240 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



A skeleton of the moa was recently sold at Mr. 

 J. C. Stevens' auction rooms, Covent Garden, the 

 price reached being forty-eight guineas. Captain 

 F. W. Hutton, F.R.S., set up the bird from bones 

 obtained at Enfield, New Zealand. 



At the Geological Congress to be held at St. 

 Petersburg, Professor Androussow will propose, 

 with the unanimous approbation of his assistants, 

 to make an international floating geological station 

 for the study of the geology of the bottom of the 

 sea, and of marine sedimentation. 



Our readers will find in the December " Irish 

 Naturalist " an interesting account of two natural 

 history excursions to the outlying islet of Rockall, 

 in the Atlantic. It is from the diary of Mr. R. 

 Lloyd Praeger, B.E., and, although a landing was 

 not effected on either occasion, the article is most 

 readable. 



At the last meeting of the Biological Society of 

 Washington, Dr. M. G. Motter presented a paper 

 on " Underground Zoology," the result of careful 

 examination of several disinterred human bodies, 

 with a view to discover the species of animals, and 

 especially insects, present, in order to test Megnin's 

 " Application of Entomology to Legal Medicine." 



Lovers of nature will hear with pleasure that 

 the preservation is announced of the celebrated 

 Lofty Down Rise, above Ventnor, Isle of Wight. 

 The estate, which comprises several hundred acres 

 of downs on the highest land in the island, has 

 been presented by the owner, Mrs. Evans, to the 

 town of Ventnor, for the use of public recreation. 



A meeting of teachers of botany and zoology 

 was held on November 30th at the Linnean 

 Society's rooms to protest against the new regula- 

 tions for the Intermediate Science Examination of 

 London University, in so far as candidates are to 

 be allowed, from 1899, the choice of any three of 

 the following four subjects, viz., (a) Mathematics, 

 (b) Chemistry, (c) Physics, (d) Botany plus Zoology. 



It is very properly felt that this arrangement 

 would have the effect of practically barring the 

 section d ; as candidates to pass successfully in it 

 will have to prepare themselves in t%vo distinct 

 subjects, instead of one as in each of the former 

 sections. It is the more surprising that these 

 subjects should have been bracketed, when they 

 are fully recognised in every science school as 

 separate branches of knowledge, taught in separate 

 laboratories by separate teachers, and tested by 

 separate papers for examination. 



A memorial has been sent round for signature, 

 which we have gladly signed, drawing the attention 

 of the Senate of the University of London to the 

 urgent necessity of amending forthwith the new 

 regulations above referred to, "as the result will 

 clearly hinder the progress of botanical and 

 zoological science throughout the country, and 

 will prejudice London graduates in the competition 

 for teaching and other posts." 



The new Potsdam refractor, when finished, will 

 be the largest in Europe, its aperture probably 

 reaching nearly thirty-two inches. 



The Catholic University of America has just 

 lost the director of its astronomical observatory,, 

 by the resignation of Dr. Searle, who is succeeded 

 by Mr. Alfred Doolittle. 



Mr. Ernest Swinhoe, of Avenue House, Oxford, 

 has issued his priced catalogue, for 189S, of Indian, 

 African and American butterflies and moths. It 

 includes upwards of two thousand species. 



The naturalists, especially the botanists, of 

 Cape Colony have lost by death Mr. Leopold 

 Marquand, C.M.G., an authority on ferns, and a 

 kindred spirit in other branches of natural science. 

 He had been Surveyor-General of the colony 

 where he was born. His celebrated private 

 ferneries in Cape Town were one of the sights of 

 the city. 



We hear from a correspondent that several cor- 

 morants have been shot on Ullswater in the act of 

 diving for trout. In fact one bird had one of these 

 fish, weighing over half-a-pound, in its mouth when 

 obtained. It is estimated by local anglers that a 

 full-grown cormorant will consume seven pounds 

 weight of trout every day during their unwelcome 

 visits to the lakes. 



Messrs. Lovell, Reeve and Co. are about to 

 publish a series of " Monographs of the Genera of 

 Lepidoptera," at a net price of 7s. 6d. per part. 

 Each of the twenty-four monthly parts will be an 

 independent work. The first is by Miss E. M. 

 Bowdler-Sharpe, on the genus Teracohis, and the 

 illustrations of all the known species of the genus 

 will be by Miss Maud Horman-Fisher. 



We observe from the last report of the Clerken- 

 well Free Library that the science of Biology is 

 popular among its readers. During the eight years 

 the Library has been open sixty-eight works on 

 Biology have been issued over 2,800 times. These 

 include books on Evolution and the methods of 

 scientific research. Two copies of Darwin's 

 "Descent of Man" have been issued over 200- 

 times, or equal to the most popular novels. 

 Clerkenwell is largely a workman's district, and 

 generally considered " rough." 



Mr. Passmore Edwards has offered to build a 

 Museum at West Ham, adjoining the Technical 

 Institute, to contain the collections of the Essex 

 Field Club. The conditions are that the Museum 

 be maintained by the Corporation of that town, as 

 a permanent Institution, and that it is open on 

 Sundays. The Museum is intended to illustrate 

 the county of Essex generally. The small museum, 

 in Queen Elizabeth's Lodge, near Chingford, at 

 present containing the Essex Club's collections, 

 will be confined to objects from Epping Forest. 



Preston Scientific Society is now installed in 

 its new abode, which has been redecorated and 

 furnished by the Society. The rooms were pre- 

 viously occupied by the museum, and have been 

 granted to the Society, at a nominal rental, by 

 the Town Council. The Society numbers about 520 

 members, including many of the scientific leaders 

 of North Lancashire. It is divided into sections 

 devoted to astronomy, botany, geology, microscopy, 

 natural history and photography, which hold inde- 

 pendent meetings, though affiliated under the 

 general council. 



