1899] NE WS 1 73 



The U.S. Fish Commission steamer "Fish Hawk" has gone to Porto Rico 

 for the winter. The party it carries will, says Science, make a careful study of 

 the various forms of life in the waters about the island, and incidentally the 

 fauna and flora of the land will be studied and collections made in various 

 branches of natural history. The material will be submitted to specialists, and 

 their united papers will form a comprehensive report on the natural history of 

 the island. Professor B. W. Evermann is in charge, and he will be assisted on 

 the part of the Fish Commission by Mr. H. F. Moore, E. C. Marsh, and others. 

 Entomology will be cared for by Mr. August Brusck, of the Department of 

 Agriculture, while Mr. A. B. Baker will represent the National Zoological Park. 

 Mr. A. H. Baldwin goes as artist. 



Dr. Carl Aurivillius, of Upsala, left Stockholm on January 6 to renew his 

 observations in Java, the Sunda Islands, and possibly Timor. He will make 

 general zoological collections in this interesting but still little known region, and 

 make special studies on the fauna of coral reefs. While on his voyage he will 

 conduct researches on the plankton of the Indian Ocean and the sea around the 

 Sunda Islands. The expense of this will be paid out of the Lars Hierta 

 Memorial Fund ; but the general cost of the expedition will be defrayed by the 

 J. A. Wahlberg stipend (awarded for the first time) as well as the larger of , the 

 State travelling stipends. 



Prof. A. C. Haddon writes to Nature that his expedition has now completed 

 its work in Torres Straits. Dr. Rivers and Mr. Wilkin have left for England, 

 while the other members of the expedition have proceeded to Borneo to study 

 the anthropology of the Baram district of Sarawak. The health of the party 

 has been excellent. 



The natives of Murray Island were studied with most detail, as, owing to 

 their isolation, they have been less modified by contact with alien races. Some 

 of the party stayed about four months on the island, others only a couple of 

 months, having made a trip to the mainland of New Guinea, where they visited 

 the coast tribes between Kerepunu and the Mekeo district, and took several 

 excursions for short distances inland. There was not enough time spent at any 

 spot for a thorough investigation of the natives, but a considerable amount of 

 information was obtained in most of the branches of anthropology with which 

 the expedition is concerned ; and this will prove of value for purposes of 

 comparison. Over a month was spent in Mabuiag (Jervis Island) by all the 

 party, with the exception of Messrs. Myers and M'Dougall, who had previously 

 started for Borneo. Although the time spent in Mabuiag was short, a satis- 

 factory amount of work was accomplished, owing to the conditions being 

 favourable. Observations were also made on several other islands in Torres 

 Straits and in Kiwai, which is situated at the mouth of the Fly River. 



A large number of photographs have been taken, and considerable collections, 

 which are now on their way to Cambridge, have been made. 



Dr. C. F. Millspaugh, the botanist, and E. P. Allen, the photographer, of the 

 Field Columbian Museum, Chicago, left New York on December 21 for the West 

 Indies on Mr. Allison Armour's yacht " Utowana," in order to make as complete 

 a collection of the flora as possible. 



In a letter to Aftonbladet, Mr. Stadling of the Andree Search Expedition, 

 complains that his telegram from Yeneseisk was transmogrified beyond recogni- 

 tion, and gives the following account of his travels : — After 300 miles stormy 

 voyage through the delta, they were frozen up on an uninhabited island in the 

 sea west of the Lena delta and about 100 miles from the mouth of the Olensk. 

 After seventeen days they were able to obtain dog-sledges from the interior and 

 to proceed over the sea. Reindeer took them from the mouth of the Olensk 

 over 300 miles of uninhabited tundra to Anabar, thence in a north-westerly 

 direction near to the mouth of Chatanga Creek, and so southwards to Chatangs- 

 koje. Crossing the Taimyr peninsula, they took a more northerly direction 



12 NAT. SO. VOL. XIV. NO. 84. 



