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NEWS 



Professor E. Ray Lankester has been appointed Director of the Natural 

 History Branch of the British Museum. We have on a previous occasion ex- 

 pressed our admiration of Prof. Lankester's biological work. Further than this 

 he has shown, by the excellent museum installations carried out under his guid- 

 ance at Oxford, how well he is fitted to continue the exposition of the national 

 collections on the lines laid down by Owen and Flower. All who have ever had 

 the pleasure of working under him admit with gratitude the inspiration and 

 guidance they have received, and recognise that his powers are remarkably 

 adapted for the direction of a great scientific establishment. We fail to see how a 

 more fitting person could have been found. 



Dr D. Morris, of Kew, has been appointed head of a newly founded govern- 

 ment department to direct practical applications of botany in the West Indies. 

 We fear that the learned gentleman will not be welcomed with open arms by the 

 many botanists in those parts, which already have an excellent Botanical Garden 

 and staff in Jamaica. 



Other recent appointments are those of Dr Charles Hunter Stewart to the 

 professorship of Public Health and Sanitary Science at Edinburgh University, 

 and Dr Heinrich Ries, of Columbia University, to be instructor in Economic 

 Geology, a newly created post at Cornell University. 



After serving the Museum of Comparative Zoology in various capacities for 

 thirty-five years, Mr Alexander Agassiz has resigned his position as Director and 

 Curator. The policy of the establishment will hereafter be guided by a Com- 

 mittee of the Museum Faculty of Harvard, consisting of Dr H. P. Walcott and Pro- 

 fessor George L. Goodale. Dr W. McM. Woodworth has been appointed assistant 

 in charge of the Museum, to date from August 1, 1898. 



Professor James Hall, State-Geologist of New York, died on August 7th, 

 having nearly completed his eighty-seventh year. We hojDe to devote a special 

 article to this famous American geologist in our next number. 



The new galleries of comparative anatomy, anthropology, and palaeontology, 

 at the Museum of Natural History, Paris, were opened on July 21. 



The U.S. National Museum has recently acquired the Lacois collection of 

 fossil insects. It is said to contain over 6000 specimens. 



During two years of active work in amassing an herbarium in connection 

 with the Botanical Department of the Field Columbian Museum, Chicago, over 

 50,000 mounted and classified sheets have been accumulated ; these are distri- 

 buted geographically about as follows : — North America, 16,000 ; Mexican 

 Boundary, 1575 ; Mexico, 6125 ; Central America, 1575 ; West Indies, 1050 ; 

 South America, 1500 ; Europe, 10,500 ; Asia, 4500 ; Africa, 3850 ; Japan, 1050 ; 

 Oceania, 1200 ; Australasia, 2250. 



We regret to learn that the young male giraffe recently bought by the 

 Zoological Society died on the night of Monday, August 8, from indigestion. 



The Lincolnshire Naturalists' Union, joined by members of the Lincolnshire 

 Science Society, and the Grantham, Grimsby, and Louth Naturalists' Societies, 

 met at Grantham on June 7, and had a very successful excursion to Saltersford, 

 Stoke Park, Woolsthorpe Manor House, and Little Ponton. A report by Rev. 

 E. A. Woodruffe-Peacock, with lists of specimens collected, appeared in The 

 Naturalist for August. 



