NEWS OF UNIVERSITIES, MUSEUMS, AND 

 SOCIETIES. 



Dr. R. von Lendenfeld has been appointed Professor of Zoology at 

 Czernowitz, Galicia. 



Dr. Henry B. Ward has been appointed Instructor in Invertebrate Morphology 

 in the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; and Dr. Charles L. Edwards directs the 

 Biological Institute of the University of Texas at Austin. 



The opening address of the present session at the Owens College, Manchester, 

 will be delivered early this month by Mr. F. E. Weiss, the newly-elected Professor 

 of Botany. 



The Annual Report of the British Museum for 1S91 has been received. The- 

 Statement of Progress in the Departments of Natural History will be read with 

 much satisfaction, and the list of publications issued during the year includes eight 

 volumes of the well-known Catalogues. The number of acquisitions is especially 

 large, including no less than i,i85 presents, and several of these are of great value.. 

 The Natural History collection bequeathed to the Trustees by the late Dr. R.. 

 M'Cormick, includes many important specimens from the Arctic and Antarctic 

 Regions; and a large collection of Zoological specimens made by Mr. J. J. Walker 

 in the seas off the W. and N.W. coasts of Australia adds many valuable marine 

 organisms. A fine series of nearly 290 horns and heads of Indian mammals has- 

 been presented by Mr. Allan O. Hume, C.B. ; and another large collection of skins- 

 and spirit specimens of mammals from the same country is the gift of Dr. W. T. 

 Blanford, F.R.S. Among beetles, there is another donation from Messrs. Salvin 

 and God man ; and among moths the chief present is a series of Ceylonese specimens,, 

 selected from the cabinet of Mr. E. E. Green. The largest donation of fossils is 

 that of Mr. S. J. Hawkins, comprising valuable specimens from the Chalk of Kent, 

 and mention ought also to be made of a unique portion of skull of the Saiga 

 Antelope from Thames gravel at Twickenham, discovered and presented by Dr. 

 J. R. Leeson. 



The Director records the extension of the building for the accommodation of 

 specimens preserved in spirit, and especially points out the desirability of 

 increasing this collection. Greater attention is now paid to anatomical characters,, 

 as indicating the true position and affmities of animals, and these are often not 

 exhibited in the dried specimens which formerly sufficed for the needs of the 

 zoologist, but can only be studied in specimens preserved in alcohol. 



Those who are interested in the British Museum more as a place of education 

 than a store-house, will observe with especial pleasure the report of last year's 

 course of lectures on Geology delivered by Professor Alleyne Nicholson on the 

 Swiney Foundation. The attendance of the public was far larger than formerly,, 

 the average number being 214, and on several occasions the late-comers could not 

 be admitted from want of accommodation. The director remarks that if the atten- 



