i8 9 5 NEWS OF UNIVERSITIES, ETC. 355 



for want of space, that it is to hoped some better accommodation for the class 

 Reptilia will soon be made. The large series of interesting and remarkable 

 dinosaurs from America are as yet known in this country only from pictures. 



The Natural History Society of Queensland, which was founded in 1892, has 

 just issued its first volume of Transactions. 



The Danish Geological Society, which was founded January 16, 1893, has 

 already published its Mcddelelscr fra Dansk Gcologiska Forening. No. 2 of the 

 Meddelelscr consists of an important paper in Danish on the " Pleistocene Foramini- 

 fera of Denmark and Holstein " (Copenhagen, 1895,230 pp., plate and map), by 

 Victor Madsen. Dr. Madsen has collected from a very large number of localities, 

 gives the results of his washings, and describes, in the latter pages of his paper, the 

 foraminifera in detail. It is interesting to note that of his eighty-eight forms described, 

 he only recognises one as new, a proof of the care the author has taken in identifying 

 and working out his material. This new form is certainly curious ; it is called 

 Lagcna danica, and consists of an oviform test, cut off at the greatest breadth by an 

 oval margin ; the base consists of a deep groove surrounded by a thick but fiat 

 margin, the whole structure reminding one of a thick flat india-rubber band seen 

 sideways. Six examples have been found in three different localities. The paper 

 permits ot a valuable comparison of the Pleistocene foraminiferal fauna with that 

 of the recent Baltic and North Seas. 



The sum of £500 has been bequeathed to the Geological Society of Cornwall 

 by Mr. William Bolitho. The income derived from this money is to be applied each 

 year to the gift of a medal "to be presented to the member of the Society whose 

 attainments, labours, or discoveries in geological or mineralogical science are found 

 most deserving." 



Dr. Lopez Vieira, of the University Museum of Coimbra, makes an appeal 

 for the better development of Portuguese museums in Amines de Sclencias Naturaes for 

 January, 1895. He refers in particular to the museums of Washington, London, and 

 New York, and the arrangements there in force with relation to the natural habits of 

 birds and mammals. Dr. Vieira also notes the value to agriculture of the work done 

 by the museums of the United States, an example which might well be followed in 

 London, where systematic zoology alone seems to be in favour. The especial 

 feature of agricultural value that Dr. Vieira quotes is an examination of the 

 stomachs of 2,700 hawks and owls, in order to find out the particular nature of their 

 ravages ("Hawks and Owls of the United States." By Merriam and Fisher. 

 Washington, 1893). 



^ 



A paragraph in our April number, on p. 286, made certain statements concern- 

 ing the Museum at Colchester, which should properly have related to the Chelms- 

 ford Museum. The Colchester Museum is purely archaeological, having recently 

 been weeded of its few natural history specimens to make room for its fine collec- 

 tion of antiquities. It has never been closed, except for cleaning, since it was first 

 opened some thirty years ago. The number of Essex newspapers that have offered 

 us a prize of two guineas for our "extraordinary concatenation of journalistic 

 blundering," shows an interesting ignorance of the English language and a lack of 

 originality among our esteemed contemporaries, but so far has added nothing to our 

 exchequer. 



The Zoological Society of France has re-issued the " Rules of Nomenclature of 

 Organised Beings adopted by the International Congress of Zoology at Paris, 

 1889," and confirmed at Moscow, 1892. Dr. Blanchard, 7 Rue des Grandes 

 Augustins, Paris, will send a copy gratis to any professor, director of museum, 

 assistant in museum, or any learned society, on application. 



