1898] NEWS 285 



be devoted to the researches of the museum staff. The first part, which is dated 

 June 1898, contains papers on Scorpions by Purcell, Mutillidae by Peringuey, 

 Reptiles by Sclater, and Hispinac by IVringuey. The Trustees report that the 

 whole work of transferring the collections from the Old Museum to the New 

 Museum Building was accomplished in a month, with practically no damage or 

 loss, at a cost of approximately £90. 



The American Museum of Natural History, Central Park, New York, is 

 rapidly progressing with its new buildings. These consist of a corner to the 

 west wing and a lecture hall, the latter of which may be ready for occupancy this 

 year, and the former ready for cases and fittings during 1899. Among the excel- 

 lent M-ork done by this Museum is the titling out of expeditions for special objects: 

 thus Dr Carl Lumholtz has returned after four years spent among the tribes in 

 Mexico with a large and valuable collection ; Dr Adolf Bandalier has continued 

 his researches in Bolivia and Peru ; Mr Ernest Yolk has been employed for the 

 whole year exploring near Trenton, N.J., for the purpose of careful investigation 

 of the question which has arisen relative to the antiquity of man in the Delaware 

 Valley ; while Mr A. J. Stone begins this year, and will continue till 1900, 

 collecting vertebrate Zoology from Montana to Bering Strait. Two great 

 dinosaurs in a remarkable state of preservation have been secured from 

 Wyoming, and a complete skeleton of the three-toed horse has also been obtained 

 for the collection. The Library grows rapidly, and many scarce works on Zoology 

 have been added to the shelves, while the Duke of Loubat has been a generous 

 donor in the department of Mexican and other ethnology. 



The National Herbarium of the United States has received from Dr W. H. 

 Forwood his collection of plants of Western Wyoming, collected in 1881 and 1882. 

 The Plant World states that the collection forms the basis of two scarce reports 

 published by the War Department. Many of them are also referred to in Tweedy's 

 Flora of the Yellowstone. 



The Report of the Keeper of the Manchester Museum refers to the installation 

 of electric light, which has been rendered possible by the generosity of Mi- 

 Reuben Spencer, who contributed £500 to the expense. The Museum is at 

 present in the hands of the painters, and it is to be hoped that the committee 

 will sanction the general whitening of the ceilings asked for by Mr Hoyle, in 

 order that the electric light may have a good start. Prof. Hickson has been doing 

 good work on the plankton of Lake Bassenthwaite, and some of the rarer forms 

 will shortly be placed on exhibition. Miss Nordlinger, the keeper's efficient 

 secretary, receives due eulogies, and we are glad to hear that she has taken entire 

 charge of the library and hope she will be able to open the proper purse-strings 

 for much needed additions. The committee have undertaken the printing of 

 Mr Sherborn's index to the 10th and 12th editions of the " Systema Naturae " of 

 Linnaeus, which should prove of value to zoologists, as these books form the 

 starting-point of zoological nomenclature. A series of lectures will be delivered 

 by Prof. Boyd Dawkins on certain Saturdays and Sundays between October and 

 June, other lectures to be delivered by the staff as usual. Mr Hoyle closes 

 his Report with an eloquent appeal for more funds, and it really does seem 

 singular that Manchester can only afford an expenditure of £2785 a year on its 

 Museum, while Liverpool spends £5700. Manchester must wake up. 



A useful part of Mr Hoyle's Report referred to above is his account of the 

 twenty-five museums visited by him while travelling in the United States and 

 Canada in 1897 ; the list, however, is too long to quote here. 



The Keswick Museum, which was founded in 1873 in connection with the 

 Keswick Literary and Scientific Society, was removed early this year to Fitz Park, 



