1881. ] Proceedings of Scientific Societies. 759 
SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 
— At a recent meeting of the Anthropological Institute of 
London, Gen. Pitts Rivers read a paper on the discovery of flint 
implements in the gravel of the Nile valley, near Thebes. The 
worked flints were found imbedded two or three meters deep in 
stratified gravel. From this it appears that the evidence of human 
workmanship has been found in gravel deposits which had be- 
come so indurated that the ancient Egyptians were able to cut 
flat-topped tombs in it, supported by square pillars of gravel, 
which have retained their form uninjured to the present day, 
proving an enormously greater age for the flints imbedded in the 
gravel, some of which were chiseled out of the sides of the tombs. 
— Apropos of the sittings of the Concord School of Philos- 
ophers, the same newspaper reports the proceedings of a “ chinch- 
bug convention” in Kansas. It was stoutly maintained by the 
Philosophers of the Granger School, that chinch-bugs had long 
been an infliction to farmers ; but no one called them such names 
as one or two of the Concord philosophers bandy about; and we 
should much prefer being a chinch-bug, luxuriating in the open 
air, than like a venerable transcendentalist’s “soul,” to be pent 
up as if a mere Cysticercus in some one’s “ occiput.” 
© eminent botanists have recently died: Dr. L. Raben- 
horst, of Meissen (Saxony) was a well-known botanist and editor 
of Hedwigia. Among his numerous works was one on the 
fresh-water diatoms of Germany. Dr. M. J. Schleiden, a prolific 
writer, and author of “Die Planze” and “ Das Meer,” died at 
Frankfort, aged 77 years. : 
— The fresh-water jelly fish (Limnocodium) has reappeared in 
the Victoria Regia tank in the Botanical Gardens. Another writer 
in Mature speaks of sea anemones (Actinia) as living and flourish- 
ing in a fresh-water aquarium; no particulars are given as to the 
length of time, etc. ; : 
— The first part of a fourth edition of Griffith and Henfrey’s 
Micrographic Dictionary has appeared. It is expected to be com- 
pleted in twenty-one monthly parts. 
ao 
PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 
Natura History Society oF ILtinois,- June 12.—According 
to programme the members met at the Palmer House, where 
ness was transacted, among which was the organization of the 
entomologists into a separate section, with C. E. Worthington as 
President and G. H. French, secretary. The meeting in Chicago 
numbered about thirty, somewhat smaller than the Ottowa meet- 
ing, but that may be accounted for, perhaps, by the fact that the 
Proposed place for the field meeting did not afford so good an 
©pportunity for geologists, and hence they were out in smaller 
numbers, C4 om 
