1899] NEWS 305 



life, directed by Prof. Roberts, the instruction in each case being eminently 

 practical. The course is attended chiefly by teachers, and the report gives an 

 impression of sound and thorough work. 



The new lecture hall of the American Museum of Natural History is 

 expected to be ready next month. It will seat 1700. 



We learn from our esteemed contemporary, the American Naturalist, 

 that the state of Wisconsin has appropriated $10,000 for two years for 

 a geological and natural history survey of the state, under the direction of 

 Prof. E. A. Birge. Some of these " appropriations " may be contrasted with, 

 for instance, the apparent impossibility of getting Government support for the 

 survey of Scottish lakes. But the subsidy for the Antarctic Expedition must 

 silence our grumbling in the meantime. 



The fine collection of Scottish agates made by the late Prof. Heddle is now 

 arranged in the Museum of Science and Art in Edinburgh. Mr. J. G. 

 Goodchild has prepared a guide to the collection, incorporating Prof. Heddle's 

 explanatory notes. 



According to the Scientific American, the creation of a great national 

 forestry and game reserve in northern Minnesota, embracing 7,000,000 acres 

 around the headwaters of the Mississippi River, with many lakes of rare 

 beauty, well stocked with fish, will be advocated before Congress next winter 

 by prominent citizens of Chicago and Minnesota. The promoters of the plan 

 are not likely to experience much difficulty in interesting Congress. The game 

 and the virgin forests of the United States are disappearing so rapidly that it 

 is exceedingly important that measures be taken, before it is too late, to save 

 some of the great wooded areas of the continent. 



The report of the South African Museum for 1898 by the Director, Mr. W. 

 L. Sclater, gives details as to the growth of the collections. The rocks of the 

 Kimberley mining district have been arranged and displayed, and considerable 

 progress has been made with the collection of South African mammals. 



The recently-published British Museum blue-book takes account of the 

 additions to the Natural History collection during 1898, e.g. the first instal- 

 ment of the Norman collection of marine invertebrates, the rare mollusc Pleuro- 

 tomaria beyrichii, the rare fossil Elasmobranch Squatina alifera, the late Rev. 

 P. B. Brodie's collection of fossil insect remains, the Piper collection of fossils 

 from the strata of the Ledbury tunnel, and a selection from the late Rev. T. T. 

 Lewis's collection of Old Red Sandstone fossils. 



It is noted in Science that Dr. A. B. Meyer, the energetic director of the 

 museums in Dresden, is now in the United States inspecting American museums 

 before the new buildings in Dresden are erected. 



We learn from the Victorian Naturalist that the desirability of removing 

 the National Museum at Melbourne to a more central and accessible site was 

 affirmed at a meeting of the trustees on June 1, and that Professor Baldwin 

 Spencer was appointed honorary director in succession to the late Sir Frederick 

 M'Coy. 



It is reported in Science that the Boston Public Library will undertake the 

 publication of a card catalogue of physiology with brief abstracts, under the 

 editorship of Prof. W. T. Porter of Harvard Medical School. 



We learn from Nature that the city of New York has allocated 63,000 

 dollars for the zoological garden in Bronx Park, and that it is proposed to raise 

 the appropriation for the American Museum of Natural History from 90,000 to 

 130,000 dollars annually. 



