54 South I\c7isi7igto)i . 



Hawaiian Islands have formed an independent nation and compe- 

 tent by the law of nations to seled: its own name. The names of 

 the separate Islands are often miss-spelled, following Cook's ver}^ 

 blundering method. Indeed at Oxford it was insisted that the 

 Hawaiian Group was not only "Sandwich Islands" but was in the 

 South Pacific, and there were large printed labels to that effedl. 

 On the continent the orthography is in advance of that of the very 

 conser^'ative scientific men of England: It may be noted here that 

 the committee in charge of the exploration of the zoology of these 

 islands by Mr. R. C. L. Perkins, whose expenses were borne 

 equally by the British Association for the Advancement of Science, 

 the Royal Societ}' and the Bishop Museum, is styled (as it might 

 properly have been in the days of Cook and Vancouver) "Sandwich 

 IvSlands Committee", and the chairman Sir Alfred Newton declared 

 that under the term Hawaiian Islands they could not have secured 

 an appropriation! 



To return to the Natural History Collecftions at vSouth Ken- 

 sington: the following are the notes made in what was certainly a 

 very hurried and superficial examination. There is no criticism of 

 the immense scientific value of the collecftion, nor of the vast work 

 and learning that Sir William Flower and his able assistants have 

 expended on the museum; it is simply as the place appeared to a 

 visitor who had seen the principal similar collections in the world. 



"The collection of corals (especially the Madreporarian) is 

 very fine, usually illustrated with colored diagrams of the polyp. 

 The Reptilia are generally well mounted, and the Saurians es- 

 pecially so. Gigantic Land Tortoises abound. Fish are by no 

 means attracflively arranged, but the Birds are intended to be capi- 

 tal, and in many cases they certainly are as near perfect as the 

 taxidermist is likely to make them; in some, however, there is a 

 very "artificial flower" atmosphere about them. In the Botanical 

 Hall at the top of the building large specimens of Raoiilia eximia, 

 Hooker, the "Vegetable Sheep" of New Zealand were very inter- 

 esting: the drawings of Fungi excellent. On a huge section of 



