i8o 



NATURE 



{June 22, 1876 



NOTES 



THE French Government has formally decided to accept the 



proposes. -"--;;.;%X "ordeaux,'and Nancy, each of 

 ^Sr;irh;ve a!lnd;^^^^^^^^^ status. M. Waddington^s leg- 

 Sn is ef elyinaccord^.n. wi^^^^^^^^^^^ 

 Sr:"^t::*irtrhetter it .iU he ..the 

 advaTce of solid education. The tendency, we are glad ^o 

 tvinT to follow the German example, is spreadmg. and ^ve 



:S the French Government has carried out the much needed 

 educational reform is in the highest degree hopeful. 



ACCORDING to the photographs taken daily at Montmartre by 

 M iTin. no spots have been now noticed on the sun since 

 Maxlr 5 At the last meeting of the Paris Academy M 

 Leverrier announced that in addition to the solar work to be 

 carred on by M. Janssen in the new physical observatory of 

 Pai M. Cornu has been appointed to make corresponding 

 resea ches in the National Observatory. It is extremely encour- 

 3ng to witness astronomical research taken up with such vigour 

 by France as well as by Germany. 



Wf rec^ret to have to record the loss of one of the mo st inde- 

 fatTgaHeff our working naturalists in the death of Mr. Ed W 

 Newman, which took place on the 12th inst. at his residence a 

 Sam at the age of 75- Mr. Newman took up the study of 

 naturarhistory when a young man, as a relaxation from the 

 Iwrs of an active commercial life, and continued ardently 

 toted to it to the close of his life. He soon established himself 

 fs an authority in two branches especially, entomology and 

 ! A 1 av His "Grammar of Entomology" was published 

 pteridology. f^ ^^'^^^j^i^ . British Ferns" still holds its 

 ;i nX stiSfng rtendency to excessive species-splitting 

 a a standard manual of the ferns of these islands. He was he 

 editor of the Zoologist and Entomologist, as well as of the 

 fkyologist, which has ceased to appear for some years ; ana he 

 wasalfrge contributor to periodical literature, having had «ie 

 lontrol of the natural history department of the Fuld. Mr. 

 Newman\as a Fellow of the Linnean and Zoological bocietes 

 fndo" several foreign academies, and has been president of the 

 Entomological Society. 



TH£ friends and admirers of the late Daniel Hanburywill 

 be "lad to learn that a selection from his papers and essays, with 

 a nTemoir by Mr. Thomas Ince, F.L.S., is now in the press and 

 wmTe eady for publication in a few days. The book will con- 

 St chiefly of papers on Pharmacology and Botany, and will be 

 lustmed bya portrait er graved on steel and by a number of 

 ltd engrav'ngs'and lithographs. Messrs. MacmiUan and Co. 

 are the publishers. 



IN addition to the ordinary courses of lectures for science 

 .tudents at South Kensington this year, the Lords of the 

 Committee of Council on Education are making arrangement 

 for" course of sixty lectures on the scientific instruments m the 

 Loan Col'ection. Their Lordships are in communication with 

 the leading men of science in the country to enable them 

 to carry out the important object they have m view. 



According to tidings which have been received at Berlin 

 from the German expedition under Dr. Finscb, now ex- 

 ploring Western Siberia, it appears that the expedilion lelt 

 Tyumen on April 13, and proceeded to Omsk, From therce 



the explorers followed the course of the River Irtish across 

 he stfppes as far as Semipalatinsk where the Russian 

 Governor gave them a very hospitable reception. The tra 

 Slers made their next halt at a Khirgiz yourt. Frorn 

 On e they were at the time of writing about .0 undertake an 

 expedit on into the mountains on the Chinese border In the 

 !econd half of the present month the explorers hoped to reach 

 Bernaul air which it was their intention to foUowthe curse of 

 uernauj, ^ TTmsch's letters are stated to con- 



tViP rJvpr Ob downwards. L>r. f inscu s icwitu. 



fa n™e very instructive and interesting if ^j^^^X^":; 



^ratlrmlrJ tS ran"-toT:;:r ; cLany in corn- 

 ea; They arl expected back in the course of the autumn. 



DF W. PETERS has lately communicated to the Royal 

 Acad;m;;f Sciences of Berlin a description ^^ f/^'^y ^f ^^^" 

 fpedes o^- wild sheep which is.found in Eastern Mongolia north 

 of Pekin Dr. O. von Moellendorff, of the Imperia German 

 LegatnatPekin. has forwarded to tl^e Zoolog.a Museu-f 

 Berlin an adult male specimen of this animal, which Dr. Pete s 

 proposes to call Ov.s Uata, from the long hairs which adorn Us 

 chest. 



Ar the meeting of the Zoological Society on Tuesday 

 last Mr H E. Dresser, F.Z.S.. exhibited a series of spec - 

 last. Mr. n. 1^ . Partridge, col- 



w."dt%rc G^D-Sta the T.u,us Mountains, 



This bird which seems to be restricted to the Taurus range, 

 ^h»eU Inhabits the higher and -« '""— J Hr'S 

 is nearest allied to Tetraogallus caspms, but differs in Dein^ 

 Ic^:: er, in having the upper parts -h Pa " an w^^^^ 

 with buff, the hinder portions of the '^-^;^f Abroad pectoral 

 the back ashy buff, almost unverunculated. a broad peciora 

 band o ashy buff spotted with black; the flank feathers c ear 

 birerey in the cenfre. with a chestnut stripe on each side, and 

 an ousTde margin of black; and the lower breast, instead of 

 being boldly marked with black, is ashy buff, finely veruncu- 

 atolwUh blLkish grey. This makes the ^^^^J^^^^^^:;^^ 

 Partridge now known to inhabit different parts of the P^he^^^ 

 egion,L others being T. casp.us, iror. the ^---' J/^^^^; 

 lavenis from the Himalayas, T. altaicus, from the Alta range 

 irTtib^tanus, from Thibet. Mr. Dresser also exhibited and 

 described, under the name of Umicola sMrica . new species 

 o bVoad-billed Sand-plper from China, which differs from 

 L platyrhyncha in having the upper parts rich rufous, as la 

 Wn/aminuta, instead of deep blackish brown, as in the former 

 species. 



THERE are now living in the Zoological Society's Gardens, 

 Regent's Park, four specimens of the Giant Tortoises of the 

 Gafapagos Archipelago, two having been brought home by the 

 ChMenger, and deposited by Prof. Wyvil'e Thomson, and wo 

 by Commander W.E. de Cookson. of H.MS. PetereL They 

 were all obtained from Albemarle Island, and are of the species 

 known as Testudo ekphantopus. These, together with the even 

 larger specimens of Testudo indica, from Aldabra, form an 

 unequalled series of living Giant Tortoises. 



The Very Rev. Principal Tulloch, D.D., Vice-ChanceUor of 

 the University of St. Andrews, was entertained ^t dinner 011 

 Monday night at St. James's Hall, by a large and influential 

 gaLring of the members of the St. Andrews Graduates Associa- 

 fion. Dr. Richardson, F.R.S., Assessor of the General Counci 

 in the University Court, presided, and was.supported by the Ear 

 of Elgin, Mr. Lyon Playfair, M.P., Dr. Lush, MP. Sir Joseph 

 Fayrer K.C.S.I., and a large number of members of the asso- 



