6o NATURAL SCIENCE. July. 



assisted forward. Ultimately the Congo was reached at Kirundo, 

 about a hundred miles above Stanley Falls Station, on September 21. 

 Here the travellers were most hospitably received by Baron Dhanis 

 and the officials of the Congo Free State, and, travelling by canoes and 

 steamers, reached the mouth of the Congo, and returned to Europe. 



We need not follow Count von Gotzen in his disquisition upon 

 the Congo Free State and its successful war with the Arabs, of which 

 he gives a lively account ; but we must say a few words about the 

 Appendix to his work, in which are contained several memoirs on the 

 natural history collections made during the expedition. These collec- 

 tions do not appear to have been very extensive, but it will easily be 

 understood that upon such an arduous and prolonged journey it was 

 impossible to convey much more than what was absolutely necessary 

 for the existence of the expedition. Of plants, a collection was made 

 on Kirunga at and above an altitude of 2,000 metres, and has been 

 worked out by Professor A. Engler and his associates at Berlin. 

 These plants are referred to seventy-nine species, so far as they can 

 be accurately determined, and tw^elve of these are described as new 

 to science. The plants, Professor Engler tells us, belong altogether to 

 types which are found on the other high mountains of tropical Africa 

 — such as Rubtis, Trifolium, Scheflora, Malabaila, AiolantJms, Pycnostachys, 

 Cineraria, and Senecio. These genera are also characteristic of the 

 highlands of Abyssinia, Kilimanjaro, and the Cameroons. 



Professor C. A. Tenne likewise gives an account of the rocks and 

 minerals brought home by Count von Gotzen ; and Dr. Karl 

 Kaseberg describes the Coleoptera, which do not appear to have been 

 very numerous, but embrace a few new forms. Finally, we may say 

 that the volume is beautifully illustrated, and furnished with two 

 excellent maps which show the route taken by the expedition from 

 the Indian Ocean to the Congo, and the exact dates on which it 

 arrived at and departed from every station. P. L. S. 



Some Serials. 



Our bright and useful contemporary, Science Gossip, has emerged from 

 the difficulties to which we have previously referred, by handing over 

 the business control to the Nassau Steam Press, Ltd., 60 St. Martin's 

 Lane, London, W.C., and by omitting the March, April, and May 

 numbers. The June number, which begins vol. iii., contains the first 

 part of an article, by the Editor, on the portraits of scientific men at 

 the National Portrait Gallery, illustrated by Miss J. Hensman. We 

 extract from this number the following editorial note : — ■ 



" We sincerely hope that the rumour is unfounded, which Sir 

 Henry Howorth refers to in Natural Science. It is to the effect 

 that the special collection of British Animals at the British Museum 

 of Natural History at South Kensington is to be distributed into the 

 general collection. We feel certain that the result would be most 

 disastrous to the encouragement of natural science studies in this 

 country. We know it is a department which is constantly referred to 

 in an unobtrusive manner by many young naturalists, who thus spare 

 the time and patience of the courteous assistants in the students' 

 rooms. Rather let us hope the collection may eventually be increased 

 by making it a completely typical reference Collection, where those of 

 the large number of persons who cannot visit the museum on week- 

 days may on Sundays compare their captures and obscure specimens 

 for identification. No such opportunity elsewhere occurs in London. 

 That the general public are interested in and educated by the special 

 British collection, one may easily find by listening to the surprised and 



