8 NATURAL SCIENCE [January 



segments instead of the normal number, five. Mr Bordage men- 

 tions the observations of Messrs Bateson and Brindley on variation 

 in the number of tarsal segments in cockroaches' feet. They re- 

 garded five as the primitive number of segments ; Mr Bordage, on 

 the other hand, believes that the appearance of a four-segmented 

 foot in a species with normally five segments, must be considered as 

 a case of atavism. We are inclined to think that the presence of 

 the five-segmented foot in so many orders of insects raises a strong 

 presumption that it is a primitive character, and that a reduction in 

 the number of segments has been acquired in certain families ; 

 especially as the reduction is often most marked in insects which 

 are most highly modified for aquatic life. 



Swedish Akctic Expedition 



In addition to the information which we were able to furnish in 

 our last number, we now learn that Professor Nathorst has secured 

 a vessel, namely, the Antarctic, in which, it may be remembered, 

 Mr Borchgrevink accompanied Captain Kristensen and Mr Bull to 

 the south polar regions in 1893-95. The measurement of an arc 

 of the meridian on the east coast of Spitzbergen will, it is hoped, 

 be undertaken by another expedition, specially equipped for that 

 purpose, and will be the task of more than one year. The Swedish 

 organiser of this work is the astronomer Professor Jiiderin, and it is 

 hoped to obtain the co-operation of Russia. 



Apropos of Mr Borchgrevink, who is being financed by Sir 

 George Newnes, we note that he has bought the s.s. Pollux for 

 his forthcoming Antarctic expedition. 



German Deep Sea Expedition 



We learn from the London Daily Chronicle that a parliamentary 

 paper has been circulated among the members of the Reichstag with 

 reference to an item of Mk. 3 00,0 00 (£15,000) which will appear 

 in the Estimates in support of a German deep sea expedition. This 

 document passes in review the successful efforts made by other 

 maritime nations in this direction, and notably by Great Britain, 

 with the remarkable 'Challenger' expedition. Germany, it is pointed 

 out, is the only European nation with any pretensions to maritime 

 power which has taken little or no part in revealing the secrets of 

 the deep seas, and it behoves her now to make amends for her past 

 negligence, especially when the work to be done is still so vast and 

 so varied. Accordingly, it is proposed that a suitable steamer shall 

 be chartered and leave Germany next August. Her course would 

 be first between the north of Scotland and the Shetland Islands, and 

 then south to the Canaries and Cape Verde, along the West African 

 coast to the Cape, and to the currents of the Antarctic. Special 



