1894,] Proceedings of Scientific Societies. 287 
Dr. J. L. Wortman exhibited an almost entire skeleton of Patriofe- 
lis, recently acquired by the American Museum of Natural History, 
and discussed its probable relationships. From structural characters 
of limbs he regards this creodont as nearest the ancestral form of the 
seals. Its spreading digits appear to have been webbed, and its copro- 
lites show that its food material included turtles. 
Dr. A. A. Julien read a paper on a newly discovered fungus from 
the petrified forest near Cairo, Egypt. Its genus is probably Peronos- 
porites, and owing to remarkably perfect preservation its life history is 
to be determined. 
BasHrorp Dean, Rec. Sec. 
SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 
P. J. Van Beneden.—Professor Van Beneden, whose name is as- 
sociated with the history of zoology, died recently, at the age of eighty- 
five years. One of his many contributions in aid of scientific work 
was the establishment, at his own expense, of a maritime laboratory at 
Ostend, which has since served as a model for others. His work 
extended throughout Zoology from the Protozoa to the Mammalia. At 
the time of his death he was one of the faculty of the University of 
uvain. . 
Arthur Milnes Marshall, Professor of Biology in Owen’s Col- 
lege, Manchester, England, who was as mentioned in our last issue 
killed recently by an accident, was both an investigator and a teacher 
of much ability, and was the author of many valuable biological 
papers, and of a text-book of Embryology. He is remembered in the 
United States, which he visited in 1884, for his activity ot both mind 
and body. His loss is greatly regretted. It is proposed now to erect 
a suitable memorial. 
Paul Henri Fischer.—The Museum of Natural History of Paris 
has suffered a great loss in the person of Dr. Paul Henri Fischer, the 
Well-known zoologist and paleontologist, who died on November 29, 
after a long and painful illness. Born at Paris, on July 7, 1835, he 
received his early classical and medical education at Bordeaux. He 
became Tuterne des Hopitaux de Paris, in 1859, and obtained his degree 
of Doctor of Medicine in 1863. The study of medicine did not pre- 
vent him from devoting himself also to that of the natural sciences; 
