1898] NEWS 439 
our quest for news of Andrée since last April. We have got our row-boat ready, 
and in this are now starting to cross from the Lena delta to the mouth of the 
Olenek. If we arrive in safety we shall from thence proceed in sledges to 
Chatauga, the Taimyr Peninsula, and the mouth of the Yenisei in our search. 
The botanist who has accompanied us thus far is now returning via Irkutsk.” 
Mr N. R. Harrineron and Dr Reid Hunt have returned to New York from 
an expedition to the Nile Valley, where they went to obtain material for the study 
of the life-history of Polypterus. The best fishing-ground was at Mansourah, 
forty miles from the sea. The study of this was expected to throw light on the 
relations of the Crossopterygian fishes to the Amphibia and the Dipnoi ; but 
unfortunately no embryonic material was obtained. Excellent collections were, 
however, made for other zoological purposes. 
Mr CorNELIUS VANDERBILT will provide funds for a botanical expedition to 
Porto Rico, to be undertaken by the New York Botanical Garden, under the 
direction of Dr N. L. Britton. The expedition left towards the end of October, 
and will collect for six months. 
News comes from Argentina that Dr Santiago Roth, of the museum of La 
Plata, has discovered a series of Mesozoic mammalian remains in the Territory of 
Chubut. Palaeontologists will await with great interest his promised memoir on 
the subject. 
THE report of the progress of the Ordnance Survey up to March 31, 1898, has 
been issued as a Parliamentary Blue-Book, which is thus summarised by The 
Times. Dealing first with England and Wales, the report states that the publica- 
tion of the revision of the cadastral survey on the 1-2,500 scale is proceeding as 
rapidly as possible, the total area published being 9,236 square miles, of which 
5,217 square miles have been published during the year. The revision has now 
been taken up of all the counties of England and Wales which were surveyed 
more than twenty yearsago. The publication of the revised maps on the 6in. scale 
has been hitherto much retarded by the publication of the new maps on this 
scale of London and the Tyneside towns. This latter work is, however, now 
approaching completion, and more rapid progress is expected in future. The 
total area on this scale published is 3,788 square miles, of which 3,609 square 
miles have been published during the year. With regard to the revision of the 
lin. map, which was sanctioned by the Treasury in 1893, the report states that 
the field-work of the revision was begun in 1893, since when the whole of England 
and Wales has been revised on the ground, with the exception of a few streets in 
the midland counties and North Wales, which will be completed this year. Of a 
total area of 58,527 square miles thus revised 14,643 have been revised during the 
year. The revised maps of 28,305 square miles have been engraved and pub- 
lished, 5,282 during the year. The general result to be obtained by the revision 
is that in 1899 there will be available to the public for the first time a lin. out- 
line map of the whole of the country, prepared on one uniform system, and with 
its principal details nearly up to date. It is further stated that the revision of 
the map in the scale of 4in. to the mile will follow on that of the lin. map, but 
cannot proceed very rapidly until the latter has been completed. After giving 
some details with regard to Scotland and Ireland, the report, in a summary and 
tabular statement of progress for 1897-98, shows that, so far as the original surveys 
of the United Kingdom are concerned, the town surveys for Great Britain and 
Treland, the 1-2,500 maps for Great Britain, the 6in. maps, and the lin. maps 
for Great Britain and Ireland have all been completed, while the hill engraving 
for the new series lin. map of England and Wales is proceeding, 4,262 square 
miles out of a total of 27,569 published on March 31, 1898, having been published 
in 1897-98. Considerable work has also been accomplished in the way of 
resurveying. 
