2IO 



NATURE 



\^yune 26, 1879 



We are of opinion that it is of fundamental importance to the 

 progress of the natural sciences in this country that the adminis- 

 tration of the National Natural History Collections should be 

 separated from that of the Library and Art Collections, and 

 placed under one officer, luho should be immediately responsible 

 to one oj the Queen's Ministers, 



We regard the exact locality of the National Museum of 

 Natural History as a question of comparatively minor import- 

 ance, provided that it be conveniently accessible and within the 

 Metropolitan District. 



George Bentham, F.R.S., F.L.S., F.Z.S. 



William B. Carpenter, M.D., F.R.S., F.L.S., F.G.S. 



W. S. Dallas, F.L.S. 



Charles Darwin, F.R.S., F.L.S. , F.Z.S. 



F. Ducane Godman, F.L.S., F.Z.S. 

 J. H. GURNEY, F.Z.S. 



Edward Hamilton, M.D., F.L.S., F.Z.S. 



Joseph D. Hooker, M.D., F.R.S., F.L.S., F.G.S. 



Thomas H. Huxley, F.R.S., V.P.Z.S., F.L.S., F.G.S. 



John Kirk, F.L.S., C.M.Z.S. 



Lilford, F.L.S., F.Z.S. 



Alfred Newton, M.A., F.L.S., F.Z.S. 



W. Kitchen Parker, F.R.S. , F.Z.S. 



Andrew Ramsay, F.R.S., V. F.G.S. 



Arthur Russell, M.F., F.R.G.S., F.Z.S. 



Osbert Salvin, M.A., F.L.S., F.Z.S. 



P. L. Sclater, F.R.S., F.L.S., F.Z.S. 



G. Sclater-Booth, M.P., F.Z.S. 



S. James A. Salter, M.B., F.R.S., F.L.S., F.Z.S. 



W. H. Simpson, M.A., F.Z.S. 



J. Emerson Tennent, F.R.S., F.Z.S. 



Thomas Thomson, M.D., F.R.S., F.L.S. 



H. B. Tristram, M.A., F.L.S. 



Walden, F.Z.S., F.L.S. 



Alfred R. Wallace, F.R.G.S., F.Z.S. 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS 



The Archives des Sciences physiques tt naturelles (May, 1879) 

 contain the following more important papers : — Geological 

 review of Switzerland for the year 1878, by M. Ernest Favre 

 (continuation). — On the lake-dwellings of the S»i.«s lakes, by 

 Dr. F. A. Forel. — On the rotatory power of isocholesterine, by 

 E. Schulze. — On the existence in a gaseous state of nitrous 

 anhydride and nitrous acid, by G. Lunge. 



The Rivista Scientifico-Industriale (No. 10, 1879) contains the 

 following articles : — On a new instrument to study microseismic 

 phenomena, by Prof. Giovanni Mugna. — On the regress canals 

 for the filling of ponds, by Francesco Cagnacci (3 plates). — On 

 the present state of Mount Vesuvius, by Prof. Semmola. — On 

 the blue colours in manufacture of porcelain, by V. Joclet. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 

 London 

 Linnean Society, Junes. — Prof. Allman, F.R.S., president, 

 in the chair. — Attention was called to an article on Cinchona in 

 India, by Mr. J. E. Howard. Calisaya Ledgeriana is shown to 

 yield excellent results, as much as 10 per cent, of quinine, 

 and of excellent quality, being obtained. — Prof. Parker read 

 a memoir on the structure and development of the skull in the 

 Urodelous amphibia. Several forms are here worked out, the 

 Spotted Salamander serving as a type. Some of the so-called skin 

 bones appear early, other investing bones appear later, and the 

 investing cartilaginous roof of the no.se comes after the ear capsule 

 cartilages. Some Urodela show a stapes absent in Ceratodus 

 and Lepidosiren. The trarsformations of the Anoura are carried 

 on in the plastic larva and young to a greater extent than in the 

 Urodela. — A paper on the Lichens collected during the English 

 Polar Expedition of 1875-76, by Prof. Fries, of Upsala, was 

 communicated by Sir J. D. Hooker. In Dr. Hayes's Arctic 

 journey lichens probably were not brought away from a more 

 northerly position than 78° N. lat., but Julius Payer, in the 

 German Expedition, with certainty obtained specimens at Cape 

 Fligely, 82 5' N. lat. With the exception of these last, but 

 three species of lichens hitherto have been published as found 

 beyond 81° N. lat. Thus considerable interest is attached to 

 those got under Capt. Sir G. Nares by Capt. Feilden, of the 



Alert and Mr. Hart of the Discovery. As these vessels wintered 

 in different quarters, the localities where the licheas were obtained 

 correspondingly are more numerous, thus adding to their value 

 as indicative of vegetable life in the frozen region.s. Mr. Hart, 

 got his at thirteen station.":, Discovery Harbour, 81° 42' N. lat., 

 being the most northern ; Capt. Feilden records twelve stations, 

 Westward Ho Valley, 82° 41' N. lat. being the limit. But Lieut. 

 Aldrich gathered Cyrophora cylindrica on the shore of the 

 " Palteocrystic Sea," the northernmost spot trodden by man, 

 viz., Cape Columbia, 83° 6' 30" N. lat. Prof. Fries notes that 

 the so-called " fruticolous " and "foliaceous " lichen species are 

 feebly represented, doubtless accounted for by the severe climate, 

 but seemingly at variance with the presence of musk oxen ; added 

 to which the reindeer moss is absent. This anomalous circum- 

 stance of the presence of large ruminants and deficiency of their 

 usual lichen food, Capt. Feilden explains by stating that the 

 musk ox in Grinnel Land does not feed on lichens, but on mosses 

 and grasses. The same officer has also pointed out that the 

 lichen growth curiously enough increased in size of species with 

 increase of altitude. Prof. Fries concludes that, without the 

 least credit being given to an open Polar sea (existing, no doubt, 

 only in fancy), lichen vegetation may exist at the very Pole, if 

 only land be there, and occasionally free from snow or ice. 

 Among the series obtained in the Expedition, save a very few, 

 all the forms of lichens of over 100 are already known. The 

 abstract of a fourth contribution to the MoUusca of the Challens;er 

 Expedition, by the Rev. R. Boog Watson was read. This dealt 

 with the Trochidas and Turbinidae. — The Secretary also read a 

 communication on a remarkable new form of Helvella, this 

 fungus being described by Mr. W. Phillips. — Mr. C. B. Clarke 

 summarised a lengthened memoir by him, viz., a "A Review of 

 the Ferns of North India." He showed that many of the localities 

 given by Dr. Wallich, and doubtfully received by botanists were 

 doubtless correct. — Mr. A. D. Michael was elected a Fellow of 

 the Society. ■ 



Zoological Society, June 17.— Prof. W. H. Flower, 

 F.R.S., president, in the chair. — Mr. Sclater exhibited a skin of 

 Ara glauca, from Mr. Boucard's collection, obtained at Cor- 

 rientes, and stated that having compared it with the Ara now in 

 the Gardens, purchased in June, i860, and hitherto named A. 

 glauca, he had come to the conclusion that the living bird be- 

 longed to the allied form Ara leari. — Prof. Flower called atten- 

 tion to the skull of the female sea-lion, \\ hich had lately died 

 at the Southport Aquarium, and pointed out that it belonged to 

 Otaria gillespii, and not, as had been supposed, to Otaria stelleri. 

 ■ — Mr. C. G. Danford exhibited and made remarks on some 

 remarkible antlers of deer, which he had obtained during his 

 recent journey in Asia Minor. — Prof. Newton exhibited skins 

 of some rare species of birds obtained by Mr. Edward Newton, 

 C.M.Z.S., in Jamaica. — Mr. F. D. Godman exhibited and made 

 remarks on a drawing of the manatee by Mr. Wolf, taken from 

 the specimen lately living in the Westminster Aquarium. — Hans, 

 Graf von Berlepsch, exhibited and made remarks on the skins of 

 two varieties of the long-tailed titmouse {Mecistwa caudata), 

 which occurred near Cassel, in Germany, one of which ap- 

 peared to be the same as the British form of this bird. — Dr. J. 

 Murie read a paper on the manatee, containing the results of 

 his examination of the specimen which was lately living in the 

 Westminster Aquarium. The peculiar attitudes assumed by the 

 animal in life, the great mobility of the upper lip, and the 

 occasional use of the limbs in feeding were noted. As regards 

 the anatomy, the chief points dwelt on were the shape of the 

 brain and its suppressed convolutions. The vexed question of 

 the number of the cervical nerves and their distribution was also 

 discussed. — A communication was read from Mr. A. H. Garrod, 

 on the brain and on other points in the structure of the adult 

 male hippopotamus, which was presented to the Society by the 

 late Viceroy of Egypt, in 1850, and which died in the .Society's 

 gardens in March, 1878. — A second communication from Mr. 

 Garrod contained a note on the mechanism of respiration, as 

 well as of the retraction of the head and limbs in certain chelonia. 

 — Dr. Gwyn Jeffreys communicated the second part of his 

 work on the moUusca of the Lightning smA Porcupine Expedi- 

 tions, embracing the families from Anomiidce to Arcidir. The 

 number of species noticed was 100, of which 4 were new to 

 science, and 15 were hitherto unfigured. Particulars were given 

 of the geographical and geological distribution of all the species, 

 and their synonymy was discussed. Some species of Leda and 

 Malletia were Sicilian fossils of the pliocene formation, and had 

 not been previous'v known as recent or living. These species 



