NEWS OF UNIVERSITIES, MUSEUMS, AND 

 SOCIETIES. 



Under the will of the late Mr. Hodgkin, of Long Island, the Royal Institution of 

 Great Britain benefits to the extent of ^^20,000. 



Mr. Walter E. Collinge has been appointed Demonstrator in Biology in 

 the Mason College, Birmingham, and Mr. W. G. Ridewood, B.Sc, has been elected 

 to the new Lectureship in Biology in St. Mary's Hospital Medical School, London. 



Dr. B. L. Robinson has been appointed Curator of the Herbarium of Harvard 

 University, Cambridge, U.S.A., in succession to the late Dr. Sereno Watson. 

 Dr. Robinson has hitherto occupied the position of Assistant Curator. According 

 to the Botanical Gazette arrangements have been made by which he will be enabled 

 to devote some time to the completion of the " Synoptical Flora," as it is intended 

 to proceed with this great work as rapidly as possible. 



We learn that Messrs. Iddingsand Penrose have accepted appointments on the 

 staff of the new Chicago University under Professor Chamberlin. The former will 

 lecture on Petrology and Mineralogy. Dr. Waicott has been offered the position 

 of Palaeontologist in the same University. It is now arranged that the Academic 

 year shall be divided into four quarters, each of two terms, and that no student shall 

 be lequired to attend more than six terms each year. 



Lord Walsingham, High Steward of Cambridge University, has arranged to 

 present a gold medal annually for a period of three years to the member of the 

 University who shall send in to the Board for Biological and Geological Studies 

 the best original monograph on some department of Natural History research. The 

 date fixed for the first competition is October i, 1893. 



Professor Claus has issued the first part of vol. x. of the Arbeiteii aus dem 

 Zoologischen Institute der Universitdt Wien iind der Zoologischen Station in Triesi. The 

 Professor contributes the second part of his memoir on the development of the 

 Scyphomedussp, concluding with a discussion of their systematic relationships. Dr. 

 B. Haller describes the anatomy of a gastropod mollusc, Siphonaria gigas, which he 

 believes to be one of the most primitive known types of Opisthobranchiata, pecu- 

 liarly modified by its surroundings. Each memoir is illustrated by three plates. 



We are glad to announce that the condition of Sir Richard Owen has consider- 

 ably improved, and except for the resulting loss of strength his health, according to 

 Sir James Paget, is as good as it was before the last attack. Sir Richard Owen 

 derived considerable pleasure from a visit of the Prince of Wales, who with 

 characteristic kindness called on Sunday, the nth, with the Duke of Teck and the 

 Princess May. Sir Richard Owen is now in his 89th year, and were it not 



