146 Obituary. 



to Adis Abeba, exploring on the way Southern Abyssinia 

 and Hanir. Separating himself here from Mr. Neumann, 

 who thence made his well-known journey to the Nile, Erlanger 

 travelled across Somaliland to Kismayu on the Indian Ocean. 

 This daring march — Somaliland was at that time in a state of 

 unrest — together with the explorations in Harar and round 

 Adis Abeba, resulted in the bringing home of 8000 bird- 

 skins^ about 1000 mammals, 400 reptiles, over 20,000 insects, 

 and specimens of 3000 species of plants. Only a small 

 number of the birds has as yet been worked out, but the 

 first portion of the new series of articles, with splendid 

 plates, has appeared in the ' Journal fur Ornithologie/ A 

 glance at it shews how careful and exact the author was — it 

 must be admitted often with quite unrivalled series to work 

 upon. 



The chief aim of Carlo von Erlanger was to study in every 

 detail the geographical forms (subspecies) of each species, 

 and to investigate the actual affinity of the various described 

 species and subspecies. He eagerly accepted Matschie's 

 theory that the watersheds between river-systems are the 

 principal demarcation-lines between the various forms. But 

 he was not one-sided, for he also collected eggs and made 

 biological observations, readily assisted by Mr. Hilgert. 



If it is a thousand pities that Erlanger did. not live to 

 work out all his collections himself, it is sorrowful to think 

 how much more he would have done afterwards — for he 

 actually had in his mind further expeditions to German 

 East Africa, to Turkestan and Thibet, and to the Polar 

 llegions. His love for our beloved science and his energy 

 were unbounded ; but he also took interest in other matters 

 and was very fond, of shooting and other field-sports and 

 much engrossed in his military duties as Lieutenant in 

 the 13th Hussars. Nothing pleasanter and more instructive 

 could an ornithologist do than to visit Erlanger in his home 

 at Nieder-Ingelheim on the Rhine, where Charlemagne's 

 Pfalz (castle) once stood. Whoever visited him there went 

 awav with regret that the time had flown so fast and with 



