AruiL 2 2, 1909] 



NA TURE 



225 



tlic m:izr-; of a priori metaphysics, and thus prevented the 

 growth of a scientific Hellenic world. Had the scientific 

 method of inquiry and experiment been pursued, Greek 

 science would have been comparable with that of the 

 nineteenth century, and the whole course of history would 

 have been changed. 



Mr. R. H.tv Kenton has presented to the Natural 

 Historv Museum of .Aberdeen University his fine collection 

 of British birds' eggs — his labour of love for twenty years. 

 The entire collection consists of about 7000 eggs, and 

 includes good series of all the breeding species. There 

 are some interesting rarities, such as the eggs of Ross's 

 gull, the nesting place of which was discovered by Mr. 

 Buturlin in the delta of the Kolyma River in 1905. There 

 is also a fine series of cuckoo's eggs, about fifty altogether, 

 and the foster-parents' clutches. The last addition to the 

 collection was the egg of the great auk purchased a short 

 time ago in London. In handing over his collection to the 

 University, the generous donor makes the interesting state- 

 ment that his gift has been largely prompted by his 

 recollection of happy visits which he paid to the museum 

 in his boyhood. The bulk of the collection is now well 

 displayed in carefully protected drawers in the University 

 museum at Marischal College, and may be consulted by 

 all serious students. 



In reference to the recentlv recorded discovery of a 

 skeleton of a mammoth on the beach at Selsey, Susse.x 

 (March 25, p. 104), Mr. \V. J. Lewis Abbott writes to 

 express the opinion that nearly complete skeletons both of 

 this extinct elephant and of Elephas antiqtius are commoner 

 in English Pleistocene deposits than is usually supposed. 

 He thinks that the fragmentary nature of many of the 

 specimens recovered is due to unskilled collecting. To the 

 skeletons recorded from Ilford and Ealing, Mr. Abbott 

 adds one from Endsleigh Street, near Euston Station, 

 described by Dr. Henry Hicks in 1892, and one from 

 West Thurrock, Essex, discovered by himself in 1890. 

 Mr. E. Heron-.Allen informs us that the whole of the 

 bones recovered at Selsey have been collected by him, and 

 will in due course be deposited in the Natural History 

 Museum, South Kensington. The presence among the 

 remains of the right and left patella; and a metatarsal 

 bone, all three flawless, will enable experts to judge 

 accurately of the size of the animal when living. Mr. 

 Heron-.Allen adds : — " A superficial microscopical examina- 

 tion of the mud in which the skeleton was found has been 

 made by Mr. Clement Reid, F.R.S., and by myself, and 

 proves the deposit to have been fresh-water. The seeds 

 hitherto identified are those of the Potentilla comanim 

 (cinquefoil), Myriophylluni (water milfoil), Eleochnris 

 paiiislris (spike rush), Kauunculiis aquatilis (water crows- 

 foot), Zannichellia (horned pond weed), Carex (sedge, two 

 species), Potamogeton (pond weed), Stellaria (stitchwort), 

 and Hipptiris vulgaris (mares' tail)." 



In the report for 1908 of the museums and art-galleries 

 under the control of the Corporation of Glasgow, it is 

 mentioned that the total nuinber of visitors to these 

 institutions again touched a million and a quarter, and 

 this without any special new attraction. A number of new 

 specimens have been added to the natural-history collec- 

 tions. 



A MKTHOD of mounting rotifers and protista in Canada 

 balsam is described by the Rev. Eustace "fozer In the 

 Journal of the Royal Microscopical Society (February). 

 Various fixatives, namely, osmic, picric, and glacial acetic 

 acid, absolute alcohol, and formalin, are used, the choice 



NO. 2060. VOL. 80] 



depending on the species to be prepared. An important 

 feature is the performance of the processes of hardening, 

 staining, and dehydrating on a glass slip under a cover- 

 glass, which is kept from crushing the objects by a thread 

 of white cotton placed under one side. The fluids are 

 drawn off by placing blotting-paper outside the cotton 

 thread, the subsequent fluids being applied at the opposite 

 side of the cover. Euglenae and diatoms are amenable to 

 suitable modifications of the treatment. 



In the Museums Journal for March Mrs. Roesler (in a 

 paper read at the Ipswich Museums' Conference of 1908) 

 gives an account of the work done, chiefly by herself, in 

 the matter of instruction by American museums. To 

 teachers desirous of giving lectures to their classes on 

 special natural-history subjects, the American Museum of 

 Natural History offers the use of a class-room or lecture- 

 hall, and a lantern with a large stock of slides from which 

 to select. For classes desirous of visiting the exhibition- 

 hall, the museum also provides the gratuitous services of 

 an instructor, who meets the classes by appointment and 

 explains the collections. At the Boston Museum a 

 " docent " performs the same services for classes and 

 visitors for a small fee. The author then proceeds to 

 describe the arrangements for instruction made by herself 

 at the New York Museum. These hung fire for a time, 

 but eventually became much appreciated. Among the 

 arrangements are two courses — in spring and autumn — of 

 informal lectures for children, and the museum also pro- 

 vides several hundred cabinets of natural-history objects 

 for loan to the public schools of New York and its neigh- 

 bourhood. 



.Afforestation and timber-tree growing in Great Britain 

 and Ireland forms the subject of a paper read by Dr. J. 

 Nisbet before the Society of Arts, and published in its 

 Journal (March 26). It is mainly a criticism of the re- 

 port of the Royal Commission issued this year. 



An article is contributed by Dr. T. S. Hall to the 

 Melbourne Argus (February 20) on the national park which 

 has been formed by the Government of Victoria on 

 Wilson's Promontory, explaining the objects for which the 

 land is being reserved. It is intended to preserve the 

 indigenous plants growing on this area, and introduce 

 such native animals as the grey kangaroo, emu, and lyre- 

 bird. Certain parts of the promontory compare with the 

 famous arboreal and fern scenery around Healesville. 



Bulletins on plants poisonous to stock, ramie cultiva- 

 tion, and pure inaize seed have been received from the 

 Transvaal Department of Agriculture, and the same topics 

 are discussed by Mr. J. Burtt-Davy in his annual report 

 for 1907-8. Maize cultivation in the colony has received 

 a great impetus owing to the growth of an export trade, 

 and farmers are pressing for a supply of pure seed of 

 good quality. The bulletin points out how good seed may- 

 be obtained by selection or by breeding in accordance 

 with Mendelian principles. Three plants are noted as 

 being especially poisonous to stock, Homeria pallida, 

 known as yellow tulp, which grows with lucerne, but dies 

 down before the lucerne is ripe, Chailletia cynwsa, and 

 Urginea Burkei. 



A NEW journal, Mycologia, edited by Mr. W. A. Murrill, 

 in continuation of the Journal of Mycology, was initiated 

 in January. It is announced that each number will con- 

 tain a coloured plate of fungi in natural colours ; the 

 plate in this number illustrates five species of different 

 genera, including Boletus scaber and Hypholoma per- 

 plexum. The editor contributes a first list of American 



