July 17, 1884] 



NA TURE 



2 75 



We are glad to be able to announce that H.R.H. the Prince 

 of Wales has become Patron of the Marine Biological Associa- 

 tion, and has contributed a handsome donation to its funds. The 

 following is now the full list of Officers and Council as definitely 

 elected by the Association, at its meeting on June 17 : — Patron, 

 H.R.H. the Prince of Wales, K.G. President, Prof. Huxley 

 (President of the Royal Society). Vice-Presidents : The Duke 

 of Argyll, K.G., the Duke of Sutherland, K.G., the Marquis of 

 Hamilton, the Earl of Dalhousie, K.T., Lord Walsingham 

 (Trustee of the British Museum of Natural History), Edward 

 Birkbeck, M.P. (Chairman of the Executive Committee of the 

 International Fisheries Exhibition), George Busk, F.R.S., W. 

 B. Carpenter, C.B., M.D., F.R.S., W. H. Flower (Director of 

 the British Museum of Natural History), J. Gwyn Jeffreys, 

 F.R.S., Sir John Lubbock, Bart., M.P. (President of the 

 Linnean Society). Council: Prof. Moseley, F.R.S. (Oxford), 

 Chairman, Prof. Jeffrey Bell, F.Z.S. (British Museum), W. S. 

 Caine, M.P., w". T. Thiselton Dyer, C.M.G. F.R.S. (Royal 

 Gardens, Kew), John Evans, D.C.L. (Treasurer Royal Society), 

 A. C. L. G. Giinther, F.R.S. (British Museum), Prof. Herdman 

 (Liverpool), E. W. H. Holdsworth, Prof. Mcintosh (St. 

 Andrew's), Prof. Milnes Marshall (Manchester), Sir Philip 

 Cunliffe Owen, K. C.M.G., C.B., G. J. Romanes, F.R.S. 

 (Sec. Linn. Soc), P. L. Sclater, F.R.S. (Sec. Zool. Soc), 

 Adam Sedgwick (Cambridge). Hon. Treasurer, Frank Crisp, 

 (V.P. and Treas. Linn. Soc), 6, Old Jewry, E.C. Hon. 

 Secretary, Prof. E. Ray Lankester, F.R.S., II, Wellington 

 Mansions, North Bank, N.W. 



We regret to learn of the death of the venerable Abbe Moigno 

 at the age of eighty-one years. The name of the Abbe has been 

 long known in connection with French science, and more espe- 

 cially as the founder, and till quite recently the editor, of Les 

 Monde's. 



It is proposed to hold a special American Exhibition in 

 London in May 1S86, at which the products, manufactures, and 

 varied phases of life in the United States will be represented. 



By a decree dated Ems, July 4, the Emperor conveys his 

 thanks to Dr. Auwers, the celebrated astronomer who so success- 

 fully superintended the German preparations for observing the 

 transits of Venus in 1874 and 1882. The Emperor further ex- 

 presses his thanks for the assistance so hospitably rendered to 

 the German scientific expeditions, not only by Germans living 

 abroad, but also by many persons belonging to other nationalities. 



Biologists attending the Montreal meeting of the British 

 Association will be pleased to hear that Prof. Asa Gray has 

 promised to be present and to read a paper in Section D "On 

 some characteristic features of the Botany of North America,'' 

 with the special view of aiding botanists and members of the 

 Section generally in their appreciation of the flora. 



It is announced from Montreal that a large number of the 

 members of the British Association visiting Canada next month 

 have already been " placed " in private houses in the city. The 

 matter continues to be very heartily taken up in the towns of the 

 Dominion, and there is every probability of a warm welcome 

 being extended to the members. Considerable amusement has 

 been caused in Montreal by some of the letters received by the 

 Montreal Committee of the British Association from those mem- 

 bers on this side of the Atlantic desiring information regarding 

 Canada. The climate of the country is evidently a subject upon 

 which there is much misconception among members. The 

 queries on this point are most exacting, while a quite unwarranted 

 dread of mosquitoes is held by not a few members. It is satis- 

 factory to learn that a circular is now in course of preparation 

 that will answer most of the queries received by letter, and that 

 on the completion of the labours of the Private Hospitality 

 Committee a directory of the visitors will be published. 



Prof. R. S. Ball has accepted an invitation from the Lowell 

 Institute, Boston, United States, to give a course of six lectures 

 on " Chapters in Modern Astronomy" next October. 



The Society of Chemical Industry held their annual meeting 

 in Newcastle last week. Dr. Perkin, F.R.S., was elected 

 President for the next year. 



Under the auspices of the Royal Geographical Society, Mr. 

 E. C. Rye has done a most useful service to students by com- 

 piling a New Guinea Bibliography. It will be appended to Mr. 

 C. R. Markham's paper on New Guinea, to be issued in No. 2, 

 vol. i. of the Society's Supplementary Papers. Mr. Rye's 

 Bibliography covers over fifty pages, and contains considerably 

 over a thousand entries. It is evidently the result of immense la' our 

 and research, and is practically exhaustive. It includes not merely 

 geography proper, but every aspect of the country ; the references 

 to natural history are specially copious, and include not only books 

 but papers and notes in periodical publications of all kinds. 

 The references are of the most precise character, and the whole 

 is worthy of the editor of the Zoological Record. 



It may interest many of our readers — especially those who 

 j would like to add to the pleasure of a tour by a little photo- 

 graphy — to know that the London Stereoscopic Company give 

 gratuitous private lessons to amateurs who purchase their appa- 

 ratus from the Company. We have no doubt this will solve a 

 prime difficulty in the case of many who are ambitious to be able 

 to photograph on their own account, but who do not know how 

 to take the first step. 



Notwithstanding the troubles that have surrounded Mada- 

 gascar for the last year or two, the scientific activity of the 

 missionaries of the London Missionary Society has not abated, 

 and the native printing press has not been idle. We have just 

 received from Antananarivo two numbers of the Antananarivo 

 Annual and Madagascar Magazine, edited by the Rev. R. Baron, 

 containing numerous papers of varied scientific interest. The 

 following are those of most importance : — The Sakalava (No. 2), 

 by the Rev. A. Walin ; Notes on four species of Lemur and on 

 the Aye- Aye, by Mr. G. A. Shaw ; Customs connected with death 

 and burial in Malagasy, by the Rev. S. E. Jorgensen ; Re- 

 semblance between Malagasy words and customs and those of 

 Western Polynesia, by the Rev. R. S. Codrington. In No. 7 

 for 18S3 we have — The race elements of the Malagasy, by the 

 Rev. L. Dahle ; the Sakalava (No. 3), by the Rev. A. Walin ; 

 Volcanoes in Eastern Imerina, by the Editor ; Malagasy "Fady" 

 (Tabu), by Mr. H. E. Standing ; Genera of Malagasy plants, 

 by the Editor ; Relics of sign and gesture language among the 

 Malagasy, by the Rev. J. Sibree ; and various natural history 

 and meteorological notes. 



Dr. Kegel, the Russian traveller, who recently arrived in 

 Merv, intends proceeding along the northern mountain slopes of 

 Afghanistan and the Amu Daria to Pamir. This journey will 

 conclude the doctor's explorations in Central Asia. 



The Milan Society for the Commercial Exploration of Africa 

 has organised a circumnavigation of Africa, with a view of 

 affording the pupils of the High School of Commerce, and others, 

 an opportunity of becoming acquainted with likely markets for 

 Italian products. The steamer will leave Genoa on September 1, 

 and the whole voyage will occupy four months. A professor is 

 to lecture during the voyage on the commercial geography of 

 Africa. 



The first mail from Kadiak Island received this season, Science 

 states, has arrived at San Francisco, bringing dates to May 2. 

 According to the correspondent of the Bulletin, the account of 

 the eruption of the volcano on Augustine Island, Cook's Inlet, 

 sent by the last advices of 1883, was much exaggerated. The 

 island "was not split in two, and no new island was formed 



