January 27, 1899.] 



SCIENCE. 



157 



pages, 1898, is now being issued. As it deals 

 only witli the Britisli Columbian specimens of 

 the exhibition series, the value of the entire col- 

 lection is much greater than is suggested by the 

 Catalogue. 



The list of mammals includes information as 

 to the source of each specimen and the distribu- 

 tion of the species. The catalogue and index of 

 birds, including 339 species and sub-species, is 

 of all those in British Columbia, while the spe- 

 cies not represented in the Museum collection 

 are specially indicated by a check mark. It is 

 this mark which will enable the friends of the 

 institution to devote their energies to securing 

 the desired lacking specimens. Very little is 

 known of the birds of the northeastern part of 

 the province. It thus presents an attractive 

 field for research. There are seven cases of 

 bird groups. The catalogue of the study series 

 of 740 bird skins is not published, but it is avail- 

 able to students. The eggs are listed. 



Eeptilia, Batrachia, Tunicata, Lepidoptera, 

 Beterocera, Coleoptera, Crustacea, Echinoder- 

 mata, Mollusca are all catalogued. The lists of 

 fish, trees and plants, algte and the paleonto- 

 logical specimens are extensive. 



The ethnological collection is classified in the 

 list under ceremony, dress, amusement, crani- 

 ology, houses, monuments, fishing, war, travel, 

 domestic utensils and industries. In the intro- 

 duction to the list of ethnological specimens the 

 visitor is cautioned against assuming that the 

 Indians of British Columbia resemble the 

 Japanese or were influenced by foreigners prior 

 to European contact. Their difference from the 

 Indians of the Plains is mentioned. 



It is gratifying to have accessible so complete 

 a list of the natural history and ethnological 

 specimens of the whole province of British 

 Columbia and to know where most of the speci- 

 mens listed are available. 



Haelan I. Smith. 



SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS. 

 President McKinley has appointed as civil- 

 ian members of a commission to report on the 

 condition of the Philippine Islands : President 

 Schurman, of Cornell University ; Professor 

 Dean C. Worcester, associate professor of zool- 

 ogy in the University of Michigan, and Colonel 



Denby, for many years United States Minister 

 to China. President Schurman, who is chairman 

 of the commission, has been granted leave of 

 absence until the end of the present year, and 

 Professor T. F. Crane will during the year per- 

 form the duties of President. 



The sculptor Herr Ernst Herter has com- 

 pleted the statue of von Helmholtz, which is 

 to be erected in the court of the University of 

 Berlin, between the statues of the two Hum- 

 boldts. The monument will be unveiled in the 

 spring. 



Senator Platt, of Connecticut, has been 

 appointed a Regent of the Smithsonian Institu- 

 tion in the room of the late Senator Morrill, of 

 Vermont. 



Father Roderigues de Prada has been 

 made Director of the Observatory of the Vati- 

 can. 



M. Panas has been installed as President of 

 the Paris Academy of Medicine, while M. 

 Marey, the physiologist, becomes Vice-Presi- 

 dent. 



The following oflScers have been nominated 

 by the French government for its ' Bureau des 

 longitudes :' President, M. Poincare; Vice-Presi- 

 dent, M. Faye ; Secretary, M. Lippmann. 



Professor A. A. Miohelson, of the Univer- 

 sity of Chicago, will give, during March, at Bos- 

 ton, a course of Lowell lectures on ' Light 

 Waves and their Uses.' 



Nature states that the recent retirement of 

 Sir John Evans from the Treasurership of the 

 Royal Society, after a period of service of 

 twenty years, has given an opportunity for 

 Fellows of the Society to show their apprecia- 

 tion of the efficient manner in which he dis- 

 charged the duties of his office. It is proposed 

 to have his portrait painted in oil colors, and 

 to hang it on the walls of the Society's apart- 

 ments at Burlington House. 



The honors annually conferred on New Year's 

 Day in Great Britain include a K.C.B. on Pro- 

 fessor W. C. Roberts- Austin, professor of metal- 

 lurgy in the Royal College of Science, and a 

 K.C.M.G. on Mr. W. T. Thistleton-Dyer, Di- 

 rector of the Kew Botanic Gardens. Sir Henry 

 Thompson, a surgeon, who has also painted 



