312 
Notes. 
M. Ch. Brongniart (“ Comptes Rendus ”) describes the wing of 
a gigantic fossil neurorthopterous insecft from the coal-beds of 
Commentry. The wing is 13 inches in length, and the insecft 
must have been nearly 20 inches in length and 27 inches in spread 
of wing. The insecft belongs to the extincft genus Dictyoneura, 
and is nearly allied to the Phasmidae of the present day. 
The complete success of the German Zoological Station at 
Naples, which has led to the foundation of similar institutions 
by England, France, and the United States, inspires the semi- 
official “ Norddeutsche ” with the following Chauvinistic reflec- 
tions : — “ The effecft of the thunder of Sadowa and Sedan is 
manifest also in the leadership of scientific enterprises which 
German courage and self-confidence have conquered abroad.” 
According to W. H. Penning the High-level Coal-field of South 
Africa covers an area of 56,000 square miles. 
Prof. Romer gives an interesting account of the Bone-caves of 
Ojcow, in Poland. A translation of his memoir is noticed in the 
“ Geological Magazine.” Bones of more than sixty species of 
vertebrate animals, extincft and recent, have been discovered. 
The specimens do not differ from those obtained from the Bone- 
caves of Moravia. 
Prof. Zittel (“ Geol. Mag.”) maintains, after careful examina- 
tion, that the hypothesis of a Quaternary sea over the Sahara is 
not supported either by the geological structure or the surface 
characters of the Desert. A moist climate prevailed in North 
Africa during the Quaternary period. 
We learn that at a meeting held in the rooms of the Royal 
Society it was resolved — “That in the opinion of this meeting 
there is an urgent want of one or more laboratories on the British 
coasts, similar to those existing in France, Austria, Italy, and 
America, where accurate researches may be carried on leading 
to the improvement of zoological and botanical science, and to 
an increase in our knowledge as regards the food, life, conditions, 
and habits of British food-fishes, and mollusks in particular, and 
the animal and vegetable resources of the sea in general.” Prof. 
Ray Lankester is Secretary to the Provisional Council appointed 
to carry out the objecfts of the meeting. 
[Should not one such laboratory be placed in Guernsey or 
Jersey ?] 
