76 NATURAL SCIENCE. July. 



the efforts he has made to increase our knowledge of the zoology of British Central 

 Africa ; the gold medal of the Linnean Society of London to Professor E. Haeckel, 

 who was unable to be present to receive the honour on account of recent illness ; 

 the Demazieres prize of 1,000 francs, in the award of the Paris Academy of Science?, 

 to the botanist, M. Sauvageau, while the Montague prize, of the same value, was 

 divided between two other botanists, MM. Cardot and Gaillard. 



At the Ladies' night of the Royal Society, on June 13, Professor McKenny 

 Hughes had an exceedingly interesting exhibit of ancient horns, illustrating the 

 evolution of the breeds of English oxen. In the Palaeolithic age there were three 

 species— Bison frisciis. Bos priinigenius, and B. longifrons. Only the latter survived 

 till the arrival of the Romans, by whom it was crossed with a larger imported breed, 

 having straighter and more upturned horns — a type which is still seen in the tawny 

 Highland cattle and in the Chillingham cattle. All these are whole-coloured ; the 

 parti-coloured cattle are a much later introduction. Alter the withdrawal of the 

 legionaries, stock soon ceased to be selected, and the cattle reverted to the type of 

 Bos longifrons. 



The Marine Biological Association had added to their exhibit a sole from the 

 North Sea, in which the eye had not shifted from the left to the right side of the 

 body, so that the head remained undistorted. A similar case was quoted last year 

 in a French scientific journal, but the occurrence is a rare one. 



Mr. Hutchinson, whose last book we notice in this number, had some small 

 Tp&pier vnache moAe\s oi Megatherium, Dinoceras, and Plesiosauriis, which would have 

 pleased us better had some texture been imparted to their surface. Calvity is the 

 prerogative of the most highly-developed among us. 



Professor Stewart, with the aid of three specimens of the common shore-crab, 

 taught us how to walk sideways, and showed what modification of locomotory 

 appendages takes place in the hermit crab. 



Miss Edna Walter. B.Sc, is, if we mistake not, tlie first lady that has exhibited 

 at the Royal, and we must congratulate her not only on her exhibit, but on the very 

 lucid explanation she gave of it. It was a goniometer, devised by herself and Mr. 

 H. B. Bourne, for the purpose of projecting a crystal on a sphere, and its value is 

 rather to demonstrate the fundamental axioms of crystallography than to assist in 

 the practical measurement of crystals. Miss Walter has, we understand, further 

 added to the triumphs of her sex by exhibiting this same apparatus at the last 

 meeting of the Mineralogical Society and lecturing upon it in propria persona. 



The conversazione given by the Oxford University Junior Scientific Club on 

 May 22 was, in spite of the weather, one of the most successful that we remember, 

 and was attended by over 800 guests. The exhibit that attracted most attention was 

 a block of solid carbon dioxide, weighing 40 lb. This had been sent from the 

 brewery of Messrs. Guinness, in Dublin, packed in a barrel with wool, and had only 

 lost 10 lb. on the journey. The temperature of the solid substance is — 76° C, and by 

 its means mercury was solidified and shown to be malleable, while ether was rolled 

 into candles and burnt. Among exhibits of more direct interest to ourselves were a 

 collection showing the adaptation of plants to environment, particularly that of deserts, 

 and experiments showing the distribution of seeds, movement of tendrils, and forma- 

 tion of starch ; living marine animals, amoebas, rotifers, and the like ; interesting 

 histological preparations from the human subject ; while, despite the Anti-vivisection 

 Society, several physiological experiments were performed on not unwilling visitors, 

 many even shedding their blood in the cause of science. During the evening 

 Captain Lugard gave a very interesting account of East Africa, which evoked the 

 political enthusiasm of the audience. 



At a recent meeting of this Society, Mr. A. Vassall read a paper on the Recapitu- 

 lation Theory, in which he alluded to Dr. Hurst's paper published in our pages. It 

 is. we take the liberty of telling Mr. Vassall, by no means fair to say that " Hurst's 

 opposition simply consists of a direct negative." 



In the final school of Animal Morphology at Oxford, Miss Lilian J. Gould, of 



