2 Notes and Comments. 



museum experience ; and certainly the salary offered will have 

 the effect of preventing applications being made from the 

 curators of any of the first-rate, or even second or third-rate 

 museums of the country, though it is common knowledge that 

 these gentlemen are by no means too handsomely paid. 



IMPORTANCE OF THE MANXHESTER MUSEUM. 



No ; it is painfully apparent that the Manchester Uni\'ersity 

 does not want a properly qualified Museum Curator. What 

 seems to be required is a good young man, who will do just as 

 the professors tell him, who will allow them to take the credit 

 for any improvements in the museum that he may effect ; but 

 who, from his exalted position as ' keeper,' may be at the beck 

 and call of all and sundry ; and must be responsible and take 

 the blame for anything that goes wrong. If the new keeper 

 gains any museum experience at all, it will obviously be at the 

 expense of the museum. The chief cause of regret in the whole 

 business is that the members of the Museum Committee should 

 show such palpable evidence of the little regard they have for the 

 magnificent — almost unrivalled — collections under their charge ; 

 and that they should fail to appreciate the importance of the 

 position the Manchester Museum has held in the past. As 

 things now are, can its Committee expect the support of its 

 subscribers and contributors to its collections that it has en- 

 joyed in the past ? We fear not. 



' MOORLOG.' 



' Moorlog ' is the name given to a tough peaty material, 

 which is frequently brought up from the Dogger Bank in the 

 nets of the trawlers. The pieces sometimes attain a length of 

 five or six feet, and are never more than eighteen inches in 

 thickness. A recent issue of the ' Essex Naturalist ' contains 

 a description of the material by Mr. Clement Reid, F.R.S., 

 and Mrs. Reid. Amongst the plants identified in the peat are 

 Ranunculus lingua, Menyanthes trifoliata, Betula alba, B. nana, 

 Sparganium simplex, Alisma plantago, Scirpus fluitans, Carex, 

 Lychnis flos-cticuli, Spircea ulmaria, Galium, Valeriana officinalis, 

 Lycopus europaeus, Sparganium ramosum, Epilobium, Pota- 

 mogeton, as well as mosses and ferns. In addition are the 

 remains of the following species of beetles : — Cyclonotum 

 orbicular e, Chlaenius holosericeus, Notophilus sp., Baris pilis- 

 triata, Donacia vulgaris, D. claviceps, Apion sp., Calathus sp., 

 and Chlaenius schranki ? 



Naturalists 



