1894- NEWS OF UNIVERSITIES, ETC. 317 



all systematists ; while Mr. J. E. Robson's discussion of the cause of Melanism in 

 Lepidoptera, which he ascribes to anything that impedes the direct rays of the sun, 

 should be noted by all who deal with the problem of animal colouration. 



The annual meeting of the Quekett Microscopical Club was held on February 

 16. Mr. E. M. Nelson, the President, gave an address, in the course of 

 which he reviewed the work done in connection with the microscope during 

 the past year. There was, he feared, a serious danger likely to occur to the 

 " microscopy " of the future owing to the neglect of viewing opaque subjects with a 

 stereoscopic binocular. He did not believe any observer, however eminent, who 

 had not previously passed through a special training of viewing such objects in that 

 way, could form correct ideas of the shape of objects solely by alteration of focus. 

 The Club has now over 340 members, and on May 4 will hold an exhibition at 

 Freemasons' Tavern. 



The lecture programme of the Royal Dublin Society, recently issued, includes 

 " Creeping and Flying Reptiles, and their Modern Descendants," by Professor 

 A. C. Haddon ; " Our Western Fisheries," by Rev. W. S. Green ; " Nature and Myth 

 in India," by Dr. V. Ball ; " Bacteria," by Dr. E. J. McWeeney ; " Food, what it is 

 and what it does," by Dr. J. M. Purser; "Reproduction and Rejuvenescence," and 

 " On the Borderline between Animal and Vegetable," by Professor M. M. Hartog. 

 Meanwhile, a very successful course of lectures on Geology has lately been given by 

 Professor Grenville A. J. Cole at Belfast. A specially encouraging feature was the 

 readiness of the students to take up practical work. Interest in glacial problems 

 seems to be reviving in Ireland ; we notice in the Irish Naturalist for January a paper 

 by Professor SoUas on the drift-beds of the coast south of Dublin, while in the 

 February number of the same magazine Miss Thompson gives an account of what 

 is being done to elucidate glacial problems around Belfast. 



The Natural Science Club of Cambridge University signalised its five- 

 hundredth meeting by a conversazione on March 12, at which lectures were 

 delivered by Messrs. A. Russel Wallace, W. M. Conway, and C. V. Boys. 

 The Brighton and Sussex Natural History and Philosophical Society also held a 

 successful soiree at the Brighton Pavilion on March 2, this being the first gather- 

 ing of the kind for nine years. Mr. W. M. Conway lectured on his Karakoram 

 experiences with the aid of a magic lantern. Among a large number of exhibits 

 calculated to attract the general public, we noticed a case of objects discovered in the 

 Lavant Caves in Goodwood Park, and shown by Mr. J. Lewis, of New Shoreham, 

 who favoured us with the following information : — The caves are situate on the 

 southern slope of the Downs. One of the Roman encampments is in the vicinity, 

 showing the district to have been inhabited at an early day ; and other evidence to 

 this effect is afforded by the circumstance that there is a levelled plateau above the 

 caves. The caves were accidentally discovered about a year ago, and were explored 

 by Mr. Dawson and Mr. Lewis. They consist of subterranean passages and galleries 

 branching one from the other, and comprise about an acre of flooring. The average 

 height of the passages is 45 feet, and these are carefully arched. The caves appear 

 to have been hewn out by some early race with picks and wedges of deerhorn. There 

 are indications that the object of the excavators was not, as at Cissbury, to find 

 flints ; but the caves were probably used as stores or hiding places by the people 

 dwelling in the neighbourhood. The objects found therein v;ere Neolithic flint 

 implements, flint spear heads and scrapers, a portion of red deer-horn used as a pick, 

 a lamp made of chalk, pottery, bronze articles, a Scandinavian ornament, etc., all 

 which indicate that the occupation of these caves must have extended over a con- 

 siderable period. 



The excited protests of some of our effeminate fellow-citizens will not, of 

 course, have any effect on the foundation of the British Institute of Preventive 



