1897] NEWS 143 
200 and 500 feet, but the apparatus taken permits of a depth of 1000 
feet being reached. The core obtained will be forwarded first to the Royal 
Society of London, which will return one-half to the Royal Geographical 
Society of Australasia. The expedition will also make smaller borings on the 
sand cay in the middle of the lagoon, will conduct dredging operations for 
Sydney University and the Australian Museum, and will collect samples of sea- 
water for Prof. Liversidge to examine for gold. 
Our information is gathered from an article in the Sydney Morning Herald of 
June 3, kindly sent us by Mr C. Hedley. 
From the thirty-first Annual Report of the Museums and Lecture Rooms 
Syndicate, Cambridge University, we glean the following information. The 
course in Botany 1s still largely attended, too largely for the accommodation ; 
plans for enlargement of the buildings are under the consideration of the Sites 
Syndicate. The Herbarium has received a fine collection of Pyrenean and Alpine 
plants made by the late Chas. Packe of Christ Church, Oxford, and presented by 
his widow. Large collections of Canadian and Indian species have also been re- 
ceived. In the Zoological museum a fine adult male skeleton of Balaenoptera 
musculus, a specimen known as the ‘ Pevensey whale,’ has been articulated by Mr 
E.Lane, and supported on iron-work designed by Mr W. E. Dalby. The collection 
of Polyzoa has been stored in the cabinet made after the pattern described by Canon 
Norman in the Report of the Museums Association for 1895. “I am confident,” 
says Mr Harmer, “that anyone who tries this system will be grateful to Dr 
Norman for its excellence.” Some such method of storing was much needed 
owing to the large increase in the collection of Polyzoa, mainly owing to the 
generosity of Miss E. C. Jelly. The series is very rich in Australian species, and 
excellently illustrates the papers of the late P. H. MacGillivray, Another 
notable addition is a series of slides of the appendages of cirripedes, made by 
Darwin when working on his well-known monograph. Unfortunately many of 
the preparations have greatly deteriorated. Prof. Mitsukuri, a former student, 
has presented some beautiful specimens of deep-sea hexactinellid sponges. The 
additions to the collection of Reptilia are noteworthy, including the large cast of 
Iguanodon presented by the King of the Belgians, a fine male of the rare Testudo 
elephantina, presented by the late Lord Lilford, a skeleton of Gavialis gangeticus 
from the Jumna, the gift of Mr E. H. Hankin, and many valuable skeletons sent 
from Borneo by Mr C. Hose. The trustees of the late Duke of Hamilton have 
presented the skeleton and skin of a bull from the Cadzow herd in Hamilton 
Park, believed to descend from the ancient wild cattle of Great Britain. These 
gifts, which at present stray into the lecture-rooms, render the enlargement of 
the museum a matter of pressing necessity. Dr Sharp states that Mr G. D. 
Haviland’s collection of Termitidae, already alluded to by us, is the most valuable 
ever formed, for it almost doubles the number of known species. The professor 
of Human Anatomy remarks on the increase in the anthropology classes, due to 
the enthusiasm of Dr A. C. Haddon. Geology also continues to increase in 
popularity, and the want of space under which it has so long been suffering is 
naturally not less felt. The chief donation is that of several of Mr Whidborne’s 
type and figured specimens, illustrating his monograph on the Devonian fauna of 
S. England. The list of books presented by Rev. T. Wiltshire is printed, and 
includes many rarities. 
In our comment on willows last month (p. 14), we regret to have overlooked the fact 
that the growth of stamens inside the ovary in Salix had already been noted by the Rev. 
George Henslow. In his ‘‘ Origin of Floral Structures” (p. 296, Fig. 78) he figures two 
antheriferous carpels of Salix, and one example of the same arrangement in Ranunculus 
auricomus, 
