December 30, 1897] 



NATURE 



203 



those running at large in the park, and there is good 

 prospect of the herd of this aberrant and interesting 

 species increasing in number. A solitary male of the 

 previously imperfectly known Bedford's deer {Cervus 

 xanihopygus) has unfortunately succumbed to a linger- 

 ing decline, although happily not till it exhibited the 

 remarkable variation between the summer and winter 

 pelage. Roe deer, of course, flourish ; and recently there 

 was the opportunity of seeing the European, Siberian, 

 and Manchurian species, or races, living side by side. 

 The rare Chinese water-deer {Hydropotes) is represented 

 by a single doe, which exhibits to perfection the skulk- 

 ing habits peculiar to the species ; but a specimen of 

 Michie's tufted deer, which formerly was one of the 

 attractions of the collection, now adorns the museum at 

 the Abbey. Musk-deer do not belie their hardy nature, 

 and it is one of the most interesting sights in the park to 



marsh deer and pampas deer. Young e.xamples of each 

 of these two latter are, however, at the present ^^ime in 

 the collection, and as they are very carefully tended, and 

 the experience derived from their predecessors is avail- 

 able, it may be hoped they will survive. A tiny !ittle 

 deer, apparently referable to Mazama gymnotis, is also 

 among the newest arrivals, and its career will naturally 

 be watched with deep anxiety. Brockets have been tried 

 with hopeless ill-success, and the attempt to acclimatise 

 them has reluctantly been abandoned. 



During the very short period the collection has been 

 in existence it has included, counting red and fallow 

 deer, close on forty distinct species and races — no mean 

 record when it is remembered that the total number of 

 valid forms which have been exhibited in the London 

 Zoological Gardens since its foundation does not exceed 

 forty-eight. As every effort is being made to increase 



Virginian. 



Chital. 



Mouflon. Chital. 



Black- Buck. 



Mouflon. 



Caspian Red Deer. 



Fig. 2— The Chital Paddock at Woburn Abbey, with Chital, Virginian Deer, Caspian Red Deer, Mouflon, and Black-Buck. 



(From a photograph by the Duchess of Bedford.) 



watch these little deer bounding across their enclosure 

 in the manner so well-known to all Himalayan sports- 

 men. 



In marked contrast to the adaptability of the Oriental 

 deer to their new surroundings is the ill-luck attending 

 the introduction of most of the American deer, exclusive 

 of the wapiti. The only exception to this is the Virginian 

 deer, which flourishes and breeds, some mingling with 

 the chital herd, others roaming at will in the open park, 

 and a few taking up their abode in the immediate vicinity 

 of the Abbey itself These latter exhibit tameness and 

 fearlessness to an extraordinary degree — only, indeed, 

 exceeded by the members of a little herd of roe from the 

 Caucasus, one of which permits itself to be fondled like 

 a pet lamb. Black-tailed and, we believe, mule-deer 

 have been tried without success ; while the same ill-fate 

 has attended several examples of the South .American 



NO. 1470, VOL. 57] 



the Woburn collection, it bids fair to beat the record in 

 the number of species, as it already does in individuals. 



R. L. 



, THE LATE PROFESSOR A. SCHRAUF. 



THE comparatively small number of mineralogical 

 workers and teachers has been once more dimin- 

 ished, and to the recent deaths of Mallard, Daubree, 

 DesCloizeaux,. Sohncke, Retgers, Kenngott, Haughton 

 and Heddle, must now be added that of Albrecht 

 Schrauf, Professor of Physical Mineralogy in the Uni- 

 versity of Vienna, who has passed away, after long ill- 

 ness, near the end of the sixtieth year of his age. A. 

 Schrauf was born on December 14, 1837 ; he became 

 assistant in the Mineral Department of the Imperial 

 Museum of Vienna in 1861, and Keeper in 1867 ; after 



