140 NATURAL SCIENCE [August 
this may account for the fact that the shells of this genus are always very clean. 
The relations of the mantle to the slit on the outer lip could not be observed. 
AFTER descending Aconcagua, Zurbriggen and Mr Stuart Vines ascended the 
neighbouring Tupungato, which proved to be a volcano, 21,000 feet high. An 
active volcano was seen to the west. 
Another large voleano, Orizaba, has recently been ascended by Mr K. T. 
Stoepel. Its extreme height is 18,333 feet, the length of the crater 1540, its 
breadth 1300, its depth. 330. 
Wir the idea that a fresh outlet may be provided for the grain-bearing 
provinces of Canada, an exploration of Hudson Bay is now in progress, under 
the command of Capt. Wakeham. Dr R. Bell and Mr Low, of the Canadian 
Geological Survey, will make geological and topographical surveys of the coasts 
and islands, while Capt. Wakeham on the Diana will investigate the naviga- 
bility and fishing resources of the waters. 
On August 10, Lord Kenyon, President of the Shropshire Horticultural 
Society, will unveil the statue of Darwin that has been erected by the Society 
at the entrance to the Public Library and Museum, the former school-buildings, 
of Shrewsbury. The statue, which is in bronze on a granite pedestal, is the work 
of Mr Horace Montford of Shrewsbury, and is not wholly unlike the fine statue 
in the Natural History Museum, London, though somewhat more:alert in 
expression. 
Aw influential meeting was held in the rooms of the Royal Geographical 
Society on July 5 to induce the Australasian Premiers to bring the subject of 
Antarctic exploration before their respective Governments. It was stated that 
the Society was prepared to contribute £5000 towards the amount subscribed 
by the Colonies. Eloquent and convincing speeches were delivered ; but the 
Premiers were unable to be present. 
Unover the directorship of Dr T. Kochibe, the Geological Survey of Japan has 
been making good progress, and the staff has been increased. There has for some 
time been accumulating a collection chiefly illustrative of practical geology, and 
it is now proposed to build a proper geological museum in Tokyo. A short time 
ago some valuable phosphatic beds of Tertiary age were discovered along the 
north-east shore of the province of Kyushu, and Dr Tsuneto, of the Agronomic 
division of the Survey, has been experimenting with the material so as to make it 
available for the small Japanese peasant-farmers to use as manure. The organic 
remains in the deposit are those of marine invertebrates. 
THE Commissioners of the Whitechapel Public Library and Museum, in their 
third report, are glad to note the life infused into the museum by the Curator, 
Miss K. M. Hall. The average daily attendance is 275. A series of science lec- 
tures has been given free by eminent workers, and has been fully attended. Two 
exhibitions of spring flowers, and two of children’s natural history collections, 
have been held. Twenty visits of classes from Elementary Schools have been 
made under Article 20 of the Education Code. The only thing in this report 
that is not satisfactory is the absence of Natural Science from the list of periodicals 
in the news-room. 
Last October the Museum, Art Gallery, Public Library, and Technical Insti- 
tute of Worcester, combined under the title of the Victoria Institute, were moved 
into a new building. It was soon found, oddly enough, that the space for the 
museum was less than in the old building, and it was necessary to appropriate the 
basement for the exhibition of the geological and ethnological specimens in spite of 
the little light available. This is a pity, for the local geological collection is a 
good one in itself, and further contains specimens of some historic interest from 
