SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



55 



SCIENCE GOSSIP 



Dr. J. W. Gregory's appointment as head of 

 the scientific staff of the National Antarctic Ex- 

 pedition is good, lie will return from Australia 

 in October next, to prepare the details of his side 

 of i he expedition. 



ONE satisfactory result of Her Majesty the 

 Queen's recent visit, to Ireland has been the re- 

 cognition of the merit as a photographer of our 

 correspondent, Mr. R. Welch, of Belfast. At the 

 request of the Congested District Board, Mr. 

 Welch submitted to (lie Queen a unique collection 

 of views of Western Ireland, which has resulted in 

 his receiving the appointment of Photographer to 

 the Queen by Royal Warrant. 



THE views submitted by Mr. Welch to the 

 Queen were not of the usual commercial character, 

 but in every case illustrated some scientific fact 

 relating either to natural history or ethnography, 

 many being geological sections and other views 

 obtained during the excursions of the Belfast 

 Naturalists' Field Club. 



IN connection with the Fauna and Flora Com- 

 mittee of the Royal Irish Academy, Mr. W. West, 

 F.L.S., of Bradford, has, with the assistance of 

 members of the Belfast Naturalists' Field Club, 

 been carrying out investigations with tow-nets on 

 Lough Neagh. The local microscopic and other 

 algae have received especial attention. The head- 

 quarters of the party have been at Toome, on the 

 northern end of the lake, by the outfall into the 

 Bann. 



Mr. Arthur Pearson's expedition in search of 

 recent specimens of giant sloths in Patagonia will 

 be under the personal direction of Mr. Hesketh 

 Pritchard, who will be accompanied by Mr. J. B. 

 Scribnoer, B.A., as geologist. Dr. Ray Lankester 

 gave an interesting address on the subject of these 

 sloths, in the afternoon of June 21, at the Zoological 

 Society's Rooms. If these gentlemen meet with a 

 specimen, there will not be much difficulty in 

 identification, on account of the animal's enormous 

 size. 



Two eggs of the extinct great auk were sold at 

 Mr. J. C. Stevens's Auction Rooms, Covent Garden, 

 on June 20th last. One was an unrecorded egg 

 from France, and attained a record price of 

 £330 15s. It is said to be the finest example yet 

 sold in the Stevens Rooms. Its length is 5^. inches, 

 though the usual length for these eggs is from 

 3j[ inches to 4^ inches. It is a perfect specimen 

 and of good colour. The second egg passed through 

 the same rooms in 1894, as recorded in Sciexck- 

 Gossip (vol. i., N.S., p. 75), when it sold for 

 1 75 guineas. At the sale of June 20th it reached 

 a price of 180 guineas. 



I'iii: somewhat notorious William Watkins, who 

 was apt to describe himself as the " Butterfly 

 King," and an advertising dealer in insects, died 

 last month at the age of fifty-one years. 



liv the death of Miss Mary lb Kingsley, niece of 

 the genial naturalist of thai name, an eminent 

 though unassuming traveller with the power of 

 acute observation is lost to science and sociology. 



Messrs. Ross, Limited, of London, have sent 

 as their catalogue of this season's optical instru- 

 ments and photographic apparatus. It contains 

 several items of novelty and much of general 

 interest. 



Mr. John Murray will issue in the autumn the 



late Charles Darwin's classic, "The Origin of 

 Species," in a cheap edition. \\'e also understand 

 that Dr. Dallinger is engaged upon a new edition 

 of Carpenter. 



Mr. James Shipman, F.G.S., some time ago 

 compiled a broad-sheet, illustrated in colours, of a 



"Vertical Section of the Stratified Rocks of the 

 British Isles" I'm- the use of the Nottingham 

 Natural Science Rambling Club. The compiler 

 has now published the sheet at half a crown for 

 the use of the general public. 



At the last meeting of the Royal Meteorological 

 •Society, Mr. J. Baxendale gave a description of a 

 new self-registering rain-gauge, designed by Mr. 

 F. L. Halliwell, of the Fernley Observatory at 

 Southport. This instrument is believed to closely 

 approach an ideal standard, and has the merit of 

 being constructed at a moderate price. 



We understand that the second volume of 

 Mr. Tutt's "Natural History of the British Lepi- 

 doptera" is completed, and will shortly be pub- 

 lished. The book is divided into two sections ; 

 the first hundred or so pages are devoted to " Meta- 

 morphosis in Lepidoptera, External and Internal 

 Morphology, and Phylogeny of Lepidopterous 

 Pupae "; the second part of the book dealing with 

 species. Following on the first volume, this next 

 portion cannot fail to attract considerable attention 

 among students of Evolution as well as of Classifi- 

 cation. 



The remarkable proposal, to which we have 

 referred on page 49, for a national storehouse of 

 objects of educational value, will, we hope, be 

 eventually adopted. Professor Pctrie's plan is 

 printed in detail in the "Journal of the Society of 

 Arts" for May 18th last, and is well worthy of 

 examination on account of the care with which he 

 has prepared his subject. Mr. William Matthew- 

 Flinders Petrie, D.C.L., LL.D.. Ph.D., is the 

 Edwards Professor of Egyptology in University 

 College, London, and well known for his successful 

 excavations of historic and prehistoric remains in 



Egypt. 



It is satisfactory to find that the Editor of 

 Science-Gossip has received a number of replies 

 to his invitation to form a London Field-Botany 

 Club. Those who have written will shortly receive 

 an invitation to a preliminary meeting to discuss 

 the plan. It is evident from the replies, and their 

 limited number <>ut of the seven millions of p< 0] le 

 inhabiting the metropolitan district, that field- 

 botany requires revivification. It is to be hoped 

 that this club will aid in the encouragemenl of a 

 greater interest in our native plants. A suggestion 

 is made that country members should also join. 

 It seems to be a good one. and will probably be 

 adopted. 4'he Editor will be glad to hear from 

 any who would care to communicate with him. 



