March i6, 191 i] 



NATURE 



the Belgian naval college ship UAvenir. The engage- 

 ment is for six months, and the ship left Sunderland for 

 Montevideo on March 9. 



The next triennial prize of 300L, under the will of the 

 late Sir Astley P. Cooper, will be awarded to the author 

 of the best essay or treatise on " The Means by which the 

 Coagulability of the Blood may be Altered." Essays, 

 written in English, must be sent to Guy's Hospital, 

 addressed to the physicians and surgeons, on or before 

 J;inunry i, 1913. 



The annual congress of French geographical societies 

 is to be held this year at Roubaix, during the exhibition 

 in that town, from July 20 to August 5, under the presi- 

 dency of Prince Roland Bonaparte. 



At the recent meeting of the Australasian Association 

 for the Advancement of Science in Sydney, the Mueller 

 memorial medal was awarded to Mr. Robert Etheridge, 

 curator of the .Australian Museum, in recognition of the 

 value of his numerous contributions to the palaeontology 

 and ethnology of Australasia. 



A Rf.uter message from Portici states that on March 12 

 a portion of the crust around the crater of Vesuvius, 300 

 metres long and 24 metreis in thickness, suddenly sub- 

 sided, causing an appreciable shock of earthquake. Small 

 portions of the crust continue to fall in, and a canopy of 

 ashes is hanging over the mountain. As the result of the 

 collapse the crater seems to be lower, and Vesuvius bears 

 the appearance of having been decapitated. 



We learn from the Vienna correspondent of The Times 

 that on March q the Austrian Academy of Sciences held a 

 special sitting to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the 

 appointment of the Archduke Rainer to be its curator. 

 The Archduke marked the occasion by giving a sum 

 amounting to about 4166Z. to the academy as an endow- 

 ment for those members who may need to keep in touch 

 with the progress of their special branches of study in 

 other countries. 



On Tuesday next, March 21, Dr. M. Aurel Stein will 

 d-'livcr the first of a course of three lectures at the Royal 

 Insliiution on " Explorations of Ancient Desert Sites in 

 Central .Asia." The PViday evening discourse on 

 March 24 will be delivered by Sir David Gill on " The 

 Sidereal Universe," on March 31 by Prof. H. S. Hele- 

 Shaw on "Travelling at High Speeds on the ' Surface of 

 th" I^.irth and above It," and on April 7 by Sir J. J. 

 Thomson on " A New Method of Chemical Analysis." 



Prof. Vlad. Kulczyn'ski, the distinguished arachno- 

 logisi, of Cracow University, is just concluding the 

 thirtieth vear of his scientific activity. The physio- 

 grapliical committee of the Cracow Academy of Sciences 

 intiiids to commemorate this anniversary by presenting to 

 him an album willi photographs of his fellow-zoologists 

 and frii-nds, who ;u-<' invited to send their photographs, 

 together with at ^■.•^-^t 20 kronen (=i-js.), to Prof. E. 

 Godlewski, Cracow Inivci^ilv. '\hr suri)lus of the capital 

 remaining aflcr i);iying lor lln^ alhuni will be used to cover 

 the ((iM^ ol' .■(liling lh<- w(>rl< " '\hr Arachnologiral Fauna 

 of Poland and llir adjacni Countries." The special meet- 

 ing of the plusiugiaphiral comniiltei^, when the album is 

 to be (leliverefl to IVof. Kulczviiski, will be held on 

 March 24 at midday. 



Ai a -peeinl me, iuil; Iaiel\ held in the Berlin Royal 

 Musiuin ul Natural lli>tor\, the coniniittep for the ex- 

 ploration of the (iino'-aur-heariag d.po-ii- ol (.M.iian East 

 Africa ( xhil)ited a few of the more reiuarkable speri.nens 

 NO. 2I5(). VOL. 86] 



already received. The collection consists chiefly of the 

 remains of Sauropoda, some much larger than the gigantic 

 species of North America. One humerus measures more 

 than 2 metres in length, and some of the cervical vertebras 

 are twice as large as those of Diplodocus. The leader of 

 the exploring party. Dr. W. Janensch, reports the dis- 

 covery of two new localities in which dinosaurian bones 

 are abundant, and the chairman of the committee, Prof. 

 W. Branca, is making an appeal for the gift of additional 

 funds to continue the work. 



The discovery of .Archreocyathina; in a piece of lime- 

 stone brought from the Antarctic continent by the 

 Shackleton expedition, has excited renewed interest in 

 these problematical Cambrian fossils. A typical series of 

 specimens, obtained by Mr. Griffith Taylor, from South 

 Australia, has accordingly been arranged for exhibition, 

 with explanatory diagrams, in the Department of Geology, 

 British Museum (Natural History). These organisms have 

 now been discovered in the oldest fossil-bearing rocks in 

 nearly all parts of the globe. Their form is that of two 

 cups, one within the other, and their skeleton consists of 

 granular calcite, not of spicules. The cups are pierced 

 with perforations, and the space between the two is more 

 or less subdivided by radial partitions and horizontal bars 

 or plates, which are also perforated. The whole structure 

 of the skeleton suggests that currents of water originally 

 flowed through it, but its non-spicular construction pre- 

 vents its reference to a sponge. It has even been compared 

 with a calcareous alga, such as the existing Acetabularia, 

 but the differences are so important that it is difficult to 

 'conceive of Archaeocyathus as a primitive plant. In the 

 museum the collection is placed between the Protozoa and 

 the sponges. 



We record with regret the death, on March 9, of Colonel 

 John Pennycuick, C.S.I., late R.E., at the age of seventy 

 years. His name is best known in connection with the 

 Periyar Diversion and the construction of the huge dam 

 across the upper waters of the river Periyar, in the 

 Travancore territory, and taking the water from the lake 

 thus formed through a tunnel in the Western Ghats across 

 to the opposite slope to supply the areas of the Madura 

 district. Colonel Pennycuick was at the head of the 

 Madras Public W^orks Department for several years, and 

 retired in 1896, when he became president of the Royal 

 Indian Engineering College at Coopers Hill, and held the 

 post until the summer of 1899. 



Thf, annual general meeting of the Ray Society was 

 held on March 9, Dr. R. F. Scharff being in the diair. 

 The report of the council stated that by the issue last 

 year of part viii. of the "British Nudibranrhiaie 

 Mollusca," for 1909, and of vol. ii., part ii., of the 

 " British Annelids," for iqro, the publications had be<> 1 

 brought up to date, and that for the present >ear tw 1 

 volumes were already in preparation, being vol. iv. of th ■ 

 " British Desmidiacea-," with about thiriv plates, and 

 vol. iii. of the; "British Tunicata," wii1i sixteen plate.. 

 fourteen being coloured, completing that work. Ilie 

 balance-sheet showed a balance in hand ol .s.s'- -'•''• •'^''•. 

 with an investment of 1250/. Consols. Th- Rieht Hon. 

 Lord .\v. l.urv wa- ,.- Ir;--,! jiresidrnt, Dr. I'. UnCane 

 Godnian tr-'a^unr, an.i .Mr. John llopkinson >,er..tai\. 



.\t the meeting of the Roval (.eo-raphieal Socinv on 

 March i^ Dr. T. G. I.nngNtalf described his rro-~ing of 

 the Pure. 11 Kaiigo in Hritisli Cohnnliia in thi^ couisr o( 

 l:i.l Mnnnier. Tlii-^ ran-- lies parall-1 to, but is di-tinel 

 Iro.n tile Selkirl-; Kan-e, and both, while situated along- 



