SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



35 



The International Meteorological Committee will 

 meet at Upsala on August 20th and following days. 



The Rev. Prof. T. Wiltshire has presented a 

 large collection of fossils, chiefly cretaceous, to the 

 Woodwardian Museum, Cambridge. 



The Macclesfield Park Committee have accepted 

 the offer of Miss Marion Brocklehurst to build a 

 museum and endow it with £100 per annum. 



A botanical garden has been established in the 

 mountains near Grenoble, at an altitude of 1,875 m -' 

 under the direction of Prof. P. Lachmann. 



The Lancashire County Council is taking over a 

 farm at Penwortham, for the purpose of devoting it 

 to agricultural experiment and instruction. 



The largest continuous distinct forest district in 

 Prussia is known as the Tucheler Haide, which 

 extends over an area of 35 square miles. 



A paper on " The Progress and Present State 

 of our Knowledge of the Acari," by Prof. A. D. 

 Michael, will be found in the "Journal of the Royal 

 Microscopical Society" for February. 



Mr. Richard Lydekker's new volume of zoo- 

 logical and geological essays is nearly ready, and 

 will be issued by Messrs. Witherby under the title 

 of " Life and Rock." 



The Hungarian Government has established a 

 Bacteriological Institute at Buda-Pesth, for the 

 study of infectious diseases and for general bacterio- 

 logical research. 



The Russians are to experiment with the culti- 

 vation of tea in the western limits of the Caucasus, 

 where the temperature is much the same as that 

 under which the plant grows in China. 



The Society of Arts have presented the Albert 

 medal to Sir J. B. Lawes and Sir J. H. Gilbert for 

 their fifty years' services to scientific agriculture, at 

 the Experimental Farm, Rothamsted. 



The splendid collection of over 300 specimens of 

 fossil plants of the carboniferous age, made by 

 Mr. Jas. M'Murtrie, of Radstock, has been added 

 to the Natural History Museum, South Kensington. 



The Eleventh International Medical Congress 

 will open in Rome on March 29th. The scientific 

 sections will get to work on the following day, and 

 continue until April 5th. 



Professor Bertrand, the Secretary of the Paris 

 Academy of Sciences, attained his jubilee of scien- 

 tific work on March 18th. A representative Com- 

 mittee of Professors was formed for the purpose of 

 striking a commemorative medal. 



Professor A. Liversidge concludes from his 

 experiments (Roy. Soc, N.S. Wales) that the gold 

 nuggets found in alluvial deposits have been 

 derived from gold-bearing rocks and reefs, and have 

 obtained their rounded surfaces by attrition. 



The Annual Dinner of the South London Ento- 

 mological and Natural History Society was held 

 on March 1st. A goodly number of members sat 

 down under the chairmanship of the President 



of the Society ; and the post-prandial speeches 

 were of an invigorating character. 



We have received from R. Friedliinder and Sohn, 

 of Berlin, " Natura.' Novitates " for January and 

 February, being monthly lists of the world's new 

 scientific literature, with prices. 



The December number, last to hand, of " The 

 Trinidad Field Naturalists' Club " contains an 

 account of a quank hunt, which is valuable on 

 account of a glossary of Creole terms used for some 

 plants and animals mentioned. The quank, by the 

 way, is the collared peccary (Dicotylcs tajucu). 



We are glad to find that the proposed abandon- 

 ment of "The British Naturalist" has not been 

 allowed to take effect. It is continued with renewed 

 vigour under the joint editorship of Joseph Smith 

 and Linnaeus Greening, assisted by John E. Robson, 

 the former editor. The numbers before us give 

 promise of a long career of usefulness. 



Mr. J. Wesley Carr, M.A., F.G.S., Curator 

 of the Nottingham Free Public Natural History 

 Museum and Superintendent of the Biological 

 Department of the University College, has, says 

 the February number of " Notts and Derbyshire 

 Notes and Queries," been recently raised to the 

 dignity of Professor of Biology at that local college. 

 He retains his curatorship. 



We wish to draw attention to the evening 

 classes in bacteriology, held in the Bacteriological 

 Laboratory, King's College, London, where there 

 are two courses : the one on general bacteriology, 

 dealing for the most part with the disease-producing 

 organisms ; the other with the bacteria and yeasts 

 producing fermentation, etc. Both courses are 

 interesting and serve as a good introduction to 

 microscopy, as part of each lesson is occupied in 

 practical work. Particulars may be had from 

 Dr. R. T. Hewlett, at the Laboratory. 



Nottingham Museum has been recently enriched 

 by a valuable collection of British and foreign 

 plants, presented by Mr. H. Fisher, formerlv of 

 Newark. The British section of the herbarium 

 contains a nearly complete set of about 2,000 species 

 and varieties, in all over 10,000 specimens. The 

 Flora of the Continent of Europe is well represented, 

 especially from Spain, which is almost complete ; 

 Russia furnishes a fine series of most attainable 

 plants, whilst many other regions, both alpine and 

 lowland, are largely represented. The Nearctic 

 region furnishes many types, as do South Africa 

 and the Bombay Presidency. Botanists in the 

 Midlands are to be congratulated upon having 

 accessible such a fine collection for reference. 



The January, February and March numbers of 

 the "Irish Naturalist" are to hand. The volume 

 for this year opens well with an article upon the 

 Irish wood-lice by Dr. R. F. Scharff. We are 

 pleased to find some one studying these little 

 worked terrestrial Crustacea. The Februarv 

 number contains a plate illustrating various species 

 with seventeen figures. There are other articles of 

 interest on the animals and plants of Ireland, and 

 several geological papers in these numbers. 



The Royal Meteorological Society has arranged 

 to hold at the Institution of Civil Engineers. 

 Westminster, from the 10th to the 20th of April, 

 their fourteenth Annual Exhibition of instruments, 

 photographs and drawings relating to the repre- 

 sentation and measurement of clouds. Considering 

 how important, though little understood, is the 

 science of meteorology, every effort should be 

 made to assist in making known these interesting 

 exhibitions. 



