412 



Notes and JVetvs. TOctober 



ident of the Royal Microscopical Society. His skill as a draughtsman gave 

 him great advantage in the illustration of his papers, which have contrib- 

 uted so eminently to the embryology and the morphological relations of the 

 Vertebrata. He is said to have been an enthusiastic and entertaining lec- 

 turer: as a man, large-hearted, liberal-minded and modest; as a natural- 

 ist, philosophic to a high degree, and a devoted searcher after truth for its 

 own sake. "Deprived of the advantages of a University education, and 

 without any of those aids to learning which are afforded by the Science 

 Schools of the present day, he owed all the knowledge which he acquired 

 to an intense love of Nature prompting and developing a taste for original 

 research, which, in spite of many obstacles, he assiduously cultivated to 

 the last. Few men probably have commenced a scientific career under 

 greater difficulties than he must have experienced; but his indomitable 

 energy and perseverance, combined with natural talent, eventually placed 

 him in the foremost rank of modern scientists." 



The Eighth Congress of the American Ornithologists' Union will 

 be held in Washington, D.C., beginning Tuesday, November 18, 1890. 

 A large attendance of both Active and Associate Members is anticipated. 

 Aside from the reports of Standing Committees and the usual business 

 routine, important amendments to the By Laws will come up for consid- 

 eration, and reports from Special Committees, including the Report of 

 the Committee to devise and recommend a uniform system for measure- 

 ments of birds. A good display of photographs of birds in life, including 

 stereopticon illustrations, may be expected, if members will cordially co- 

 operate with the Committee having the matter specially in charge. (See 

 Auk, VII, p. 100.) Members, both Active and Associate, are requested to 

 send the titles of papers they propose to present at the meeting to the 

 Secretary, Mr. John H. Sage, Portland, Conn., some days in advance of 

 the meeting, so that a programme of papers may be prepared. The 

 utility of such a programme was well demonstrated at the last Congress, 

 but its preparation will depend upon the necessary co-operation of 

 members in promptly forwarding the titles of their papers. 



The Second International Ornithological Congress will be held 

 at Budapest in May, 1S91, the session beginning at Whitsuntide. The 

 Hungarian Committee of the Congress has already issued a circular of 

 information, inviting each Ornithological Society throughout the world 

 to send a representative delegate, and each specialist in ornithology to be 

 present personally. The Hungarian Committee, with their headquarters 

 at the Hungarian National Museum, has already begun preparations for 

 the reception of the Congress, under the direction of four Sub-Commit- 

 tees, as follows : I. Scientific Committee: President, Mr. Otto Herman, 

 M. P.; Secretary, Dr. Julius Madarasz. II. Economic and Financial Com- 

 mittee: President, Mr. Fridor Maday. III. Committee of Correspondence : 

 President, Mr. John Xantus. IV. Exhibitions Committee: («) for the ex- 

 hibition of mounted skins, President, Mr. John Frivalds/.ky, Curator of 

 the Zoological Section of the Hungarian National Museum; (l>) for the 

 exhibition of living birds, President, Mr. Charles Serak, Director of the 

 Zoological Gardens. 



The exhibition will embrace the full Hungarian Ornis as far as known 

 up to the day ot opening. Abnormalities and interesting aberrations 



