successfully, For fun, commend me to Dr. M. C. Cooke. We who had the privilege of attending the Quekett Club Dinner on the 1st will not easily forget his description, "a la Hood," of the Chinese Ambassador's visit to the soirée. The Dr. said "He brought his own China mug to tea, and be admirably described his surprise when he saw a flea under the microscope. The Aquarium, at Westminster, is now well worth seeing, the tanks being fully stocked and the water bright. The latest addition—the Sharks, in the largest tank, ave vigorous, and give us a good idea of the Squalidæ. Mr. Carrrington, the naturalist, who has now the management of the fish department, has reduced the former terrible mortality of his proteges to an almost nominal rate, and may make the people of Birmingham hopeful of the future of their Aquarium when they see what difficulties lave been overcome. Mr. Carrington is on a tour in Italy, and, as be purposes dredging on the Sicilian coast, and visiting Dr. Dobrn’s most admirable of all Aquaria, at Naples, there will doubtless be something to see at Westminster, on his return, notwithstanding the loss of Pongo and the Whale.—W. J. S.
Gleanings.
Mr. Charles Darwin, the great Naturalist, has had the degree of Doctor at Laws conferred upon him by the University of Cambridge.
The Scotch Naturalist—From a letter we have received from Banff, we learn that Thomas Edward is busily occupied in preparing for publication further reminiscences of his life and labours as a naturalist. We are sorry to learn from our correspondent that he is suffering from bad health.
The Bakerian Lecture was delivered before the Royal Society, (Sir J. D. Hooker, President, in the chair.) on the 15th November, by Prof. W. C. Williamson, the subject being "On the Latest Researches into the Organisation of the Fossil Plants of the British Coal Measures, especially of the Calamites and Lepidodendra."
The Beginnings of Life is the title of the first of the Manchester Science Lectures of the current Session. The lecturer is Professor P. Martin Dancan, F.R.S.
The Royal Society's Medals for the year 1877 have been awarded thus:—The Copley Medal to Professor James Dwight Dana, for his biological, geological, and mineralogical investigations and for the valuable works in which his conclusions and discoveries have been published; to Mr. Frederick Augustus Abel, F.R.S., a Royal Medal, for his physico-chemical researches on gun cotton and explosive agents; a Royal Medal to Professor Oswald Heer, of Zurich, for his researches and writings on the Tertiary Plants of Europe, of the North Atlantic, North Asia, and North America; and the Davy Medal (first time of its award) to Robert Wilhelm Bunsen and Gustay Robert Kirchoff, for their researches and discoveries in spectrum analysis.
Chara Fragifera—The discovery of Chara Fragifera, (Durien,) as a British plant, by Mr. John Ralf, in a peaty pool, at Chy-an-hal, near Penzance, Cornwall, is recorded in the last number of the Journal of Botany.
