728 
yether were housed until 1875 in the rooms still 
occupied by the Asiatic Society of Bengal. In 1875 
the collections were transferred by the society to the 
fine building which had been erected for their recep- 
tion on Chowringhee, the main thoroughfare of Cal- 
cutta. Since then, through the labours of distin- 
guished superintendents, viz., Dr. John Anderson, Mr. 
J. Wood-Mason, Lieut.-Col. A. Alcock, and Dr. N. 
Annandale, progress has been rapid and continuous. 
Considerable extensions to the original building have 
been found necessary, and, thanks to the unrivalled 
Oriental collections and to a very complete library, the 
museum is not only a great educational institution, 
but also an important centre for research, especially 
in zoology and geology. 
The celebrations terminated in a very successful 
conversazione held in the Indian Museum on January 
17. The company present included their Excellencies 
Lord and Lady Carmichael, and a representative selec- 
tion of the European and. Indian communities of Cal- 
cutta, as well as the delegates and the members of 
the Science Congress. An extremely interesting series 
of exhibits had been arranged by the officers of the 
museum, comprising archeological, art, botanical, 
ethnological, geological, and zoological specimens, and 
brief reference may be made to some of the more 
important of these. 
Prominent among the archeological exhibits was 
one to illustrate the evolution of the Buddha image, 
commencing with the Gandhara or Indo-Greek school, 
and continuing with the later types from Mathura, 
Amarawati, Sarnath, Bengal,\Tibet, and! Further India, 
The botany and ethnology of the Abor country, visited 
by a punitive expedition in 1911-12, were illustrated 
by specimens exhibited by Messrs. Hooper, Kemp, and 
Coggin Brown. The geological series lent by the 
Geological Survey of India ¢tomprised characteristic 
Indian fossils exhibited by Dr. G. E. Pilgrim. 
The zoological exhibits, which were very numerous, 
attracted a large share of attention. Prominent among 
them was a series of deep-sea animals dredged by the 
R.I.M.S. Investigator, exhibited by Major Lloyd and 
Captains Seymour Sewell and T. L. Bomford, and 
comprising fish, crustacea, mollusca, echinoderms, and 
corals. Remarkable fresh-water invertebrates recently 
discovered in India were exhibited by Dr. Annandale 
and Messrs. Kemp, Gravely, and Agharkar, and in- 
cluded the very interesting medusa (Limnocnida 
indica), discovered three years ago in the upper waters 
of the River Kistna in the Western Ghats. Recently 
discovered Indian fresh-water fishes and specimens of 
the fresh-water sting-rays of the Ganges were shown 
by Dr. Chaudhuri. Dr. Annandale exhibited a series 
of specimens to illustrate a paper which he read before 
the Science Congress on convergence in aquatic 
animals. Convergence in skeletal structure was 
shown between different fresh-water sponges, and in 
the special form of spicules in different families of 
sponges, while the same phenomenon was also illus- 
trated in the degeneracy of calcareous plates in the 
stalked barnacles, in the form of shell between the 
marine oysters and the fresh-water family Aetheriidz, 
in degeneration of the eyes in the Indian electric rays, 
in the independent evolution of pigmentation of the 
ventral surface in different deep-sea rays, in general 
form between certain carp of the Himalayas and Tibet 
and the Salmonidz, and in the independent evolution 
of adhesive suckers in different tadpoles and fishes 
inhabiting rapid-running streams. Mr. Kemp exhi- 
bited zoological specimens from the Abor country, the 
expedition to which he accompanied in the capacity of 
naturalist, among them being the Peripatus (Typhlo- 
peripatus williamsoni), which he discovered, the first 
representative of the group to be met with north of 
the Isthmus of Kra in the Malay Peninsula. A small 
NO, 2313, VOL. 92] 
NATURE 
[FEBRUARY 26, 1914 
but interesting collection of type-specimens of Asiatic. 
squirrels containing the type of Funambulus layardi, 
Blyth, mounted in the Asiatic Society’s Museum 
seventy years ago, was exhibited to prove that it is, 
possible to preserve mammal skins in Calcutta for an 
indefinite period, if proper precautions are taken. 
UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 
INTELLIGENCE. i 
BirMINGHAM.—The trustees of the John Feeney be- 
quest have granted to the University the sum of 1oool. 
in aid of research and instruction in wireless tele- 
graphy. The money is to be applied to the erection 
of a wireless telegraphic installation on the Univer- 
sity buildings at Edgbaston. 
CampripcGe.—Dr. Hobson, Sadleirian professor of 
pure mathematics, has been nominated to represent 
the University on the occasion of the celebration on 
June 29-30 and July 1 of the three hundredth anni- 
versary of the foundation of the University of Gron- 
ingen. ‘ 
The Vice-Chancellor announces that Mrs. A. M. 
Babington has expressed the wish to defray the cost 
of the gallery which is being built to house the exhibit 
of local antiquities. This gallery, which will be 
known as the ‘ Babington Gallery,” is being erected 
to the memory of the donor’s husband, Prof. Babing- 
ton, of St. John’s College, and professor of botany 
in the University. It was Prof. Babington who, in 
the early forties of last century, initiated the Cam- 
bridge Antiquarian Museum, which forty years after- 
wards ceded to the University. The extent of Mrs. 
Babington’s benefaction will amount to 1550l. ¢ 
The University Buildings Syndicate has had under 
consideration the question of providing a central elec- 
tric power station to supply the numerous science and 
other buildings on either side of Downing Street. 
the present moment there is an assortment of engines 
supplying these various laboratories, but the system 
has many inconveniences, and is costly and extrava- 
gant. 
pend a sum not exceeding g3oool. in providing a power. 
station in connection with the engineering laboratory, 
and also to enter into a contract with the Cambridge 
Electric Supply Company for the supply of electricity 
for a period of ten years. , 
The next combined examination for fifty-three 
entrance scholarships and a large number of exhibi- 
tions, at Pembroke, Gonville and Caius, Jesus, 
Christ’s, St. John’s, and Emmanuel Colleges, will be 
held on Tuesday, December 1, 1914, and following, 
days. Mathematics, classics, natural sciences, and 
history will be the subjects of examination at all the 
above-mentioned colleges. 
candidates who intend to study mechanical science to 
compete for scholarships and exhibitions by taking the 
papers set in mathematics and natural sciences. 
Forms of application for admission to the examina- 
tion at the respective colleges may be obtained from 
the masters of the several colleges, from any of whom 
further information respecting the scholarships and 
exhibitions and other matters connected with the col- 
leges may be obtained, 
Mr. S. Hey, secretary to the Education Committe 
of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, has been appointed director 
of education for Manchester in succession to the lat 
Mr. C. H. Wyatt. ; 
It is announced in Science of February 13 that 
Bowdoin College has received a bequest of 100,0001. 
for the general fund of the college from the estate of 
the late Mr. Edwin B. Smith, former assistan 
attorney-general of the United States, who died in 
New York on January 5. It is stated in the sam 
issue of our contemporary that, through the will of th 
At 
The syndicate wishes to be authorised to ex-— 
Most of the colleges allow 
_— 
