THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 121 



plough an old white bullock and a donkey, or a horse and a cow, 

 or a donkey and a horse ; and again, in many of the vineyards 

 the grape vines were trained in festoons from one tree to another. 



I arrived in London on Saturday, 20th August, and was able 

 to go to Cambridge on Monday, the 22nd, the opening day of 

 the Congress, and stayed during the time I was there at Trinity 

 College. All the arrangements were perfect, and everything done 

 for the comfort and convenience of visitors. It was very 

 interesting, meeting so many zoologists from all parts of the 

 world, some of whose names are known world-wide, such as Sir 

 John Lubbock, Sir Wm. Flower, Albert Gunther, Ernst Haeckel, 

 A. A. W. Hubrecht, F. A. Jentink, C. C. Marsh, A. Milne 

 Edwards, Alfred Newton, P. L. Sclater, Canon Tristram, F. C. 

 Selous, and many others. Each member had a list given to him 

 of those who were present and their addresses, which was a great 

 help in finding those I wished to meet. 



Of the various papers read many were very interesting and 

 instructive. The one I wrote on "The Mound-building Birds of 

 Australia " is being published and illustrated in the Ibis, that 

 publication being devoted entirely to ornithology. There were 

 three general discussions, each on a different day, on three 

 very difficult subjects, the discussions being led by those knowing 

 most of the subjects. They were — " The Position of Sponges in 

 the Animal Kingdom ; " but the position was not settled, there 

 being too much diversity of opinion, so it will still be left for 

 other congresses to discuss and try and settle, but the diagrams 

 shown were very instructive. The next discussion was on "The 

 Origin of Mammals," and again large diagrams were shown, 

 and members who take an interest in this difficult subject will be 

 able to read the full account given in the Congress Journal, as 

 also what was said on the last subject for discussion — namely, 

 " On the Origin of Man." Dr. Haeckel had a large series of 

 skeletons on view to illustrate the subject, as well as diagrams. 

 We have only Nos. i and 2 of the Journals so far ; the 

 third, which will have most of the important papers in, has not 

 yet come to hand, but notice will be given when it does. Prof. 

 Newton kindly showed me his splendid collection of birds' eggs, 

 and especially his Great Auk's eggs ; he had what appeared to be 

 eight in one case, but some were artificial, and it was a difficult 

 thing to pick out the true ones. One well-known German pro- 

 fessor was asked by Prof. Newton, in the presence of several of 

 us, to pick out the sham ones. He at once pointed to those he 

 considered casts ; he also pointed to one egg and said it was the 

 best true one in the case. Prof. Newton then said he could 

 examine it, but carefully, as Auk's eggs were worth nearly ^150 

 each. The professor lifted it up very carefully, and then, to his 

 astonishment, found that it was a slightly coloured gourd. I 



