1894- NEWS OF UNIVERSITIES, ETC. 77 



Somerville Hall, and Mr. M. D. Hill, of New College, have been placed in the First 

 Class. In the current number of the Qiuuieily jfoitnial of Microscopical Science, there 

 is a paper by Miss Gould on the structure of the fresh-water Rhizopod, Pelomyxa 

 palustris, to which Mr. Hill contributes a note. Both have also contributed to our 

 own pages. 



The Conchological Society of Great Britain and Ireland held its annual meeting 

 in Manchester, on June 9, when the President, Mr. \V. E. Hoyle, delivered an 

 address on the Classification of the Pelecypoda (Lamellibranchiata). 



On page 315 of our last volume we announced that Miss Brocklehurst had 

 offered some ;^2,ooo to erect a Museum in Macclesfield Public Park. Plans had 

 been prepared for her by a well known architect, embodying the advice of museum 

 experts. Unfortunately, these plans did not meet with the approval of the local 

 surveyor. But the Town Council have now learnt that it is unwise to look a gift 

 horse in the mouth. Miss Brocklehurst has withdrawn her offer. 



The University College of North Wales, Bangor, will, in October, open a Day 

 Training College for the instruction of sixty students equally divided between the 

 two sexes. 



A SCIENTIFIC exploring expedition will shortly start for the Macdonnell Ranges 

 in Central Australia. The expedition is at the cost of Mr. W. A. Horn, a member 

 of the House of Assembly of South Australia. All the Australian Colonies, how- 

 ever, have been invited to send scientific men, and we learn that Professor Baldwin 

 Spencer, of Melbourne, intends to take this opportunity of studying the fauna of 

 this little-known region. 



Mr. W. H. Shrubsole, F.G.S., of Sheerness-on-Sea, has been good enough to 

 send us a paper announcing that he is prepared to accept engagements to deliver 

 lectures on the " Curious Dwellers on our Shores," also on " Coal and its Products." 

 It is not our custom to give advertisements for nothing, but, in the intervals of a 

 busy life, Mr. Shrubsole has done so much for Natural Science that Natural 

 Science can hardly refuse so slight a return. 



We learn from the Botanical Gazette that the Botanists of the United States are 

 combining for the purpose of making " a compact and complete presentation of the 

 North American flora, so far as it is known." Arrangements have been made for 

 the publication of a "Systematic Botany of North America," under the editorial 

 control of eight well-known botanists, while the co-operation of at least thirty more 

 has already been secured. The work is to appear in seventeen volumes, with about 

 five parts to each volume, and 100 pages to each part. It is hoped that five or six 

 parts will appear annually, beginning with 1895. There will be no illustrations, but 

 full references will be made to published figures. " Special features will be the 

 examination of type-specimens, the citation of type localities, geographical distribu- 

 tion, and a discussion of the economic, palasontologic, and horticultural features of 

 each order." As regards sequence of orders, the editors propose to follow Engler 

 and Prantl in the " Pflanzenfamilien." It is thought that such a work will make 

 information so accessible that study will be stimulated and knowledge extended 

 much more rapidly. Its course of preparation also will doubtless develop many new 

 investigators. The Gazette does not Ftate what are to be the geographical limits of 

 the flora, whether, for instance, "North America" includes Canada, which, we 

 notice, is not represented on the editorial board. 



A SECOND edition of the concise Guide to the Mitchell Library, Glasgow, 

 has recently been issued. This free public library was provided by Mr. Stephen 



