24 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. VII. No. 158. 



Commissioners of Parks to the John H. Parker 

 Company for $347,019.00. The plans for the 

 great range of horticultural houses have been 

 completed, and specifications for them have 

 been printed. We hope to publish illustrations 

 and descriptions of these and of the Museum 

 Building in an early issue. The sum of $15,- 

 000.00, in addition to the funds provided by 

 the Act of Incorporation, has been made avail- 

 able for the building of portions of the drive- 

 way system. During the past season about 

 2,900 species of plants have been obtained, to- 

 gether with large quantities of Museum, Li- 

 brary and Herbarium material. 



The trustees of the British Museum have de- 

 cided to discontinue the opening of the exhi- 

 bition galleries on week-day evenings from 8 to 

 10 p. m. after the close of the year, and, in- 

 stead, to keep them open ( in alternate sections) 

 until 6 p. m. all the year round. The evening 

 opening commenced in February, 1890, on the 

 installation of the electric light, but the at- 

 tendance has been too small to warrant the 

 continuation. The arrangements for opening 

 on Sunday afternoon have not been altered. 



The schooner ' Prosper ' has arrived at San 

 Francisco with about 240 fur-seal skins from 

 the Galapagos Islands. It is a pity that 

 Ecuador has taken no steps to protect what is 

 left of the once valuable rookeries on these 

 islands, which, with proper care, might have 

 been brought in time to a paying basis. Of 

 course, every catch like that of the ' Prosper ' 

 lessens the possibility of so doing and increases 

 the length of time it would require. The 

 species, Arctocephalus townseridi, is only known 

 to science through a few skulls obtained by Mr. 

 Townsend some years ago when the seals were 

 not on the rookeries. 



The Secretary of the Treasury has issued 

 regulations under the Act of Congress prohibit- 

 ing the taking of seals by American citizens, 

 except on the Pribyloff Islands, and forbidding 

 the importation into this country of pelagic 

 sealskins. The regulations provide that no 

 sealskins, raw, dressed, dyed or otherwise 

 manufactured, shall be admitted to entry in 

 the United States, except there be attached to 

 the invoice a certificate signed by the United 



States Consul at the place of exportation that 

 said skins were not taken from seals killed 

 within the waters mentioned in said act, speci- 

 fying in detail the locality of such taking, 

 whether on land or at sea, and also the person 

 from whom said skins were purchased in their 

 raw and dressed state, the date of such pur- 

 chase and lot number. Consuls shall require 

 satisfactory evidence of the truth of such facts 

 by oath or otherwise before giving any such 

 certificate. 



A NEW laboratory for physical chemistry at 

 the University of Leipzig was formally opened 

 on January 3d, if the program was carried out. 



Me. John Milne writes to Nature that ar- 

 rangements have been made for the establish- 

 ment of horizontal pendulums, with photo- 

 graphic apparatus to record unfelt movements, 

 at Toronto, Harvard, Philadelphia, Victoria, 

 B. C, New Zealand (two), Batavia, Madras, 

 Calcutta, Bombay, Mauritius, the Cape, Argen- 

 tina, San Fernando and Kew, while a number 

 of other stations are under consideration. Seis- 

 mograms have already been received from To- 

 ronto. At his station on the Isle of Wight, for 

 purposes of comparison, Mr. Milne has also 

 two horizontal pendulums writing on smoked 

 paper, and very shortly a Darwin bifilar pen- 

 dulum is to be established. To this will be 

 added later a von Eebeur-Paschwitz apparatus, 

 with which type of apparatus Mr. Milne worked 

 for many years in Japan. 



In 1889 the late Francis B. Hayes placed all 

 his property in trust, providing that at his 

 death it might be willed to such charitable cor- 

 porations as he might select. He made the 

 Massachusetts Horticultural Society his residu- 

 ary legatee, and as there was some doubt as to 

 whether this could be regarded as a charitable 

 organization the matter was brought before the 

 Court. Judge Allen has decided that the be- 

 quest was permissible, and the Horticultural 

 Society will receive $300,000, as well as $10,- 

 000 left to it directly. 



The Massachusetts Board of Agriculture has 

 authorized an inspection of the spread of the 

 brown-tail moth, which was first discovered in 

 Cambridge and Somerville last spring, and 

 it has been found that it has spread greatly to 



