374 
MA TORE 
% 
To sum up, more than two-thirds of the work of making 
the canal is now in execution, under formal engagements 
with contractors. The problem of the canal has been 
solved in principle. The period of installation or prepar- 
ation has been succeeded by one of execution, based on 
a definitive programme, accepted by those who must 
carry it out, the Company itself maintaining an attitude 
of rigorous surveillance. 
NOTES 
THE fifty-eighth meeting of the German Association of 
Naturalists and Physicians will this year meet at Strassburg. 
Notices of communications and abstracts of papers should be 
sent to Herr J. Stilling. The meeting will commence on 
Thursday, September 17, and terminate on September 23, 
THE local committee of the American Association has issued 
its second circular containing the general programme of the 
meeting at Ann Arbor. The meeting will be called to order on 
Wednesday, August 26, at 10 a.m., when Prof. Lesley will 
resign the chair to President-elect Prof. Newton of New Haven, 
and the usual addresses of welcome will be delivered, In the 
evening Prof. Lesley will give his presidential address. On 
Thursday evening the citizens of Ann Arbor will tender a recep- 
tion at the Court House, and on Friday it is probable that a lawn 
party will be given on the University grounds. On Saturday a 
long excursion, as previously announced, will take place; on 
Monday a short excursion for the members of the Botanical Club 
has been planned, probably to the Tamarack swamp, one of the 
detached spots common in Southern Michigan where a northern 
flora has lingered under favourable conditions through the 
various climatic changes of later geologic times. It is probable 
that similar trips to points of local interest may be arranged for 
some of the sections. The chairman of Section C announces 
that the following subjects have been chosen for discussion : 
first, what is the best initiatory course of work for students 
entering upon laboratory practice ? second, to what extent is a 
knowledge of molecular physics necessary for one who would 
teach theoretical chemistry? In the discussion in Section D, 
mechanical science, of the best method of teaching mechanical 
engineering, in order that what is read and said may be to the 
point, the following classification should be observed : (a) schools 
of mechanical engineering ; (4) mechanic art schools for the 
education of superintendents, foremen, &c. ; (c) manual training- 
schools. The distinction between ‘mechanical laboratory 
practice” and ‘‘shop practice” should also be made and 
appreciated. 
THERE seems to be no doubt that Sir Nathaniel Barnaby is 
about to close his connection with the Admiralty as Director of 
Naval Construction. We shall be interested to see in what 
manner the new Government fills up the vacancy, and what 
treatment they give Sir Nathaniel’s successor, who, it is 
rumoured, may be Mr. W. H. White. As is known, Mr. 
White some time ago resigned his connection with the Admiralty 
for a far more lucrative post in Sir W. Armstrong’s works. 
‘But there is a difficulty in the way,” as the Pal/ Mall Gazette 
puts it. ‘Private firms can pay, and do pay, their chief con- 
structors twice, three, and four times as much as the Admiralty. 
Perhaps Mr. White may consent to sacrifice some thousands a 
year for the honour and glory of serving his country, but the 
time will come when scientific skill, like other commodities, will 
have to be purchased at the Admiralty at its market rate.” 
Perhaps a Conservative Government will show itself more alive 
to this aspect of the post than its Liberal predecessor. 
Dr. PAGENSTECHER, of Hamburg, has just described a new 
form of Frugivorous Bats from a specimen transmitted to the 
Natural History Museum of that city by Herr H. Soyaux, of 
Gaboon. JAfegaloglossus woermanni, as this new mammal is 
proposed to be called, is remarkable as belonging to the long- 
tongued division of the Pteropine Bats, which was not previously 
known to occur anywhere within the /£thiopian region. 
Megaloglossus is closely allied to Macroglossus and Melonycteris, 
and in some characters is intermediate between these two 
genera, In its dentition it also exactly resembles them. 
WE are informed by Dr. G. A. Guldberg, of the University 
of Christiania, that the fishery of rorquals or fin-whales (Ba/eno- 
plere) established at Vad6 in East Finmarken, for commercial 
purposes, continues to be turned to good account for scientific 
investigation. This year Dr. R. Collett, the well-known Nor- 
wegian naturalist, is visiting the place, and has already made 
many interesting observations upon the structure and habits of 
Rudolphi’s whale (Balenoptera borealts), which has been captured 
in considerable numbers during the latter part of July, although 
the great blue whale (2. szdsa/dii), generally so numerous, has 
not yet been seen upon the coast. This is attributed to the 
absence of the Zhyssanopoda inermis, a small crustacean on 
which the blue whale feeds. Rudolphi’s whale is called ‘“‘seje” 
or ‘*cod” whale by the Norwegians, as it appears on the coast 
at the same time as that fish, but its food is also a crustacean of 
a still smaller species than that which is the chief nourishment 
of its gigantic relative. It usually visits the coasts of Finmark 
between the months of May and August, and has lately been 
taken several times on the east coast of Great Britain (Firth of 
Forth, 1872; River Crouch, Essex, November 1883; mouth of 
the Humber, September 1884). Dr. Guldberg gives its average 
length as 40 feet, but says it sometimes attains 50 feet. Its 
shape is more elegant than that of the commoner species, 
B. musculus, which it otherwise resembles. Its colour is black, 
and does not show the bluish tint seen in the latter species and 
in B. sibbaldit. Tine sides are spotted with white, and the 
under parts are white with a faint reddish tinge. A new use to 
which the whales killed at Vad6 have been lately put is tinning 
their flesh, which is said to be wholesome, and to find great 
favour in Catholic countries, where, being fish according to the 
zoology of the Church, it is allowed to be eaten on fast days. 
WE have received the annual report for the past year of Prof. 
Spencer Baird, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, It 
includes an account of the work performed by the Institution 
itself, as well as that of the branches of the public service placed 
by Congress under its charge, namely, the National Museum 
and the Bureau of Ethnology. A sketch of the work of the 
United States Fish Commission and of the Geological Survey is 
added. We observe that the additions to the Museum are 
described as unexampled in extent, consequent partly upon the 
labours of the Geological Survey, of the Ethnological Bureau, 
of the first Commission, and of numerous miscellaneous explora- 
tions, both public and private. These various explorations are 
briefly described. Amongst the forthcoming publications is one 
on the Botany of North America, by Prof. Asa Gray, part II. 0 
which is inthe press, It comprises the Gamopetalous orders 
from Caprifoliacee to Composite inclusive. An enumeration by 
the author indicates that of the Cafrifoliacee there are 8 genera 
and 47 species; of Rudiacee, 26 genera and 86 species; of 
Valerianacee, 2 genera and 22 species; of Dipsacacee, 1 genus 
and 2 species (naturalised) ; of Comfostte, 237 genera and 1610 
species. It will form an octavo volume of nearly 500 pages. 
The geological map of the United States, commenced in 1883, 
has been completed and placed in the hands of the engraver. 
It was found, after collating all available data, that the know- 
ledge acquired is not sufficient to warrant the extension of geo- 
logical colours over the entire territory of the United States. 
Accordingly, California, Oregon, and parts of Montana, Idaho, 
Nevada, Arizona, Utah, New Mexico, and Texas remain 
[August 20, 1885 
