68 NATURAL SCIENCE [July 
Tue Museum Committee of the Council of the City and County of Bristol 
have just been obliged, through the lamented death of Mr E. Wilson, to advertise 
for a curator. They want “a Gentleman,” a scientific man “competent to 
catalogue the collections in and to advise as to the acquisition of specimens for 
the Museum ;” he will have to act also “as Secretary to the Committee” and 
“to devote the whole of his time to the duties.” In return for the absolute 
service of this highly educated gentleman, the Museum Committee of this 
wealthy city offers a salary of £200 per annum. It is about time for the 
British Association to meet in Bristol again, if only to arouse in the minds of 
these economical councillors more intelligent appreciation of modern science 
than their advertisement betokens. 
Tue Nottingham Natural History Museum has recently acquired a collection 
of eggs and skins of British birds, formed by Mr F. B. Whitlock. 
THERE are now exhibited in the zoological galleries of the Paris Museum of 
Natural History the collections made by Count de la Vaulx in Patagonia. 
Among these, says L’ Anthropologie, are more than a hundred skulls or skeletons, 
and other ethnographic objects of great importance. During the months of April, 
May and June there has been delivered in these galleries a series of lectures on 
natural history and scientific observation for travellers, with practical demonstra- 
tions. The lecturers included many of the leading naturalists of Paris. 
At the Musée Guimet, Paris, are now exhibited many archaeological and 
ethnographic objects, collected by Baron J. de Baye during his recent journey 
in Siberia, 
THE Camarasaurus from South Wyoming has now been mounted and set up 
in the American Museum by Prof. Osborn and his assistants. It is 62 feet 
long. 
Tue Government Museum of the South African Republic at Pretoria, under 
the direction of Dr J. W. B. Gunning, favours us monthly with a list of its 
accessions, This appears to evidence a praiseworthy activity on the part of the 
Museum, but we note that the greater number of the specimens come from other 
parts of the world than South Africa, so that it does not throw very much light 
upon the collections that may be made in that country, 
THE meeting of the Museums’ Association at Sheffield, under the presidency 
of Alderman Brittain, begins on Monday, July 4, with a visit to the Ruskin 
Museum. Papers and discussions will occupy the mornings, and visits to 
museums, steel-works, and water-works, the afternoons of the three following 
days. On Friday the members will visit Castleton. There is a strong Reception 
Committee, including the Lord Mayor, the Master Cutler, and the Duke of 
Norfolk. Papers will be read by Dr H. C. Sorby, Prof. W. C. F. Anderson, 
Prof. Denny, Mr 8. Sinclair of the Australian Museum, Messrs F. A. Bather, 
H. Bolton, E. Howarth, and others. 
THE Conversazione of the Royal Society, held on May 11th, was from the 
point of view of natural science one of the most disappointing that we remember. 
There was a sentimental sort of interest in seeing the borings from Funafuti, but 
it was hardly to be expected that they should convey any information. Prof. 
Poulton’s exhibit of insects captured in North America. showed that he was an 
energetic collector who made good use of his holiday. But Prof. Poulton’s energy 
was already well known to us. Models of vertebrae by Dr Gadow and Mr W. F. 
Blandford were of educational value, but chiefly striking for the gruesomeness of 
their colouring. The Marine Biological Association was represented by Mr 
Garstang, who showed crabs of different orders in their natural habitats in an 
attempt to prove that their ordinal characters are of an adaptive nature. This 
