70 GLEANINGS. 



JoURNMv OF THE NORTHAMPTON NATURAL HiSTORY SoCIETY. The first 



volume of this admirably-conducted j(n;rmil has been comjjleted by the 

 issue of Part VIII. It does great credit to its conductors, to the 

 Society, and to the authors of the valuable papers it contains. Of 

 these, many of which are of special local value, we will specify Lord 

 Lilford's interesting " Notes on the Birds of Northamptonshire," and 

 Mr. R. G. Scriven's account of some of the more famous trees of the 

 county, which are illustrated by exquisite photographs, printed by the 

 Woodbury permanent process. Sir Herewald Wake, Bart., Mr. G. C. 

 Druce. Mr. S. Sharp, F.S.A., F.G.S., Mr. C. E. Crick, and other local 

 naturalists have contributed a number of good, useful papers, and Mr. 

 S. J. Newman has z'endered the journal valuable assistance by his 

 excellent drawings. The journal deserves the support of all the 

 members of the Society. 



British Fossils. — The new volume of the PalfBontographical 

 Society will appear early in April. Dr. Davidson's contribution, " Sup- 

 plement to the Silurian Brachiopoda," is both large and important. 



Birmingham Free Library. — It is hoped that the new building will 

 be ready for occupation by Aj)ril. From the large funds at their 

 disposal, the Committee have for a long time been steadily purchasing 

 all the good and available books in the market. Scientific experts have 

 been asked to send in lists of books in the branches with wdiich they 

 wei"e conversant, and their recommendations have been very fully 

 complied with. After the opening of the Library we shall give a brief 

 account of the valuable books of reference which will be found on its 

 shelves, and which will prove a great boon to dwellers in the Midlands. 

 The Menacino Comet. — The story which has been going the round 

 of the papers that Mr. Proctor had predicted the destruction of the 

 world by fire, in 1897, in consequence of the immense heat which 

 would then be developed by a comet rushing into the sun, turns out to 

 be a gross exaggeration, or rather to have originated in a complete 

 misconception. It is comforting to know that the eloquent editor of 

 " Knowledge " thinks the woi'ld is much more likely to last for fifteen 

 millions of years than to come to an end in fifteen. The comet in 

 question will be absorbed into the sun, but it will be eaten up by 

 degrees, and not at one huge mouthful. Rich people who have 

 thought of hiring collieries, in order to be able to retreat into the 

 bowels of the earth for a season, need no longer contemplate such 

 geological abodes ! 



Science in Elementary Schools. — The famous engineering firm 

 of Tangye Bros., of the Cornwall Works, Soho, Birmingham, has just 

 presented the sum of £200 to the Birmingham School Board to found 

 a Science Scholarship in the Board Schools ; they offer to increase the 

 sum to £250 if others will make the total up to £1,000. This hand- 

 some donation is valuable, not merely as a large sum of money, but as 

 a token that the scheme of science-teaching now being carried out by 

 the Science Demonstrator in the Board Schools has the approval of 

 such excellent practical judges as Messrs. B. and G. Tangye. 



Local Geoloot. — The work on the Geology of the Counties of 

 England and of North and South Wales, on which Mr. W. J. Harrison 

 has been engaged for a considerable period, makes its appearance 

 simultaneously with this issue of the " Midland Naturalist" (see 

 advertisement). A review will shortly appear in our pages bv Mr. W. 

 Whitaker, B:A., F.G.S., of H.M. Geological Survey. 



