366 NATURAL SCIENCE. Nov.. 



arrangement of this room is the fixing of the shelves in the centre cases in a sloping 

 instead of a horizontal position. The contents of the shelves (the larger fossils) can 

 be thus seen to much greater advantage. Downstairs in the general room a very 

 valuable collection of native implements and dresses from the Fly River, New 

 Guinea, presented by the Rev. James Chalmers, of the London Missionary Society, 

 has been placed in a position worthy its importance. Highly-finished specimens of 

 drums, pipes, wooden shields, head ornaments, fishing baskets, adzes, bone daggers, 

 armlets, etc., are included and, together with specimens previously obtained from the 

 south-east end of New Guinea, these form the best collection of New Guinea ethno- 

 logical specimens in the colonies, saving only that in the Sydney Museum. The 

 stone axes are particularly fine and well finished, weighing from lo lb. to 12 lb. 



A Reuter's telegram states that the Cape Government has appointed a 

 Geological Commission, consisting of the Hon. Mr. Merriman, Dr. Muir, Dr. Gill, 

 Mr. Stewart, and Mr. Currey. The work of the Commission will extend over a 

 considerable period, and the results are expected to be of the utmost service to 

 Cape Colony. 



The annual report of the Director-General of the Geological Survey has just 

 reached us. We rejoice to hear officially that the topography of the old series of 

 ordnance one-inch maps in the South of England is imperfect and inadequate, and 

 it has been decided to engrave the results of the Drift Survey on the N-ew Series of 

 maps. We hope Surrey is considered by the Ordnance Survey to be in this district. 

 Sheet II of the General Geological Map (four miles to the inch) will shortly be 

 issued, and sheet 9 has been completed and is in the hands of the engraver. The 

 account of the middle and upper oolitic rocks by Mr. H. B. Woodward is in type 

 and is promised for this year. 



The record of field work done during the year is a very full one, but interesting 

 discoveries are few. Among them we notice the remarkable crush-breccias of the 

 Isle of Man, which have now been worked out by Mr. Lamplugh. Mr. Strahan 

 has found a bed of white oolitic rock forty feet thick in the middle of the main 

 limestone in the South Wales Coalfield. In the note on work done in Permian 

 districts there is a pleasing reference to the assistance rendered to the Survey by an 

 outsider, Mr. J. D. Kendall. A long array of results in the geology of Scotland is 

 set down, but as they are mostly minutiae, we must refer our readers to the report. 

 A brief summary of progress in Ireland is given, but this does not amount to much, 

 as the director is hampered by a reduced vote, and field-work has had to be 

 abandoned. One point, however, of great importance is set forth, and is that 

 Sir A. Geikie is satisfied that Mr. Kilroe has proved that the Croagh Patrick 

 Quartzite and its southern equivalent does not belong to Dalradian, but is of 

 Llandovery age. It is thus necessary to colour a large area as Silurian instead of 

 Metamorphic. 



We have already noticed that the Museum of Practical Geology is now open 

 every week-day instead of being closed on Fridays as heretofore. 



We learn from the .r^ «jmcfl» Geologist that Mr. Max Krahmann, editor of the 

 Zeiischri/t fi'ir fralitischc Geologic, announces that hereaker that journal will be pub- 

 lished in Berlin (Charlottenburg, Schillerslrasse 22), and that in connection with 

 it he will establish a " Bureau for Practical Geology," where maps, books, and 

 advice concerning economic geology can be obtained. 



The Perthshire Society of Natural Science has lately been devoting itself to 

 the natural history of the banks of the Tay, and the full account of these researches 

 is embodied in a series of papers published in the Transactions (vol. ii., part 2). The 

 present series of papers deals with Physiography, by Dr. H. R. Mill and James 

 Coates; Stratigraphical and Physical Geology, by James Coates ; Superficial 



