little Auk (Mergulus alle) from 
Massachusetts Bay, and an egg of the same from Davis’ Straits, and made some 
remarks on the distribution of the species. Mr. F. H. Hood exhibited specimens 
of the more interesting rocks which had come under his notice during a recent 
visit to Scotland and the Orkney and Shetland Islands. Notes descriptive of the 
specimens, and of the formation of Arthur’s Seat and the neighbouring 
elevations were read. 


REPORT ON THE PENNATULIDA. 265 


REPORT ON THE PENNATULIDA 
COLLECTED IN THE OBAN DREDGING EXCURSION 
OF THE BIRMINGHAM NATURAL HISTORY AND 
MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETY, JULY, 1881. 


BY A. MILNES MARSHALL, M.A., D.SC., PROFESSOR OF ZOOLOGY 
IN OWENS COLLEGE, AND W. P. MARSHALL, M.I.C.E. 


(Concluded from page 250.) 


g. The Reproductive Organs.—The eggs in Virgularia occupy a very 
different position to that they hold in Funiculina or Pennatula. They 
are confined to the lower part of the rachis, and only occur in that 
part of it in which the polypes are either absent or very immature. 
In this lower part of the rachis, a transverse section across which is 
represented in Fig. 6, the canal system of the mesoderm becomes very 
greatly developed. In addition to the four main canals (uw) there are 
large lateral chambers lined by endoderm, and from this endoderm at 
certain places the ova (¢) are formed, and when ripe fall into the 
chambers, in which they lie free. 


The actual development of the ova themselves is much the same as 
in the other two genera. Each ovum is a single endoderm cell which 
becomes bigger at the expense of its neighbours, rises up from the 
surface to which it remains attached by a stalk or peduncle, developes 
a firm protective capsule round itself, acquires a large germinal vesicle 
with included germinal spot—the nucleus and nucleolus respectively 
of the original endodermal cell—and having attained its full size 
becomes detached from the stalk and lies free in the chamber of the 
rachis. How the eggs get out ultimately we have been unable to 
determine with certainty ; most probably their exit is effected through 
the mouths of the polypes higher up the rachis, whose body-cavities are 
in connection with the large chambers of the lower or ovarian end of 
the rachis. 


The essential difference between Virgularia on the one hand, and 
Funiculina and Pennatula on the other, so far as their reproductive 
organs are concerned, lies in the fact that while in the latter two 
genera the reproductive elements, ova or spermatospheres, are developed 
within the polypes, in Virgularia they are formed independently of the 
polypes, and in a part of the rachis where the polypes are either 
altogether absent or at least very immature. 


It will be remembered that in Funiculina we described and figured 
the occurrence of ova in the canal system of the rachis (Plate II., Fig. 
10, t), and left it uncertain how these ova got into canals which, 
except at the points where they lie, are much too small to admit them. 
The condition of things in Virgularia renders it not improbable that 
these ova have originated and been developed in the position in 
which we find them within the canals, 


266 REPORT ON THE PENNATULIDA. 


All the four Oban specimens in which the lower end of the rachis is 
perfect, prove on examination to be females, so that we have had no 
opportunity of investigating the development and relations of the 
male organs. We regret this the more because the descriptions we 
possess of these organs are not in all respects satisfactory. 

Young ova in the earlier stages of development are only found at 
the very bottom of the rachis, or, at any rate, only where the polypes 
‘are very immature; they are also far more abundant in the ventral 
than the dorsal half of the rachis, if, indeed, they are not confined to 
the former. Mature ova—i.e., eggs which have reached their full size 
and become detached from their stalks, are found extending much 
higher up the rachis, and may occur in the body-cavities of fully- 
developed polypes. 

If it is borne in mind that each leaf commences its existence at the 
bottom of the rachis, and is gradually forced upwards by the successive 
development of new leaves below it, it will be seen that each leaf in 
the early stages of its existence has fully-developed reproductive organs, 
but no organs for digestion of food or capture of prey ; and that in the 
later stages of its life it loses its reproductive organs and develops 
prehensile and digestive organs. In other words, the two great functions 
of nutrition and reproduction, which are carried on simultaneously in 
the polypes of Funiculina and Pennatula, occupy in Virgularia different 
phases of the life-history of the polypes, and strangely enough the 
reproductive phase precedes the nutritive; the polypes develop repro- 
ductive organs and products while they are yet unable to catch or 
digest food for themselves, and by the time they have acquired organs 
for these latter purposes the reproductive organs have disappeared. 


In presenting this separation of their life-history into two distinct 
chapters, as it were, the polypes of Virgularia are less primitive, and 
more specialised, than those of either of the other genera with which 
we have been dealing. 

None of the ova that we have examined from the Oban specimens 
have even commenced to develop, so that we can give no account of 
the processes of development from our own observations. Dalyell, 
who kept Virgularia in captivity for some months, informs us* that 
during May and June he found numbers of eggs at the bottoms of the 
glasses in which he kept his specimens ; that from these eggs larve in 
the form of free-swimming ciliated planulee were developed, which after 
a time attached themselves by one end and produced tentacles, a 
stomach, and four septa. ‘He kept these young specimens for a month 
without their undergoing any further change. 


By means of fertilised ova and the free-swimming larve to which 
they give rise new colonies of Virgularia are started. Increase in size 
of the colony, when once started, is effected by the formation of leaves 
one below another, as already noticed. The actual process of formation 


* Sir John Graham Dalyell: “Rare and Remarkable Animals of Scotland,” 
vol. ii., p. 188, 1848. 


REPORT ON THE PENNATULIDA. 267 


of the polypes is easier to study in Virgularia than in the other genera, 
because by making a series of transverse sections through the lower 
end of the rachis at different levels all the successive stages of develop- 
ment can readily be obtained from a single specimen. 

At the very bottom of the rachis there is no trace of polypes at all, 
and at this part the fleshy substance of the rachis, which is here of 
considerable thickness, is hollowed out to form the large lateral 
chambers already described. 


A little higher up we get the first rudiments of the polypes. These 
appear as transverse rows of small pit-like depressions of the superficial 
layer of ectoderm which clothes the whole rachis (Fig. 6dr). Each pit 
opens by its mouth on to the surface; its inner end, which is closed, 
projects somewhat into the lateral chambers of the rachis, as shown in 
the figure. Each of these pits will become the stomach of a polype, 
the mouth of the pit remaining as the mouth of the polype. 


We have already said that the pits are arranged in transverse rows; 
each row is situated on one of the slightly marked transverse ridges 
which mark the commencing leaves at the bottom of the rachis; and 
in each row there are seven or eight polypes according to the number 
present in the fully developed leaves of the same individual. In each 
row, also, the polypes gradually increase in size from the dorsal to the 
ventral surface. 

A little higher up in the rachis, i.e., at a slightly later stage of 
development, we find the pits somewhat deeper; we find, also (Fig. 6), 
that the lateral chambers haye become divided by radial partitions 
into smaller chambers, one for each pit, which become the body- 
cavities of the polypes. These body-cavities grow up round the pits, 
leaving them attached to what are now the body-walls of the polypes 
by the eight septa or mesenteries. Round the mouths of the pits a 
series of small buds begins to appear, the rudiments of the tentacles. 


The constrictions separating the leaves from one another become 
more and more marked, so that the leaves gradually acquire indepen- 
dence of one another; the tentacles grow rapidly in size, and develop 
along their inner borders the pinnules; the walls of the pits, or the 
stomachs of the polypes, become thrown into the folds characteristic 
of the adult polypes, and the bottoms of the pits become perforated, 
thus placing the stomach-cavities] in communication with the body- 
cavities ; and then the extension of the mesenteries to the bottom of 
the polype-cavities, and the thickening of their free edges to form the 
mesenterial filaments, are all that is necessary to complete the develop- 
ment of the polypes. 

We shall only notice one other point: the great retractor muscles 
of the polypes appear at a very early stage, when the stomach cavities 
are mere pits and no traces of the tentacles have yet appeared. They 
are shown at about this period in Fig. 6, p. By studying the early 
stages carefully 1t can be seen that these muscles are portions of the 
great subcutaneous system of muscles which originally extended all 


268 REPORT ON THE PENNATULIDA. 


round the rachis, and which persists comparatively unaltered on the 
dorsal and ventral surfaces (Fig. 6, lm), portions the direction of 
which has become changed by the pittings in of the surface which 
form the stomach-cavities of the polypes. 


From the mode of formation of the body-cavities of the polypes out 
of parts of the canal system of the rachis, it is clear that the continuity 
between these two systems which we have seen persists in the adult 
is a primitive one, and not a secondary one acquired in the course of 
development. 


5.—Anatomy of the Zooids.— 

The zooids of Virgularia are simply arrested polypes, polypes which 
have stopped short at the stage of development represented in Fig. 6. 
They have no tentacles; their stomach-cavities are merely blind 
sacs, the walls of which are not thrown into folds; and, in fact, they 
resemble these rudimentary polypes in all points except in having no 
reproductive organs developed in connection with them. 


6.—Zoological Position and Affinities. — 

The position of Virgularia relatively to the other two genera is 
shown in the table on page 1 of this report. The generic characters, 
as stated by Kolliker,* are as follows :— 

“Genus: Virgularia. Leaves small, attached to the rachis by 
wide bases, ending below in a long series of undeveloped leaves. 
Polype cells fused together along the greater part of their length, 
either in a single row, or else alternating so as to give the appearance 
of two rows. Tentacles cylindrical, with short pinnules. Reproductive 
organs, as a rule, contained within the rachis at its lower end, and 
only in a single species found in all the leaves. Zooids lateral, in 
single or multiple rows between each pair of leaves. Radial canals in 
two longitudinal ridges along the ventral side of the rachis. A terminal 
dilatation at the end of the stalk. Stems cylindrical. Calcareous 
spicules absent in the rachis, but present in some cases in the stalk in 
small numbers.” 

Of the nine species of this genus distinguished by Kolliker the 
descriptions of five are based on the examination of single specimens 
only ; and of the remaining four there is no doubt whatever that the 
one to which the Oban specimens are to be referred is the typical 
species of the genus, V’. mirabilis, the definition of which is as follows :— 


V. mirabilis.t| ‘Whole colony up to fourteen inches in length; 
feather two and a half to three times the length of the stalk; leaves 
half-moon shaped, smooth, placed laterally but slightly obliquely, the 
ventral border being higher than the dorsal, overlapping one another 
only slightly or not at all, attached by wide bases. Polypes six to 
nine in each leaf, their cavities distinctly separated from one another. 
Zooids lateral, in one or two rows. Reproductive organs only developed 


* Kolliker, ‘‘ Aleyonarien,” p. 182-3. + Ibid., p. 190. 


REPORT ON THE PENNATULIDA. 269 


in the lowermost leaves. Radial canals well developed along the whole 
length of the rachis.” 


The species is a common but very variable one, different specimens 
differing greatly from one another in the pitch of the leaves—i.e., their 
distance apart—in the shape of the leaves, and in their breadth of 
attachment to the rachis. In these points the seven Oban specimens 
present a good deal of variety among themselves. 
7.—Habits.— 

1. The Natural Position of Virgularia. We have already, when 
speaking of Funiculina and Pennatula, referred in anticipation to 
Virgularia as affording positive proof of the erect position being the 
natural one. It is apparently a very simple point to determine; and 
yet, so far as we can find out, only two, or at most three, observers 
have recorded from actual observation the fact that Virgularia does 
live planted erect in the sea bottom. 


Rumph* in his work, to which we have already alluded, describes 
both V. Rumphii and V. juncea as living erect with the stalk planted 
in the mud and the rachis projecting up into the water. He speaks of 
having pulled out hundreds, so that there can be no possibility of 
mistake. 


Darwin, in his ‘‘ Naturalist’s Voyage Round the World,” also gives 
us direct evidence on the point from observations made at Bahia 
Blanca, on the soyth-east coast of South America, in lat. 39° S. He 
says :|—‘‘ I will only mention one other animal, a zoophyte (I believe 
Vii gularia Patagonica t ), a kind of sea-pen. It consists of a thin, straight, 
fleshy stem with alternate rows of polypi on each side, and surround- 
ing an elastic stony axis, varying in length from eight inches to two 
feet. The stem at one extremity is truncate, but the other is termi- 
nated by a vermiform fleshy appendage. The stony axis which gives 
strength to the stem may be traced at this extremity into a mere 
vessel filled with granular matter. At low water hundreds of these 
zoophytes might be seen projecting like stubble, with the truncate end 
upwards, a few inches above the surface of the muddy sand. When 
touched or pulled they suddenly drew themselves in with force, so as 
nearly or quite to disappear. By this action the highly elastic axis 
must be bent at the lower extremity, where it is naturally slightly 
curved ; and I imagine it is by this elasticity alone that the zoophyte 
is enabled to rise again through the mud.” 

A little further on he says :—‘‘ It is always interesting to discover 
the foundation of the strange tales of the old voyagers, and I have no 
doubt but that the habits of the Virgularia explain one such case. 
Captain Lancaster, in his voyage in 1601, narrates that on the sea sands 
of the island of Sombrero in the East Indies he found a small twig 


*Rumph. “T’Amboin ’sche Rariteitkamer,” p. 64, 1741. 

+ Darwin: “ Naturalist’s Voyage round the World,” p. 99, 1845. 

} Since renamed by Kolliker Stylatula Darwinti. Vide “ Kiolliker: Aleyo- 
narien, p. 227. 


270 REPORT ON THE PENNATULIDA. 


growing up like a young tree, and on offering to pluck it up it shrinks 
down to the ground, and sinks unless held very hard. On being plucked 
up a great worm is found to be its root, and as the tree groweth in 
greatness so doth the worm diminish; and as soon as the worm is 
entirely turned into a tree it rooteth in the earth, and so becomes 
great. This transformation is one of the strangest wonders that I saw 
in all my travels; for if this tree is plucked up while young, and the 
leaves and bark stripped off, it becomes a hard stone when dry, much 
like white coral: thus is this worm twice transformed into different 
natures. Of these we gathered and brought home many.” 

These accounts are of great importance, as they prove beyond 
all possibility of doubt that the erect position is the normal one for 
Virgularia, and if so, it follows with almost absolute certainty that 
the same must be the case with other allied and similarly constituted 
genera. 

2.—On the Power of Retraction.—This, also, is a point of very consider- 
able interest and importance. It will be noticed that both Darwin 
himself and Captain Lancaster, in the accounts quoted above, state that 
Virgularia has the power of retracting suddenly into the sand when 
disturbed ‘‘so as nearly or quite to disappear.” Rumph says exactly 
the same of V. juncea, which he describes as burying itself at low 
water so far in the sand that only a bit of three or four fingers’ 
breadth projects. 

We do not yet know whether V. mirabilis also possesses this power 
of retracting partially or completely into the mud when disturbed, but 
from analogy it would appear by no means improbable that it does so. 
The possession of this retractile power is clearly very advantageous for 
the sake of protection, and it will be an interesting point for future 
observation to determine whether this power is in any way a compen- 
sation for the loss of the more usual means of defence—i.e., thread-cells. 
We have but little evidence on this point as yet. Rumph distinctly 
states that V’. juncea does not sting, but does retract forcibly when 
disturbed: while V. Rumphii, which possess very marked stinging 
powers, is not mentioned as retracting. 


Supposing, which seems probable, that V. mirabilis possesses this 
power of retracting partially into the mud, it would help to explain 
why the lower halves of the rachis escape, although the tops are so 
constantly eaten off. 

Concerning the mechanism of retraction it is difficult to form any 
precise idea. From the descriptions it would appear to be a muscular 
action effected probably by the powerful muscular system of the stalk 
and rachis. 


Some experiments made by Dalyell show well the efficiency of these 
muscles. He found that in living specimens the muscles of the 
rachis frequently cause the fleshy part to twist itself in a spiral 
manner round the stem, and then straighten out again. ‘A section, 
six or eight inches long, standing inclined in a narrow jar, will be 


REPORT ON THE PENNATULIDA. par (A 


found to have arranged itself in a single volute throughout, or into 
two, three, or four between night and morning. The whole can relax 
again into a straight line by their obliteration.” * 


Kdlliker} suggests that the boring into the sand is effected by peri- 
staltic waves of dilatation and contraction passing down the stalk and 
rachis: the dilated parts acting as fulera by completely fillmg up the 
hole in which the stalk is planted, and so fixing it at one point, while 
the wave of contraction, passing down below this fixed point, would 
drive the end of the stalk deeper into the mud. The fixed point would 
then relax, the terminal vesicle would dilate to act as a fulerum, and 
the longitudinal muscles would pull the whole colony down. It is, 
however, not easy to see how a rapid retraction could be effected in 
this manner. 

3.—Supposed Nocturnal Habits——According to Dalyell, Virgularia 
when in captivity ‘‘remains contracted during the greater part of the 
day, and the organs are seldom displayed before five or six in the 
afternoon.” On this point we would refer to the observations made 
when considering the same statement concerning Pennatula. We have 
there suggested that Pennatula appears to be ‘“ nocturnal” when 
brought to the surface, simply because the amount of light it receives 
in broad daylight is vastly in excess of what it receives normally at 
the sea bottom, and that it is only towards evening that it is placed 
under what to it are normal conditions as to amount of light. 
8.—Geographical distribution.— 

V. mirabilis has been taken at a number of localities in different 
parts of Europe. Like the Pennatulida generally it appears to be very 
local, but to occur in large numbers where it is found at all. 

It has been recorded from several places on the coast of Norway 
and Denmark; from Belfast Lough, Gairloch, Oban, the island of 
Inchkeith, near to Edinburgh, the Hebrides, and other Scotch 
localities. 

In 1879 the Birmingham Natural History Society added a new 
locality to the list by dredging a single specimen off Falmouth; and we 
may cite also, on Mr. Darbishire’s authority, the stomachs of haddock 
off Scarborough, as a place where Virgularia has been found. The 
uncertainty whether these last specimens had been found by the 
haddock near where they were caught, or had been brought from some 
other locality, prevents our adding Scarborough definitely to the list 
until the point has been determined. 


General Observations on Funiculina, Pennatula, and Virgularia.— 

All three genera are colonial forms, consisting of a number of 
individual animals—the polypes—living organically connected together, 
and to a greater or less extent dependent on one another. In all three 
cases the colonies increase in size by the addition of new individuals 
by the process of budding or gemmation, whilst new colonies are 


* Dalyell: op. cit., p. 185. + Kolliker: op. cit., p. 205. 


272 REPORT ON THE PENNATULIDA. ° 


started by means of eggs, which, when fertilised, give rise to free 
swimming embryos, capable of passing from place to place. 


Of the three forms, Funiculina is the most primitive, and was there- 
fore very properly taken first. Its more primitive nature is shown in the 
irregular arrangement of the polypes; in their independent insertion 
into the rachis; in the comparatively slight difference between the two 
kinds of individuals—polypes and zooids—comprising the colony, for 
these must be supposed to be primitively and fundamentally equiva- 
lent to one another; and also in the small length of stalk—i.e., of the 
part of the colony devoid of polypes. A colony being merely an 
aggregation of similar individuals, which, instead of becoming detached 
and leading isolated and separate lives, remain organically connected 
together, it is clear that the simplest or most primitive form of colony 
will be that in which the polypes or individual animals are most 
completely independent of one another, and in which the differences 
between one polype and another are the least strongly marked, since 
all are fundamentally alike, and equivalent to one another. 

Pennatula is in all these respects a far less primitive form than 
Funiculina. This is shown by the fusion of the polypes into leaves, 
clearly a secondary feature that could only have been acquired subse- 
quently to the habit of forming colonies; by the very great difference 
in size between the component polypes of a leaf; by the great ana- 
tomical differences between the polypes and zooids; and by the great 
relative length of the stalk—i.e., of the part of the colony devoted to 
purely colonial purposes. 


Virgularia, though at first sight presenting a closer resemblance to 
Funiculina than does Pennatula, is in reality the most modified, the 
least primitive of the three genera, and has, therefore, very properly 
been considered last in this report. This is especially shown by the 
restriction of the reproductive organs to the imperfectly developed 
polypes, and the consequent division of the life-history of the polype 
into two physiologically and anatomically distinct portions—reproduc- 
tive and nutritive. That the reproductive function should be thrown 
on the immature instead of the adult individuals is a very remarkable 
specialisation. 


Again the modified character of Virgularia is shown by the 
great difference between polypes and zooids; by the simultaneous 
instead of the successive development of the polypes of each leaf, a 
point already explained; and lastly, by the development of the very 
remarkable system of vessels we have called radial vessels, which, 
whatever their function may ultimately prove to be, are structures 
not present in the other two genera, and the possession of which 
stamps Virgularia as amore highly specialised form than these. 


In concluding our report, which various circumstances have com- 
bined to render much more lengthy than we had anticipated when 
commencing it, we desire to record our indebtedness to the members 
of the Birmingham Natural History Society for the opportunity they 


FUNGI OF THE NEIGHBOURHOOD OF BIRMINGHAM. 2738 


have afforded us of studying these rare and interesting forms; and for 
their liberality in placing the specimens at our disposal, and in 
enabling us to illustrate our report in a manner that cannot fail to 
greatly enhance its value. 

We have been compelled to leave many points undetermined, but 
have in all such cases clearly indicated the nature of these points, and 
the difficulties by which we were baffled; and we have done this in the 
hope that we may thereby direct attention to the important work yet 
to be effected, and may facilitate in some measure the work of the 
Society in its future dredging excursions. 


FUNGI OF THE NEIGHBOURHOOD OF BIRMINGHAM. 


FIRST LIST, 1881-82. 
(Continued from page 252.) 


GASTROMYCETES (Myzxogastribus exclusis.) * 


Phallus impudicus, Linn. Sutton Park, common. Sept., Oct. 
Lycoperdon gemmatum, Fr. Hams Hall. Sept., Oct. 
L. pyriforme, Schiff. Common; Sutton Park; Olton; Barnt Green ; 

Driffold Lane, etc. Aug.—Nov. 


Scleroderma vulgare, Fr. Olton ; Sutton Park (abundant). July—Nov. 
5. verrucosum, Pers. Sparkhill. My specimens were smooth, pinkish, 
subterranean, but Mr. Phillips informs me that they are only the 


early stage of this species; spores bright violet Oct. 
Cyathus vernicosus, DC. Aston; Sutton; on wood. Sept., Oct. 
Crucibulum vulgare, Tul. Perry Barr, amongst grass. Jan. 
Spherobolus stellatus, Tode. Great Barr; Sutton. Aug.—Noy. 

CONIOMYCETES. 

Melanconium bicolor, Nees. Edgbaston; Sutton. April-. July. 
Stegonosporium cellulosum, Corda. Sparkhill, on beech. Oct. 
Torula herbarum, Link. Common everywhere. Autumn. 
T. sporendonema, B. and Br. Sutton, on pigeon’s dung. Oct., Nov. 
Bispora monilioides, Corda. Driffold Lane, Sutton. April. 
Sporochisma mirabile, B. and Br. Driffold Lane, Sutton. April. 


Sporidesmium lepraria, B. and Br. Driffold Lane, Sutton. July—Sept. 
Puccinia graminis, Pers. II., III.+ Common, on grasses. II., Summer ; 
III., Autumn. 


P. polygonorum, Link. II., III. Driffold Lane, Sutton. Sept., Oct. 
P. menthe, Pers. II. Common, on garden mint. July—Oct. 
P. compositarum, Sch. IT., III. Common, on Lapsana, ete. July—Nov. 
P. variabilis, Grey. III. On dandelion, Water Orton. Sept. 
P. galiorum, Link. III. Clent Hills, W. H. Wilkinson. Aug. 
P. umbelliferarum, DC. II., III. Driffold Lane, Sutton. On ®thusa 

.  cynapium. Oct. 
P. lychnidearum, Link. II., III. Hams Hall. Sept. 


* For naming some species of these and the following groups, Iam indebted 
to the kindness of Messrs. C. B. Plowright and W. Phillips. 
+ As there is no book yet published in English, in which the leaf-fungi are 


arranged according to modern ideas, I have chiefly followed the arrangement of 
the Handbook, 


274 FUNGI OF THE NEIGHBOURHOOD OF BIRMINGHAM. 


Puccinia fabe, Link. See Uromyces fabe. 
P. malvacearum, Corda, IIJ., II]. On Malva and Althwa, Hall 


Green; Barnt Green, etc. May—Aug. 
Ustilago carbo, Tul. Common, on corn. Autumn. 
Urocystis pompholygodes, Schl. Alvechurch ; Sutton. May—July. 
Uromyces ficari#, Levy. King’s Norton. April. 
U. fab, Fckl. Sutton, etc. Aug.—Oct. 
U. apiculatus, Lev. Hams Hall. On Trifolium. Aug., Sept. 
Coleosporium tussilaginis, Lev. Abundant everywhere. July—Noy. 
GC. campanule, Ley. Solihull. Oct. 
GC. rhinanthacearum, Ley. Harborne, on Bartsia. Aug., Sept. 
C. senecionis, Fr. Very common, Sutton, etc. July—Oct. 
Melampsora euphorbie, Cast. Very common, Sutton, etc. Aug.—Nov. 
Lecythea saliceti, Lev. Clent Hills, W. H. Wilkinson. Aug. 
(icidium ranunculacearum, DC. Alvechurch. May. 
G. urticw, DC. Common everywhere. May—Aug. 
(. tussilaginis, Pers. Abundant everywhere. May—Oct. 
Ge. depauperans, Vize. Perry Barr. July—Sept. 

HYPHOMYCETES. 
Isaria farinosa, Fr.* Sutton Park. Sept., Oct. 
Anthina flammea, Fr. Sutton, amongst moss. Oct. 
Ceratium hydnoides, A. and §. Driffold Lane, Sutton. Autumn. 
S. vulgare, Tode. Driffold Lane, Sutton. June. 
Tubercularia vulgaris, Tode.* Abundant everywhere. Autumn. 
Epicoccum neglectum, Desm. Sparkhill ; Harborne. Sept., Oct. 
Aigerita candida, Pers. Water Orton; Sparkhill. Sept., Oct. 
Sporocybe byssoides, Fr. Driffold Lane, Sutton. June—Nov, 
Helminthosporium obovatum, Berk. Driffold Lane, Sutton. July. 
Macrosporium cheiranthi, Fr. Witton; Driffold Lane. July—Sept. 
M. sarcinula, Berk. On grass leaves, Harborne.* Aug. 
Cladosporium herbarum, Link.* Common everywhere. Autumn. 
C. epiphyllum, Nees. On oak leaves, Harborne. July. 
Aspergillus glaucus, Link. Very common. At all times. 
Nematogonum aurantiacum, Desm. On dead elm bark, Driffold Lane, 

Sutton. Sept., Oct. 
Peronospora infestans, Mont. Too common. July, August. 
P. obliqua, Cooke. On dock leaves, everywhere. May—Oct. 
Cystopus cubicus, Str. On salsify, Hall Green. July. 
Polyactis vulgaris, Link. On dead leaves, Barnt Green. May. 
P. cana, Berk. Hdgbaston; Hampton. April—Aug. 
P. fascicularis, Corda. Sutton; Harborne; Perry Barr. April—Oct. 
Penicillium crustaceum, Fr. Abundant everywhere. At all times. 
Oidium chartarum, Link. Driffold Lane, Sutton. April. 
O. fulvum, Link. Driffold Lane, Sutton; on dead wood. Feb 
Stysanus stemonitis, Corda. On an old oak post, Great Barr. Oct. 
Dactylium roseum, Berk. On bark; Sparkhill; Great Barr. Oct. 
Sporotrichum sulphureum, Grev. Ina cellar; Driffold Lane, Sutton. 

April. 
Sepedonium chrysospermum, Link. On decaying Boleti, Sutton Park. 
Sept. 


Trichoderma viride, Pers. Driffold Lane, Sutton; Sparkhill. Feb.—Nov. 
W. B. Grove, B.A. 
(To be continued. ) 


* These and others are only forms of fungi recorded elsewhere. 


ERRATUM.—Since pl. 84 of the “ Illustrations of British Fungi” is now declared 
to be 4g. inversus, Scop., and not Ag. flaccidus, Sow., the record of the latter 
species on p. 234 must be transferred accordingly to the former, 


THE GREAT CRESTED GREBE IN OX¥ORDSHIRE. 275 


ON THE BREEDING OF THE GREAT CRESTED 
GREBE (PODICEPS CRISTATUS—uLuinx.) 
IN NORTH OXFORDSHIRE.* 


BY OLIVER V. APLIN. 


Karly in August last (1882), in company with Mr. H. Holbech, of 
Farnborough Hall, I paid a visit to Clattereut Reservoir—an extensive 
piece of water situated in the northern part of this county, not far 
from its Warwickshire boundary—for the purpose of examining the 
Great Crested Grebes which he had reported as breeding there. 

This reservoir forms, so to speak, the extremity of a little vale 
running down to the Cherwell Valley. The ground slopes down to it, 
therefore, on three sides, and, as it is enclosed on these three sides with 
large hedges, and is furnished with reed beds along the banks, 
especially at the upper end, it forms a favourite resort for our water 
birds. Moreover, as it is preserved by the tenant of the adjoining 
lands, it adds security to its other qualifications. 

Approaching quietly from behind the hedge bordering the upper 
end we cautiously pushed through a gap, and from the shelter of the 
reeds and tall herbage eagerly scanned the water. We were at once 
rewarded by seeing a fine adult example of the object of our search 
fly out from among some coots and pitch again farther out on the pool. 
With the help of a glass we made out two pairs of old birds, and two 
half-grown young accompanying one pair. On a subsequent visit, 
after long and patient waiting, I succeeded in making out two more 
young. nearly full-grown and quite independent of the old ones. When 
the birds were feeding it was seldom that the whole number could be 
seen at once, as one or two were nearly always beneath the surface. I 
found that on an average they stayed under water while one could 
count seventy or eighty. They would frequently swim along for some 
distance with the bill and face submerged, the neck being stretched 
out along the surface of the water. Doubtless they were in search of 
the small fry of fish. The smaller pair of young kept closely with the 
old ones, and were frequently fed by them, although able, apparently, 
to fish for themselves. When undisturbed, the birds carry the neck 
bent, the head drawn back, and the crest and ruffs depressed ; but on 
the least alarm the neck is stretched to its full height, and the crest 
and ruffs are erected, giving the bird an extremely watchful look. 
One remarkably fine adult male swam quite close in to our place of 
concealment, and when at length he did catch sight of us he was a 
picture indeed; the shining white of his breast and neck, the glossy 
black crest, and rufous tints of the ruffs showed up beautifully in 
the sunlight against the water. After favouring us with a decided stare, 
he turned and swam rapidly out to a safer distance. It has been, 


* Read before the Oxfordshire Natural History Society, at a meeting held in 
the University Museum, 20th October, 18°2, 


276 THE GREAT CRESTED GREBE IN OXFORDSHIRE. 


I believe, a general opinion that this species is, to say the least, 
extremely unwilling to take wing: our observations, however, do not 
at all accord with this idea, the old birds several times rising and 
flying for some little distance. Their feet, indeed, generally dipped 
the water, and a good deal of wing-flapping seemed necessary ; but 
still they proceeded at a fair pace. 

Mr. Holbech tells me that he saw three young there in July, 1880, 
and, from the fact of two pairs having nested there this season, I am 
in hopes that this fine species may become thoroughly established in 
the locality. 

The brothers A. and H. Matthews, who wrote from Weston-on-the- 
Green an account of ‘‘ The Birds of Oxfordshire and its Neighbour- 
hood,” published in the ‘“* Zoologist ”’ for 1849-50, p. 2,623, state simply 
that the species ‘tis sometimes found in this neighbourhood.” 
Although I have several notes of the occurrence of these birds in 
North Oxon and parts of the adjoining counties during the last few 
years, and Mr. Everard im Thurn (who collected for a short time in 
the district), informs me that he has twice obtained the mature birds, 
I have been unable to find any other record of their breeding with us. 

The specimen on the table (exhibited by Mr. Fremantle, of Balliol 
College) is labelled Winslow, Bucks, August, 1878. It is, I would 
suggest, just commencing its second year. In the spring following it 
would have partially developed the crest and ruffs of the more mature 
bird, and in the spring of its third year would probably have attained 
the full breeding dress of the adult, an example of which will be found 
in one of the cases devoted to the collection of British birds here. 


Achiews. 


ib 


The British Moss Flora. By R. Brarrawarre, M.D.,F.L.S. Parr V., 4s. 
Fam. VIJ.—Dicranacex. 

Tus part fully sustains the high reputation of the author for fulness 
of description and fidelity of delineation. Descriptions are given of the 
various species belonging to the genera Seligeria, Brachydontium, 
Blindia, Didymodon, Dicrano-Weissia, and part of Dicranum ; and it 
contains four 8vo. plates giving faithful illustrations of twenty-seven 
of the species described. The nomenclature is not always that to 
which British botanists have been accustomed, but the full and 
complete synonymy of each species renders such alterations a matter 
of no inconvenience to the student. J. H. B. 


British Museum—(Narurat Hisrory).—An illustrated Guide to the 
Exhibition Galleries of the department of Geology and Paleontology 
in the British Museum of Natural History, South Kensington, has 
just been printed by order of the Trustees. The work, which has been 
prepared by Dr. Henry Woodward, Keeper of the Department, con- 
tains pictures of the Mastodon, Irish Elk, Musk Ox, Glyptodon, Dinornis, 


REVIEWS—METEOROLOGY. ONT 


Tehthyosaurus, and other prominent fossil animals; and it gives a brief 
account of some of the characteristic genera represented in the cases 
of the Museum. ‘Thus, in reference to the Beaver, the following 
remarks are made on p. 14 :—‘‘ The Beaver is not only widely spread 
at present, but its fossil remains prove it to have had an equally wide 
distribution in the past. It was once abundant in this country, as, 
for instance, in the valley of the Lea, near London, and in the Cam- 
bridgeshire Fens. It is still found living in some of the rivers of 
Russia, and also in those of North America. A far larger species of 
beaver, called U’rogontherium, once inhabited Norfolk, where its remains 
have been found in the Cromer Forest-bed. A still more gigantic 
form, the Castoroides Ohioensis, is represented by a cast of the skull 
and lower jaw, from the Post-Tertiary of North America.” Again (on 
p. 51) we are informed that ‘In Wall-cases 5 and 6 are placed the 
curious shells called Hippurites, allied to the existing Chamas. They 
probably lived clustered in coral-reefs, lke their modern representa- 
tives. They are seldom met with in the Cretaceous rocks of this 
country, but the ‘ Hippurite Limestone’ is largely developed on the 
Continent, in France, Spain, and Italy ; it also occurs in the East and 
West Indies.” Such a Guide must add largely to the educational value 
of the Museum. Its price is threepence. 


METEOROLOGY OF THE MIDLAND 5: 
BY CLEMENT L. WRAGGE, F.R.G.S., F.M.S., ETC. 
THE WEATHER OF OCTOBER, 1882. 


The same general report from our stations;—a month of atmos- 
pheric disturbance, dull and gloomy, with constant rain and some fog. 
At Orleton the rainfall was more than double the average, and at 
Henley-in-Arden the fall was ‘‘the greatest registered, with the 
exception of 1875.” The highest reading of the barometer took place 
on the 5th, and was 30°555, the lowest occurred on the 24th, and was 
about 29-072 (corrected and reduced mean values for Central England). 
The great storm and barometric depression that came up suddenly 
from the Bay of Biscay on the early morning of the 24th, and succeed- 
ing floods, will long be remembered. The ‘“ greatest fall” occurred 
generally at this time, accompanied at some stations by hail and 
heavy snow. At Spondon the snow was ‘‘sufficient to break down 
laburnum trees.” Mean temperature was about 48-9, amount of cloud 
7:5 (scale 0 to 10) and relative humidity 92%, these being means for 
the Midland District deduced from values furnished by geographically 
selected stations. North-easterly and southerly winds were frequent. 
The absolute maximum temperature (reported) in sun’s rays was 117°9, 
and took place on the Ist at Hodsock; absolute mininum on grass 22:1, 
on 26th, at Oxford. Bright sunshine 74:7 hours at Hodsock, 61:5 at 
Strelley, or 19% of possible duration, 70° at Oxford, and 67-7 hours at 
Blackpool. The mean temperature of the soilat a depth of 1ft. was 51°6 
at Hodsock, 49-6 at Strelley, and 53:5 at Cardiff. The mean amount of 
ozone was 1:0 at Oxford, 3-9 at Cheltenham, 4°8 at Carmarthen, and 
4-2 at Blackpool (scale 0to10). Mean sea temperature at Scarborough 
53°9, or 2°5 degrees above previous 5 years’ average. Displays of 
aurora on 2nd and 14th. Lightning on 8th, 20th, and 22nd. Lunar 
halo on 20th and 24th. Heavy snow fell on Ben Nevis during the last 
part of the month, and the work of observing on the mountain was 
carried on with much difficulty. The great comet was well observed 
throughout the country. 


278 THE WEATHER OF OCTOBER. 
RAINFALL. 
os : : a 
STATION. OBSERVER Sy Greate iS 
ag ——|s 
In, | In. | Date. |4 2 
OUTPOST STATIONS. 
Ben Nevis (a).......- ...|C. L. Wragge, Esq., F'.M.S.)6° 93 2 27 
Fort William (a) ............ C. L. Wragge, Esq., F.M.S.)3" “62 2 ! a1 
Spital Cemetery, Carlisle ....|I. Cartmell, Esq., F. 'M.S. ..|2°76| ‘60 16 22 
Scarborough (a)..........-.4- W. C. Hughes, Esq., FMS. |4°70 |1°32 | 24 24 
Blackpool (a)—South Shore.. |C. T.Ward,E Esq.. B.A.,F.M.S.|4°00| 76 22 20 
Llandudno (a) ......+0.0-+ ..|J. Nicol, Esq., MADE. uae 2°64] *88 14 20 
Lowestoft (a) ...... seveseceee |H. KE. Miller, Esq., F.M.S...|/4°92 | °93 28 19 
Carmarthen (a) ........ ‘Il ]@. J. Hearder, sq. M. Ee 8°17 [1°36 24 
APONTE) sececne-ine eens . |W. Adams, Esq., C.E. «|B | 1°64 23 23 
Altarnun, near Launceston’ te) tev. J. Power, F M. 8.. «7°85 [1°25 24 24 
Sidmouth (G) ...........05- pe We 2s Radford, Esq., M. ‘D. 7°39 |L57 23 28 
Guernsey () F ‘IF. C. Carey, Esq., M. D Prone, 671) °§9 238 24 
Les Ruettes Brayes Guernsey A. Collenette, Ksq., F.M.S.|7°20| *99 23 26 
(a) 
MIDLAND STATIONS. 
HEREFORDSHIRE. 
Burghill (2) 2.6... cescecess .../S. A. Chapman, Esq., M.D./445| *94 24 24 
SHROPSHIRE. 
Woolstaston! 2-70... .< sie cictaie| | EROVeu hr ID). CAEL 0 occ vureincisis 5°46 | *72 24 26 
Stokesay (a)............ .|M. D. La Touche ..........|5°39| “64 24 | Bt 
More Rectory............ .|Rev. A. S. Male............|5°36| “59 24 26 
Dowles, near Bewdley ......|J. M. Downing, Esq. ......|6°94/1°61 od 23 
WORCESTERSHIRE. 
Orleton, near Tenbury (a).... |T. H. Davis, Esq., F.M.S. ..|5°76)| °90 24 28 
West Malvern .........+.- Ba ys Hartland, Esq. mena *|4 94 [1°56 24 18 
EVERDAIN on cinle(eiccictsleleiciece -+..|L. J. Slatter, Esq., F.G.S..../6°28 {1°26 24 27 
Pedmore ........s.0005 ......|H. B. Marten, Esq. odocisond 5°79 |1°50 24 26 
Stourbridge ......... weceees |J- Jefferies, Hsq. ..........|0'66/1°41 24 26 
STAY FORDSHIRE. 
Rowley Regis ..............|C- Beale, Hsq......+...--+-- [4°99 /1'208 24 25 
Dennis, Stourbridge (a)...... CEWebb MSde nae seisents acres 5°22 |1°20s 24 20 
Kinver .. .|Rev. W. H. Bolton ......../5°76 | 1°45 24 24 
Walsall........ wT. , Best; HS. ? ss cccccnee 7°21) 1°76 24 29 
Lichfield . .|J. P. Roberts, Hsq. . 5°56 |1°66 24 23 
Burton-on- Trent (c) . 30 .|C. U. Tripp, Esq., F. MS. ..|527|1°39 24 27 
Wrottesley (a) ...... ... |E. Simpson, Esq. .... 5°80 |1°32s 24 21 
Barlaston (a) ...... 50 .. |W. Scott, Esq., F.M.S .|5°03| “44 11-21 | 19 
TEA (C)o vecemcrwarencrcsscce Rev. EK. T. Ryves, FMS, \5°26|117 24 25 
Heath House, “Chendie (a) . J.C. Philips, Esq., F.M.S. |5°37|1°07s 24 25 
Oakamoor, Churnet Valley (a) Mr.Williams .......... ++ 2 (0°68 |L'24 24 i4 
Beacon Breen) Weaver Hills(a)|Mr. James Hall ...... 68°7) — = — 
Alstonfi eld .............e0.0.)/heV. W. H. Purchas ....../6°32] ‘80 il 24 
DERBYSHIRE. 
Stony Middleton ............|Rev. U. Smith ............|5°64|121 4 22, 
Fernslope, Belper.. F. J. Jackson, Esq. ........|6°36|1" 24 27 
Spondon ie ietescss <r ili |J. 'T. Barber, Esq...... 1 24 24 
NOTTINGHAMSHIRE. 
Park Hill, Nottingham (a)..}H.F. Johnson, Esq. ......|5°43|161 24 24 
Hodsock Priory, Worksop (a)|H. Mellish, Esq., F.M.S. ../4°93 1°66 24 24 
Strelley (@)) <6 sc. ccccesecssce (> ke Ke Edge, esa. . . 5°36 115 24 24 
TMOG) Voccasw acs s seceeeee |d- N. Dufty, Esq., F. ic! Ss. . (548 |L72 24 21 
RUTLANDSHIRE. 
Uppingham. ...........sse00s Ray. H. Mullins, M.A.,/5'53 |1'48s 24 24 
F.M.S. 
LEICESTERSHIRE. 
Loughborough (a)............ |W. Berridge, Hsq., F.M.S.. .|5°22|1°31 24 21 
SMELOUsee scenes ues .|J. Hames, Esq. ........+.--|0'06 [1°31 24 24 
Town Museum, Leicest .|J. C. Smith, Esq. 5°36 [1°28 24 16 
Ashby Magna ...... An .|Mr. T. Carter... 5°55 | 1°16 24 24 
Waltham-le-Wold ........ . |Edwin Ball, Esq. . « . |5°40 |1°278 v4 24 
Coston Rectory, Melton (a) ..]Rev. A. M. Rendell..... +. {S11 {130 24 26 
WARWICKSHIRE. 
St. Mary’s College, Oscott (a}}W. Middleton, Esq. ........|5°89 |174 24 27 
Henley-in-Arden ............|T. H. G. Newton, Esq. ..../6°55 |1*45s 24 22 
Kenilworth (a) ..............|F. Slade, Esq., C.E., F.M.S.|5°74|1°32 24 22 
Rugby School (c) .......... ..|Rev. T. N. Hutchinson ....|5°62 144 24 24 
NOR'THAMPTONSHIRE, 
Pitsford, Northampton ......|C. A. Markham, Esq. ....../4°80|1°35 24 28 
Lowcester .. |J. Webb, Hsq. ...... cre wiets 6°18 |1°20 24 25 
Kettering se | EUW BLES TUG: Oe: en ines a nee | DAO) aD: 24 25 
BEDFORDSHIRE. 
Bedford (a) .........+..++-++.|H. J. Sheppard, Esq. ....../4°81] *86 24 22 
OXFORDSHIRE. 
Radcliffe Observatory, Ox. (a)|The Staff ...........000006/5°76 [146 28 20 
WILTSHIRE. 
Marlborough (a) ............|Rev. 1. A. Preston, F.M.S.)6°74 |1'83 23 25 
GLOUCESTERSHIRE, 
Cheltenhiin (a) ..............{R. Tyrer, Esq., B.A., F.M.S./5°83 |1°11 23 26 


“SHAD TEMP. 


Absolute Absolute 
Maximum. Minimum _ 


Deg] Date. |Deg. \Date. 


488 4 

{6771 af 

\68°8 2 

le73| 

661) 1 

71°2| 1 

66°9 1 

651 1 

64°4 1 

63°0 |1,2,8,6,18 

64°0 1 

676 1 

66°83 1 

65°38 1 275 26 
62°5 1 36°0 27 
645 al 28°1 26 
65°0 1 27°0 29 
72°0 6 27°0 24 
66°8 1 (267 26 
645 1 32°0 23 
66°0 1 3075 26 
67°0 1 0 24 
69°0 4 0 25 
63°0 1 310 2 
66°0 1 26°0 26 
65°0 1 B10} 24, 25 
63°0 1 310 24 
66°0 2 27°0 25 
68°0 1 27°0 26 
648 1 20°9 26 
643 1 32°2 25 
68-0 2 240 26 
64-2 1 27°9 26 
65° 1 26°0 26 
61:1) . => 87 ole 
62°7 1 20°83 26 
5970 2 29°0 25 
66°0 310 26 
68°1 1 28°2 26 
649 ft 29°1 26 
66°0 ul 29°0 26 
66°7 1 325 24 
67°4 1 29°8 26 
63°0 1 382°0 26 
67°4 1 02 26 
640 1 810 26 
\670| 1 [32°0| 25, 26 
‘670 1 27°3 26 
|60°3 1 314 26 
1665 1 24°0 26 
66°8 ul 26°0 26 
'65°0 1 30°0 26 
| 

\67°0 1 |270) 26 
67°0 2 310 26 
69°0 1 29°5 26 
67:2 1 318 26 
66°0 1 28°3 26 
67°0 1 30°5 26 


(a) ) At these Stations Stevenson's Tremeomnee Screen is in use, aa the values may be regarded 
as strictly intercomparable. (c) Glaisher’s pattern of Thermometer Screen employed at these stations. 


ae 


CORRESPONDENCE. 279 


Correspondence, ete. 


i 


New Bririsn Priosotus.—In September last I had the pleasure of 
finding a Pilobolus on cow dung at Water Orton, which at first I con- 
founded with P. crystallinus. Ihave since discovered that it is not 
that species, but P. Klenii, Van Tieghem, which has not hitherto, I 
believe, been recorded for Britain. A description, with figures, will 
be published in a future number.—W. Bb. Grove, B.A. 


Bravers.—In connection with a statement in regard to the 
continued existence of beavers in the course of the Middle Elbe, I can 
state that they still exist in the following places :—(1.) Near Klieken, 
in the circle of Coswig, Duchy of Anhalt, both on the property of 
Baron Lattorf, and also on that of His Serene Highness the Duke of 
Anhalt; (2) at Walter Niemberg, at the junction of the brook 
Nuthe with the river Elbe; and (3) they are found also in some 
numbers in the extensive forests on the banks of the Oder and 
Vistula. As a boy, I myself have kept a tame beaver, and up to the 
year 1848 they were by no means rare in the localities cited. The 
first or second of these localities is the one referred to by the corres- 
pondent on page 142.—G. T. C. Scuwarz, Ph.D. 


Lats Nustine or Housr Marrry.—On October 17th House Martins, 
Chelidon urbica (Linn.), were still feeding their young in a nest at 
Bodicote. I noticed one or two birds flying abont over Oxford from the 
20th to the 23rd, and on the morning of the 25th a pair were hawking 
over Bodicote village, chiefly on the south side of a house, remnants of 
the snow storm of the previous day still covering the ground in places. 
It is curious to note that although a few martins generaily hang about 
their breeding places for some days after the Swallows have departed, 
yet when a very late straggler of the tribe does appear—as they have 
occasionally been known to do, even up to Christmas—it is almost 
always of the latter species.—Oniver V. Apuin, Banbury, Oxon, 
November, 1882. 


DickRaANUM MONTANUM IN Beprorpsutrn.—When moss hunting in 
Aspley Woods last August, a patch of Dicranum scoparium growing on 
an oak tree attracted my attention, and as it looked in fine condition 
a gathering of it was made. About three weeks after a portion of this 
and some other duplicates were sent to Mr. Boswell for his 
criticism and identification. A reply was shortly after received to 
the effect that the packet labelled Dicranwn scoparium was that plant 
and another, probably montanum, and if really so, it was a most 
interesting find. An examination of the remainder of the packet 
resulted in the detection of sufficient for identification, and for a 
duplicate to be sent to Dr. F. A. Lees for the Botanical Record Club. 
This, however, was scarcely sufficient to satisfy my wishes, so an 
early opportunity was taken to revisit Aspley Woods, fifteen 
miles distant. This was not very difficult, although out of the 
railway track—thanks to facilities for ‘‘ cycling” on three wheels. 
Fortunately, the exact tree was easily remembered, as it grows in a 
moist spot, close by ‘‘ Merry Maid Pond,” in which Bog-mosses and 
Sedges flourish. A careful search soon revealed the presence of 
Dicranum montanum on that, and also on two other oak trees close by. 


280 CORRESPONDENCE. 


In no case was there any large quantity, and for obvious reasons not 
much was gathered. Upon comparison with some fine specimens of 
this moss sent me previously by Mr. Bagnall, there was no 
doubt as to its identity, but the Bedfordshire specimens, so far as 
observed, are more diminutive than those received from Warwickshire. 
—J. SaunpEers, Luton. 


{I have carefully examined specimens of the Aspley Wood moss, 
sent me by Mr. J. Saunders, and agree with Mr. Boswell’s opinion 
that it is Dicranum montanum. This is an interesting find, and confirms 
my opinion that the moss will be found to have a larger area of 
distribution if sought for on the roots of oaks and alders than has been 
anticipated. Hitherto the plant has only been recorded from three of 
Watson’s provinces, viz., 3, 5, and 15. To this record we must add 
province 4, sub-province 12, West Ouse. The Warwickshire habitats 
belong to both ‘‘ Mid Severn” and ‘‘ West Trent.”—J. E. BaGnatt. | 


GALENA IN THE Lowrr Kevper Sanpstonr.—While examining, in the 
spring, the cuttings for the Charnwood Forest Railway, now in course 
of construction along the northern border of the Forest, I was rather 
startled at one spot to find Galena in large quantities in Lower Keuper 
Sandstone. About a mile and a quarter south-west of Sheepshed 
the bed of the long-deserted Charnwood Canal passes through a deep 
cutting in the coarse red sandstone which there forms the base of 
the Keuper. It was in the section here exposed, and just underneath 
the bridge which carries the road from Sheepshed to Blackbrook, that 
the Galena occurred. The ore was contained in pebbles and rolled 
lumps of impure limestone of the Carboniferous type, and not unlike 
that worked years ago at Dimminsdale, in South Derbyshire, six or 
seven miles to the north-west. The Galena was present in consider- 
able quantity, and in the samples I was able to bring away formed 
fifty to sixty per cent. of the mass. The calcareous matrix of the 
pebbles presented a somewhat spongy texture on account of the perco- 
lation of acidulated water. The limestone pebbles seemed to occur 
at only one spot, so far as I could make out. On the west side of the 
bridge, a large hole by which the lead ore appeared to have been 
extracted was now bricked up. The impression that the spot had been 
worked for lead was confirmed by a native of this part, who happened 
to be passing by at the time of my visit, and who informed me that he 
could remember, many years ago, a large quantity of lead being got 
out here. Be that as it may, of the occurrence of pebbles of Carboni- 
ferous limestone in the Lower Keuper Sandstone there could be no 
doubt. There was little or nothing in the section to indicate the 
direction of the currents that brought the Keuper sediment. About 
a mile farther east, however, I noticed a bed of sandstone in the 
Keuper at a higher horizon, which could be traced for half a mile or 
more, steadily tailing away in an easterly direction. The occurrence 
of inliers of Carboniferous Limestone at Grace Dieu, Osgathorpe, 
Barrow Hill, Breedon Cloud, and Breedon Hill, which evidently 
formed islands during Lower Keuper times, suggests the probability 
that other bosses exist still farther east, but which are now buried 
beneath the pall of Keuper marl. It was probably from one of these 
supposed concealed bosses of limestone that the pebbles found in the 
Keuper were derived. My examination of the spot, I may add, was 
cut short by a storm of wind and rain, and another opportunity never 
came. Hence this imperfect record. The ground is now occupied by 
the railway.—J. Surpman, Nottingham, 


QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS—REPORTS. 281 


Questions and Anstuers. 


Bese > Fi 

BurnisHers.—I am informed that great numbers of these stones 
have been and still could be, if required, picked from the surface soil, 
and in some cases from as much as ten to fifteen feet in depth below 
it in the neighbourhood of Measham, Willesley, Donisthorpe, Overseile, 
etc., in South Derbyshire, and North-west Leicestershire. Can any of 
our readers furnish some description of these valuable rocks, or more 
correctly fragments and pebbles of rocks, stating size, colour, weight, 
derivation, distribution, use, etc., of them, and whether fossiliferous or 
not? I have reason to think that the study of these burnishers will 
at any rate be of interest if not of service to some of us.—W. 8. 
GRESLEY, F.G.S., 27th October, 1882. 


[The stones to which Mr. Gresley refers as ‘‘burnishers” are, I 
suppose, the agates which occur in the Bunter conglomerate and in 
the drift (derived from the Bunter) of the Midland counties. These 
agates consist of silica, coloured usually by a litttle oxide of iron, and 
they were formed by water (containing silica in solution) trickling 
through rocks and filling up cavities in its course. The beautiful 
markings seen in polished sections of agates represent the various 
layers of deposition, the outermost being the first formed, as a lining 
to the cavity through which the water passed. Many splendid 
specimens, illustrating the mode of formation of agates may be seen 
in the Jermyn Street Geological Museum, London; they are, of course, 
unfossiliferous. Professor Ruskin wrote some papers on agates, magnifi- 
cently illustrated, for the ‘‘ Geological Magazine” about ten or twelve 
years ago, and he has lately reproduced these in his publication 
entitled ‘‘ Deucalion.” As to the rocks whose disintegration yielded 
the agates, my opinion is that they formed a ridge running roughly 
east and west across the midlands—the southern coast line of the 
Triassic sea, in fact. This question I have lately dealt with in some 
detail in a paper published in Vol. III. of the Transactions of the 
Birmingham Philosophical Society, entitled ‘‘On the Quartzite Pebbles 
contained in the Drift and in the Triassic Strata of England; and on 
their Derivation from an ancient land barrier in Central England.”— 
W. Jerome Harrison, Birmingham, Noy. 13th, 1882. } 


Reports of Societies. 


BIRMINGHAM NATURAL HISTORY AND MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETY.— 
GENERAL MEETING—October 31st—Mr. J. E. Bagnall exhibited the following 
plants:—dinanthe Lachenaliit, new to Warwickshire, from near Stratford; 
Rubus emersistylus, Haywoods (rare); Potamogeton densus, Napton-on-the-Hill 
(rare); Carex ericetorwm, grown from roots obtained from the only British 
station ; Eriophorum gracile, and Utricularia intermedia, from the New Forest, 
collected by Mr. Bolton King; Artemisia Norvegica, from the only European 
station, and Myricaria Germanica, both from Norway, collected by Mr. J. B. 
Stone; Dicranum fuscescens, a moss new to Warwickshire, from Maxtoke; 
a number of lichens, and the following fungi:—Russula Queletii, Leptonia 
lampropus, Hydnum scrobiculatum, and Hygrophorus hypothejus, all new to 
Warwickshire; and others, including a few species from the New Forest, 
collected by Mr. M. C. Cooke. Mr. Morley exhibited Polystichwm angulare 
proliferum; and Mr. Wilkinson Dedalea quercina, from Clent, and Peziza 


982, REPORTS OF SOCIETIES. 


aurantia, from Solihull, Mr. W. B. Grove exhibited the fungi—Collybia 
butyracea and Clitocybe phyllophila, from Water Orton; Pluteus cervinus, 
from Solihull; and Hygrophorus coccineus, H. pratensis, and H. hypothejus 
(the last species new to Warwickshire), from Curdworth. Mr. Grove also 
read a note on an interesting fungus, Pilobolus Klenii, Van Tieg., in which its life- 
history and structure were described. Mr. Morley then opened the discussion 
on the question, ‘Is Fertilisation necessary to the indefinite Perpetuation of a 
Species,” in which he took the negative side, quoting instances of the many 
plants which are known to reproduce themselves by bulbils, or cuttings, 
without the production of true seed. He especially referred to Sawifraga 
cernua, Which grows upon Ben Lawers, and has never been known to produce a 
perfect flower. nor consequently any seed, in that locality. Mr. Grove, who took 
the opposite side, quoted Herbert Spencer's theory of Genesis, of which the 
following is an outline:—“ Life essentially depends upon a capacity for change. 
Every homogeneous mass, unacted upon by outside forces, is incapable of 
change, 7.e., is dead. Every mass of heterogeneous units tends continually 
to homogeneousness. The physiological units of which an individual is 
composed have a certain amount of similarity. Another individual, derived 
from this by agamogenesis, that by a sexual multiplication, has a still 
greater tendency to or a greater probability of homogeneousness. If this process 
is continued the ultimate descendants tend towards a completely homogeneous 
state. But life depends upon the action and reaction of heterogeneous units 
upon one another, and therefore an approach to homogeneousness is accom- 
panied by weakened vitality, and complete homogeneousness is death. To 
avert this end gamogenesis intervenes; the union of a sperm-cell and a germ-cell 
from different parts produces a germ which contains within it the necessary 
heterogeneity, and which therefore has a greater vitality and renewed chance 
of life. This was illustrated in many ways, especially by Darwin’s great law of 
cross-fertilisation ; and, finally, it was pointed out that gamogenesis only delays 
the evil day of final extinction, which the theory indicates as the doom of every 
species. Agamogenesis may reproduce the species for an indefinite time in 
some of the lower forms, but certainly in none of the higher plants or animals. 
Mr. Southall pointed out the additional proof which was furnished by the fact 
that all the cultivated varieties of apple, rose, potato, &c., are dying out, being 
reproduced agamogenetically, and new varieties which are produced from seed 
are taking their place; but Mr. Morley replied that in his opinion this 
merely arose from the vanished sorts having passed out of fashion, and 
hence not being taken care of as they required. The question under 
discussion was finally answered in the affirmative by a majority of those present. 
BioLoGicaAL SECTION.—November 7th.—Mr. J. E. Bagnall exhibited :—Mosses— 
Tortula mucronata, T'. latifolia, Anomodon viticulosus (all rare), and Orthotri- 
chum rivulare (new to Warwickshire), from Preston Bagot; Fungi—Scleroderma 
geaster (new to Warwickshire), Craterellus cornucopioides (rare), Spherobolus 
stellatus and Clitocybe fragrans, from New Park, Middleton; and other fungi 
from Mr. M. C. Cooke. Mr. W. B. Grove exhibited Polyporus annosus, from 
Sutton: and Lepiota carcharias, from Water Orton; also, on behalf of Mr. 
W. H. Wilkinson, Geoglossum glabrum, from Sutton Park. Mr. W. G. Blatch 
exhibited Myrmecoxenus vaporariorum, a very rare beetle, found near Birming- 
ham, and new to the district; also some fire flies, Lampyris splendidula, from 
Switzerland, on behalf of Mr. C. Pumphrey. Mr. W. Phillips, F.L.S., read a 
paper ‘On the Breaking of the Shropshire Meres,” the subject of which was the 
phenomenon which has been observed for many years in a small group of lakes 
near Ellesmere, in Shropshire. The title given to this appearance by the 
country people of the neighbourhood, “The Breaking of the Meres,” is mis- 
leading, inasmuch as the effect is due only to the excessive growth of afew 
species of minute alge. These accumulate in enormous quantity, forming a 
dark verdigris-green scum on and near the surface of the water. The species to 
which it is chiefly due are Rivularia articulata, Anabeena flos-aque, Cylindro- 
spermum Ralfsti, and Aphanizomenon flos-aqu@. The phenomenon probably 
occurs in many lakes, but it has been chiefly observed in Ellesmere, Ketile- 


REPORTS OF SOCIETIES. 283 


mere, Boldmere, Newtonmere, and other meres in Shropshire, to which the local 
name ‘‘breaking” is apparently confined. Myr. Phillips referred to instances of 
similar occurrences in other countries, and mentioned that during the con- 
tinuance of this excessive growth fishing was entirely stopped; the fish became 
“sick,” probably from the alge blocking up their gills, and thus impeding their 
respiration. Mr. Phillips also exhibited two remarkable objects occasionally 
found in the same lakes; one was what are there called ‘‘hedgehogs,” large 
round masses composed of larch leaves agglomerated together in some 
mysterious and wonderful way, probably by the constant rolling of the water, 
in the same way as a rolled snowball increases, although in this case the means 
by which the leaves were held together was not obvious; the other was the hard 
round stony masses of Conferva egagropila, which were formed of a compact 
mass of the filaments of that alga, growing radially from a central point. Mr. 
A. W. Wills referred to the analogous case observed by him of the development 
of Hydrodictyon utriculatum in Blackroot Pool in great quantity about eight 
years ago, since which time he had never seen a single frond in that habitat. 
Mr. J. Miller mentioned that he had observed the same thing to take place ina 
small lake near Diss, Norfolk, where it was called “sickening.” Mr. R. M. Lloyd 
stated that a similar thing occurred at times in the summit reservoirs of the 
Birmingham Corporation, and Mr. Wills that the Leicester filter-beds were 
sometimes checked and rendered useless by the growth of enormous quantities 
of some species of Diatoms in the water. November 13th.—THE ANNUAL 
SOIREE was held in the Town Hall. The chief feature of the display was, as 
usual, the show of microscopes, of which there were over sixty, arranged on the 
floor of the Hall. They were placed so as to lead the visitors successively 
through the whole of the Animal and Vegetable Kingdoms, except that objects 
of Pond Life were shown at a separate table, and not in their place in the series. 
The galleries were occupied by miscellaneous exhibits, including Geological 
specimens by Messrs. W. J. Harrison, C. A. Matley, C. Mantell, and F. A. Walton; 
a collection of the Fungiof the neighbourhood, by Messrs. J. E. Bagnall and 
W. B. Grove; British Molluscs, by Messrs. W. H. Boland and J. Madison; 
British Birds and Birds’ Eggs, by Messrs. R. W. Chase, R. F. Felton, H. C. Grove, 
John Grubb, and J. Hiam. One of the most striking exhibits was a collection of 
Blaschka’s Glass Models of Marine and Terrestrial Organisms, which, from 
their gelatinous or fragile nature it is impossible to preserve by ordinary 
methods; lent by the Mason College, under the care of Professor Bridge. There 
were also a few collections of drawings, etc., especially twenty Pencil Drawings 
of Scenes and Antiquities in England and Wales, by Mr. W. Willis, 
lent by Mr. G. Tangye. GENERAL MEETING.—November 2lst.—Mr. R. W. 
Chase exhibited a very rare bird, Ruticilla tithys, the Black Redstart, 
from near Brighton; also, Ruticilla phenicina, the Common Redstart, from 
this neighbourhood for the sake of comparison. Mr. J. Levick exhibited forty- 
eight very beautiful and accurate water-colour drawings of microscopic objects, 
the work of Mr. E. T. Draper, F.R.S. These represented many plants and 
animals, &c., familiar to microscopical students, and were much admired. Mr. 
W. 3B. Grove exhibited the following fungi:—Melanconis stilbostoma, on birch 
bark, from Edgbaston; Nematogonum aurantiacum and Peziza ec :lycina, from 
Sutton Park: Polyactis fascicularis, Trichoderma viride, Polyporus obducens, 
Stilbum nigrum, Peziza cinerea, and Helotium pallescens, from Sutton. Mr. 
W. G. Blatch read the first part of some remarks upon the Entomology of the 
Midlands, in which he advocated the publication by the Society of lists of all 
kinds of the Fauna and Flora of the district, and presented the first instalment 
of a list of the Coleoptera, including the Hydrodephaga, the Geodephaga, and 
Palpicornia. Mr. Grove, while allowing the uses and advantages of such lists, 
remarked upon the impossibility of procuring them to order. Every list, if it 
should have the slightest value, must be the spontaneous work of some 
enthusiastic local observer who devotes his whole spare time to the pursuit. 
Messrs. R. W. Chase, J. Morley, J. Levick and others also made a few remarks, 
especially upon the richness of the field which the Midlands offer for such 
research. Mr, Blatch and Mr. Chase then renewed the offers which they had 


284 REPORTS OF SOCIETIES. 


previously made to the Society to furnish as complete collections as possible of 
the Coleoptera and Birds of the Midlands respectively, if the Society would 
provide proper cabinets for storing them. 


NORWICH GEOLOGICAL“SOCIETY.—At the anniversary meeting of this 
Society, held on November 7th, the President (Mr.William Whitaker, B.A., F.G.S.), 
read a very interesting address “On things in general and Red Chalk in particular.” 
After referring to recent publications on the Geology of Norfolk, he turned his 
attention to the literature of the Red Chalk, noticing the many opinions 
expressed about its age and relations. The stratigraphical evidence seemed to 
him to favour the view that the Red Chalk was the basement bed of the White 
Chalk; but the paleontological evidence seemed to put a veto on this, unless 
we can explain the occurrence of the many Gault forms, either by derivation 
(of which we have no evidence), or by local survival to later times; and he 
believed that something of this sort may have occurred; at all events, he had 
found numbers of specimens of the Belenwnites minimus in the Chalk Marl of 
Norfolk. 


OXFORDSHIRE NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY—October 27th—A meeting 
was held in the University Museum. Professor Westwood. M.A., F.L.S., presided, 
and contributed some magnificent water-colour paintings of Natural History 
subjects, made by a Scotch lady, one a picture of a large Atlas Moth on a branch 
of a species of Hibiscus being specially admired. The Professor also exhibited 
and described a series of insects whose depredations on vegetable life do much 
damage; one of the species Heracliaria, whose life-history Professor Westwood 
had traced out, attacking the seeds of parsnips, others the vine, cabbage, 
asparagus, &c. Mr. T. F. Fremantie, of Balliol College, exhibited a specimen of 
the Great-crested Grebe, caught near Winslow, Bucks, which it was suggested 
came from a reservoir near Tring, a well-known breeding place of that species. 
Mr. Macpherson exhibited in the flesh a male Goshawk (Astur palumbi7rius), 
netted near Horspath on October 12th. He also showed, by permission of Mr. 
Darby, a pair of Hobbies (Falco subbuteo), shot near Cumnor in June last, 
together with their nest and eggs. He exhibited a living Chaffinch -with a 
tendency to albinism, and commented upon its general development. He read 
a note from Myr. §S. Salter, jun., late of Egrove, on the Lesser Redpoll, a nest of 
which was obtained near Oxford in May, 1882. Mr. Macpherson made a few 
remarks on the Goldfinch, expressing a hope that the close season for this 
charming species might be extended, in order to recruit its numbers, upwards of 
300 Goldfinches, netted near Oxford during the last eight weeks by only three 
of the local bird-catchers, giving some idea of the war waged against the Gold- 
finch throughout the greater part of England. He then read a paper on 
“Birds Observed on the Western Coast of Scotland and the East Coast of 
England,” in the course of which he sketched an outline of the main features 
of Hebridean bird life, laying some stress on the remarkable tameness 
of some small birds, especially of the Twite, in certain localities ; on the breed- 
ing of the Goldfinch in Sleat: on the Raven, Hooded Crow, and Chough; on the 
Peregrine Falcon and White-tailed Eagle; on the Sheldrake and Redbreasted 
Merganser (of which several pairs bred on islands in Loch Dunvegan during the 
late season); the Manx Shearwater and the nesting habits of the Black Guille- 
mot were also discussed, after which Mr. Macpherson read his autumn notes on 
the birds of Aldborough, where he had observed a great migration of Sand 
Martins, together with a few House Swallows, as early as the 6th of September, 
between six and seven a.m., upon the coast. Mr. Macpherson met with the Grey 
Phalerope, Great Skua, Lesser Tern, Sanderling, Green Sandpiper, Knot, and 
the Bartailed Godwit in summer plumage, Scoter Duck, and Pygmy Curlews, 
together with other marsh-loving species: and exhibited skins of the Pygmy” 
Curlew, Lesser Tern, and others of the foregoing, together with those of the 
Golden Plover, both in transitional and winter dress, the Ringed Plover, Dunlin. 
&e. Mr. O. V. Aplin read a note on the nesting of the Great Crested Grebe 
(Podiceps cristatus) in Oxfordshire, for which see page 275. 


peta te, he eds me ope ae eS aieianeniie via 


4 


ry K 


uk 


We 


td 
PELL: 
nh 


A 


Se 
i 
Ny 


ti 


Me 
SASS 


NY 
Satan, 


a) RR 
oo AN : 
ont 


i 


aN } 
es 
« NON xa) 


‘ ex ae ny 
TNL ASROS 
‘ ARRAY 


<N wate 


<2 


. 


MENA 
eStey 


max 


Pao 
DEAN 


; 
PAE: 


Tih 
why 
3) 


f * 
Y ay i 
SOUS Sy 


HANS 


4 
Reve 


ny 
KAW Y 


RORee 


Wink 


st 


WW 
AAS 
AE 

‘is * 


Ni i A 
ann 
x ut A ui 


AAS 
Ua ye AM 
bi 


* 

MERON if ‘ 

SAVOM CHARA 

NGS 


AYRE 


KS 
Y 
a 


PN 
Sy 
Ke 


xO) 
Ra 
% Abs \f vy 


: We 
Ranta wae 


. yi 
ae 


es 
‘ea 
‘ 


ant 


Wahis 
Bea