H2 NATURAL SCIENCE. Feb., 1896. 



A Copenhagen correspondent of the Daily Chronicle states that a Danish scientific 

 expedition, which has for its object the exploration of the Pamir district and 

 Kafiristan in Central Asia, will probably leave Copenhagen during the month of 

 March. The expedition will have for its leader Lieutenant Olafsen, and its final 

 equipment will be completed at Samarkand. 



At a meeting of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society held in Edinburgh on 

 December 19, Mr. Borchgrevink lectured on his recent voyage to the Antarctic 

 regions. Dr. John Murray, who occupied the chair, spoke of the interest connected 

 with a scientific expedition to the South Polar Seas, and regretted that Mr. Goschen 

 felt unable to recommend his colleagues to spend money or spare a vessel for such 

 an undertaking while the East was in its present disturbed state. The Royal 

 Geographical Society of London were considering the practicability of sending out 

 an expedition, independently of the Government, at an early date. If the money 

 necessary could not be collected, a party might perhaps be sent out with an 

 expedition that was proposed for killing blue whales. With ^5,000 the chairman 

 believed that arrangements might be made to send out twelve men with a 

 commercial expedition, who might be landed on the Antarctic continent and taken 

 off in the following year. 



Mr. Frank H. Cushing, of Washington, is in charge of an expedition to 

 St. Augustine, in Florida, for the purpose of exploring the islands of Florida Keys, 

 and of studying the tumuli recently discovered there. These are characterised by 

 numerous ornaments made from sea-shells. 



Professor Dyche, who was on the Peary Relief Expedition, has received 

 such offer of support as enables him to project another journey along the west coast 

 of Greenland in the direction of the North Pole. 



We are exceedingly glad to note a new departure by H.M. Stationery Office. 

 This is the reproduction of coloured geological maps by printing instead of by hand 

 as has hitherto been the case. We have received a copy of sheet 12 of the so-called 

 Index Map of the Geological Survey of England and Wales, on the scale of four 

 miles to the inch. It is the first colour-printed map ever issued by our Survey, 

 which we should imagine was alone among Surveys in sticking to the old-fashioned 

 process. This sheet, which includes the country round London, from Ipswich and 

 Bedford on the north to Petersfield and Battle on the south, is sold for 2s. 6d., 

 whereas the same coloured by hand costs 10s. 6d. The appearance of the map is 

 far smoother, and the printing more legible, especially where it underlies the darker 

 shades. To this must be added the advantage of greater accuracy, since hand- 

 colourists are not immaculate. Doubtless the sale of this map will encourage the 

 Stationery Office to proceed with the rest of the series, and even to extend the 

 method to the ordinary one-inch scale maps. 



Prince Albert of Monaco has rendered to the Paris Academy of Sciences an 

 account of the last expedition of his yacht " Princesse Alice," which lasted from 

 June 17 to August 12, and extended from Lisbon to the Azores and back again to 

 Havre. Besides taking many deep soundings and dredgings, the yacht captured 

 numerous animals at the surface by various means, the latter operation resulting 

 in the discovery of many new species of animals of all orders. The most interesting 

 part of the voyage was, however, the death of a sperm-whale on July 18. In its 

 last convulsions the whale threw up a large number of cephalopods of great size 

 and possessing many remarkable characters. One of these was particularly curious 

 owing to the polygonal scales which clothed its upper and under surfaces, and were 

 of a character hitherto unknown. The whale also furnished to the zoologists on 

 board a large number of parasites, and served the photographers as a subject for 

 numerous interesting plates. 



