390 
NATURE 
[Sesz. 15, 1870 
and freshwater animals may be seen to great advantage. 
It is no slight advantage for the naturalist to study from 
living specimens the appearance and habits of such rare 
animals as the Axolotl from Mexico, and the Proteus from 
the caves of Adelsberg. In other aquaria are specimens of 
salamanders from Central Europe, the gigantic bull-frog 
of America, and many curious and rare American fish. 
There are also examples of the English lump fish, grey 
mullet, soles, flounders, shanny, and the rare blenny. 
The beautiful appearance of these fish, and their varied and 
in some cases gorgeous hues, cannot be imagined by those 
who have only seen the same fish when dead. There are 
also several fine tanks full of sea-anemones in very thriv- 
ing condition. 
We have now nearly exhausted the scientific por- 
tion of the Museum; it only remains for us to notice 
the poor collection of geological specimens, which 
looks particularly bad just at present, as it is under 
process of arrangement. Still it is not much at the most, 
and is decidedly inferior in every way to the rest of the 
contents of the Museum. There is, however, a small case 
full of fine specimens of ferns and other carboniferous 
plants, collected by one of the local secretaries, the Rev. 
H. H. Higgins, from a railway cutting about eight miles 
from Liverpool. We hope to direct special attention to 
this new bed in another column, as it is within such easy 
distance of Liverpool, and the remains there found are so 
valuable and plentiful that all geologists attending the 
Association should pay it a visit. 
Besides the above, there is still much to be seen in the 
Derby Museum, for in 1867 Mr. Joseph Mayer, a wealthy 
Liverpool citizen, presented to the town his exceedingly 
valuable collection of antiquities, coins, and gems. Its 
value is shown by the following extract from the report of 
the Library and Museum Committee :—“ This collection, 
it is no exaggeration to say, is the finest of the kind ever 
presented tothe public. In some of its departments, those 
of Wedgewood ware and ivory carvings, it is unique. It 
contains the best collection extant of illustrations of the 
Liverpool pottery ware, a manufacture for which the town 
was once celebrated, but which has long been extinct 
In Egyptian and Assyrian antiquities it is very rich, par- 
ticularly in gems. The Fausset collection of Anglo- 
Saxon remains, the finest extant, forms a portion of it, 
together with a large number of ancient manuscripts and 
illuminations.” 
In recognition of this valuable gift a statue has been 
“erected to Mr. Mayer in St. George’s Hall. The collec- 
tion is arranged in three tiers of galleries, round a wide 
open space in the centre of the Museum, and com- 
‘thunicating with each other and the rest of the Museum. 
We cannot afford space to give any full description of this 
Museum, but its varied collections of antiquities, ancient 
armour, ancient weapons, musical instruments, coins, 
gems, watches, carvings, intaglios, Wedgewood and Majo- 
lica ware, rare MSS. and Mexican hieroglyphics, will all 
command crowds of visitors. In the upper gallery is placed 
the Collection of the Lancashire and Cheshire Hystoric 
Society, which holds its meetings in Liverpool, and a 
collection of valuable antiquities from the sea-coast be- 
tween Leasowe and Hoylake in Cheshire, which belong 
to Mr. Ecroyd Smith and others, and concerning which Mr, 
A. Hume, of Liverpool, recently wrote a long and illus- 
trated description in his “Ancient Meols”—the name of 
an old Anglo-Saxon and English settlement supposed 
to have been submerged by the sea. =) 
The next place which will claim the most attention in 
Liverpool, after the Derby Museum, is the Bidston Obser- 
vatory. This is reached by taking the ferry boat to 
Seacombe, and thence either omnibus or cab to the 
Observatory, about two miles distant. It stands in a 
fine situation, commanding most extensive views, and is 
about 200 feet above the level of the sea, Its great aft- 
traction, beside the fine equatorial telescope it contains, 
are its ingenious self-registering meteorological instru- 
ments. Of these the first to see is King’s self-registering 
barometer, where, by means of an ingenious arrangement, 
the hourly movements of the barometer are self-recorded. 
There are only three such instruments in England—this 
one, one in Birmingham, and one in Mr. Crossley’s 
private observatory in Yorkshire ; and they are stated to be 
superior to the ordinary photographic method employed 
elsewhere. In an upper part of the building is an instru- 
ment whereby, on the same sheet of paper, four different 
set of observations are self-registered. These are, the 
velocity of the wind, its pressure and its direction, and 
the amount of rain-fall. The instrument only requires to 
be attended to once a day, and then acts twenty-four hours 
without intermission. When we visited it on Saturday 
the pressure of the wind had reached as much as 65 lbs. 
per square foot, and its velocity at that time was about 
seventy-one miles per hour. The Observatory is open to 
all members of the Association on production of their 
tickets, and Mr. Hartnup, its director, will have great 
pleasure in showing and explaining all the instruments. 
We must not omit to notice a very ingenious and beauti- 
ful chronograph for recording transits by means of a most 
delicate piece of mechanism acting by electricity, and 
literally writing its own observations. 
-Returning to Liverpool, there are one or two more 
museums which deserve attention. The first of these is 
the Museum of the Royal Institution, in Colquitt-street. 
Before the opening of the Derby Museum, this was the 
principal museum in Liverpool, but it is now left com- 
paratively in the shade. It is essentially a natural his- 
tory museum, but the specimens are not well stuffed, and, 
together with the rooms, which are badly lighted up, have 
avery dingy and dirty appearance. There is, however, 
a fine collection of birds ranged round the walls of the 
two best rooms, the centre of which is occupied by a large 
collection of shells, neatly arranged and displayed, and 
well named, of which the chief specimens came from the 
collection presented to the museum by Mr. George Green, 
of Liverpool. The mineralogical collection, which wants 
re-arranging and classifying, has lately received large 
additions from the collection of the late Dr. James 
Stewart Trail, of Edinburgh, lately presentedtoit. There 
is a geological collection arranged round an upper gal- 
lery, but of which nothing commendable can be said. 
The materials are there for a good typical collection, and 
there are a few good American collections which are in- 
teresting ; but they all sadly want naming and properly 
arranging, localities given, &c. 
Next to this is an Economic Museum, which is 
worth visiting, arranged somewhat on the system 
employed at South Kensington. Besides these, there 
