EDITORIAL GLEANINGS. 199 



As zoologists, we wish no prosperity to the " Bodle Street and 

 District Eat and Sparrow Club." Herstmonceux is a locality which 

 has shrined a more gentle and literary spirit. 



We learn that a Report on the Natural History Collections made 

 in the Antarctic Regions by the ' Discovery ' Expedition is to be pub- 

 lished by the Trustees of the British Museum, and edited by Professor 

 E. Ray Lankester, F.R.S., Director of the Natural History Depart- 

 ments. Already a long list of the names of naturalists are announced, 

 to whom the working out of the collections has been entrusted. All 

 enquiries concerning the zoological and botanical collections should be 

 addressed to Mr. F. Jeffrey Bell, British Museum (Natural History), 

 Cromwell Road, London, S.W. 



We have received the Report, 1903-4, of the Australian Museum 

 (New South Wales). The acquisition of specimens continues to be 

 dependent mainly on donations, supplemented by small purchases ; by 

 exchanges with other museums, and with private collectors ; and by 

 collections, the result of voluntary efforts on the part of members of 

 the Museum staff and correspondents. The Curator having had 

 opportunities of visiting Milton, the Darling River, and some of the 

 Caves, and Mr. Chas. Hedley, of visiting Northern Queensland, with 

 the authority of the Board, the result was the acquisition of numerous 

 specimens for the Museum collections, and much valuable information. 

 The additions to the library number 599 volumes, besides pamphlets 

 and unbound parts of periodicals ; and we notice in the balance-sheet 

 that no smaller a sum than £422 18s. has been devoted to this ex- 

 cellent object. 



" Postal Anomalies and their Effects " is the title of a reprint of 

 the speeches made in a debate in the Senate of Canada on Feb. 22nd 

 of this year. Its importance to naturalists is found in the detrimental 

 action of heavy postage in preventing a free circulation of scientific 

 and other magazines in Canada. We learn from the speech made by 

 Hon. Sir George Drummond, that a most serious discrepancy occurs 

 in the postage rates for newspapers, magazines, and periodicals, which 

 Canada conveys to England at the rate of half a cent per pound, 

 while the rate from England to Canada is no less than eight cents 

 per pound, and the rate from the United States to Canada is one cent 

 per pound. It is difficult to imagine on what principle the Imperial 



