288 NATURAL SCIENCE [October 1898 



shall be open to workers throughout the Australasian colonies. Subscriptions 

 to the Fund may be sent to the Hon. Treasurer, addressed to the College of 

 Pharmacy, Swanston Street, Melbourne. 



The Report of the Botanic Gardens and Domains of New South Wales for 

 1897, by Mr J. H. Maiden, has recently appeared, and contains full accounts 

 of the Botanic Gardens, Government Domains, Garden Palace Grounds, Centen- 

 nial Park, State Nursery at Campbelltown, &c. Mr Hugh Dixson has placed his 

 collection of Australasian orchids at the disposal of the Botanic Gardens, and 

 suitable accommodation is to be speedily provided for their reception. Parlia- 

 ment has also voted a sum of money for the erection of a building to house the 

 Herbarium ; the Library shows a steady progress. Altogether a very favourable 

 and hopeful report, and the first of a new series, which is to be continued annually. 

 The last report appeared in 1878. 



We learn from the Echo that 100 tuns of beer and 18,000 cups of coffee were 

 consumed at the Berlin Zoological Gardens on Whitsun Day. We are not 

 responsible for the statement, but, if true, it shows that zoology as an interest is 

 not likely to die out in Berlin. 



" Nature " for August 25 has an interesting article on " The Marine Fauna 

 in Lake Tanganyika and the advisability of further exploration in the great 

 African lakes," by J. E. S. Moore. Mr Moore prints a list of empty shells and 

 fishes previously known and also a list of the entire mollusca and fishes obtained 

 during his expedition. 



The Swiss Society Rambertia has laid out an Alpine Garden at Montreux, at 

 an elevation of 6000 feet, where the characteristic trees and flowers of the country 

 are to be cultivated. 



At the moment of going to press we learn that Dr Florentino Ameghino has 

 made a remarkable discovery. Details of a nocturnal quadruped have been 

 brought to him from time to time by Indians, and a few years ago the late 

 Ramon Lista actually saw and -shot at a mysterious creature in the interior of 

 Santa Cruz. Apparently bullet-proof, it disappeared into the brushwood, and all 

 search for it proved futile. Lista described the creature as a pangolin, without 

 scales, and "covered with reddish hair. Despite the fact that Lista was known to 

 be a good observer, Dr Ameghino could not help feeling that he was deceived. 

 Lista, however, has now been proved correct, for Ameghino received recently 

 from South Patagonia some fresh bony ossicles and a partially destroyed skin. 

 The ossicles were comparable to those of Mylodon, but smaller, and they were 

 embedded in the skin, like " paving stones in a street." The skin itself is two 

 cm. thick, and of such toughness that it could only be cut with a hatchet. 

 The surface of the skin itself shows an epidermis, not scaly at all, but covered 

 with coarse hair, four to five cm. in length, and of a reddish grey shade. This 

 Ameghino considers was the animal described by Lista, and as that naturalist 

 has unfortunately lost his life while exploring Pilcomayo, and was the only 

 civilised man who had seen it in the flesh, he names it Neomylodon listai. The 

 importance of the discovery need not be emphasised here. 



NOTICE 



To Contributors. — All Communications to be addressed to the Editor of Natural 

 Science, at 29 and 30 Bedford Street, London, AV.C. Correspondence and Notes 

 intended for any particular month should he sent in not later than the 10th of the 

 preceding month. 



