114 



NA TURE 



{Dec. II, 1873 



closely resembles, in its mode of growth, Leiicosolenia botryoidcs, 

 but afterwards, in some instances, becomes massive and semi- 

 globose. It has been submitted for examination to Dr. Bower- 

 bank, who describes it as follows : — " In the young state, a con- 

 geries of thin fistuloe, like a Laicosolenia ,' when adult massive ; 

 furnished with numerous thin conical or cylindrical cloacal 

 organs, very variable in size and length. Surface of the mass 

 mooth and even ; small cloacre furnished with numerous long, 

 slender, acerate, external defensive spicula, projected ascendingly 

 at small angles to the surface ; large cloaca; nearly destitute of 

 external defensive spicula, furnished with a few long, slender, ace- 

 rate, procumbent spicula ; internal defensive spicula of cloaca: 

 spiculated, equi-angular, tri-radiate ; spicular ray, slender and 

 attenuated. Oscula minute, distributed on the inner surfaces of 

 the cloacJE. Pores unknown. Dermal membrane pellucid aspi- 

 culous. Skeleton spicula, equi-angulated and rectangulated, tri- 

 radiate ; radii slender and unequal in length, distorted ; colour, 

 cream white. Habitat, Brighton Aquarium, Henry Lee. Ex- 

 amined in the dried state." This sponge will be figured^ in 

 three several conditions of its development, in the forthcoming 

 third volume of Dr. Bowerbank's valuable monograph of the 

 British Spons;iada:, published by the Ray Society, and will be 

 known as Leiuonia Somcsii; Dr. Bowerbank '.having named it 

 after Mr. Somes, the chairman of the Brighton Aquarium 

 Company. 



A cORREsrONDE.NT of the SaHsiiian points oiit how desirable 

 a thin" it is that a marine aquarium should be erected in Edin- 

 burgh." "The city," he rightly says, "abounds in educational 

 establishments, to which such an institution would be an invalu- 

 able accessory. Great local facilities exist for the creation of an 

 aquarium, and were a scheme for that purpose but set on foot, 

 many willing hands would aid in its realisation. The cost would 

 not be great, considering the advantages to be obtained ; and it 

 is certain the establishment would be self-suppoiting." We 

 hope to see the matter earnestly taken up by proper hands. 



The fifth part of the illustrated work on Lepidoptera, domestic 

 and foreign, by Mr. Herman Strecker, of Reading, Pennsylvania, 

 has made its appearance. In the present part tlie iUustralions 

 relate entirely to the genus Catocala, of which one supposed new 

 species is presented under the name of C. pcrflexa, from the 

 vicinity of Brooklyn. Mr. Strecker merits particular commenda. 

 tion from the fact that this work is prepared exclusively by his 

 own hand, the illustrations being drawn on stone, printed, and 

 coloured by himself— and, if we mistake not, the type of the 

 text is set up by him likewise— all done in the intervals of his 

 daily labour as a mechanic. The expense of the work— fifty 

 cents per number- is such a mere trifle that w^e trust he will be 

 encouraged by a sufiicient subscription list to continue it to com- 

 pletion, increasing the number of plates, as he promises to do, 

 without any change in the price, should he receive the desired 

 patronage. 



The London Association of Correctors of the Press held a 

 conversazione on Saturday last under the presidency of Mr. B. 

 H. Cowper, editor of the Queen. We are glad to notice that 

 the principal items of the programme were of a scientific cha- 

 racter. Mr. E. R. Johnson, Chainrian of the -Association, read 

 a paper on the past work of the Association, enumerating some 

 of the papers and discussions on philological topics which had 

 encaged its attention, and while commending the study of philo- 

 logy, the advantage of an acquaintance with one or other of 

 the exact sciences was set forth. Mr. G. Chaloner, late Secretary 

 of the Association, and lecturer on Chemistry at the Birkbeck 

 Institution, enlightened the meeting as to some of the properties 

 of hydrogen, accompanying his remarks with appropriate experi- 

 ments. Mr. J. T. Young discoursed on the glacial period, and 

 exhibited some fossils illustrative thereof. The wonders of the 



microscope and stereoscope also contributed to the enjoyment o 

 the evening. 



The two scientific papers in the last number of the Qicarlerly 

 Journal of the Meteorological Society are : — " On some Results of 

 Temperature Observations at Durham," by Mr. J. J. Plummer ; 

 and " Notes on the Connection between Colliei-y Explosions 

 and Wealher in the year 1871," by Messrs. R. H. Scott, 

 F.R.S., and W. Galloway. The subject of the latter article 

 is of the greatest importance to miners, and, in connection with 

 it, we would call attention to a letter in yesterday's Times warn- 

 ing colliery managers of the present high reading of the baro- 

 meter. We are glad to see from the Repoit of the Council that 

 the Society has attained an exceedingly prosperous and alto- 

 gether satisfactory condition. 



No. XI. of Petermann's Alittheilnngen, contains a brief letter 

 from Dr. Richard v. Drasche, concerning his geological voyage 

 to Spitzbergen in July and August last. The letter contains a 

 few very valuable details as lo the physical and geological cha- 

 racteristics of the west coast of the island. 



Sir George Rose, F.R.S., died at Brighton on the 3rd inst. 

 in the 92nd year of his .age. 



Dr. Speier, of Fulda, has been appointed by the Japanese 

 Government as Professor cf Natural Sciences at Yeddo. A 

 very handsome salary has been guaranteed to him by the 

 Japanese Embassy at Berlin. Other appointments are expected 

 to follow in the departments of Experimental Physics and 

 Medicine. 



Apropos of the letter in this week's number on the 

 British Museum, we take the following from an article 

 in a recent number of Iron on "Our National Museums : " — 

 As at present constituted. Museums may be broadly di- 

 vided into three types : first, that of the South Kensing- 

 ton, Jermyn Street, and Bethnal Green Museums in London, 

 and the Albert Museum in Exeter, — a type of the actually useful 

 museum, where the artisan may see illustrations of manufactur- 

 ing operations, and the arlist may find examples of the master- 

 pieces of old. Here everything is neat, orderly, and simple ; 

 no object is without a label, which explains clearly what it is ; 

 and spectators need not wander about among collections of in- 

 comprehensible curiosities, which excite in their minds wonder 

 but no interest. The second type is that of the British Museum, 

 which is purely scientific. Museums like this are scattered over 

 the country, containing vast numbers of useful specimens buried 

 in drawers and cases, adorned with Latin labels ; museums 

 wherein the populace rove about with awe, partly at the mon- 

 strous objects displayed to their gaze and partly at the tre- 

 mendous names which they bear. These museums are only 

 fitted for scientific persons ; they are next to useless to others, 

 unless, as has been lately done in the British and Ipswich Mu- 

 seums, superintendents and curators are wOling to descend from 

 their high level and escort bodies;of the simpler folk through the 

 collections, giving as they go some plain account of the more 

 prominent objects. A third type of museum is scarcely to be 

 found in any national collection. It is usually seen in small 

 country towns, where dusty cases are arranged in ill-lighted 

 rooms, and are made the receptacle of mbbish brought by resi- 

 dent gentlemen from all parts of the world — one giving a collec- 

 tion of minerals for which he has not room ; another a few 

 drawers of butterflies of which he has grown tired. South Sea 

 islanders' weafons, elephants' tusks, and other spoils of the 

 chase are scattered about in comers and on walls, and the col- 

 lection of oddments is dubbed a " museum." Our readers can 

 draw on their own experience for other details on this subject, 

 and we are much mistaken if they do not agree with us that the 

 energy that is expended with but little useful result on our 

 local and national museums is almost or entirely thrown away. 



