EDITORIAL GLEANINGS. 333 



At the Aunual Meeting, on the 25th of June, of the Societe Nationale 

 d'Acclimatation de France, M. le Myre de Vilers, President, in the chair, 

 the large silver medal of the Society, bearing the portrait of Geoffroy Saint- 

 Hilaire, was decreed to Miss Eleanor A. Ormerod, of St. Albans, England, 

 for her work in Economic, or Applied, Entomology. Miss Ormerod will 

 be heartily congratulated by her numerous agricultural and other friends 

 on the receipt of this distinguished mark of appreciation of her dis- 

 interested labours. 



We read in ' The Shooting Times and British Sportsman ' that at the 

 end of May the Tyneside Naturalists' Field Club held their first meeting at 

 Beal, and inspected, with the permission of Mr. C. J. Leyland, of Hagger- 

 ston Castle, the large collection of animals and birds which he has collected 

 from all parts of the world. Perhaps the most important feature of Mr. 

 Leyland's collection is the herd of American Bison. In this connection 

 the owner of Haggerston Castle is conducting the experiment of attempting 

 to perpetuate, by breeding from animals kept in confinement, the American 

 Buffalo, which is rapidly disappearing from the North American prairies. 

 The herd exceeds thirty in number, and the results so far attained promise 

 that the experiment will be attended with a fair measure of success. Mr. 

 Leyland, who began his Bison experiment on a small scale about eight or 

 nine years ago, has added considerably to his herd, and there are several 

 additions as the result of cross-breeding with Highland Cows. The 

 little humped cattle of India and Afghanistan form another interesting 

 feature of the collection, as well as the Gnus, Antelopes, and Deer, not 

 omitting the Wapiti, or North American Deer, besides the Kangaroos 

 and Ostriches. An inspection was next made of a number of Nylghaus, a 

 species of Antelope from the Neilgherry Hills, several of which have been 

 bred on the Haggerston estate. The Indian cattle also were a fairly 

 numerous company. Among birds were Crowned Cranes from Africa, 

 Screamers from South America, Emus, Ostriches, and Black Swans from 

 Australia. An Ostrich was disturbed sitting on nine huge eggs, and beat 

 what some of the company termed a " cowardly " retreat, leaving the eggs 

 exposed. 



In these pages (ante, p. 41) we referred to a paper on " White Cattle : 

 an Inquiry into their Origin and History," in which the conclusion was 

 reached that these White Cattle " are simply the descendants of Roman 

 cattle imported into the country during the Roman occupation." We have 

 just received the Annual Report and Transactions of the North Stafford- 

 shire Field Club for 1898-99, which contain an illustrated paper by Prof. 



