May. 1897. NEWS OF UNIVERSITIES, ETC. 355 



The following are forthcoming lecture arrangements of the Royal Institution : — 

 Dr. Tempest Anderson, four lectures on Volcanoes (the Tyndall lectures), April 27, 

 May 4, II, and iS, at 3 p.m. ; Dr. Ernest H. Starling, three lectures on The Heart 

 and its Work, May 25, June i and 8, at 3 p.m. ; and Prof. Devvar, three lectures on 

 Liquid Air as an Agent of Research, May 27, June 3 and 10, at 3 p.m. The Friday 

 evening meetings will be resumed on April 30, when a discourse will be given at 

 9 p.m., by Prof. J. J. Thomson, on Cathode Rays; succeeding discourses will be 

 given by Prof. Harold Di.xon, May 14, Lord Kelvin, May 21, Prof. H. Moissan, 

 May 28, Mr. W. H. Preece, June 4, Mr. W. Crookes, June 11, and other gentlemen. 



Through the instrumentality of Mr. Frank Finn, three specimens of the Indian 

 pigmy goose {Nettopus coromandclanus) have been added to the Zoological Society's 

 collection in Regent's Park. Although not by any means a rare species, this bird 

 has never, says the Daily Chronicle, been exhibited previously in any zoological col- 

 lection anywhere, all attempts to bring it alive to Europe during the past quarter 

 of a century having failed ignominiously. 



Mr. H. M. Vernon, of Merton College, Oxford, and Rolleston prizeman, has 

 been elected to the Radcliffe Travelling Fellowship of the University of Oxford. 



The Report of the Director of the Marine Biological Association states that 

 between August and February last seven naturalists worked at the Plymouth Labor- 

 atory, which was also visited by four fishermen making a tour to the various fishing 

 centres of England and Scotland, under the auspices of the Aberdeenshire County 

 Council and the guidance of Mr. R. Turnbull, B.Sc. Trawling in the bays on the 

 Devonshire coast showed that in January the larger plaice had left, probably for the 

 spawning-grounds, whilst the fish from the estuaries and close inshore had come out 

 into the bays. Experiments have been started for determining the surface drift in 

 the western portion of the English Channel by means of soda-water bottles, which 

 are to be put overboard by torpedo-boat destroyers cruising in the neighbourhood. 

 The steam launch " The Busy Bee " has cost /700, towards which amount £sz'j. 14s. 

 has, so far, been subscribed. During the Easter Vacation, Mr. W. Garstang has 

 again conducted the course in marine zoology started by him last year. 



Similarly Prof. H. C. Bumpus has been taking seventy students of comparative 

 anatomy for an excursion on Narragansett Bay. 



The South-Eastern Union of Scientific Societies will hold its second annual 

 Congress at Tunbridge "Wells on May 21, 22. The following papers are notified : — 

 Rev. J. J. Scargill, "What can be done to save our Fauna and Flora from 

 unnecessary destruction ? " ; S. Atwood and J. W. Tutt, " How can the Technical 

 Education Grant assist local Scientific Societies ? " ; W. Cole, " Local Museums " ; 

 G. S. Boulger, " The Committee on Field Clubs " ; H. G. Seeley, " Current Bed- 

 ding in Clay " ; H. E. Turner and W. Whitaker, " Search for Coal in S.E. 

 England " ; W. J. Lewis Abbott, " History of the Weald in special reference to the 

 Age of the Plateau Deposit." At a conversazione, given by the Mayor, Dr. Rowe 

 will demonstrate the method of preparing Chalk fossils described by him in 

 Natural Science for November, 1896. Members of Natural History or Scientific 

 Societies in the S.E. District affiliated to the Union are admitted on payment of 

 half-a-crown ; delegates of similar societies pay five shillings ; others interested are 

 admitted for three shillings and sixpence. 



The Literary and Philosophical Society of Sheffield intend to celebrate the 

 semi-centenary of Dr. H. C. Sorby's scientific activity, by having his portrait 

 painted. Subscriptions will be received by A. T. Watson, Assay Ofiices, Leopold 

 Street, Sheffield. 



The programme of the Hull Scientific and Field Naturalists' Club for April, 

 May, and June, shows a goodly list of excursions and papers. Since the club is 



