 Fune 26, 1873] 
- THERE will be an election to a Fellowship in Natural Science 
at Magdalen College, Oxford, in October next, the holder of 
which will not be required to take Holy Orders. The exami- 
nation will be held in common with Merton College, preference 
being given to proficiency in Biology, the College reserving to 
themselves the power of taking candidates in any other branch 
of Natural Science if it shall seem expedient to do so. 
Candidates must have passed all the examinations required by 
the University of Oxford or University of Cambridge for the 
degree of Bachelor of Arts, and must not be in possession of 
any Ecclesiastical Benefice, or of any Property, Government 
Pension, or office tenable for life, or during good behaviour (not 
being an Academical office within the University of Ox ord), the 
clear annual value of which shall exceed 230/. They must also 
produce testimonials of their fitness to become Fellows of the 
College as a place of religion, learning, and education, and 
these must be sent to the President on or before Monday, Sept. 
29. Candidates are required to call on the President on Monday, 
Oct. 6, between the hours of 3 and 5,or Sand9 P.M. The exa- 
mination will commence the following day. 
Dr. JaAMEs BoTToMLeEy, B.A., D.Sc., F.C.S., has been ap- 
pointed to the Science Mastership of the Taunton College 
School. The liberality of two or three munificent friends has 
enabled the headmaster to place the science teaching on a new 
and enlarged footing. Science has been taught in the school 
since 1865 with imperfect instruments, accommodation, and 
teaching power, yet with sufficient thoroughness to pass many 
pupils in the London Matriculations and in the scientific portion 
of the Oxford Local Examinations. The apparatus will now be 
largely increased, a temporary but efficient laboratory is about-to 
be erected, and a science master of the highest reputation has 
been secured. 
THE fine specimen of the Octopus brought to the Brighton 
Aquarium from the French Coast in April last and suspected at 
the time by Mr. Saville Kent to bea female, has just verified 
this anticipation by depositing numerous eggs. The position 
selected by the creature for their lodgment is most opportune, 
the several clusters being attached to the rockwork, close to one 
another, within a few inches of the front glass of its tank; thus 
affording every facility for their observation to the general 
public, and enabling the officers on the Naturalist’s Staff to 
watch their progress towards maturity from day to day. The 
eggs were deposited on Thursday last, the 19th inst., since which 
time the parent has vigilantly guarded them, usually encircling 
and partly concealing the whole within a coil of one or more of 
her snake-like arms, and vigorously repelling the near approach 
of any of her comrades in the same tank. Like those of the 
Argonaut or Paper Nautilus, the eggs of the Octopus are of 
small size compared with the ova of other Cephalopoda, the 
individuals being no more than one-eighth of an inch in length, 
of oval form, aud are crowded round a central flexible stalk 
two or three inches long. A dozen or more of these compound 
clusters, each including over a hundred eggs, represent the 
number already deposited by the female Octopus in the Brighton 
tanks. The mate of the interesting parent is a fine fellow 
brought from the Cornish Coast last February. On the arrival 
of his fair companion he immediately vacated his oyster grotto 
in her favour and for many subsequent days lavished upon her 
the most assiduous attention. 
Mr. LivincsTONE Stone, the Assistant Commissioner on 
the part of the United States, has been engaged for some time 
past in collecting fresh-water fishes of various species to be 
transported to California, for the purpose of introducing them 
into the rivers and ponds of that State. For this purpose he 
___ had sent to him acar of the Central Pacific Railway, which he 
__— has had fitted up}properly for this object, At one end of the 
NATURE 
171 
car isa plank pond, lined with zinc and holding four tons of 
water, over which are berths for Mr. Stone and his assistants. 
The rest of the car is occupied with smaller tanks, and a reserve 
of sea and fresh water, household and commissary supplies, &c. 
Among the species that Mr. Stone carries with him, in the form 
of partly hatched eggs or young, are shad, cat-fish, yellow perch, 
wall-eyed or glass-eyed perch, eels, lobsters, and the like; and 
there is every reason to believe he wil! succeed in transfering 
his freight without material loss. If he accomplishes his object 
of placing these fish in the California waters, there is every 
reason to expect them to constitute before many years an im- 
portant addition to the food resources of the State. 
Mr. BENTHAM’s Anniversary Address to the Linnean Society, 
just printed at the request of the Fellows, deals chiefly with 
the progress of physiological botany during the past year. He 
refers especially to Strasburger’s investigations of the floral 
structure of Coniferze and Gnetacex, and to the genealogical 
theory by which that botanist makes the Conifers the parent race 
from which the Gnetaceze have directly descended, these agaia 
having engendered the higher Dicotyledons. This theory Mr. 
Bentham consideis to rest on very slender grounds, preferring the 
hypothesis that the Gnetaceze have remained the least modified 
from the common stock, the Conifer having undergone a 
greater progressive change in one direction, the total separation 
of the sexes, the Dicotyledons a greater advance in another 
direction, the increasing complexity of the floral development, 
Haeckel’s conjectural pedigree of the Calcisponges is also 
criticised, 
THE “‘session extraordinaire” of the Botanical Society of 
France will be held this year at Brussels under the auspices of 
the Royal Botanical Society of Belgium. The session will com- 
mence by a meeting at the Botanic Gardens, Brussels, on 
July 9, at 9 A.M. Excursions will be made to the botanical 
establishments at Brussels, Ghent, Liége, Antiwerp, &c. ; as 
well as to the grotto of Haux, the marshes of Hasselt, &c. 
English botanists are especially invited to take part in this 
meeting. The districts to be visited are stated to be of unusual 
interest from a botanical point of view. 
THE subscriptions to the Sedgwick memorial give promise 
that a handsome museum will be erected to his memory, The 
amount already promised is very considerable. The Chancellor 
of the University, the Duke of Devonshire, heads the list with a 
donation of 1,000/. The High Steward, the Earl Powis, contri- 
butes 200/. ; the Prince of Wales, 100 guineas; the Vice- 
Chancellor., Dr. Cookson, the two representatives in Parliament, 
the Right Hon. S. H. Walpole and Mr, Beresford Hope, as 
well as a large number of other gentlemen give 100/. each, The 
Earl of Derby has promised 200/., Prof. Selwyn, 500/. ; the 
Master of Trinity College, 200/. ; Prof. Lightfoot, 200/. 
Tue Royal Horticultural Society’s Show at Bath was opened 
on Tuesday, and continues till Saturday. 
Tue official report of the Secretary of the U.S. Navy, re- 
specting the Arctic exploring ship Po/arts, dispels the suspicions 
respecting the manner of Captain Hall’s death, and shows that 
the separation of the crew was accidental, but does not account 
for the failure of the 7o/arzs to rescue the men on the ice. Im- 
portant scientific results have been obtained. The supposed 
open Polar Sea proves to bea sound opening into Kennedy 
Channel, with an inlet on the east, probably marking the 
northern shore of Greenland. The 7igress, which has been 
purchased by the Navy department for the relief expedition, will 
start early in July. . 
THE Council appointed at the Conference of the Trades 
Guild of Learning, recently held at the Society of Arts, met on 
Saturday last. Amongst other business transacted it was resolved 
