j:00 Letters, Ea.tr acts, Notes, ^c. 



(1907, p. 192) that large collections in Natural History have 

 been made by the Duke Adolf Frederick of Mecklenburg in 

 Karagweh, on the western side of Lake Victoria, and are 

 expected to arrive shortly in Berlin. The Duke proposes to 

 proceed to Lake Kivu, and subsequently to visit Lake Albert 

 and the Ruwenzori Mountains. The zoologist of the expedi- 

 tion is Dr. Schubetz. 



Rennell Island, Western Pacific. — In reply to a request for 

 a specimen of Woodfordia supeciliosa *, to be figured in 

 ^ The Ibis/ Mr. Woodford (Government Kesidence, Tulagi, 

 Solomon Islands, Aug. 19tli, 1907) writes to Sclater that 

 he sees no possildc chance of obtaining another example. 

 " Rennell is an island about 70 miles outside the Solomon 

 group, and very difficult to get at, as it is almost impossiljlc to 

 find an anchorage there. 1 managed to hang on a few hours 

 in fine weather, on the south side, and am one of the first white 

 men who have ever landed on it. I did not like to do any 

 shooting there for fear of frightening the natives, who are 

 a most unsophisticated community, pure Polynesians, not 

 Melanesians, still in the ' hoop-iron ' age. During my visit, 

 besides the bird, I got a new orchid, which has been described 

 at Kew as Saccolabium woodfordi. 1 noticed a Black-necked 

 Ibis breeding on Rennell Island, a bird which I have never 

 seen on the Solomons.^' 



In an article in ' Man ' (vol. vii. no. 3), on the natives of 

 Rennell, Mr. Woodford says the island is perhaps " as little 

 known as any in the Western Pacific.^' Here, then, is a fine 

 opportunity for some enterprising Member of the B.O.U. 

 to distinguish himself. — P. L. S. 



The Ptarmigan of Franz-Josef Land. — Mr. H. J. Pearson, 

 in his letter published in this Journal last year (' Ibis,' 

 1907, p. 509), has shown that a species of Ptarmigan {Lugo- 

 pus hyperboreus) was found in Alger Island, Franz- 

 Josef Land, by the members of the Ziegler Expedition. 



* See 'Ibis,' 1907, p. 501. 



