At the Annual Meeting, on the 25th of June, of the Société Nationale d'Acclimatation de France, M. le Myre de Vilers, President, in the chair, the large silver medal of the Society, bearing the portrait of Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, was decreed to Miss Eleanor A. Ormerod, of St. Albans, England, for her work in Economic, or Applied, Entomology. Miss Ormerod will be heartily congratulated by her numerous agricultural and other friends on the receipt of this distinguished mark of appreciation of her disinterested labours.
We read in 'The Shooting Times and British Sportsman' that at the end of May the Tyneside Naturalists' Field Club held their first meeting at Beal, and inspected, with the permission of Mr. C.J. Leyland, of Haggerston Castle, the large collection of animals and birds which he has collected from all parts of the world. Perhaps the most important feature of Mr. Leyland's collection is the herd of American Bison. In this connection the owner of Haggerston Castle is conducting the experiment of attempting to perpetuate, by breeding from animals kept in confinement, the American Buffalo, which is rapidly disappearing from the North American prairies. The herd exceeds thirty in number, and the results so far attained promise that the experiment will be attended with a fair measure of success. Mr. Leyland, who began his Bison experiment on a small scale about eight or nine years ago, has added considerably to his herd, and there are several additions as the result of cross-breeding with Highland Cows. The little humped cattle of India and Afghanistan form another interesting feature of the collection, as well as the Gnus, Antelopes, and Deer, not omitting the Wapiti, or North American Deer, besides the Kangaroos and Ostriches. An inspection was next made of a number of Nylghaus, a species of Antelope from the Neilgherry Hills, several of which have been bred on the Haggerston estate. The Indian cattle also were a fairly numerous company. Among birds were Crowned Cranes from Africa, Screamers from South America, Emus, Ostriches, and Black Swans from Australia. An Ostrich was disturbed sitting on nine huge eggs, and beat what some of the company termed a "cowardly" retreat, leaving the eggs exposed.
In these pages (ante, p. 41) we referred to a paper on "White Cattle: an Inquiry into their Origin and History," in which the conclusion was reached that these White Cattle "are simply the descendants of Roman cattle imported into the country during the Roman occupation." We have just received the Annual Report and Transactions of the North Staffordshire Field Club for 1898-99, which contain an illustrated paper by Prof.
