388 LetterS) Announcements, ^c. 



have avaple time to propose Candidates ; and the Committee 

 promised to take this suggestion into consideration. 



A discussion ensued as to whether the B. O. U. could in 

 anyway cooperate with the Selborne Society in trying to put 

 a stop to the wholesale destruction of birds for the purpose of 

 feminine decoration. A proposal by Mr. R. B. Sharpe for 

 the appointment of a Committee of the B. O. U. to "consider 

 whether any and what steps should be taken to stop the undue 

 destruction of wild birds " was put to the Meeting and lost. 



A vote of thanks to the Chairman^ as also to Captain 

 Shelley for the use of his room, was carried unanimously. 



The Meeting then adjourned, and the Annual Dinner, 

 held at the Cafe Boyal, was attended by twenty-eight 

 Members and guests. 



Obituary. Prof. E. von Boeck, of Cochabamba. — We much 

 regret to hear from Dr. W. Blasius of the sudden death of his 

 correspondent, Prof. Eugen von Boeck, Director of the Central 

 School of Bolivia, and Member of the Permanent Interna- 

 tional Ornithological Committee. Prof. v. Boeck died at 

 Cochabamba on the 30th of January last, of an attack of 

 cholera. One of his first ornithological articles was a paper 

 on the Birds of Valdivia (Naumannia, 1855, pp. 494-513), the 

 last those on the Birds of Cochabamba {vide supra, pp. 365, 

 366) . At the time of his decease Prof. v. Boeck was engaged 

 on a translation of Taczanowski^s ' Ornithologie du Perou.' 

 Under very disadvantageous circumstances the Professor 

 exerted himself in every way to advance our knowledge of 

 South-American ornithology. 



Heer Franqois P. L. Pollen. — We are informed that Heer 

 Pollen, the explorer of Madagascar in company with D. C. 

 Xan Dam, and fellow -author with the late Prof. Schlegel of 

 the volume of Mammals and Birds of the ' Recherches sur la 

 Faune de Madagascar' (1868), has recently died at Schevc- 

 ningcn, where he was German Consular Agent. 



