254 



JVA TURE 



[Jtily 14, 1887 



NOTES. 



The Admiralty has, we believe, specially set apart the Triton 

 for the use of the scientific branch of the Navy and of men of 

 science at the approaching naval review. It was obviously right 

 that this arrangement should be made, and the Admiralty is to 

 be congratulated on having declined to follow the bad example 

 set by the Lord Chamberlain in coPxnexion with the ceremony in 

 Westminster Abbey. 



M. Pasteur having consented to become a candidate for the 

 office of Perpetual Secretary of the Paris Academy of Sciences, 

 the other candidates have withdrawn their applications, and he 

 will of course be elected unanimously. 



The Committee for the erection of a statue to Fran9ois Arago, 

 in Paris, on the Place St. Jacques, near the Observatory, held a 

 meeting the other day at the Observatory, Admiral Mouchez in 

 the chair. It was decided that the subscription should be closed 

 on December 31 next. Although the majority of the lists have 

 not yet been returned, it is already known that not less than 

 ;^700 has been collected. An appeal will be addressed by M. 

 Mouchez to admirers of the celebrated astronomer. 



The Congress of the International Astronomical Society will 

 be held at Kiel from August 29 to September i. 



At the half-yearly general meeting of the Scottish Meteoro- 

 logical Society, held on Monday, it was intimated that the sub- 

 scriptions obtained for the Ben Nevis Observatory since the 

 beginning of January last now amount to ;i^iii5. 



Mr. H. H. Johnston, H.B.M. Consul for the Cameroons 

 district of West Africa, has sent home to this country, through 

 the Foreign Office, the collections of natural history objects 

 made during his recent excursion into the Rio del Rey 

 district, a swampy region lying near the base of the Cameroons 

 Mountains, in which it was at one time reported that Mr. 

 Johnston had been taken prisoner and held in captivity by the 

 natives. The collections have been placed by Mr. Sclater in 

 the-hands of various specialists to be reported upon. They are 

 not very numerous, and will not probably contain many novel- 

 ties, as much of the surrounding district has been well ex- 

 plored. But Capt. Shelley has already discovered amongst the 

 birds two examples of a fine new species of plover, which will 

 be described in the next number of the Ibis as Sarciophonis 

 seebohini. This plover is remarkable for its rufous forehead, 

 black crown, and chocolate- coloured crop, which render it easily 

 distinguishable from its congeners. There is likewise among the 

 mammals an example of a small shrew new to science, which 

 Mr. Dobson will describe at the next meeting of the Zoological 

 Society, and dedicate to its discoverer. 



An important botanical periodical is about to be issued by 

 the Delegates of the Clarendon Press. It will be entitled 

 Annals of Botany, and will be edited by Prof Bayley 

 Balfour, of the University of Oxford ; by Dr. Vines, Reader in 

 Botany in the University of Cambridge ; and by Prof W. G. 

 Farlow, of Harvard University, Massachusetts, U.S.A. The 

 papers, adequately illustrated, will be on subjects pertaining to 

 all branches of botanical science, including morphology, histo- 

 logy, physiology, palseobotany, pathology, geographical distri- 

 bution, economic botany, and systematic botany and classifica- 

 tion. There will also be. articles on the history of botany, 

 reviews and criticisms of botanical works, reports of progress 

 in the different departments of the science, short notes, and 

 letters. A record of botanical works in the English language 

 will be a special feature. With regard to the last point, the 

 editors direct attention to the fact that many important contri- 

 butions to botanical science are not at present brought before 

 the botanical world with that promptitude which their merit 

 deserves, and many are frequently entirely overlooked, owing 

 to the fact that the periodical in which they appear is not readily 



accessible to botanists generally. An attempt will be made in 

 the Annals of Botany to remedy this state of affairs ; and it is 

 hoped that it may be possible to make the record fairly com- 

 plete, embracing works published not only in Great Britain and 

 Ireland, but also in India and the colonies, and in America. 

 To enable them to carry out this intention, the editors appeal 

 to the Secretaries of local Scientific Institutions, Societies, and 

 Clubs, in all parts of the world, to send them early information 

 of the publication of papers relating to botany in any of its 

 branches. 



During the months of March, April, and May, Prof Paul 

 Ascherson, of the Berlin University, carried on botanical 

 researches on the coast of Egypt. He has found a surprising 

 number of plants that were formerly unknown. Special interest 

 attaches to the results obtained by him on the coast between the 

 Suez Canal and the Syrian frontier. 



The Berlin Academy of Sciences has granted 900 marks 

 {£\^) to Dr. Ravitz (Naples) for the continuation of his 

 researches on the central nervous system of Acephala ; 3000 

 marks (;r^i5o) to Prof Nussbaum (Bonn) for a zoological expe- 

 dition to San Francisco and investigations on the division of 

 organisms ; 600 marks (;i^3o) to Dr. Otto Zacharias (Hirsch- 

 berg) for the continuation of his studies on the fauna of the 

 North German lakes ; and 1200 marks {£,(^0) to Dr. Karl 

 Schmidt for a geological expedition to the Pyrenees. 



We are glad to notice that the Council of the Recreative 

 Evening Schools' Association, through one of their Committees, 

 are organizing a system of elementary instruction in many 

 branches of natural science, to come into operation next season 

 in the London Board schools. These evening classes are held 

 from September or October until April or May, and last winter 

 the Association carried on its operations in eighty of the London 

 Board schools, and hopes to do so in at least 100 next winter. 

 The classes are intended for the continuation of the training of 

 young people between the ages of fourteen and eighteen, who 

 have left the day Board schools. About 80,000 such leave the 

 London schools alone every year, and hitherto not 5 per cent, 

 of them have continued their education. The science teaching 

 is intended to be carried out mainly by lantern demonstrations, 

 and the Committee (among whom we observe the names of 

 Prof Jeffrey Bell, Mr. F. W. Rudler, Mr. W. Lant Carpenter, 

 Mr. J. Harris Teall, and others) are anxious to obtain the 

 voluntary services of young scientific men, who may be willing 

 to help so good a cause by undertaking to give courses of ten or 

 twelve very elementary lectures, of a thoroughly popular but 

 educational kind, on various scientific subjects. The expenses 

 of lantern, slides, &c., will be borne by the Association. It is 

 intended that the lectures shall be once a week, and shall not 

 exceed forty-five minutes in length. Circulars have been freely 

 sent to the various centres of scientific teaching in London 

 inviting the co-operation of students and others, and further 

 information can be obtained from any member of the " Science 

 Committee " of the Association, or from its Secretary, Mr. J. 

 E. Flower, 37 Norfolk Street, Strand. We are also informed 

 that the Gilchrist Trustees have generously expressed their 

 intention of spending ^100 on lanterns and slides for the use of 

 the Associatijn. 



A WELL-EQUIPPED technical school for Preston and the 

 neighbourhood is about to be erected and endowed. A grant 

 of ;^30,ooo has been made for the purpose to the Council of the 

 Harris Institute, Preston, by the trustees under the will of the 

 late Mr. E. R. Harris, who left nearly half a million sterling 

 for philanthropic objects in Preston. The site for the school 

 has been given by the Preston Corporation. In the prospectus 

 just issued by the Council of the Institute it is estimated that 

 the cost of the building, furniture, and fittings will not be less 

 than £i'],ooo, of which they are allowed to provide £10,000 



