Aueust 31, 1923] 
miles south of the first, is working in eocene deposits, 
the dawn period of mammalian life. The strata are 
extraordinarily rich in fossil remains. We have discov- 
ered the skull of a giant rhinoceros—like the beast known 
as the titanothere, which, although it has been buried 
for three million years, is almost as perfect as though 
the animal had died a week ago. The titanotheres were 
previously only known in America. Finding this par- 
' ticular stage in their development shows that they crossed 
from America by way of a former land bridge to Asia. 
We have found, also, remains of a giant dog-like 
carnivore, as well as many teeth and jaws of an ances- 
tral tapir-like animal. We could spend easily a year’s 
work in these great deposits, but will give them only 
enough time to get a few of the choicest things. 
THE GODMAN AND SALVIN MEMORIAL 
A TABLET in memory of Frederick Du Cane God- 
man, F.R.S., and Osbert Salvin, F.R.S., has been un- 
veiled by Lord Rothschild, chairman of the memorial 
committee, at the Natural History Museum, South 
Kensington, and accepted on behalf of the trustees of 
the British Museum by the Archbishop of Canterbury. 
The London Times notes that these two distin- 
guished men of science were intimately associated in 
research and the results of their labors form an im- 
portant part of the treasures of the Natural History 
Museum. The friendship between them dated from 
the fifties of the last century, when they were both 
undergraduates at Cambridge, and lasted until the 
death in 1898 of Salvin, who was survived twenty-one 
years by Godman, the latter dying in 1919, in his 
eighty-sixth year. In 1876 the two friends conceived 
the idea of the monumental work entitled Biologia 
Centrali-Americana, which has been described as 
without doubt the greatest work of the kind ever 
planned and carried out by private individuals. 
As completed, the Biologia consists of sixty-three 
volumes, of which one forms the introduction, fifty- 
one are devoted to zoology, five to botany, and six to 
archeology. The work was edited by Salvin and God- 
man, and after Salvin’s death by Godman alone. The 
three volumes on the birds and three others on the 
diurnal lepidoptera were prepared by Godman and 
Salvin themselves, while the others were written by 
various specialists. The volumes contain 1,677 plates, 
of which more than nine hundred are colored, and the 
total number of species is 50,263, of which 19,263 are 
described for the first time. 
In 1885 Godman and Salvin resolved to present 
their wonderful neo-tropical collections to the British 
Museum. Of birds’ skins alone over 520,000 were 
contained in this magnificent donation, which included 
not only the collections made by Salvin and Godman 
themselves, chiefly in Guatemala, but many others 
from various parts of South America, the Mexican 
collections obtained by Godman himself and his col- 
SCIENCE 
157 
lectors, made in that country in 1887 , and the great 
Henshaw collection of the birds of the United States 
containing over 13,000 specimens, which was secured 
by Godman in order to provide a thoroughly authen- 
tic series of North American birds for comparison 
with those of Mexico and Central America. 
The commemorative tablet, with portraits in relief 
of Salvin and Godman, is placed on the wall of the 
central hall of the museum, near and behind the statue 
of Darwin. 
Lord Rothschild, in presenting the tablet on behalf 
of the subscribers, explained that the committee had 
decided that any subscriptions left over after the 
memorial had béen paid for should be devoted to a 
collecting fellowship. Shortly after that decision 
Dame Alice Godman and the Misses Godman devoted 
a further sum of £5,000 to the Godman Exploration 
Fund, to which others had given further donations. 
The Archbishop of Canterbury, in accepting the 
tablet, expressed the cordial welcome given by the 
trustees to gifts of that kind. Mr. Godman was one 
with whom it had been his privilege to sit for years 
as one of the trustees on the committee of manage- 
ment of museum affairs. Those who shared that privi- 
lege knew well how wide was the range of his knowl- 
edge and how applicable it was to almost anything 
that might arise. The Archbishop commended the 
setting up of memorials of great representatives of 
science and great benefactors to the museum. In Mr. 
Godman they had not only one of the donors to whom 
they owed so much, but also a valued trustee. He 
wanted to emphasize the importance which seemed to 
him to attach to taking care that such names, such 
acts, such memories and such lives should not be 
forgotten by those who looked at the specimens and 
collections the museum contained. He believed that 
in thus recording the services rendered by men such 
as Mr. Godman and Mr. Salvin they were serving the 
best interests of the museum. 
SIR WILLIAM THISELTON-DYER 
THE following letter, printed in Nature, has been 
addressed by British botanists to Sir William Thisel- 
ton-Dyer, who celebrated his eightieth birthday on 
July 28: 
_ The oceasion o* your eightieth birthday affords us the 
opportunity of which we gladly avail ourselves, not only 
of offering you our congratulations upon having attained 
so venerable an age, but also of assuring you of our con- 
tinued regard and esteem. In doing so we who sign this 
letter do but acknowledge our indebtedness to you for 
the inspiration and guidance which we, both as teachers 
and researchers, have derived directly or indirectly from 
your own early work as a professor of botany. . We re- 
gard that work, and more especially the courses of prac- 
tical instruction conducted by you at South Kensington 
