January 14, 1892] 



NATURE 



257 



" Rigakuhakushi." All the memoirs above named are 

 valuable contributions to science, and are profusely illus- 

 trated by lithographic plates, which compare favourably 

 with the best European work. Prof. Mitsukuri's memoir 

 on Chelonian development is the most important ; it 

 forms a continuation of a memoir on the germinal layers 

 of the Chelonia, published by him in conjunction with 

 Mr. Ishikawa in 1887 in the Quarterly Journal of Micro- 

 scopical Science. 



English-speaking naturalists may congratulate them- 

 selves on the fact that the English language is chosen by 

 our Japanese confreres as their medium of publication : 

 English, indeed, appears to be the official language of the 

 Imperial University of Tokyo throughout. Whilst the 

 Russian Government encourages its scientific proteges to 

 withdraw themselves more and more from European 

 intercourse by publishing their investigations in the 

 Russian language, the Far East steps gladly into the place 

 among civilized nations vacated by the long-suffering 

 subjects of the Czar. E. Ray Lankester. 



EVIDENCE OF A WING /A'' DINORNIS. 

 T N 1889, Mr. A. Hamilton, of the Otago University, sub- 

 ^ mitted to me some of the Moa bones he had exhumed 

 from a swamp near Te Aute, in the North Island of this 

 colony. Among them there were several very diminutive 

 scapulo-coracoids and sterna, which I hope soon to figure 

 and describe. Among the former was one which pre- 

 sented a small but distinct hollow in the situation where 

 the glenoid cavity occurs in the winged Ratitas. I made 

 a sketch at the time, and exhibited the bone at one of the 

 meetings of the Philosophical Institute of Canterbury. 

 Though satisfied in my own mind that this hollow did 

 represent a humerus articulation, I have been unable to 

 find confirmation of its existence in any other scapulo- 

 coracoid among the Moa collections I have examined. 

 Among the bones, however, which I lately dug up from a 

 peaty hollow near Oamaru, in the South Island, I have 

 found a large scapulo-coracoid presenting a deep, well- 

 marked depression, with a beautifully smooth and polished 

 concavity, which leaves no room for doubt that it has 



Scapulo-coracoid oi Dinornis sp., showing the glenoid cavity. 



been a functional glenoid cavity for a humerus possessing 

 a head not less substantial at least than that in the Casso- 

 waries. The accompanying drawing (half the natural size), 

 made by camera lucida, will convey better than a de- 

 scription the form and position of the depression. Proxi- 

 mally to the cavity, and separated from it by a smooth 

 ridge, there is a shallow impression (not seen in the 

 figure), as if it were an antitrochanter for some tuberosity 

 on the humerus. The coracoidal termination of the bone 

 fits perfectly into a deep and rounded depression in a | 

 sternum obtained at the same time and place as the 

 scapulo-coracoid, belonging to Dinornis maximus of 

 Owen. Prof. T. J. Parker has proved that the Apterygidce 

 are undoubtedly descended from birds that could fly : 

 the finding of so unmistakable a glenoid cavity in the 

 present bone confirms the generaUzation for the Dinomi- i 

 thidae. Henry O. Forbes. ' 



Canterbury Museum, Christchurch, N.Z., I 



November 4, 1891. | 



NO. I 159, VOL 45] 



NOTES. 



The medals and funds to be given at the anniversary meeting 

 of the Geological Society, on February 19, have been awarded as 

 follows :— The Wollaston Medal to Baron Ferdinand von Richt- 

 hofen ; the Murchlson Medal to Prof. A. H. Green, F.R.S. ; 

 and the Lyell Medal to Mr. George H. Morton ; the balance of 

 the proceedsof the Wollaston Fund to Mr, O. A, Derby ; that 

 of the Murchison Fund to Mr. B. Thompson ; that of the Lyell 

 Fund to Mr. E. A. Walford and Mr. J, W. Gregory ; and a 

 portion of the Barlow-Jameson Fund to Prof. C. MayerEymar. 



Proi\ Williamson, F.R.S., has been elected a corresponding 

 member of the Imperial Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg. 



The Belgian Academy is preparing to celebrate the fiftieth 

 anniversary of M. Van Beneden's membership. He is the Pro- 

 fessor of Natural Sciences at the University of Louvain. 



The private or preliminary installation of the Duke of Devon- 

 shire as Chancellor of the University of Cambridge, in succession 

 to his father, took place at Devonshire House on Tuesday. An 

 admirable speech was delivered by the new Chancellor in reply 

 to addresses by the Vice-Chancellor and the Public Orator 

 Speaking of the University of Cambridge as it was it was in his- 

 undergraduate days, he said that the University did not at that 

 time present in so attractive a form as she did now that instruc, 

 tion in the study of history, constitutional law, political economy- 

 and natural sciences, which perhaps, at the present day, formed 

 the best preparation for one who intended to aspire to take part 

 in the management of the affairs of his country. He believed 

 that the estimation in which high education was held had been 

 so greatly enhanced that the Universities had nothing to fear 

 from attacks, of cupidity, envy, hostility, or ill-will. The worst 

 they had now to apprehend was excessive zeal on the part of 

 those who, with the best intentions, but perhaps with insufficient 

 knowledge and experience, sought to extend more widely and 

 more generally their influence and their usefulness. The Uni- 

 versity of Cambridge had been steadily increasing its influence 

 and responsibility. In an expanse so wide as that covered by 

 science and learning, the time would never come when new 

 fields would not be open for everyone. Most of what had been 

 done was due to the devotion and ability of their own members 

 — men whose names were more familiar to those present than 

 they were to himself, so that it would be invidious for him to 

 attempt to specify them. The progress of the Cambridge Uni- 

 versity in the future, as in the past, must be mainly its own 

 work. The time might come when their ever-extending labours 

 — labours undertaken in response to the growing wants of the 

 community — might be received with even wider national recog- 

 nition than they had hitherto been. So far as it might be in his 

 power, in the office to which they had done him the honour to 

 call him, to serve as one of the links which bound the Univer- 

 sity to the great body of the people whom she existed to serve 

 and instruct, that service, imperfect as it might be, would be 

 cheerfully given. 



The nineteenth annual dinner of the old students of the 

 Royal School of Mines was held at the Holborn Restaurant on 

 Tuesday. Mr. H. Bauerman occupied the chair, Sir G. 

 Stokes and Sir Lyon Playfair being among the guests. Re- 

 sponding to the toast, "The Mining and Metallurgical In- 

 dustries," proposed by the Chairman, Prof. Roberls-Austen 

 spoke of the value of metallurgical science. In illustration of 

 its importance, he said that, if the thousands of tons of steel in 

 the Forth Bridge had contained two-tenths less of carbon, the 

 material would have been worthless, that thousands of tons of 

 copper would be useless if it contained a trace of bismuth, and 

 that the eighty millions sterling of gold coin which Sir C. Fre- 

 roantle had been responsible for would have crumbled away if 



