1899] NEWS 469 



the London basin, and taken by Mr. A. E. Salter as evidence for a former river- 

 connection between the two areas. From Derbyshire also, as a result of the 

 long excursion, came a collection of Carboniferous limestone fossils made by 

 Miss M. C. Foley, as well as various photographs. The Carboniferous limestone 

 of the Isle of Man had yielded to Miss C. Birley a good set of Cephalopods. 

 W. H. Chadwick and P. Emary showed Graptolites from the Wenlock shales 

 and Llandeilo beds of Builth and St. David's. English and Indian Trigonias 

 were shown by Prof. J. F. Blake, and other fossil collections by H. W. Burrows, 

 W. F. Gwinnell, and F. R, B. Williams. The last mentioned also exhibited 

 William Smith's Geological Sections from London to Snowdon. In contrast the 

 latest maps of the Geological Survey were shown by Sir Archibald Geikie. 

 A. S. Foord exhibited photographs of the striking frescoes in the Historical 

 Museum at Moscow, showing scenes of Russian life in the Stone Age and in 

 the tenth century. Wind-worn pebbles from England, Esthland, New Zealand, 

 Bohemia, and Egypt were shown by F. A. Bather and Rev. Prof. T. G. 

 Bonney, the latter also sending schistose Jurassic rocks from Nufenen and 

 Scopi in the Alps, and Pre-triassic Alpine Schists from the Yal Piora. These 

 and many other exhibitors showed that the activity of the Association was in 

 no way diminishing. 



Mr. P. L. Sclater, on his recent visit to South Africa, gave an address to 

 the South African Philosophical Society, in which he pointed out the 

 desirability of establishing a Zoological Garden in Cape Town. It was 

 doubtless towards this end that Mr. Rhodes sent his lion. 



The lectures to be delivered before the Hull Scientific and Field Naturalists' 

 Club during the rest of the Avinter session, 1899-1900, include the following : — 

 "Natural History Xotes in North Wales," by the President, R. H. Philip; 

 "Symbiosis — A study in Plant Partnerships," by Mr. J. E. Robinson ; " Cyclone 

 and Cloud— A study of English Weather," by Mr. C. H. Gore, M.A. ; ''Solar 

 Eclipses, with special reference to that of May 28, 1900," by Rev. H. P. 

 Slade; "Wild Fowling and Decoying" by Mr. T. Audas, L.D.S. ; "Econo- 

 mical Illumination," by Dr. J. T. Riley, A.R.C.Sc.I. ; "What is a Species?" 

 by Dr. H. H. Corbett, M.R.C.S. (of Doncaster). In January the club will hold 

 an exhibition and conversazione. 



The Scientific American notes that "it is not often that specimens in 

 museums are destroyed by reason of being eaten, but it seems that in one of 

 the Southern States a negro clay-eater who was employed as a scrubwoman 

 devoured some of the finest specimens of kaolin on exhibition at the State 

 Geological Museum. The State apologist found that five blocks of clav which 

 were very highly valued on account of their purity were missing, and upon 

 examining some of the other specimens he found on them the impression of 

 teeth. Detectives were set to work on the case, and the negress employed to 

 scrub the marble floors was accused of taking the specimens. The woman 

 appears to have a mania for eating clay, and she had been indulging her strange 

 appetite for some time." 



Knowledge notes that a collection illustrating changes due to domestication 

 has been begun at the British Museum (Natural History). A number of inter- 

 esting stuffed specimens and skeletons have been placed on exhibition in the 

 gallery of British Zoology. 



The Scientific American notes that the city of New York has made an 

 appropriation of $10,000 for the purpose of making a great relief map of the 

 whole city. The map will be about 50 feet square, and will show all the im- 

 portant buildings. Buffalo will also be represented in probably the same 

 manner, with a relief map which will show Niagara Falls and its power plants. 



We learn from the Scientific American that the U.S. Department of Agriculture 

 desires an ornithological clerk who must have an excellent knowledge of orni- 



