1897] NEWS 143 



200 and r>oo feet, but the apparatus taken permits of a depth of 1000 

 feet being reached. The core obtained will be forwarded first to the Royal 

 Society of London, which will return one-half to the Royal Geographical 

 Society of Australasia. The expedition will also make smaller borings on the 

 sand cay in the middle of the lagoon, will conduct dredging operations for 

 Sydney University and the Australian Museum, and will collect samples of sea- 

 water for Prof. Liversidge to examine for gold. 



Our information is gathered from an article in the Sydney Morning Herald of 

 June 3, kindly sent us by Mr C. Hedley. 



From the thirty-first Annual Report of the Museums and Lecture Rooms 

 Syndicate, Cambridge University, we glean the following information. The 

 course in Botany is still largely attended, too largely for the accommodation ; 

 plans for enlargement of the buildings are under the consideration of the Sites 

 Syndicate. The Herbarium has received a fine collection of Pyrenean and Alpine 

 plants made by the late Chas. Packe of Christ Church, Oxford, and presented by 

 his widow. Large collections of Canadian and Indian species have also been re- 

 ceived. In the Zoological museum a fine adult male skeleton of Balaenoptera 

 musculus, a specimen known as the ' Pevensey whale,' has been articulated by Mr 

 E.Lane, and supported on iron- work designed by Mr W. E. Dalby. The collection 

 of Polyzoa has been stored in the cabinet made after the pattern described by Canon 

 Norman in the Report of the Museums Association for 1895. " I am confident," 

 says Mr Harmer, " that anyone who tries this system will be grateful to Dr 

 Norman for its excellence." Some such method of storing was much needed 

 owing to the large increase in the collection of Polyzoa, mainly owing to the 

 generosity of Miss E. C. Jelly. The series is very rich in Australian species, and 

 excellently illustrates the papers of the late P. H. MacGillivray. Another 

 notable addition is a series of slides of the appendages of cirripedes, made by 

 Darwin when working on his well-known monograph. Unfortunately many of 

 the preparations have greatly deteriorated. Prof. Mitsukuri, a former student, 

 has presented some beautiful specimens of deep-sea hexactinellid sponges. The 

 additions to the collection of Reptilia are noteworthy, including the large cast of 

 Iguanodon presented by the King of the Belgians, a fine male of the rare Testudo 

 elephantina, presented by the late Lord Lilford, a skeleton of Gavialis gangeticus 

 from the Jumna, the gift of Mr E. H. Hankin, and many valuable skeletons sent 

 from Borneo by Mr C. Hose. The trustees of the late Duke of Hamilton have 

 presented the skeleton and skin of a bull from the Cadzow herd in Hamilton 

 Park, believed to descend from the ancient wild cattle of Great Britain. These 

 gifts, which at present stray into the lecture-rooms, render the enlargement of 

 the museum a matter of pressing necessity. Dr Sharp states that Mr G. D. 

 Haviland's collection of Termitidae, already alluded to by us, is the most valuable 

 ever formed, for it almost doubles the number of known species. The professor 

 of Human Anatomy remarks on the increase in the anthropology classes, due to 

 the enthusiasm of Dr A. C. Haddon. Geology also continues to increase in 

 popularity, and the want of space under which it has so long been suffering is 

 naturally not less felt. The chief donation is that of several of Mr Whidborne's 

 type and figured specimens, illustrating his monograph on the Devonian fauna of 

 S. England. The list of books presented by Rev. T. Wiltshire is printed, and 

 includes many rarities. 



In our comment on willows last month (p. 14), we regret to have overlooked the fact 

 that the growth of stamens inside the ovary in Salix had already been noted by the Rev. 

 George Henslow. In his " Origin of Floral Structures " (p. 296, Fig. 78) lie figures two 

 autheriferous carpels of Salic, and one example of the same arrangement in Ranunculus 

 mi ricomv.s. 



