143 



The Council of the Linnean Society decided, after due con- 

 sideration, not to appeal against this decision. ]Mr. H. M. 

 Makinson and Mr. J. J. Fletcher, as executors of Sir William 

 Macleay, subsequently stated in a letter to the Daily Telegraph, 

 of November l-tth, 1894, that had they been parties to the suit 

 they would certainly have appealed. In arriving at the decision 

 not to appeal, the Linnean Council were actuated, partly by the 

 desire for peace and quietness, but chiefly b}^ the consciousness of 

 lack of funds to enable them to carry on a protracted legal 

 contest, which might in the end have involved the Society in 

 heavy expenditure. 



Subsequent to this decision by the Court of Equity, the Senate 

 appointed a committee consisting of the Chancellor, the Vice- 

 Chancellor, Dr. MacLaurin, Sir Arthur Renwick, Dr. Sj^dney 

 Jones, Professor Liversidge, Mr. H. C. Russell, and Professor T. 

 P. Anderson Stuart to advise them further on the subject. As 

 recommended by this committee, the Senate sent circular letters 

 to the principal European and American Universities, asking for 

 as full information as possible on the subject of the teaching of 

 Bacteriology. Replies to these circular letters are now being 

 received. It is hoped that it will be possible to have an appoint- 

 ment made to the Chair of Bacteriology by the beginning of the 

 Academic year in 1896. 



Australian Museum. 



Dr. E. P. Ramsay, owing to continued ill health, was forced 

 last year to resign his position as Curator, after over 20 years' 

 service. Mr. R. Etheridge, junr., who had for a considerable 

 time previous been discharging the duties of acting Curator, has 

 been appointed his successor. 



The lack of funds during 1894 very much retarded the general 

 work of the Museum, the efforts of the staff being chiefly confined 

 to the preservation, and in some cases the rearrangement, of the 

 existing collections, with the view of making room for future 

 additions in the already overcrowded cases. The Mammalia have 

 been enriched by the addition of examples of the second Australian 



