434 



NA TURE 



[August 31, 1905 



by Mr. J. A. G. Rehn on the brown grasshoppers 

 (Acridiidae) of Costa Rica, in the course of which a 

 number of new species are described. The collections 

 examined included nearly three hundred specimens. 



It may be remembered that the remains of James 

 Smithson, the founder of the Smithsonian Institution, 

 who died in 1829 and was buried in the English cemetery 

 on the heights of San Benigno, Italy, were removed to 

 Washington last year and formally handed over to the 

 Regents of the institution. The body, upon its arrival in 

 Washington in January, 1904, was placed temporarily in a 

 room in the Smithsonian building containing the relics of 

 Smithson. While resting there, the remains were examined 

 by medical experts and found to be in a remarkable state 

 of preservation. Meanwhile a small mortuary chapel was 

 prepared for them on the immediate left of the north 

 entrance of the Smithsonian building, and on March 6, 

 1905, the remains were brought to this chapel and, in 

 the presence of Ihr Ri L^riii,, if|,KiM(l in ili.' ..rJ-iiial i..mli, 



shown in the illustration, which has been reproduced from 

 the Smithsonian Quarterly (vol. xlviii.), where they will rest 

 until Congress makes adequate provision for their fitting 

 interment. 



In La Nature of July 29 Prof. E. T. Hamy, the well 

 known professor of anthropology at Paris, gives an 

 account, illustrated by reproductions from photographs of 

 the animal shortly after death, of a gigantic gorilla recently 

 shot on the Sangha River, Congoland. It is said to have 

 measured no less than 2 metres 30 cm. (7 feet 6| inches), 

 and the height of the carcase in a sitting posture reached, 

 as shown in the photograph, to the waist of a full-grown 

 native. Prof. Hamy believes the specimen to indicate a 

 new race, if not a new species, of gorilla. 



From the report on the museums of the Brooklyn 

 Institute of .^rts and Sciences for 1904 we learn that 

 special attention is being devoted to improving the in- 

 stallation of the children's museum. As first arranged, 

 this part of the exhibition series was found to overlap 

 in a considerable degree the ordinary collection, and steps 

 were accordingly taken to do away with this duplication. 

 Elimination, both from the museum and the illustrative 

 lectures, of material not likely to interest children has 

 also been undertaken, with the result that the collection 

 has been entirely re-modelled, and is now as suitable for 

 its present purpose as it can be made. 

 NO. 1870, VOL. 72] 



The chief feature of the July issue of the Emit is 

 formed bv the plates, one of which gives a full-sized 

 figure, from a photograph, of the New Calendonian kagu 

 {Rhinochaetiis jubatus), to which allusion has been made 

 previously in these columns ; while others (also from photo- 

 graphs) are devoted to the illustration of the parasitic 

 habits of Australian cuckoos, which appear to be very 

 similar to those of our own species. Of these three plates, 

 one represents a young bronze-cuckoo (Chalcococcyx) oust- 

 ing a blue wren (Malurus) from its rightful nest, the 

 second a young fan-tailed cuckoo (Cacomantis) in a brown 

 tit's (."^canthiza) nest, while the third shows a young 

 bronze-cuckoo in the nest of a brown tit. 



In the Zoologist for August the editor commences a 

 series of articles on the factors conducive to extermination 

 of species, dealing in this instance with natural as dis- 

 tinguished from human agencies. Unfortunately the 

 article is marred by several serious mistakes. We are told, 

 Inr instance, that " the opossum " is the only non- 

 \ustralian mammal, the cuscuses of Celebes and Cceno- 

 1. -.tes of Brazil being ignored; while in the same sentence 

 we are informed that monotremes are confined to New 

 Zr.iland ! Again, we are unaware what ground there is 

 I'.r the statement that fossil marsupials are known from 

 \sia. Minor errors, such as nummulitids for nummulites, 

 .i:c also noliceable. In the same issue is a very interest- 

 ing article by Mr. H. H. Patterson on the heronry at 

 Rnrdhani, Norfolk. In the case of a note on the occur- 

 niice of the lesser horse-shoe bat in Shropshire, the editor 

 might have pointed out that Noctilio is not the generic 

 litlc for these bats. 



The fourth volume of " The Museums Journal " (Dulau 

 ;nid Co.), edited by Mr. E. Howarth, covers the period 

 from July i, 1904, until June 30 of the present year, and 

 (Mntalns the report of the council submitted at the Norwich 

 Conference of 1904. Although now somewhat ancient 

 history, that report records continued progress on the 

 part of the association, both as regards membership and 

 funds for permanent investment. It is also satisfactory 

 to learn that the journal itself is becoming more and 

 more widely appreciated, and consequently shows a con- 

 stant tendency to increase in bulk. The museums 

 directory, or list of the museums in the United Kingdom, 

 is likewise proving larger than was anticipated, the volume 

 just received continuing the list from London to Staly- 

 bridge inclusive, together with supplements. One of the 

 difficulties which the editors experience is in getting local 

 curators to send in the names and objects of the institu- 

 tions under their charge. The attendance of delegates 

 from foreign museums at the last two conferences is 

 another satisfactory feature in connection with the progress 

 of the association, .'\mong features connected with 

 progress in regard to museum work, attention may be 

 directed to the adoption by the Museum of the Federated 

 Malay States of the card-system for the registration of 

 specimens. 



Much interesting information with regard to animals 

 in menageries and the evolution of museums on the other 

 side of the Atlantic is conveyed in a pleasant style in the 

 course of an illustrated article by Mr. E. S. Hallock pub- 

 lished in the August number of the Century Illustrated 

 Monthly Magazine. " The menagerie," writes the author, 

 " developed along with the circus, but differed from the 

 latter in being an animal-show pure and simple. . . . 

 Some menageries were stationary, while others travelled 

 from place to place in large vans." The "dime- 



