January i8, 19 12] 



NATURE 



385 



a woman of the t\\pnt\ -second dynasty, who was found 

 with all her ornann n.t>, bead-necklaces, &c., including a 

 riny of five scarabs, one of them bearing the name of 

 Shishak, i]>- conqueror of Jerusalem, and on her nose 

 " >till lay ih.- small noso-ring of silver." Lastly, a burial 

 (if thi- tw'lftli (l\iiast\ !ii.'i\ be mentioned; its period is 

 !-;n(i\\n from an ameihysl ^carab, a stone rarely met with 

 ■- u>i(l foi" scarabs after tin time of ihi' Middle Kingdom. 

 riii-si- ixravatiuns have bciii carried on by Prof. Naville's 

 a-sistants, Messrs. T. I-]. r<(i, Wb.ittemore, J. P. Droop, 

 mtl the Hon. Robert Trefusis. On the arrival of Prof. 

 \aville this month, the work of completing the excavation 

 if the Osireion, the subterranean temple of King Meneptah 

 (the supposed Pharaoh of the Exodus) will be taken in 

 hand. 



.Mr. .\. Rose, CLE., British Consul at Tengyueh, 

 ■^'unnan, read a paper on the Chinese frontier of India 

 before the Royal Geographical Society on Monday, 

 Januar\ 15. The paper dealt mainly with the very 

 inti^resting problems of political geography which have 

 nccntly come into prominence in Asia, where China has 

 <jf late years been active in increasing her influence on 

 h.-r southern and western frontiers. The lecturer dealt 

 ■~|)' rially with that portion of the Chinese frontier which 

 Miaiclies with that of Burmah, tlie region witli which he 

 \\,i- iniiniately acquainted, and described a hurried march 

 to Ilpiniaw, close to the frontier. The frontier tribes 

 w( ie (le>,(ril)e(l and their characteristics discussed, while 

 nuich interesting information was given concerning the 

 -y^ienialic spri'ad of Chinese influence over this border 

 1 oinilr\ in which suzerainty is claimed by China. \r\ 

 jiieie^ting collection of dresses and of metal and other 

 olijei i> tnade by these wild border tribes was also e.xhibited. 

 A sixo.NU contribution by Dr. C. K. Edmunds, president 

 ')( (anion Christian College, on science among the Chinese, 

 ap]5ears in the January issue of The Popular Science 

 \lniithly. Some intimate students of Chinese literature 

 and life 1 laim that in many cases Chinese philosophy has 

 antii ipated the doctrines of modern science. During the 

 ^ung <iynasi\, in the centur\' 1020-1120 a.d., lived several 

 fainouv ( hinese philosophers, of whom (hu was the most 

 i!Ni ini^ui-lied, and it is in his writings tiiat the-,,, r'fer- 

 'iii. s ;ii. found which it is cJaime'd foresaw modern views. 

 Dr. I.ilinunds thinks it may be admitted that Chinese 

 j)lii'ioso|)hei -, entertained some general ideas concerning an 

 all-per\ ailing niedimii, iliai they had clear ideas on 

 nieriianical aciion and reaction, and very crude views con- 

 cerning ihe iran-lorniaiion of energy, which vaguely 

 suggi/st tlioM- held tcedax. He spps no just grounds for 

 Relieving that they held .uiv idea^ loniparaMe with the 

 modern vortex motion in ih'' .ither, of the (on^erxation of 

 ■ 'I' j''^\ . or ol bi<ilogii ,il or I o^inologii a! e\(ilulion. As he 

 |)oinl~ nul, \\\'' ni'lhod ul nuKleni s(i..nee js its (li-.t in^u isln- 

 i:\'^ I hai ai lei i-i i, , :iii,l ihi. vx;,. alniosl eoinplei,I\ larking 

 ■inion- ih,. Chin.-e, 



I \ the -mnniers ol 

 had ilie -ood forun 

 ji III ine ~|)i I irneiis i ,| 

 whii h |)roved lo i» Ion- 1 



-( iene... This is de.,1 iil„ 



o and loin Mr. Charles Koihs.hild j 



II ili-( o\ i-r on I |-e.-s near 1 he Sii'- 



niinnn' ll\ ol ili.- ||.,\ , hodid e,,,u|i ' 



!" ' •■ - |ii''\ lousK unkno\', n lo j 



Ml' 1\' \ . A. !■;. lialiui in ihe ! 



.|:nai;ir\ nuinher of llir /■.'/(/. -/ije/ei^w.s/ '.s M,>iill!l\' './a;,, o,, 

 as / , /aa//es, e/)((.s ml li ^, In 1,1, . 



K ihe aihninislr.al ion r.|ini!- lor n, , i)r. |, I'rar- 



-" ■'-■ • '■■' ■■' '!■• ' ■ ' 1- Mus.nin, p.l\S well-lies, IVelj 



■i lo ihal insiiiuiion li\ his 

 I i ): . \, , ,, ;i \, ,,,. ' now Siralheona prolessor 



'•' a .\Ie<iill rni\< isii--, I, poinlin^ out that during 



-Nu. 2203, VOL. 88j 



his eight years' term of oftu e ih,;. building was enlarged, 

 the collection greatly inci, as,,|, and SpoUa Zeylanica, the 

 museum journal, founded. During his own term of ofVice 

 Dr. Pearson is enabled to record continued progress in the 

 museum, but he pleads for further ext, nsion of the build- 

 ing, and likewise for additional libra r\ fumls. 



.\ccoRDiNG to the January number of The Muscmus 

 Journal, the experiment of giving illustrated explanations 

 of the exhibits in certain sections of the Royal Scottish 

 Museum on two evenings in each week to visitors has 

 proved a decided success. The demonstrations are now 

 held in the examination room of the University, which is- 

 sufficiently large to permit of the display of lantern illus- 

 trations of the objects in the collection, as well as of 

 others which serve to throw further light on the subject 

 of each demonstration. In the same issue an extract is 

 reprinted, without comment, from a daily paper in which 

 the writer alludes to musk-oxen, to say nothing of tigers, 

 as Russian animals ! 



For some years past the Trivandrum .Museum, Tra\an- 

 core, has issued only a brief summarv of each \ ear's work. 

 It has, however, been decided that fuller report- are 

 desirable, and the director. Colonel F. W. Dawson, hais 

 accordingly issued a combined report for the years 1004-0. 

 During this period the museum appe.ars to have made 

 good progress, a special feature being tji,- prep.u .tiion of 

 plaster casts of specimens that are diflicult to i)re|)are in 

 other ways. So excellent are ih, s,. c-ists (of which 

 examples may be seen in the Natural lli.siorx .Mus.uin, 

 South Kensington) that Dr. Willey, while diredor <it ilie 

 Colombo Museum, paid a visit to Trivandrum in oiaier to 

 learn the technique of these castings. .Anoilie,- f, ature of 

 the work of the museum is the number of (. taie.ms of 

 various species which have been acquired and d, s( ribed 

 during the period under review. 



To No. 18 of the Bulletin de VAcadcnnr Impcriale des 

 Sciences de St. Petersbourg, for i<)ii. Dr. X. \'. Nasonov, 

 director of the zoological museum of ilie ,1, .i(l,iii\ , com- 

 municates a well-illustrated paper— luiloi uinaie]\ in 

 Russian — on the mouflon and kindred sp, , ;, s oi wild 

 sheep, the greater and more important p.m of the memoir 

 being devoted to the forms commonly iiu hided under the 

 title of Gmelin's sheep (Ovis orieutalis). That species — 

 then regarded as a race of the mouflon — was described in 

 1824 by Brandt ;ui(l R.aizehurg, ami si.it, d to iiili.ihit the 

 " Ceraunian Mountains" of r,isi,i, ih,. (iink Islands, 

 and Cyprus. .\s Persia is first 111, niion,(l, th.it country has 

 generally been n/garded as the tyjie locality ; but Dr. 

 Nasonov accords this position to Cyprus, .ind therefore 

 reg.irds the Cyprian so-called O. opliion as ih. t\pi of the 

 species. The validity of this \iew will letn.ir, i .neful 

 consideration. In addition to the (■\|)ii,ui sh,-, p, ,'nriii,tlis 

 is 1,1k, n lo iiulude the .\rineni,in c^iiii-liiii .and til,' .\n,ilolian 

 <t\i,ilolu,i .IS local r.ices. On ihe other hand, ih- -]i.,n 

 I iini district , 01 i;;in,ill\ il,si 

 phinti in }>ii,iiiii . is 1 oiisah 

 • ■s, with .1 lo. .il r.ii I 1 ,1 \ /.'iini 1 1 1 oni 

 .111,1 .a siiop.il I isplhihinut II i from the 

 i<l-me lioni ihe limi 



from ill'' 



,\. < .unlh. r as 



S.lll .1 llisl illl 1 S] 



Ih,. l-.lhuiv Kan- 

 Isp.ah.an .li-lriil. 

 .iiiil horns il 

 of this noi.) 

 dire, lion of 



01 tillt'llis. 



occiput, wliil 

 l,ve| of Ih,- 



III, 



Dr 



N; 



1,' horns 



the form 

 (heir li])-- 



■ le, ih, Wilere.l 



so tli.-it their lips 

 teeth. The lo,.,l 



ll Ihe skulls 



I ih,. writer 



on the 



.,1 from 



behind the 



I" I,iw the 



(low n- 



:,.,,. ol the 



I . n , -how 



