St)L"TIl AFKU'A.X ML'SllUM. 325 



South African Museum. ^The Director of this Aiu- 



seuni, in his report for the year 1915. states that he has instituted 

 an osteological gallery in a building erected as a store room two 

 vears ago. In this gallery 247 skeletons and skulls have recently 

 been placed, ranging from the largest mammals to l)ats and frogs. 

 A collection of 150 httman crania has been arranged on specially- 

 made stands. The Director de])lores the fact that tnve large 

 skeletons of whales, hitherto exhibited in the oi)en, are fast 

 decaying. A 19 feet long s])ecimen of Orca gladiator has 

 recenth' l)een added to this collection. CJne hn whale from the 

 South African seas is as yet unrepresented, and a skeleton of the 

 s])erm whale is still at Cape Point awaiting transfer to the 

 Museum grounds. ( )f insects, 2)'7S- different sjjccies were 

 received during the year, 1,015 being new to the collection, and 

 a large number of s|iecies remain unidentified. In the mineral 

 collection the work of rearrangement of the crvstals, determina- 

 tion of faces, and labelling, carried out by Prof. Shand, is neai"- 

 ing completion, and constitutes a new feature in South African 

 Museum work, and will be foiuid most adA^antageous for students 

 of minerals. An assortment of minerals, rocks, and fossils from 

 Australia forms an important addition to tiie geological, minei"a- 

 logical, and pala?ontologicaI de]jartment, ancl includes a col- 

 lection of Australian radio-active minerals. The Karroo fossils 

 have been arranged in stratigraphical order, and the fine skeleton 

 of ParciasitcJius is now eft'ectivel\' displayed. A cast of Rliiiic- 

 sitchiis scnckalensis and a complete skeleton of Sinttluocephalus 

 7vhaiisi are amongst the more important additions. 



Soil Science. — A new monthh- journal is about to be 

 published in the United States of America, under the name 

 of Soil Science. It will l)e international in scope, confin- 

 ing itself to i)roblems in soil physics, soil chemistry, and 

 soil biology. The editor in chief will be Dr. |. (1. Lipman, of 

 the New jersey Agricultural Experiment Station, and there 

 will be associated with him a consulting international board 

 of soil investigators. Twelve of these will be amongst the 

 leading authorities on soils in the United States and eleven 

 representatives pf other countries. 



The Royal, Society. — Amongst the names recom- 

 mended by the Council of the Royal Society ( Tondon ) for elec- 

 tion as Fellows are Dr. G. G. Henderson, Professor of Chemis- 

 Xr\ in the Glasgow and West of Scotland Technical College, 

 who was Recorder of Section B of the Briti.sh Association during 

 its visit to South Africa in 1905; Mr. John E. Eittlewood, a son 

 of the Principal of the Roys' High School, Wynljerg; Dr. H. H. 

 \\'. Pearson, Professor of Botany at the South African College; 

 and Mr. J. 11. Maiden, Government Botanist at Sydney, N.S.W., 

 who was for many years a generous contril)utor of specimens of 

 Australian flora to the Cape Government Plerbariiun. 



