426 NATURAL SCIENCE. June. 



;^3,ooo above the ordinary expenditure. This enabled a new house to be built, for 

 the storks and cranes in one division of it, with i6 compartments, and the struthious 

 birds in the other, with 12 compartments. The portion for the ostriches is kept at a 

 higher temperature, and the arrangements enable the birds to remain on view in the 

 same house all the year round. The number of animals in the Gardens at the close 

 of 1896 was 2,473, ^^ increase of 104 over the previous year ; the difference was 

 partly due to a decrease in the number of deaths, 986 as against 1,092 in 1895. 

 Amongst the chief additions of the year were : A pair of a rather scarce species of 

 Duiker antelope from West Africa, a silver-backed fox from Cape Colony, a young 

 male manatee from the Rio Purijs, a fine young female gorilla from French Congo- 

 land, and also a very fine and large series of reptiles from Burma, collected by Mr. 

 W. G. Bligh, and embracing specimens of fifteen species new to the collection. 



The American Association for the Advancement of Science is to meet at Detroit 

 on Monday, August 9. The President was Prof. Cope, who is succeeded by the 

 senior Vice-President, Prof. T. Gill ; his address will take the form of an obituary 

 of Prof. Cope. In place of the late Brown Goode, L. O. Howard has been nominated 

 President of the Zoological section, while S. C. Chandler is elected auditor to re- 

 place yet another deceased ofiicer, B. A. Gould. The Council of the British Asso- 

 ciation having specifically invited members of the American Association to attend the 

 Toronto meeting on payment of a five dollar subscription, the American Association 

 has replied by pointing out that members of all foreign scientific societies, are wel- 

 comed as honorary members of the American Association. " This is called the 

 Retort Courteous." 



The British Medical Association is to meet in Montreal from August 30 to Sep- 

 tember 3, under the presidency of Dr. T. G. Roddick, Professor of Surgery at 

 McGill University. 



The German Zoological Society will hold its 7th annual meeting at Kiel, under 

 the presidency of Prof. O. Biitschli, on June 9-1 1. 



The Hayden medal has been awarded by the Philadelphia Academy of Natural 

 Sciences to Prof. A. Karpinski, head of the Russian Geological Survey. 



The Hull Scientific Club had successful excursions at Easter in the neighbour- 

 hood of Flamborough. The botanists added Ccrastiiim tetandrum, the mouse-eared 

 duckweed, to the list of the East Riding flora. To judge from the report sent to us, 

 this Club is in a condition of very healthy activity. Its members are helping in the 

 formation of a collection of living British wild plants, which are being arranged in 

 the Hull Parks. 



The Agricultural Society of Austria will hold an exhibition of agriculture and 

 forestry in Vienna, from May 7 to October 9, 1S98, The following sections will be 

 of an international character : Machinery and implements for agriculture and 

 forestry ; dairy machinery and appliances : fertilisers, feeding stufifs, and chemical 

 products for agricultural and forest purposes ; veterinary science ; agricultural 

 improvements, building and engineering ; agricultural and forest education, research 

 work, statistics and literature. 



At the annual meeting of the National Academy of Sciences at Washington 

 (20-22 April), the following papers were read, among others : Adelaide W. Peckham, 

 " An experimental study of the influence of Environment upon the biological 

 processes of the various members of the Colon group of Bacilli " ; T. C. Mendenhall, 

 "The energy involved in recent Earthquakes"; A. Agassiz, "Recent borings in 

 Coral-reefs"; and T. Gill, "The position of the Tarsiids and relationships to the 



