256 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



Judging from the fauna, Poljakow concludes that the pres- 

 ent upper course of the Volga must have been joined to the 

 middle and lower course at a recent period, and in a measure 

 accidentally. In this respect the Sheksna is to be considered 

 the natural upper part of the Volga, as containing the very 

 same fishes as those of the river Bjelosero. 12 A, June 17 

 1875,134. . 





PHYSICAL CHAEACTER OF RODRIGUEZ. 



We owe our first reliable information of Rodriguez to the 

 members of the British party visiting that island for the pur- 

 pose of making preparations for the transit of Venus. This 

 j>art of the expedition was warned at the Mauritius that they 

 must take every thing they required for subsistence, as it 

 would be impossible to get any thing at Rodriguez. On 

 reaching the island they found the vegetation very rank, the 

 trees, however, of no great size, rarely forming a thick forest, 

 but scattered singly over the slopes of the island. The 

 most common tree seemed to be the vacoa (Pandemics), of 

 which there appeared to be four species. The undershrub is 

 very dense and spinous, rendering walking through it exceed- 

 ingly unpleasant. Neither ferns nor mosses appear to be 

 very abundant, but lichens are pretty plentiful. The rocks 

 are largely columnar and basaltic, showing that at some 

 period the island was exposed to volcanic action. Landing 

 on the island was difficult, owing to the extent of the coral 

 reefs. 12 A, October 29, 1874, 529. 



EXPERIENCES. OF THE " BASILISK " IN NEW GUINEA. 



The recent experiences of the British surveying ship, the 

 Basilisk, under Captain Moresby, to which we have already 

 referred, have added greatly to our knowledge of the charac- 

 ter of New Guinea and its inhabitants. To the three races 

 heretofore known upon the island namely, the Papuans on 

 the south, the Arfaks of the mountainous country on the 

 north, and the Malays of the northwest Captain Moresby 

 has added a fourth by the discovery of another, probably a 

 mixed race of Malays and Papuans, inhabiting the whole of 

 the eastern peninsula of New Guinea in its northern and 

 southern shores, from about 148 longitude to East Cape, 

 which is in 150 53', and the adjacent archipelago. 





