124 Proceedings of Societies. [ February, 
has commenced his great work on the Carboniferous fossils of Belgium, 
to contain 150 plates, 4to. After forty-five years of service the Belgian 
government has conferred upon him a pension, which will enable him to 
spend the remainder of his life in comparative independence. 
— The Congrés International des Américanistes will hold its second 
session at Luxembourg, September 10-13, 1877. The secretary, Mr. J. 
Schoetter, is very anxious that communications be sent at as early a date 
as practicable from Americans. He hopes that American savants will be 
induced to take as large a part as possible in this meeting, and that they 
will furnish matter enough for one volume of the Comptes rendus. 
— Karl Ernst von Baer, the eminent zodlogist and embryologist, died 
at St. Petersburg, November 29, 1876, aged eighty-five years. He will 
always be remembered for his classic work, Ueber Entwickelungsge- 
schichte der Thiere, 1828-37. In 1834 he resigned his chair of zodlogy 
at Königsberg and removed to St. Petersburg, becoming librarian of the 
Academy of Sciences. — Theodor von Heuglin, the traveler and zoöl- 
ogist, died at Stuttgart, November 5th, aged fifty-two years. — A well- 
known Scotch zoölogist, Dr. T. Strethill Wright, died October last, aged 
fifty-eight. 
— In order to furnish an opportunity for teachers in natural science 
and special students in geology to become acquainted with the methods 
of practical work in that science, a Summer School of Geology will be 
conducted by Prof. N.S. Shaler and Mr. Wm. M. Davis, Jr., assistant in 
geology, during six weeks in July and August, under the form of instruc- 
tion at Cambridge and an excursion through Massachusetts and into New 
York. The school will open early in July at the Museum of Comparative 
Zoölogy, in Cambridge. A fortnight will be spent in introductory work, 
and in short, daily excursions. The rest of the time will be divided be- 
tween the Connecticut Valley, the Berkshire Hills (Western Massachu- 
setts), and either the Helderberg or the Catskill Mountains of New 
York. In each locality some central point, characteristic of the district 
and easily accessible by railroad, will be taken for headquarters, and 
short excursions on foot or by rail will be made from it. Persons wish- 
ing to join the school should address Wm. M. Davis, Jr., 15 Summer 
St., Cambridge, Mass. 
— Professor Henry urges the establishment of a national museum at 
Washington, with the government Centennial collection as a nucleus, 
and the repaid Centennial loan as a building and endowment fund. 
PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 
New York Acapemy or Sciences. — Biological Section, October 
2d. Captain J. H. Mortimer exhibited a series of pelagic animals, suc 
as pteropods, Carinaria, Atlanta, Janthina, small cephalopods, crustacea, 
and the insect Halobatis, together with Salpa, Physalia, Porpita, Vellela, 
