212 NATURAL SCIENCE [March 



The Scottish Geographical Magazine quotes Globus to the effect that the 

 Danish Commission for Geographical and Geological Researches in Greenland 

 has received 150,000 kroner from the Karlshergstiftiing, to be devoted to the 

 exploration of the east coast from Angmagsalik to Scoresby Sound. A party will 

 be carried from Denmark in the autumn by a trading vessel to Angmagsalik, 

 and will travel northward as far as it can reach before the vessel returns in the 

 following year. On its report will dej)end the plan for the main expedition 

 which in the summer of 1900 will be landed at Scoresby Sound, and having 

 passed the winter there, will make its way southwards. Lieutenant Amdrup of 

 the Danish Navy is the appointed leader. 



The Secretary of State for War has re^jlied to the petition of the Guildford 

 Natural History Society in reference to the preservation of Wolmer Forest as a 

 sanctiiary for wild birds, thus constituting a national memorial of Gilbert White 

 of Selborne. In his rej)ly, the Marquis of Lansdowne states that, while he is 

 fully in sympathy with the aims of the memorialists, he considers the con- 

 tinuance of the existing system would, so far as it is in the jjower of the War 

 Department, best promote the objects of the Society. Enclosed with the reply 

 was a copy of a report by Captain A. H. Cowie, hon. secretary of the Aldershot 

 Game Preserving Association, who has had the Government ground in question 

 under his management since 1895, This report stated that since that date all 

 birds had been strictly protected. 



The trustees of the Elizabeth Thomjjson Science Fund met in Boston, Mass.^ 

 on January 13, and made the following grants among others : — $150 to Prof. 

 J. M'K. Cattell, for the study of fatigue in relation to mental conditions. $250 

 to Prof. J. von Kennell, for a Monograph of the palaearctic Tarteicidae. $25 to 

 Prof. Wm. Z. Ripley, for a Bibliography of the Anthropology and Ethnology of 

 Europe. $100 to Prof. C. H. Eigenmann, for the study of Blind Fishes. $250 

 to Prof. P. Francotte, for the investigating of the fecundation and segmentation 

 of the eggs of Polyclada. New applications will be considered in January 1899, 

 provided they are received by the secretary before December 1, 1898. Circulars 

 announcing the terms of the trust for the guidance of applicants may be obtained 

 by ai)plication to Prof. C. S. Minot, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Mass. 



Although local natural history societies abound in the north of our country, 

 are organised, combined, and do good work for science, yet they do not seem to 

 flourish with such vigour in the south. For this reason we are the more pleased 

 to learn of the healthy condition of the Portsmouth and Gosjjort Natural Science 

 Society, especially as, only four j-ears ago, it was almost given over for dead. At 

 the twelfth annual meeting on January 12, it was announced that the number of 

 members was fifty-three, and it is hoped that the present year will see a material 

 increase, and with this some more practical scheme of organised work. At pre- 

 sent the Society confines itself to hearing lectures on the first and third Wednes- 

 days of each winter month, and to making outdoor excursions during the summer. 

 The president for the current year is Dr Charles Foran, a leading Southsea 

 dentist and ardent naturalist, and the secretary is Mr Edgar L, Curtis, 57 

 Victoria Road S., Southsea. 



