1898] NEWS 285 
be devoted to the researches of the museum staff. The first part, which is dated 
June 1898, contains papers on Scorpions by Purcell, Mutillidae by Péringuey, 
Reptiles by Sclater, and Hispinae by Péringuey. The Trustees report that the 
whole work of transferring the collections from the Old Museum to the New 
Museum Building was accomplished in a month, with practically no damage or 
loss, at a cost of approximately £90. 
Tue American Museum of Natural History, Central Park, New York, is 
rapidly progressing with its new buildings. These consist of a corner to the 
west wing and a lecture hall, the latter of which may be ready for occupancy this 
year, and the former ready for cases and fittings during 1899. Among the excel- 
lent work done by this Museum is the fitting out of expeditions for special objects: 
thus Dr Carl Lumholtz has returned after four years spent among the tribes in 
Mexico with a large and valuable collection ; Dr Adolf Bandalier has continued 
his researches in Bolivia and Peru ; Mr Ernest Volk has been employed for the 
whole year exploring near Trenton, N.J., for the purpose of careful investigation 
of the question which has arisen relative to the antiquity of man in the Delaware 
Valley ; while Mr A. J. Stone begins this year, and will continue till 1900, 
collecting vertebrate Zoology from Montana to Bering Strait. Two great 
dinosaurs in a remarkable state of preservation have been secured from 
Wyoming, and a complete skeleton of the three-toed horse has also been obtained 
for the collection. The Library grows rapidly, and many scarce works on Zoology 
have been added to the shelves, while the Duke of Loubat has been a generous 
donor in the department of Mexican and other ethnology. 
Tue National Herbarium of the United States has received from Dr W. H. 
Forwood his collection of plants of Western Wyoming, collected in 1881 and 1882. 
The Plant World states that the collection forms the basis of two scarce reports 
published by the War Department. Many of them are also referred to in Tweedy’s 
Flora of the Yellowstone. 
THE Report of the Keeper of the Manchester Museum refers to the installation 
of electric light, which has been rendered possible by the generosity of Mr 
Reuben Spencer, who contributed £500 to the expense. The Museum is at 
present in the hands of the painters, and it is to be hoped that the committee 
will sanction the general whitening of the ceilings asked for by Mr Hoyle, in 
order that the electric light may have a good start. Prof. Hickson has been doing 
good work on the plankton of Lake Bassenthwaite, and some of the rarer forms 
will shortly be placed on exhibition. Miss Nérdlinger, the keeper’s efficient 
secretary, receives due eulogies, and we are glad to hear that she has taken entire 
charge of the library and hope she will be able to open the proper purse-strings 
for much needed additions. The committee have undertaken the printing of 
Mr Sherborn’s index to the 10th and 12th editions of the “Systema Naturae ” of 
Linnaeus, which should prove of value to zoologists, as these books form the 
starting-point of zoological nomenclature. A series of lectures will be delivered 
by Prof. Boyd Dawkins on certain Saturdays and Sundays between October and 
June, other lectures to be delivered by the staff as usual. Mr Hoyle closes 
his Report with an eloquent appeal for more funds, and it really does seem 
singular that Manchester can only afford an expenditure of £2785 a year on its 
Museum, while Liverpool spends £5700. Manchester must wake up. 
A USEFUL part of Mr Hoyle’s Report referred to above is his account of the 
twenty-five museums visited by him while travelling in the United States and 
Canada in 1897 ; the list, however, is too long to quote here. 
Tue Keswick Museum, which was founded in 1873 in connection with the 
Keswick Literary and Scientific Society, was removed early this year to Fitz Park, 
