; 1884.] Proceedings of Scientific Societies, 1295 
_ This series, with its admirable illustrations, are most useful ad- 
_ juncts both for the beginner in zoology as well as the working 
embryologist. 
_ —During the quarter ending September Ist, 13,796 persons 
_ have visited the museum of the Peabody Academy of Science, 
_ the largest number on any one day being 456 July 1st, the day 
Barnum’s circus was in Salem. The most important accession 
to the museum has been a collection of lemur skins from Mada- 
gascar. i 
= — (C. H. Gilbert has been appointed Professor of Biology in the 
_ University of Cincinnati in the place of Professor W. G. Wetherby 
= resigned. Joseph Swain takes the place of Professor Gilbert as 
assistant professor in the University of Indiana. 
— George Bentham, the distinguished English botanist, died 
Sept. 10 at the age of 84. His Hand-book of the British Flora 
= was widely used in Great Britain, while Hooker and Bentham’s 
_ Genera Plantarum, finished a year ago, made his name familiar to 
= botanists the world over. His work in systematic botany has ex- 
_ tended over half a century, beginning in 1825. 
:0: 
PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 
ACADEMY oF NATURAL SCIENCES PHILADELPHIA, March 27, 
_ 1884.—Professor Lewis reported the discovery of itacolumite at 
_ two localities in Pennsylvania, one in Lancaster county, the other 
near Spring Mills, on the Schuylkill. He believed the itacolum- 
ite to be identical with the Potsdam sandstone. Mr. Hotchkiss 
_ gave details respecting the coal mine at Pocahontas, where 114 
_ Miners were recently killed by an explosion, and suggested that 
; the dry coal dust in the air of the mine, by mingling with the 
gases of the gradually rising galleries, may have been the cause 
Of the catastrophe. ; 
~ April 3.—Dr. Leidy called attention to the existence of a reef 
of Serpula dianthus at Barnegat bay. Mr. Ford reported the 
_ finding of several specimens of Mellita testudinaria on Anglesea 
. April 17.—Dr. C. Dolley suggested with regard to the so- 
called aa digestion of Salpa and Auchenia, an inter- 
Pretation totally different from the one usually received. -The 
