154 



NOTES AND NEWS. 



A chapter is devoted to speculations on the future of mountain 

 building ; another traces concisely the physical and geological history 

 of the British Isles as contained in the 'record of the rocks'; and the 

 book concludes with a short summary of the authors theory. 



Whatever degree of adhesion one may be prepared to give to 

 Mr. Mellard Reade's propositions — and perhaps we should apologise 

 for criticising them at all on the strength of so brief an abstract — the 

 reader cannot fail to be interested in the great questions broached, 

 and to admire the ingenuity with which the leading principles are 

 followed into their various appHcations. The plates, both original 

 and reproductions, are well chosen and well executed, and the 

 explanations of them are clear. — A.H. 



>oc>< 



Reviews of several books must perforce stand over, including one of Mr. 

 Ridgway's ' Colour,' of which we shall have occasion to write in terms of high 

 appreciation, a notice of the second edition of Mr. H. B. Woodward's * Geology of 

 England and Wales,' and of Mr. Saunders' new ' List of British Birds.' 



NOTES AND NEWS. 



With reference to the paragraph from the Globe newspaper, as quoted in the 

 April number of Naturalist^ p. 1 1 5, it may amuse some of our readers to 

 learn that the mysterious Lincolnshire bird was— as we hear from Mr. Cordeaux — 

 a young Ciannet, in the dark and spotted plumage. 



>OD< 



It will be of interest to many readers to know that the Folk-Lore vSociety 

 include in their publications such works as one on the Folk-Lore and Provincial 

 Names of Birds, from the pen of the Rev. C. Swainson, which appeared a year or 

 two ago. 



XXX 



The Elizabeth Thompson Science Fund, established by Mrs. Elizabeth Thomp- 

 son, of Stamford, Connecticut, ' for the advancement and prosecution of scientific 

 research in its broadest sense,' now amounts to 25,000. As accumulated income is 

 again available, the trustees desire to receive applications for appropriations in aid 

 of scientific work. This endowment is not for the benefit of any one department of 

 science, but it is the intention of the trustees to give the preference to those 

 investigations wJiich cannot othertuise be provided for, which have for their object 

 the advancement of human know ledge or the benefit of mankind in general, rather 

 than to researches directed to the solution of questions of merely local importance. 

 Applications for assistance from this fund should be accompanied by a full state- 

 ment of the nature of the investigation, of the conditions under which it is to be 

 prosecuted, and of the manner in w^hich the appropriation asked for is to 

 be expended. The applications should be forwarded to the Secretary of the Board 

 of Trustees, Dr. C. S. Minot, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Mass., U.S.A. 

 The new grants will probably be made in May, 1887. The following grants have 

 been made : — $200 to the New England Meteorological Society for the investi- 

 gation of cyclonic movements in New England ; $150 to Samuel Rideal, of 

 University College, London, England, for investigations on the absorption of heat 

 by odorous gases ; $75 to H. M. Howe, of Boston, Mass., for the investigation 

 of fusible slags of copper and lead smelting ; $500 to Prof. J. Rosenthal, of 

 Erlangen, Germany, for investigations on animal heat in health and disease: 

 ■i^o to Joseph Jastrow, of the Johns Hopkins University, ]^>altimore. Md., for 

 investigations on the laws of psycho-physics. 



Nataralist, 



