574 ; Seientifie News. [September, 
— It should be stated hat the review of Ganin’s Metamorphoses of 
Insects in the July NATURALIST was contributed by Baron C. R. Osten- 
Sacken. As the original was in the Russian language, no one else in 
this country was probably competent to perform the task. 
— Captain Howgate, U. S. N., has obtained from the friends of his 
Polar colonization plan the means of chartering the schooner Florence, 
which sailed July 25th from New London for the arctic regions, for the 
purpose of making a preliminary exploration of Northumberland Inlet, 
with the view of establishing a post there next year. 
— The Académie Royal Danoise des Sciences et des Lettres proposes 
among its prize questions for the year 1877, the following: The gold 
medal of the Academy is offered in competition for memoirs, based on 
original research, respecting the external and internal structure met with 
in (a) individuals which turn to the left, as compared with that of those 
which turn to the right, belonging to the same species, as, for example, 
among Vertebrates, the flounder and other flat fishes, and, among Gas- 
teropods, the genus Verruca; (b) the same in species turning to the 
left, as compared with others turning to the right, which belong to the 
same genus, as, for example, the genera Fusus, Vertigo, Turritella, 
Chama, ete. ; (c) the same in genera turning to the left,.as compared 
with genera turning to the right, belonging to the same family, as, for 
example, the turbots and the true Pleuronectide, and the genera Clausil- 
ia and Pupa, Lanistes and Ampullaria, Physa „nd Planorbis, ete. The 
Thott prize of four hundred crowns is offered for memoirs on the anat- 
omy, life-history, and development of the species of Ligula, with special 
reference to their relationship to the Platyhelminths. Memoirs offered 
in competition for these prizes should be accompanied by figures and 
preparations which may serve as a guaranty for the correctness of the 
anatomical results obtained. 
— There will be room for one or two special students in zoology at 
the Peabody Academy in October. Address A. S. Packard, Jr., Di- 
rector Peabody Academy of Science, Salem. 
— The following is taken from the Philadelphia Ledger Supplement, 
May 5, 1877: — 
Mr. Epiror, — If you will, let me in a plain, simple way revive the 
memory of your oldest readers, feeling that some of them may visit the 
grave of Professor S. C. Rafinesque, Ronaldson’s Ground, Ninth and 
Bainbridge streets. Rafinesque was born in France, of parents in high 
position. He was an orphan, yet his means gave him a classical pw 
cation. He visited the four quarters of the globe. In his first trip al 
America he was shipwrecked on Nova Scotia, losing a part of his fort- 
une. Having spent one or two years in the United States he return 
to Europe. A few years later he returned to Philadelphia. E 
was a devoted naturalist. To conchology he gave much of his time 
labor, collecting a great variety of shells, publishing & volume illus- 
