626 
MWATORE 
[ Oct. 28, 1886 
with a glass roof, and will thus be available for the reception of 
large objects. In the new front the mammals will occupy the 
ground-floor and the birds the gallery above. 
THE French National Museum has received a valuable col- 
lection of mammals obtained during M. de Brazza’s recent expe- 
dition in the Congo district. In it are examples of two new 
and well-marked species of monkeys of the genus Co/obus, and 
specimens of a very fine new Cercopithecus, allied to C. diana, 
which M, Milne-Edwards has named C. dvazz@. ‘There are also 
examples of several other mammals of considerable interest. 
Looking at these discoveries and others recently made in Somali- 
land, it is evident that the mammal-fauna of Africa is by no 
means yet exhausted. 
THE experiment has been tried at the Finsbury Technical 
College of giving free Saturday evening popular lectures and of 
afterwards allowing the visitors to see over the laboratories and 
workshops. The lectures were given by the Professors of the 
College on the following dates :—October 2, Prof. S. P. 
Thompson, D.Sc., on ‘* Waves of Light” ; October 9, Prof. J. 
Perry, F.R.S., on ‘‘Spinning Tops” ; October 16, Prof. R. 
Meldola, F.R.S., on ‘‘ Coal, and what we get out of it.” The 
concluding lecture was given on Saturday last, October 23, by 
Prof. Thompson, on ‘* Magnets and Electro-magnets,” the Lord 
Mayor taking the chair for the occasion. The numbers of visitors 
filling the lecture theatres on these occasions show that the 
movement has been appreciated by the public. 
Pror. FREDERICK McCoy, of the University of Melbourne, 
has been appointed a Companion of the Order of St. Michael 
and St. George. 
WE are glad to hear that the completed volume of the £‘Zoo- 
logical Record” may be expected before the end of the year ; 
the reports on mammals, birds, and reptiles were issued to 
subscribers six weeks ago, and those on insects are now ready. 
Two new botanical journals have recently made their appear- 
ance in Italy, named—according to the fashion of Linmea, 
Grevillea, and Heawigia—after the two distinguished botanists 
De Notaris and Malpighi. ‘Three quarterly numbers have now 
been published of Wotarista, a journal devoted to the interests of 
phycclogy, issuing from Venice, and edited by Sigg. De Toni 
and Levi. A very useful feature in this publication is the list, in 
each number, of the phycological literature, and the descriptions 
of all new species published during the quarter. J/alpfighia, of 
which the first monthly number is issued, edited by Sigg. Borzi, 
Penzig, and Pirotta, and published at Messina, is of a more 
general character. Besides reviews, short notices, and a biblio- 
graphy, it contains articles ‘‘On the Atomic Weights of Living 
Things,” by L. Errera; ‘‘On the Structure of the Nectaries of 
Erythronium dens canis,” by S. Calloni ; ‘‘ On Soredial Sporidia 
of Amphiloma murorum,” by A. Borzi; and ‘‘ Researches on a 
Species of Aspergillus,” by F. Morini. 
A CURIOUS custom of the natives of Java in the neighbour- 
hood of the Bromo volcano is recorded in the Straits Times of 
Singapore. It is said that whenever an eruption takes place, 
the natives, as soon as the fire (the molten lava no doubt is 
meant) comes down the mountain, kindle at it the wood they 
use as fuel for cooking. They keep in the fire thus made for 
years, and whenever it goes out through neglect, or for any other 
reason, they never kindle it anew from matches, but they get a 
light from their nearest neighbours, whose fire was originally 
obtained from the volcano. The fires in use up to the late out- 
burst in the native cooking-places were all obtained from the 
Bromo eruption of 1832. : 
THE issue for last year (No. 16) of the Hournadl of the Straits 
Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society does not contain much of 
specially scientific interest, although there are interesting papers 
on various subjects connected with the Malay Peninsula. Mr. 
Perham translates a very old and popular Dyak myth, and Mr. 
Hale, Inspector of Mines at Kinta in Perak, writes on mines 
and miners there. Some of the customs described are very 
curious. The Malay miner, the writer says, has peculiar ideas 
about tin and its properties. He believes that it is under the 
protection and command of certain spirits whom he considers it 
necessary to propitiate. He thinks the tin itself is alive and 
has many of the properties of living matter, that of its own 
volition it can move from place to place, that it can reproduce 
itself, and that it has special likes and dislikes towards certain 
persons and things. Hence he thinks it advisable to treat tin- 
ore with a certain amount of respect, to consult its convenience, 
and to conduct the business of mining in such a way that the 
tin-ore may, as it were, be obtained without its own knowledge. 
There is also an interesting vocabulary of the language of the 
Sulu archipelago, which is said to be a variety of the Bisaya of 
the Philippines. 
On Saturday M. Miclucho Maclay opened at St. Petersburg 
his small exhibition of ethnological objects from New Guinea 
and the Malay Archipelago in one of the halls of the Academy 
of Sciences, and delivered a lecture on Russian colonisation in 
New Guinea to the assembled visitors. 
Tue International Congress of Hydrology and Climatology 
met at Biarritz in the first week of October under the presidency 
of M. Durand Fardel. The number of members reached from 
800 to goo. 
THE National Fish Culture Association are constructing 2 
new hatchery, and making other improvements at their esta- 
blishment at Delaford Park, towards the expense of which they 
have received 200 guineas from the Fishmongers’ Company. — 
Donations have also been received from the Duke of Bedford, the 
Marquess of Exeter, Sir Albert K. Roilit, Mr. Mann, and others, 
towards the same object. : 
WE have received the report of the West Kent Natural 
History, Microscopical, and Photographic Society for the past 
year. The Presidential Address by the Rev. Andrew Johnson 
dealt mainly with the progress made in one branch of myco- 
logical science, the Aguricini, during the last twenty years, 
starting from the publication of Berkeley’s ‘‘ Outlines of British 
Fungology,” local Societies such as this are, we think, best 
judged by the local work they do, not by the lecturers they may 
succeed in getting to address them. 
men of eminence who will consent to address local Societies can. 
be obtained without very great difficulty if approached in the 
proper way, but to have good local papers a Society must have 
local members capable of good steady scientific work. In this 
respect the West Kent Society is not wanting, for the principal 
paper in this report is one by Mr. Spurrell, entitled *‘ A Sketch 
of the History of Rivers and Denudation of West Kent,” which 
is an exhaustive account of the geology of the neighbourhood, 
which may be presumed to be specially within the scope of the 
Society’s work. It occupies about fifty pages, and has a con- 
siderable number of plates and illustrations. 
Fro the Report for 1885 of the Australian Museum, Sydney, 
we learn that the Museum is open to the public from ro until 5 
o’clock (or in summer till 6 o’clock) on week-days, on Sundays 
from 2 o’clock to 5. The largest attendance on any one day was 
1686. The greatest Sunday attendance was 1230. The average 
daily number of visitors throughout the year was 264 on week- 
The total for the year was 126,512. 
days and 844 on Sundays. 
The collections are still being increased, by means of purchases, 
exchanges, and donations; also by collecting and dredging 
expeditions, A list of these additions, under separate heads, 
Good-natured scientific — 
a a is 
