158 



NA TURE 



\yune 1 6, 



course of time it will probably be discovered that there exis 

 certain definite types of cerebral convolutions corresponding to 

 the principal varieties of mankind. In order to discover those 

 types much material will require to be conscientiously examined ; 

 and I hope that my investigation will induce other anatomists to 

 work in this direction to prove or to disprove this statement, 

 which in the present state of our knowledge can only be more or 

 less hypothetical. 



On my way from Thursday Island I let slip no opportunity of 

 examining, measuring, and photographing the remnant of the 

 Australian aboriginals ; and hearing it stated in various quarters 

 that there were living in the interior of Queensland certain 

 natives described as devoid of hair, I thought the problem of a 

 possible occurrence of a hairless stock among the aboriginals 

 worthy of a personal investigation. I have written to Prof. 

 Virchow of Berlin at length concerning my examination of this 

 hairless family, which 1 found at Gulnarber Station, near St. 

 George, on the Balonne River. This was made considerably 

 ea,sier for me by the kind assistance of Mr. G. M. Kirk of 

 Gulnarber Station. As regards this instance of natural, and in 

 this case hereditary atrichia univeisalis among the Australian 

 aboriginals, I will only remark that it forms an interesting 

 antithesis to the well-known cases of excessive hypertrichosis. 



With a view of pursuing comparative anatomical researches 

 on the brain of the marsupials, I went to Pikedale, near Stan- 

 thorpe, where I .succeeded during a stay of almost six weeks in 

 acquiring for my cerebral investigations some material which is 

 almost impossible to obtain in the citieSj such as Brisbane or 

 Sydney, and which, as I have learnt by my own experience, 

 cannot be obtained even in the bush with great ease and quick- 

 ness. I succeeded, however, in obtaining a number of brains 

 of some species of the genera — Macropus, Osphranter, Halma- 

 turus, Petrogale, Phascolarctos, as well as a few brains of 

 Ornithorhynchus and Echidna. 



At the end of December last year, still availing myself of the 

 kind hospitality of Mr. Donald Gunn, I went on to his other 

 station, Clairvaul, near Glen Lines, with the intention of col- 

 lecting some fossils, and without great trouble I got a series 

 of interesting remains of Diprotodon Australis, Noiotherium 

 Miichellii, Phascolomys gigas, Macropiis titan, &c. , &c. 



When I received in May, i88o, m Thursday Island, a letter 

 from my friend Mr. William Haswell, informing me that the 

 Zoological Station in Sydney was not established, I determined 

 not to leave Australia before the scheme had been carried out. 

 Detained in Queensland by the work already referred to, I only 

 arrived in Sydney in January of this year, and now, after a stay 

 of one month, I have the pleasure to announce that I have eveiy 

 reason to believe that the Zoological Station at Watson's Bay 

 will be opened in a short time. My stay in Brisbane has once 

 more caused me to feel the necessity of such an institution for 

 the biologist. I could expatiate at length on the advantages of a 

 zoological station, but I content myself with remarking that, in 

 spite of my great dislike to waste my time, I was obliged to 

 spend many days, even weeks, in Brisbane and .Sydney without 

 the possibility of working, on account of the want of a suitable 

 place. 



J repeat again my conviction, grounded on long experience, 

 that " the immediate need is not of apparatus or libraries, but 

 of a place for undisturbed work." ' I hope to be able, not later 

 than in two months, to work in the Zoological Station in Wat- 

 son's Bay. I am convinced that many men of science will avail 

 themselves of it in future years ; and I am satisfied to leave for 

 future generations such a memento of my stay in Sydney as the 

 first zoological station in Australia. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE 



Cambrige. — The Physiological Laboratory (Dr. Foster's) 

 will be open during the Long Vacation, and a series of repetitions 

 of lectures and demonstrations will be given by Mr. Waters, the 

 Assistant Demonstrator, in Elementary Biology, Histology, and 

 Physiology. 



The Cavendish Laboratory will be open during July and 

 August, and the Professor of Experimental Physics or one of 

 the Demonstrators will attend daily. 



Prof. A. C. Haddon, of the Royal College of Science, 

 Dublin, has been nominated by the Board of Natural Science 



' Vid£ Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales, August 

 »6, 1878. 



Studies to study at the Zoological Station at Naples during'the 

 ensuing autumn. 



The Board of Mathematical Studies has issued a report show- 

 ing that in the last Mathematical Tripos the total of marks was 

 33,541, of wh ch the first ten wranglers avernged 8582. In the 

 last five days 11,753 marks were assigned to riders, and 7770 to 

 problems ; of which the first ten wranglers averpged 2388 and 

 936 respectively. The additional examiner staled his satisfaction 

 with the answering ; and he considered that much of the time 

 formerly occupied by the study of astronomy, including the 

 Lunar and Planetary Theories, Figure of the Earth, and Preces- 

 sion of Nutation, was now devoted to Heat, Electricity, and 

 Magnetism. Comparing the progressive nature of the latter 

 subjects with the stationary nature of the former, the latter afford 

 the best means of testing the mathematical ability of the candi- 

 dates. 



Prof. Cayley will lecture in Michaelmas Term on Abel's 

 Theorem ; Dr. Ferrers (Master of Caius) on the Theory of the 

 Potential ; Mr. Niven (Trinity) on Electrostatics ; Mr. Glaisher 

 (Trinity) on Definite Integrals and Differential Equations ; Mr. 

 Hobson (Christ's) on Rigid Dynamics; Mr. Steam (King's) on 

 Conduction of Heat and Electricity ; Mr. Allen (St. Peter's) on 

 Magnetism ; Mr. Dickson on Dynamics of a Particle. 



'1 he annual report of Prof. Adams to the Observatory Syndi- 

 cate states that, notwithstanding the exceptionally unfavourable 

 weather for observing, there had been made 2834 determinations 

 of Right Ascension and North Polar Distance with the transit 

 circle, including 2151 observations of zone stars which were 

 made on eighty nights. Satisfactory observations of the partial 

 solar eclipse, December 31, 1880, were obtained with the North- 

 umberland equatorial, employing the wire micrometer. The 

 observations with the transit circle for nadir point and level 

 have been facilitated and rendered much more satisfactory by an 

 alteration in the mode of illumination of the wires through the 

 Bohnenberger eyepiece. Instead of placing a small hand-lamp 

 on a stand close to the eyepiece, which gave an uncertain image 

 at the best, the illumination is now effected by means of a 

 paraffin lamp placed on a platform at the requisite elevation 

 about ttn feet from the eyepiece. The rays for the lamp are 

 rendered parallel by passing through the system of lenses in- 

 tended for the illumination of the microscopes of the eastern 

 circle, which is not in ordinary use. There is now no difficulty 

 in getting the li;^ht properly directed, and the images both of the 

 Right Ascension and Declination wires are dark and very distinct. 

 The observations of standard stars are completely reduced in 

 R.A. and N.P.D. to the end of 1S79 and part of 18S0, as to 

 the zone stars, the true R.A. and N.P.D. are oUained to the 

 end of 1878, the approximate N.P.D. to the end of 1879. The 

 calculation of reduction of apparent place to mean is completed 

 to the end of 1876, and is far advanced for 1877. Meteorological 

 observations are regularly made. A third assistant in the Obser- 

 vatory is urgently needed. 



The following awards have been made by the Master and 

 Seniors of St. John's College for proficiency in Natural 

 Sciences : — To Samways, a Wright's Prize, with 100/. for the 

 year; to Weldon, Edmunds, Love, T. Roberts, Foundation 

 Scholarships ; to Pagan, Goodman, Exhibitinns. The Open 

 Natural Science Exhibition was awarded to H. Wilson of the 

 Leys School, and another Open Exhibition to J. Kerr of Man- 

 chester Grammar School. 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS 



Trimen's Journal of Botany, }vne, 1881, contains :— Notes 

 on Carex flavci, L., by F. Townsend, M.A. — A revision of the 

 Indian species of Leea, by C. B. Clarke, M. A. — Notes on Irish 

 plants, by H. C. Hart, B.A.— Short notes.— Extracts and 

 notices of books and memoirs. — Botanical notes. 



The American Naturalist, June, 1881, contains :— The 

 archa;ology of Vermont, by Prof. Geo. H. Perkins.— On the 

 larval habits of the Bombyliidae, by C. V. Riley (with a coloured 

 plate). — On the late explorations in the Gaboon, by H. von 

 Kopenfels. — On the Pueblo pottery, by Edwin A. Barber. 



Kosmos, Jahrgang v. Heft 2, contains :— Prof. Dr. Fritz 

 Schultze, on the relations of sceptical naturalism to modern 

 natural science, with especial reference to the evolution theory 

 (conclusion).— Henry Potonie, on the relations of morphology 

 to physiology.— Dr. Fr.tz Miiller, Atyoida Polimirim, a mud- 

 eating fresh-w ater shrimi. (with twenty woodcuts). 



