37§ NEJVS [NOVEMBER 



dredging cruise under the control of Mr. F. Farnell. The cruise, or rather series 

 of four cruises, lasted from February 18 to April 9. The coast-line covered 

 extended from Jervis Bay to the Manning River, and, except for a trip to Lord 

 Howe Id., the greatest distance from land was 25 miles. The depths at which 

 the trawl was lowered ranged between 10 and 90 fathoms. The fishes were the 

 chief object of study; about 100 species represented by 365 specimens were 

 collected, and Mr. Waite's preliminary " Scientific Report on the Fishes " was 

 published last year as an appendix to Mr. Farnell's " Report upon Trawling 

 Operations." Several species are new to the colony, while a few are new to 

 science. The entire scientific collections have been deposited in the Museum, 

 and the results will be published as a Museum Memoir, towards the expense of 

 which £400 was voted. On the last cruise to Lord Howe Id., heavy weather 

 was encountered, and the passage occupied seventy hours instead of the usual 

 thirty-six. Mr. Waite and Mr. Etheridge, who also was on this trip, were left 

 on the island for eleven days, since the Thetis was blown to sea in the gale. 

 They collected here some additional veiy interesting remains of Meiolania 

 platyceps, the peculiar extinct chelonian, which is also found in Patagonia. 

 Also by the help of Mrs. T. Nicholls they obtained an additional collection of 

 shells. A large number of sponges, anemones, corals, gorgonias, echinoderms, 

 crustaceans, and polyzoa were collected during the cruise. The number of 

 species was very great, and included many new or hitherto unrecorded from the 

 coast of New South Wales. 



Dr. Kishinouye and other Japanese zoologists have hired a two-storeyed 

 building on the shores of the Inland Sea, with the view of converting it into a 

 biological station. 



Professor J. Ijima has returned from a zoological expedition to Formosa. 



The Danish expedition to East Greenland, under the leadership of Lieut. 

 Amdrup, returned to Copenhagen on Sept. 1 3. It had investigated and mapped 

 the tract between 65° 50' and 57° 22' N. lat., hitherto unvisited by Europeans. 

 At one time it was inhabited by many Esquimaux, all of whom have now 

 perished. A collection of their skulls and other relics was brought home. 

 Botanical, geological, and zoological observations were made, as well as anthro- 

 pological measurements on living Esquimaux in other parts. Depots were left 

 at 60° 6' and 67° 15' N. lat. 



Dr. Carl Peters is said to have passed from Portuguese territory into 

 Mashonaland, after making some important discoveries of mica, saltpetre, and 

 diamonds. 



N attire reports that the Imperial Russian Geographical Society and the 

 Ministry of Agriculture have jointly arranged for a zoological exploration of 

 the Russian coast-line of the Pacific in the Far East. The expedition Avill also 

 work in conjunction with the " Society for exploring the Amur territory," and 

 it is intended to establish a marine zoological station at Vladivostock. 



The rumour is that Nansen will not undertake another north polar expedi- 

 tion, but that his next trip will probably be southwards. It is also rumoured 

 that the scientific interest of the British Antarctic Expedition is being threatened 

 by a predominance of geographical and physical considerations. It will be 

 deplorable if the biological problems are in any way overlooked, for the most 

 that can be said after all is that the Antarctic fauna has been touched and 

 scratched at. 



Mr. H. J. Mackinder, the Reader of Geography at Oxford, succeeded in 

 September in reaching the summit of the hitherto unsealed Mount Kenia in 

 British East Africa. 



Major Ronald Ross and his colleagues have been very successful at Sierra 

 Leone, having shown that certain mosquitoes {Anopheles sp.) there carry the 



