THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



grant of ^50 for the practical expenses of the work incurred in 

 dredging and preservation of specimens and in their con- 

 veyance to specialists for exact identification, etc. The work 

 was commenced in July last, and a good deal has been done 

 both in the waters near Melbourne and in those near the 

 Heads. You will be interested to know that several members 

 of our Club are serving on that committee, and amongst them 

 Mr. Bracebridge Wilson, of Geelong, whose knowledge and 

 experience of the dredging grounds of Port Phillip are unique. 

 It is hoped, too, that memoirs of scientific value will be forth- 

 coming on the material acquired. 



The year has been signalised at the Melbourne University by 

 great developments. Students have been working ihrough the 

 first year of a scientific course for the newly-established Degree 

 in Natural Science. One of the most noteworthy features of 

 this course is that, after his first year of more general work, a 

 student is required to specialise, to devote himself to one only of 

 the four natural groups of sciences — to physics, to chemistry, to 

 biology, or to geology. We ma,y now look forward, then, to 

 having amongst us men well and thoroughly trained in these 

 sciences, who shall be able to speak with the authority of first- 

 hand knowledge, and who, by their presence and influence, will 

 be able to communicate to the University and to the common- 

 wealth more — much more — of general scientific culture than 

 could possibly be the case if all acquired the same smattering of 

 some of the elementary, but of none of the advanced, principles 

 and methods of all the sciences. Most satisfactory is the pro- 

 vision already made for practical work. Under the skilled 

 guidance of Dr. Masson. a well equipped primary chemical 

 laboratory has been erected, and is now in full working order. 

 There are signs that the great difficulties of furnishing adequately 

 a physical laboratory will be fairly grappled with. 



We are naturally most interested in the School of Biology. A 

 new chair was created at the close of last year, and has been filled 

 by the appointment of Professor W. Baldwin Spencer, of Oxford. 

 Professor Spencer was already distinguished in PZurope, on 

 account of his researches in embryology, and by his magnificent 

 monograph on the " Pineal Eye in Lizards." And he has shown 

 himself an enthusiastic worker in all departments of his subject 

 since his arrival in the colony. A first instalment of the Biologi- 

 cal Laboratories is approaching completion, and is expected to 

 be in readiness for the use of students in a few weeks. But 

 lately Professor Spencer has been joined by Mr. A. Dendy, 

 B.Sc, who has been previously engaged at the British Museum, 

 and is the author of one of the important monographs of the 

 Challenger Reports on the horny sponges. 



Additional " signs of the times" may, perhaps, be found in the 



