FEBRUARY 12, 1914] 
of Captain Scott by the posthumous award of the 
Hauer medal, the highest distinction the society has 
to offer. Another tribute to Captain Scott’s memory 
is the erection, on the Col du Lautaret, a pass in the 
French Alps, at the suggestion of Dr. Charcot, of a 
rough stone cairn with a bronze tablet bearing the 
inscription :—‘‘ Captain R. F. Scott, of the English 
Navy, who, on his return from the South Pole, died 
bravely with his companions for his country and for 
science about March 25, 1912, stayed at Lautaret in 
March, 1908, to prepare for that memorable expedi- 
tion.” 
As there will be no meeting of the British Associa- 
tion at home this year, it is proposed to hold in Edin- 
burgh on Tuesday, September 8, and the four follow- 
ing days, a conference of observers and students of 
meteorology and allied subjects. One of the objects 
of the conference is to bring together observers in 
meteorology, climatology, oceanography, limnology, 
atmospheric electricity, terrestrial magnetism, and seis- 
mology, as well as persons who are interested in the 
discussion of the observations. Special attention is to 
be directed to the teaching of meteorology in schools 
and to the relation of meteorology to aviation. To 
ensure the success of the conference, it is important 
that the organising committee should know as soon 
as possible the names of those who propose to attend, 
and such persons are invited to communicate with 
Mr. F. J. W. Whipple, honorary secretary, at the 
Meteorological Office, South Kensington, S.W. The 
representative character of the organising committee, 
of which Dr. W. N. Shaw is chairman, and to which 
further additions are to be made, augurs well for the 
success of the conference. 
It is with sincere regret that we record the un- 
timely death of Major G. E. H. Barrett-Hamilton, 
which, according to a cable message received at the 
Natural History Museum, occurred on January 17 from 
heart failure in South Georgia, where the deceased 
naturalist was conducting an investigation into the 
whaling industry on behalf of the Colonial Office and 
the museum. Of Irish nationality, and inheriting a 
patrimony at Killmanock, county Wexford, Major 
Hamilton was born in 1871, and was educated, first at 
Harrow, and finally at Trinity College, Cambridge. 
Very soon after taking his degree—if not, indeed, 
before—he began to devote attention to the mammals 
of the British Isles, one of the earliest—if not the 
very earliest—of his papers being on the marten in 
Ireland, published in The Zoologist for 1894, while in 
the following year he established, in conjunction with 
Mr. O. Thomas, the distinctness of the Irish stoat. 
This line of research culminated in ‘“‘A History of 
British Mammals,” of which fourteen parts have been 
already issued, this being the only work in which the 
subject is treated on a thoroughly modern scientific 
basis, and which will remain as the best memorial 
to its talented author. In 1896 Major Barrett-Hamil- 
* ton accompanied Prof. d’Arcy Thompson to Bering 
Sea, as the British representatives on the Fur-Seal 
Commission, in which capacity he did a large amount 
of excellent work. This no doubt led to his being 
NO. 2311, VOL. 92] 
NATURE 
667 
appointed last summer to the aforesaid South Georgian 
whaling mission, on which he started in October. 
THE executive committee of the fourth International 
Botanical Congress, to be held in London next year, 
in conjunction with Dr. Briquet, the rapporteur 
général for the section of nomenclature, has issued 
a circular relating to the work of this section at the 
congress. This will consist in the completion of the 
rules of botanical nomenclature, issued as the result 
of the meetings at Vienna (1905) and Brussels (1910), 
by the settling of certain points left over from those 
meetings. The programme of work for 1915 was 
defined by the congress of 1910 as follows :—(1) To 
fix the starting point for the nomenclature of (a) 
Schizomycetes, (b) Schizophycez, (c) Flagellate, (d) 
Bacillariacez ; (2) to compile lists of nomina generica 
utique conservanda for (a) Schizomycetes, (b) Alge, 
(c) Fungi, (d) Lichens, (e) Bryophyta; (3) Compilation 
of a double list of nomina generica utique conservanda 
for the use of palzobotanists; (4) discussion of motions 
relating to new points which were not settled by the 
rules adopted at Vienna and Brussels. The carrying 
out of this work has been entrusted to two com- 
mittees under the direction of a rapporteur général, 
Dr. J. Briquet (Geneva), assisted by Prof. H. Harms 
(Berlin). Copies of this circular, which contains lists. 
of the committees and subcommittees for the various 
groups and other information, may be obtained from 
the general secretary, Dr. A. B. Rendle, British 
Museum (Natural History), Cromwell Road, S.W. 
DeraILep plans have been published for the work 
of the British Antarctic Expedition under Mr. J. 
Foster Stackhouse. The main object will be to ascer- 
tain something of what lies between King 
Edward VII. Land in the Ross Quadrant and Graham 
Land in the Weddell Quadrant, and whether the 
former is a part of the Antarctic continent, or insular. 
The expedition will use Scott’s vessel, the Discovery, 
which is intended to leave London on August 1, 1914. 
She is to proceed by Cape Town and Bouvet Island, 
the Sandwich Islands, and South Georgia to the 
Falkland Islands, and thence to sail for Graham Land 
at the end of 1915. Here exploration and scientific 
work are to be carried on for a year or more, the 
Discovery meanwhile working south and east. The 
landing party, having been relieved and reprovisioned, 
will explore between Graham Land and King 
Edward VII. Land in 1916, and after wintering, a 
sledging expedition will make for the Bay of Whales 
in King Edward VII. Land, whence the Discovery 
will convey them home by New Zealand and the 
Panama Canal. Lieut. A. E. Harbord, R.N., will 
command the ship, and the party will include Lord 
Congleton, Captain A, S. Cantrell, Mr. W. H. Stewart 
Garnett, and Mr. D. H. Pearson, as surveyors and 
in other capacities, while the Master of Sempill will 
undertake meteorological work and also the care of 
the electrical and motor mechanical appliances. The 
expedition is expected home in the later part of 1917, 
and its total cost is estimated at 25,o00l. If expedi- 
tions now in the Antarctic field or about to enter it 
should all succeed in their various objects, the next 
few years should bring a working outline knowledge 
of Antarctica. 
