164 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



The Toynbee Hall Educational Session was 

 opened on October 4th, when a large proportion of 

 the two thousand students attended the Annual 

 Conversazione. 



Mr. John E. Phillips, of Woolhampton, Berks, 

 has forwarded to us a specimen of his patent slate- 

 cleaner. It is a most useful and ingeniously con- 

 structed article and we only wish they had been in 

 existence in our own school days. 



Our correspondent, Mrs. Emily J. Climenson, 

 the contributor of " Notes of a Home Naturalist," 

 has lately issued an Illustrated Guide to Henley-on- 

 Thames. Amongst much valuable information of 

 a local character is a flora of the district, by Mr. 

 G. Stanton, of Park Place Gardens, and notes on 

 its geology. In the latter, the authoress has had 

 the assistance of Mr. Llewellyn Treacher, of 

 Twyford. 



The annual meeting of the Conchological 

 Society of Great Britain and Ireland was held at 

 the Manchester Museum, Owens College, when 

 Professor Sydney J. Hickson, D.Sc, F.R.S., was 

 elected President for the ensuing year, in place of 

 Mr. J. Cosmo Melvill, F.L.S. The report was of 

 a satisfactory character, and the financial statement 

 of the Society's revenue and expenditure shows a 

 substantial balance in hand. 



Now that the Conchological Society has quite 

 settled in its new home in the Manchester Museum, 

 we hear that its members show increased activity 

 in assisting, either by reading papers and exhibits, 

 or, equally useful, in a passive manner by regular 

 attendance. We often think that if members of 

 scientific societies would attend more frequently at 

 the meetings, they would do more than many of 

 them imagine towards obtaining good papers and 

 exhibits, which thin meetings so successfully 

 discourage. 



The " Proceedings of the Bristol Naturalists 

 Society " for 1895-96 are to hand, in the modest form 

 of a seventy-two page pamphlet, illustrated by a 

 portrait of Professor William Ramsay, F.R.S., 

 who was associated with University College, 

 Bristol, from 1880 to 1887. 



We fear that natural science does not offer 

 many charms to the quarter-million inhabitants 

 of the large city of Bristol, if judged by the report 

 of the local Naturalists' Society. There is a 

 general tone of " out-of-dateness " about it, which 

 is lamentable. Even the presidency of the 

 Biological Section is given as " vacant." Our 

 copy of the " Proceedings " was forwarded to an 

 address which has not for years past been that 

 of SciENCE-Gossip, nor is it even of the former 

 publishers. That is only a small matter, for 

 " London " is sufficient to reach us either editorially 

 or to the publishers ; but it shows, as the 

 Americans would say, that Bristol biologists should 

 "buck-up," or the loan of ^28 iis. 8Jd. from 

 capital account will have to be increased if the 

 society is to be kept going. 



Mr. Edward Wilson, F.G.S., the Curator of 

 the British Museum, has issued the seventh edition, 

 dated September last, of the official " Guide to the 

 Museum." It contains several new features, and 

 is sold for one penny. 



Those of our readers who see the monthly 

 journal, "The Ornithologist," may have noticed in 

 last month's issue an article on " The Quest of the 

 Erne," which was taken from Science-Gossip 

 of the same month, without the permission of the 

 Editor or knowledge of the author. 



Among the latest Government Scientific publica- 

 tions of the United States of America is an 

 important one on "Some Mexican and Japanese 

 Injurious Insects, liable to be introduced into the 

 United States." The work is issued by the Division 

 of Entomology in the Department of Agriculture. 



On October 6th, about seventy courses of lectures 

 and classes commenced at Toynbee Hall, in sub- 

 jects varying from Cookery to the practice of 

 Bach's Concertos and the study of Kant's Ethical 

 Theory. Science includes " Missing Links," a 

 course in Biology, by Mr. Chalmers Mitchell, and 

 " Industrial Chemistry," by Mr. John Wade. 



Among Messrs. Chapman and Hall's announce- 

 ments of forthcoming works to be published by 

 that firm is " The Naturalist in Australia," by Mr. 

 W. Saville-Kent, F.Z.S., which will contain seven 

 coloured plates and many other illustrations. There 

 is to be only a limited edition of five hundred copies, 

 at three guineas each. 



A movement is on foot for the protection of the 

 African elephant, which in the face of the rapid 

 development of civilization on that continent, 

 seems likely to be exterminated. There ought not 

 to be much difficulty at the present period for an 

 international agreement to found some immense 

 public reserves for the conservation of the 

 elephants and other animals in a state of nature. 



The first parts of a new work on " British Birds 

 with their Nests and Eggs " have been issued by 

 Messrs. Horace Marshall and Son and Messrs. 

 Brumby and Clarke, of London, in two-shilling 

 monthly parts. The articles are by specialists in 

 Ornithology, and the drawings are well executed 

 by Mr. F. W. Frohawk. In size the plates and 

 letterpress pages are 10 x 12J inches, or royal 

 quarto. 



The South London Entomological and Na- 

 tural History Society will not hold one of 

 its large exhibitions this autumn. There will, 

 however, be a special evening on November 26th, at 

 the Society's rooms, for the exhibition of varieties 

 in any branch of natural science. This Variety 

 Exhibition should be one of exceptional interest tO' 

 naturalists generally, who are invited to attend and 

 also to exhibit specimens. 



There seems to have been a small flight this 

 season of " Camberwell-beauty " hutterHies (Vanessa 

 antiopa) over Northern Scotland, where its occur- 

 rence is rare. Specimens have been recorded from, 

 several localities extending over a considerable 

 range of country. We have not seen any of these 

 examples, so cannot speculate whether they came 

 from Scandinavia or North America, by way of the 

 Faroe Islands. There is a distinct racial difference 

 between the European and American forms of this 

 handsome insect ; the latter having the white 

 borders more thickly dusted with small dark spots. 



