she is a warm advocate of the advantages of nature study in the work of education, and she has the secret of communicating her opinions and enthusiasm to others. The youthful Selbornians from the Richmond High School have during the past year shown in various ways their ardour in the pursuit of natural history. They have done some very creditable work in the study of the flora of the Lower Thames Valley, and they have been the originators of a most enjoyable form of ainusement in the first Selbornian dance. They have before them for the present year an extensive programme of botanical research. It was for their benefit chiefly that the " May meeting" was held in the extensive gymnasium attached to the High School, which is always placed at the disposal of the Selborne Society for meetings. The whole of the wall space was covered by a collection of valuable natural history specimens lent by various members and friends. Some admirable collections from an educational point of view were displayed, and were much appreciated by a large body of visitors. Much energy was exerted by Mr. F. W. A. Clarke, the hon. secretary, and Mr. T. F. Wakefield in procuring the materials for such a successful exhibition. After the various exhibits had been examined under the guidance of skilled scientific cicerones, a meeting was held, with the Rev. Percy Myles in the chair. A very valuable paper by Dr. Francis and his son Mr. William Francis was read by the latter. It was a concise guide to the admirable type-collection of British Lepidoptera (a selection from his large and well-known general collection), exhibited by Dr. Francis, and forming distinctly the most interesting and instructive portion of the whole exhibition. A paper was also read by Mr. T. F. Wakefield, setting forth in a pleasing manner some of the leading facts of entomology.

At the close of the general meeting there was held a numerously-attended meeting of the Committee, amongst whom it was pleasant to see Mr. King, the "father" of the Lower Thames Valley Branch. The Committee carried into effect for the first time one of the rules of the Selborne Society which empowers any Branch consisting of more than 150 members to elect a Vice-president of the Society. The unanimous choice for the honour fell upon Sir Mountstuart Grant Duff, who has on many occasions shown his warm interest in the Society, the last proof of which is his very interesting communication to the present number of NATURE NOTES.

Whether the Richmond press gives as much attention to Selbornian news as does the "fourth estate" in Lymington we cannot tell, as we have received no newspapers in this case. We think, however, that our readers will be glad to have some account of these two meetings as specimens of the kind of work which is being continually done in all quarters of the land by the many branches of the Selborne Society.

us.

NOTICE TO CORRESPONDENTS.

OWING to the very large number of contributions and letters received, we have been obliged this month to add four pages to the Magazine. In spite of the additional space thus secured, a large amount of matter is unavoidably crowded out. Several interesting communications on Animal and Plant Names are obliged to be postponed, and we are at the last moment very reluctantly obliged to exclude two sonnets we had selected from the great mass of original poetry which reaches Indeed for the future, we fear we shall be obliged to put more rigid limits upon this department of the Magazine, as the copy at present in hand would be sufficient to produce a couple of numbers entirely composed of verses. Contributions which reach us immediately after the publication of each number have, cæteris paribus, the best claim to a place in the number that follows. May we remind correspondents that short communications, legibly written on one side of the paper only, are much more likely to obtain insertion than those which do not comply with these conditions.

It is particularly requested that subscriptions and letters bearing on the general business of the Society, should not be forwarded to the editors, but to the Secretary of the Selborne Society, 9, Adam Street, Adelphi. Editorial communications should be addressed to the Rev. PERCY MYLES, I, Argyle Road, Ealing, W.

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66

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