158 



NATURE 



\June 14, 1 



NOTES. 



The Laboratory of the Marine Biological Association at Ply- 

 mouth is now approaching completion, and, after the opening 

 ceremony on the 30th inst., it will be, in all essential respects, 

 ready for work. The salt-water reservoirs have, after several 

 delays, been filled, and the water is now circulating freely in 

 the tanks of the aquarium. The fittings of the main laboratory 

 are complete on the north side, and will give accommodation 

 for seven naturalists, besides the Resident Director. In addition 

 to this there are the physiological and chemical laboratories, 

 all the fittings of which are now in place, and the library is in 

 process of formation. The Association stands very much in 

 need of presents of books, and it is hoped that those who are 

 interested in its work, and have duplicate copies of biological 

 works on their shelves, will be disposed to present them to so 

 deserving an institution. At the opening ceremony on the 30th, 

 upwards of a hundred members and their friends are expected 

 to be present. The fact that Parliament is in session will keep 

 away many of those who take a liberal interest in the Associa- 

 tion, but it is hoped that Sir Lyon Playfair, Sir Edward Clarke, 

 and Sir Edward Birkbeck will be present to represent the Par- 

 liamentary interest. Prof. W. H. Flower will be the presiding 

 zoologist, and with him will be many well-known men of science, 

 including Profs. Ray Lankester, Milnes Marshall, Mcintosh, C. 

 Stewart, Dr. Gunther, Mr. Adam Sedgwick, and many others. 

 The Hydrographer has stated his intention to be present, and 

 the naval and military element will be fully represented by the 

 commanding officers of both services at Plymouth. The Fish- 

 mongers' Company, which has been so munificent a patron of 

 the Association, will be fully represented by its Prime Warden, 

 Sir James Clarke Lawrence, and several members of the Court. 

 They have kindly undertaken the hospitable duties of the occa- 

 sion, and there can be no doubt that the dejefuier at the Grand 

 Hotel, and the speeches that may be expected to be made there, 

 will form a most important part of the day's proceedings. 



The annual meeting for the election of Fellows of the Royal 

 Society was held at the Society's rooms in Burlington House 

 on June 7> when the following gentlemen were elected : Thomas 

 Andrews, F.R.S.E., James Thomson Bottomley, M.A., Charles 

 Vernon Boys, Arthur Herbert Church, M.A., Prof. Alfred George 

 Greenhill, M. A., Lieut. -General Sir William F. D.Jervois, R.E., 

 Prof. Charles Lapworth, LL.D., Prof. T. Jeffery Parker, 

 Prof. John Henry Poynting, M.A., Prof. William Ramsay, 

 Ph.D., Thomas Pridgin Teale, F.R.C.S., William Topley, 

 F.G. S., Henry Trimen, M.B., Prof. Henry Marshall Ward, 

 M.A., William Henry White, M.I.C.E. 



Dr. S. H. Vines, F.R.S., Fellow of Caius College, Cam- 

 bridge, has been elected to the Sherardian Professorship of 

 Botany at Oxford. 



The King of Sweden, who was elected an Honorary Member 

 of the Linnean Society at the centenary anniversary meeting of 

 that Society held at Burlington House on May 24 last, gave an 

 audience on Friday afternoon to the President (Mr. W. Car- 

 ruthers, F.R.S.), Secretaries (Messrs. B. D. Jackson and W. 

 P. Sladen), and Librarian (Mr. Harting), and inscribed his 

 name in the album wherein the names of all Fellows and 

 Honorary Members have been inscribed since 1788. The Royal 

 signatures include those of George IV., William IV., Queen 

 Victoria, Prince Albert, the Prince of Wales, the King of the 

 Belgians, the King of Saxony, and now the King of Sweden. 



This week the University of Bologna is celebrating the eighth 

 •century of its existence. A congratulatory Greek ode has been 

 written by Prof. R. C. Jebb, who represents the University of 

 Cambridge as its senior delegate at Bologna. The verses, which 

 are composed in the metres of Pindar's eighth Olympian ode, are 



suggested by the circumstance that the University of Glasgow, 

 in which Prof. Jebb holds the Chair of Greek Literature, is the 

 only University in this country of which the model was taken 

 directly and exclusively from Bologna. 



The second annual soiree of the Middlesex Natural History 

 and Science Society was held at the Society's rooms, 11 Chandos 

 Street, Cavendish Square, on Thursday evening last. Lord 

 Strafford, the Lord-Lieutenant of the county, President of the 

 Society, was in the chair. Many objects of scientific interest 

 were exhibited. 



The Hon. J. Collier has undertaken to paint the portrait of 

 Prof. Williamson, which is to be presented to University 

 College. 



The Conferences convened by the London Chamber of Com- 

 merce to consider the question of commercial education led to 

 the appointment of a Committee for the full discussion of the 

 subject. This Committee nominated a sub-Committee, among 

 the members of which were Sir John Lubbock, Sir Henry 

 Roscoe, and Sir B. Samuelson. A scheme for the improvement 

 of commercial education has now been drawn up by the sub- 

 Committee and sent to various business men, schoolmasters, and 

 other authorities on education, with a request for practical 

 suggestions. The scheme, as it stands, proposes as obligatory 

 subjects for examination for a commercial certificate : (1) 

 English ; (2) Latin ; (3a) French ; (3^) German, Spanish, or 

 Italian ; (4) history of British Isles and colonies, general and 

 modern history, including commercial history ; (5) geography, 

 physical, political, commercial, and industrial ; (6) mathematics ; 

 (7) drawing. Proficiency is also required in at least one of 

 the following : physics, chemistry, natural history, commerce, 

 and political economy. 



Prof. Lutken, Director of the Zoological Museum of 

 Copenhagen, has addressed a strong appeal to country people in 

 Denmark to protect the sand grouse. He points out that the only 

 countries in which the birds nested in 1863 were Denmark and 

 Holland, but that owing to people gathering and eating the eggs 

 no birds were hatched. He trusts that this wanton conduct 

 may not now be repeated. The Professor feels sure that the 

 bird can be acclimatized in Denmark, as the sandy cliffs and 

 shores of that country are particularly suited to its breeding. The 

 Zoological Gardens in Copenhagen have obtained a live specimen 

 of the bird, caught in the Island of Funen. Flocks upwards of a 

 hundred in number have of late been seen in many parts of 

 Denmark. 



One of the largest pine-trees ever grown in Sweden was 

 felled the other day in Lapland. It measured over 120 feet in 

 height, and was 12 5 feet in diameter 2 feet from the ground. 



On the evening of May 14, about 10 p.m., a brilliant meteor 

 was seen at Kalmar, in Sweden. It was about the size of an 

 ordinary plate, the colour being pale yellow, and it had a train 

 about ico feet in length. It went in a north-westerly direction, 

 apparently only some little height above the ground, and ex- 

 ploded some distance from the town with a noise like that of 

 burning gunpowder. During its progress a whizzing sound was 

 distinctly heard. 



In vol. iv. Part 4, of the Indian Meteorological Memoirs, 

 Mr. J. Elliot gives a list and brief account of the south-west 

 monsoon storms generated in the Bay of Bengal during the years 

 1882-86. This list, which contains Nos. 47-101 of the series 

 of storms, is a continuation of that given in the sixth paper 

 of the second volume of the Memrirs, and is accompanied by 

 yearly and monthly track charts. Some of the principal storms 

 have been fully discussed in previous parts of the Memoirs and 

 in the Journal of the Bengal Asiatic Society. The retreat of the 

 south-west monsoon in October 1866 was followed by the occur- 



