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THE Botanische Zeitung records the death on March 23 of Dr. 
Schultz-Schultzenstein, of Berlin, well known as a copious writer 
on vegetable morphology and physiology. 
Mr. F. M. BArour, late of Harrow, and Mr. P. H. Car- 
penter, of the Royal School of Mines and University College, 
London, have been elected to foundation Scholarships at Trinity 
College, Cambridge, for proficiency in Natural Science. 
WE regret to have to record the death of Mr. James Yates, at 
his residence at Highgate, on the 7th inst. He was a prominent 
member of the Royal and Geological Societies, and of late years 
had been best known as one of the most active advocates of the 
introduction of the Metric System of Weights and Measures. 
THE following gentlemen have been placed in the first class of 
the annual examination in Natural Sciences in St. John’s Col- 
lege, Cambridge (order alphabetical) ; -Edmunds, Garrod, Read, 
Sollas, Yule. 
THE annual conversazione of the members of the Society of Arts 
will be held on Thursday, June 1, at the South Kensington 
Museum, 
M. ELIsEE RECLUus, a very active contributor to the Revue des 
Deux Mondes, has been appointed director of the National 
Library in Paris, to fill the room of M. Taschereau, who has 
left for Versailles. 
Progr. WYVILLE THOMSON delivered, on the 2nd inst., his 
inaugural lecture to the students of the Natural History class in 
the University of Edinburgh. In the course of his observations 
he paid a glowing tribute to the services of his predecessor, 
Dr. Allman, whose valuable researches in zoology will continue 
to be prosecuted in spite of his retirement from the chair. 
_WE regret to learn from Harfer’s Weekly that at the great fire 
which recently destroyed the printing office of Weed, Parsons, 
and Co. in Albany, the edition printed of the Twenty-fourth 
Report of the New York State Cabinet of Natural History was 
entirely destroyed. Fortunately a nearly complete copy of the 
revised proof was saved ; so that no serious difficulty will be ex- 
perienced beyond considerable delay, although the loss to the 
State in the destruction of fifteen thousand impressions of plates, 
&c., will be considerable. 
THE continuation of the exhaustive work of Bronn on the 
classes and orders of the animal kingdom contains an elaborate 
memoir upon the anatomy of birds, and several numbers are 
deyoted to the peculiarities of the muscular structure alone. 
AT the meeting of the Boston Society of Natural History for 
March 1, the principal communication was one by Mr. George 
Sceva, in which attention was called to the fact of the shortness 
of the upper jaws in the skulls of the Hindoos, and the frequent 
absence of the third molar. This generalisation was based upon 
the examination of a numberof crania; andit was found that about 
fifteen per cent. of the whole exhibit this peculiarity, while in an 
extensive series of skulls of European races only about one 
per cent. showed the same feature. 
AT the annual meeting of the Chicago Academy of Sciences, 
5 5 = 2 3 | 
held on April 11, various communications upon a variety of 
subjects of interest were presented. The most important 
paper read was one by Colonel Foster, upon the subject of | 
Artesian Wells, in which an account was given of the principal | 
borings that have been attempted in the West, with a state- 
ment of their geological relationships, and the depth to which 
they were carried. 
Tue Rugby School Natural History Society has just pub- 
lished its Fourth Report for 1870. 
extent taken the lead among our public schools in its cultivation 
of Natural Science, we looked for this Report with special interest, 
and haye not been disappointed in its value. 
Rugby having to so great an | 
NARORL: 

[| May 11, 1871 

resting paper by the President, the Rey. F. E. Kitchener, on the 
Times of Flowering of Plants, containing just that record of 
facts and minute observations which it is one of the special func- 
tions of local natural history societies to collect. It is illustrated 
by two plates, in which are delineated curves representing the 
average forwardness of flowering in the spring and early summer 
months of 1867, 68, 69, and 70, contrasted with other curves re- 
presenting the rainfall and temperature. Other illustrated papers 
are by the Rey. T. N. Hutchinson on Sun-spots, and Mr, C, H, 
Hinton on the Mechanism of a Crane’s Leg. We learn that the 
society now possesses a museum of its own, and has just acquired 
cases for its botanical and entomological collections, We are 
glad to see that the officers, in their report, lay great stress 
on the importance of completing the local collections. 
IN the Proceedings of the Cotteswold Naturalists’ Field Club for 
1870, the President, Sir W. V. Guise, Bart., calls attention, in his 
Annual Address, to the unusual interest and importance of two 
papers which occupy nearly the whole of the volume—TheGravels 
of the Severn, Avon, and Evenlode, and their extension over the 
Cotteswold Hills, by Mr. W. C. Lucy ; and On the Correlation 
of the Jurassic Rocks in the department of the Cote-d’Or, France, 
with the Oolitic formations in the counties of Gloucester and 
Wilts, by Dr. Thomas Wright. The terms in which these 
papers are referred to by the president are thoroughly well de- 
served, and the Club is doing great service to science in their 
publication. Mr. Lucy’s paper is the result of four years’ labour, 
and is copiously illustrated by numerous sections, and a large 
coloured map showing the surface geology of the country be- 
tween Evesham, Chipping Norton, Gloucester, and Cirencester. 
The work is most creditable to the club, and renders this volume 
of its Transactions indispensable to anyone studying the geology 
of the western couuties, 
THE Proceedings and Transactions of the Nova Scotian Insti- 
tute of Natural Science for 1869-70 lies on our table, and we may 
take this opportunity of acknowledging the great service ren- 
dered by this society in the elucidation of the natural history o- 
our American colonies. Among the papers in the present num- 
ber we may mention especially the continuance of Dr. Bernard 
Gilpin’s series on the Mammalia of Nova Scotia, a monograph 
by Dr. Lawson of the Ranunculacee of Canada and adjacent 
parts of British America: a paper by the President, Mr. J. M. 
Jones, on the Laridze of the Nova Scotian coast; and a record 
of Meteorological Observations for 1869, by Mr, Henry Poole. 
THE Botanical Exchange Club has just issued its Report for 
the current year, signed by its indefatigable curator Dr. J. 
Boswell-Syme. It is chiefly occupied by observations on 
certain critical sub-species or varieties gathered by the members, 
no absolutely distinct indigenous species having been added to 
the British flora during the year. We are glad to see a con- 
siderable increase in the number of members of this useful 
society. 
WE have received the Report of Observations made by the 
members of the Observing Astronomical Society for 1869-70. 
A considerable proportion of these observations has already 
been reported in our columns. Inaddition, the Report includes 
Hints and Suggestions on the Observation of Lunar Objects by 
Mr. W. R. Birt, and three drawings of the Bands of Jupiter on 
Oct. 6, and Nov. 1 and 24, 1869. We are glad to see that the 
number of members has increased to fifty, and congratulate 
the society on the good work it is doing. 
In a recent number of the “ Proceedings of the Asiatic Society 
of Bengal,” we have a report cf the Address of the President, 
| the Hon. Mr. Justice Phear, a considerable portion of which is 
| devoted to a statement of the importance of a systematic series 
There is an inte- | 
| 
of barometrical observations in India. Mr, Phear points out that 
