318 NATURAL SCIENCE. APRIL, 1893. 
report on ‘'Cretaceous Polyzoa’’; ‘* Volcanic Phenomenaof Vesuvius”; Zoological 
Station at Naples’’; 5th on the ‘‘ Zoology and Botany of the West India Islands” ; 
2nd on “ Biological Association of Plymouth”; 6th on ‘‘ Botanical Laboratory at 
Peradeniya, Ceylon’’; ‘‘ Teaching of Science in Elementary Schools." 
THE papers read in the various Sections are mostly published in short 
abstract, and have appeared in a more complete form elsewhere. Amongst the 
geological papers of interest, and containing original observations, we note one by 
Mr Peach ‘‘On a Widespread Radiolarian Chert of Arenig Age, from the Southern 
Uplands of Scotland,” and another by Mr. Horne, ‘‘ On the Contact Metamorphism 
of the Radiolarian Chert in the Lower Silurian Rocks along the Margin of the Loch 
Doon Granite.’ Mr. Dugald Bell criticises the’'‘ Alleged Proofs of Submergence in 
Scotland during the Glacial Epoch”; Mr. Clement Reid gives a list of the ‘‘ Fossil 
Arctic Plants found near Edinburgh’’; and Messrs. Peach and Horne write on 
‘‘ The Ice-Sheet in the North-West Highlands during the Maximum Glaciation,” and 
ona ‘Bone Cave in the Cambrian Limestone in Assynt, Sutherlandshire.’’ The 
remains found in the cave at Assynt seem to be of Recent or Neolithic date. 
In the section for Biology, the chief botanical papers are Dr. Goebel’s ‘‘ On the 
simplest form of Mosses (Buxbaumia)’’ ; George Murray’s ‘‘ On a comparison of the 
Marine Floras of the warm Atlantic and the Indian Ocean”; H. W. T. Wager, 
‘On the structure of Cystopus candidus,” the parasitic fungus of the shepherd’s-purse; 
and Gustav Mann’s, on ‘‘' The Embryo-sac of Angiosperms.’’ The papers of most 
interest in Zoology are those of E. W. Carlier, ‘‘On the structure of the so-called 
Hibernating Gland in the Hedgehog”’; and ‘‘On the Skin of the Hedgehog’’; of 
Gustav Fritsch, ‘‘On the origin of the Electric Nerves in the Torpedo, Gymnotus, 
Mormyrus, and Malapterurus. Several interesting economic papers on Fisheries— 
Calderwood, ‘‘ On the Destruction of Immature Fish’’; Holt, ‘‘ On the Relation of 
Size to Sexual Maturity,’ and ‘‘ On the Destruction of Immature Fish in the North 
Sea,’ and Cunningham ‘On the Protection of Immature Fish.” Of the purely 
Physiological papers, the most interesting are—Marcus Hartog, ‘‘On Rabl’s 
Doctrine of the Personality of the Segments of the Nucleus,” and Weismann’s 
«««Tdant’ Theory of Heredity ’’; and Gustav Mann, ‘‘ On the Origin of Sex,”’ 
A GuIbE to Sowerby’s Models of English Fungi in the Department of Botany 
has been published by the Trustees of the British Museum. It has been prepared 
by Mr. Worthington Smith, who, a few years ago, restored the models to their 
original colour. The little book of 82 pages, with 93 illustrations, costs only four- 
pence, and deserves particular notice from the fact that it is not merely a guide to 
the models, but to the larger forms of our native fungi. All the prominent genera 
of the Hymenomycetes, Gasteromycetes, and Ascomycetes—prominent from their size—are 
represented here in their typical species with adequate descriptions, and a woodcut 
for each genus. The so-called microscopic forms are not dealt with, and since their 
study is not by any means so popular as that of the larger fungi, there will be no 
popular regrets on this head. The search for, naming, and drawing of mushrooms 
and toadstools is a very favourite pastime, apart from its scientific interest, among 
large numbers of leisured country folks, as well as the Saturday afternoon naturalists, 
and the issue of this little book for fourpence, with its well-executed figures and 
simple descriptions, is sure to be popular, apart from its interest as a guide to the 
models. In fact it is much more likely to be utilised away from the models than 
in presence of them. Mr. Worthington Smith’s magnificent series of drawings 
exhibited beside the models is another attraction to the botanical gallery for 
students of Fungi, and the authorities are to be congratulated on the exhibition, as 
well as on the production of this Guide, which bears all the marks of honest work. 
