232 



NATURE 



\yan. 17, 1878 



have formed the basis of those interesting researches which have 

 been carried on by several distinguished palaeontologists concern- 

 ing the nature of the vertebrate fauna which inhabited the 

 Thames valley during post-pliocene times. The nation is very 

 fortunate in thus having secured for the use of students in the 

 future both of these remarkably fine collections. 



It is with much regret that we have to record the death, on the 

 lOth inst., of Andrew Murray, F.L.S., the eminent ento- 

 mologist. In the field of scientific botany and forestry and in 

 aid of our scientific intercourse with foreign countries he has done 

 good service, and in his own special line as a practical entomolo- 

 gist, the Government collection at Bethnal Green stands as a 

 monument of patient labour, as well as profound knowledge of 

 his subject, A keen observer and unflinchingly truthful, the 

 records of his original observations, or his careful compilations, 

 given in his peculiarly terse and condensed style are a valu- 

 able legacy. A valued naturalist and assiduous worker he con - 

 tinned at his post till within a few days of his decease, and 

 sunk away quietly and gently after some months of failing health. 

 In private life he was greatly esteemed as a true-hearted friend, 

 unwearied in aiding wherever he could be of assistance, and also 

 for his high intellectual powers. 



The death is announced, on the 7th inst., of Pro*", William 

 Stokes, M.D., F.RS., of Dublin. 



One of the oldest, best known, and most useful of Ameri- 

 can naturalists, Dr. J. P. Kirtland, died on December 10. 

 lo 1848 Dr, Kirtlard received the appointment of zoologist 

 to the Geological Survey of Ohio, the duties of which he 

 discharged with great fidelity, and his publications con- 

 nected therewith constitute in a measure the bases of subse- 

 quent similar investigations in the West, His most promi- 

 nent work was that in connection with the fishes of Ohio, for 

 the accurate knowledge of which he laid the foundation, estab- 

 lishing and identifying many of the species of Rafinesque, which 

 up to that time had been considered entirely mythical. He 

 described many new s, ecies of western fishes, and the discovery 

 of one species of bird of Ohio is due to his zeal. 



At a meeting held last week in Sheffield, a resolution was 

 unanimously passed to invite the British Association to visit that 

 town next year. Committees were appointed, and it was 

 decided to raise a guarantee fund of 2,500/. 



Dr. Schliemann has been elected an honorary member of 

 the Deutsche anthropologische Gesellschafc. The diploma of 

 membership is a handsome specimen of artistic work, being 

 encircled by allegorical representations of the excavations at Troy 

 and Mycenae, and bears the signatures of Virchow, Kollmann, 

 Fraas, Schaafhausen, and Weismaniu 



The new New York Natural History Museum was opened by 

 President Hayes on the 22nd ult. The museum is in Manhattan 

 vSquare, on a plot of land opposite Central Park, and the plan of 

 the entire structure contemplates a colossal enterprise, which 

 cannot be completed within the present century. It consists of 

 buildings arranged in a parallelogram, of 850 by 650 feet, and of 

 two lines of buildings which divide the interior space at right 

 angles, thus forming four equal courts. At the centre of each 

 side of the parallelogram, and at its four angles, lofty towers 

 will be erected. At tlie intersection of the cross in the centre of 

 the parallelogram, a dome is designed to cover a space of 120 

 feet diameter. The portion of this great structure which is now 

 completed is a four-story building with a double attic ; it has a 

 length of 200 feet; it will form the southern one of the arms of 

 the interior cross. The walls are three feet thick at the top. 

 The whole building is of brick, and is regarded as strictly fire- 



proof. The city has appropriated $700,000 for it, besides giving 

 the land. 



Mr. Stanley will probably arrive in England this week. 

 He has been received with enthusiasm at Rome, Marseilles, and 

 Paris. The Chamber of Commerce and the Geographical 

 Society of Marseilles presented Mr. Stanley with medals. No 

 doubt our own Geographical Society will take the lead in the 

 warm reception which will certainly be accorded in this country 

 to one of the foremost of explorers. 



The Commission for reorganising the Observatory of Paiis has 

 ended its sittings, as we have already reported. The commissioners 

 recommend no change in the present organisation of the Inter, 

 national Meteorological Office ; but, taking into consideration the 

 actual wants of meteorology, it has advised the Minister of Public 

 Instruction to appoint a Meteorological Commission, in order to 

 suggest any measures which might be likely to promote the 

 interests of meteorology at large, without interfering with the 

 working of telegraphic weather forecasts sent by the Inter- 

 national Office to the sea-ports and more than 1,200 parishes all 

 over France, 



The Scientific Association of France, created by M, Leverrier, 

 after having elected M. Milne-E Iwards for its president, has 

 decided upon organising a series of lectures at the Sorbonne, to 

 describe important new inventions and discoveries. The first 

 meeting will soon take place, when M. Cailletet's experiments 

 will be exhibited and explained by M. Henri St Claire Deville. 

 M. Dumas will also deliver an address summarising the* his- 

 tory of the Association and reviewing the services rendered by 

 it to science. It is stated that M. Dumas will propose to the 

 Association to initiate a subscription for erecting a monument to 

 the great astronomer who founded it. 



In several cities of Holland committees have been formed 

 with a view to collect subscriptions to defray the expenses of the 

 proposed expedition to the Arctic I'egions, to which we referred 

 some time since, 



Macmillan and Co. are about to publish " A Monograph on 

 the Development of Elasmobranch Fishes," by Mr. F. M. Balfour, 

 M.A., Fellow and Lecturer of Trinity College, Cambridge. The 

 work is divided into twelve chapters, and contains the results of 

 much original research on the part of the author, who, on certain 

 points, as on the spinal and cranial nerves, advances views which 

 are a modification of those previously accepted, 



It is announced that the American Naturalist, which has 

 had so long and useful a career in Salem and Boston, will here- 

 after be published in Philadelphia by Messrs. M'Calla and 

 Stavely, under the editorship of Dr. A. S. Packard and Prof. E. 

 D, Cope, 



Reports from the Island of Sylt, on the west coast of 

 Schleswig-Holstein, state that the storm-flood, which caused 

 such serious damage along the Continental shores of the German 

 Ocean last autumn, has laid bare some remains of the village of 

 Eidum, which perished in the year 1436 by the sea suddenly 

 breaking over it and covering it up. Stone foundations of former 

 dwellings, garden-wall?, and wooden remains of various kinds 

 are now seen there, also numerous well-openings, built of massive 

 pieces of dried and baked peat. It is also stated that numerous 

 old coins and utensils have been found there, as well as a well- 

 preserved, carved, and engraved metal bracelet. 



Recent excavations made at Treves, in the so-called Roman 

 imperial palace, have yielded rich results in Roman antiquities. 



On December 26, sit 8 A.M., two meteorolites fell near the 

 village of Hohr (in the Prussian province of Hessen Nassau), 



