Nov. 1 6, 1876] 



NATURE 



67 



)unt originally given by Goodsir, that the essential secreting 

 I cture of the breast develops from a matrix tissue at numerous 

 tiered centres, which are the same from which the surrounding 

 i.ii originates, and that the ducts arise out of the same matrix 

 tissue by direct aggregation of the embryonic cells along prede- 

 iuined lines. It is shown that in neither genus of Monotremata 

 s the mamma possess a duct-system, it simply being a follicular 

 ! gland. In the Cetacea these follicles open into a median un- 

 branched simple duct. In the Marsupials and all other animals 

 the ducts are branched, which causes the organ to be racemose. 

 It may be noted tliat it was during the prr secution of this inves- 

 tigation that Mr. Creighton was led to the correct determination 

 of the nature of the coagulation-appearances found in mucus and 

 other albuminous fluids. 



NOTES 

 We regret to announce the death, at Stuttgart, on the 5th inst., 

 of the celebrated traveller and zoologist, Theodor von Heuglin. 

 He was only fifty-two years of age, having been born in 1824, at 

 Ilirschlanden, near Leonberg, in Suabia. Von Heuglin had 

 received a comprehensive education and had well prepared himself 

 for his greater travels, by numerous visits to different European 

 countries and by wide study. In 1850 he made a protracted stay 

 in Egyjit in order to study oriental languages, manners, and 

 customs. After some visits to the interior of 'Arabia as well as 

 the east coast of the Red Sea, he became secretary to Dr. Reitz, 

 the Austrian Consul at Khartoum, and in that capacity visited 

 the Upper Nile districts and Abyssinia. When Dr. Reitz had 

 succumbed to the climate, von Heuglin returned to Khartoum, 

 and succeeded him in the consulate. As consul he visited the 

 White Nile, and eventually returned to Germany in 1856. Here 

 he published bis excellent "Travels in North-East Africa" 

 (Gotha : Justus Pertlie«, 1857), which had been preceded (in 

 1855) by his "Systematic Review of the Birds of Africa." He 

 again paid a visit to the Red Sea, and in i860 took the lead of 

 the expedition which was to find Vogel's traces, proceeding from 

 the last; Sleudner, Kieselbach, Hansal, Schubert, and Mun- 

 zingtr were members of this expedition, which, although acquiring 

 valuable information about the Gallas districts, failed in its prin- 

 cipal object. In 1862 von Heuglin returned to Khartoum with 

 Steudner, and in 1S63 made a fresh attempt to trace the course 

 of the White Nile. The results of these travels were published 

 iti Petermann's Mittheibm^en (1860-64). His merits were par- 

 ticularly great in ornithology ; his drawings are true to nature, 

 his descriptions exact, detailed, and extremely attractive. Also 

 in Aictic regions von Heuglin gave proof of greit intelligence 

 arid courage ; he was almost more successful as an Arctic ex- 

 plorer in 1870 and 1871 than as an African traveller. His work 

 on northern landscapes and animals (published by Westermann, 

 at Brunswicl<) is one of the most attractive and handsomest 

 records of travels yet published, and is highly esteemed by all 

 who are interested in Arctic exploits. His death was a sadly 

 unexpected one, a slight cough developed into inflammation of 

 the lungs, to which he succumbed m the course of a few days. 



We deeply regret that we have to record the death of Mr. T. 

 Heathcote G. Wyndham. Few among the younger men de- 

 voting their life to the pursuit of scientific knowledge and to the 

 teaching of science have formed for themselves a higher ideal of 

 the training a man of science should impose on himself before 

 venturing on original work, or on giving instruction to others. 

 As a commoner of Oriel he took a first class in natural science 

 in 1866, was Burdett-Coutts Scholar in 1867, and was afttrwards 

 elected Fellow of Merton. He undertook at Merton the duty 

 of a lecturer in natural science, and the thoughtful care he took 

 in his teaching was not only gratefully spoken of by many of the 



v^ergraduates, but frequently referred to in conversation by 



those who knew him. The branch of natural science which 

 seemed gradually to have presented itself more prominently to 

 his mind for his own especial study was the chemical side of 

 mineralogy. But although for years he fitted himself for this 

 work in all ways he thought requisite, sparing no pains in ac- 

 quiring collateral knowledge that might bear on his subject, and 

 though he had done original research which many other men 

 would from time to time have thrown off in isolated papers, be 

 held back from appearing in print. A paper on Idocrase and 

 Garnet and one on Vesuvius are, so far as we know, all he pub- 

 lished. But there is a prospect that some of his work will be 

 preserved, as in conjunction with Mr, Gurney he had in hand a 

 small work on chemicil mineralogy. Although he had not yet 

 achieved work to make his name marked in the world of science, 

 yet those who knew him lament the loss of a scholar and a 

 gentleman, and the lament is in no way softened by the unhappy 

 circumstances attending his death. 



The published results of the exploration of Lake Titicaca by 

 Messrs. Alexander Agasiiz and S. W. Garman, has just reached 

 us. The expedition was undertaken during the early months 

 of last year, Mr. Agassiz writes on the hydrography of the 

 lake, describing the peculiarly uniform temperature at all depths, 

 the potability of the water, the scarcity of the fish — six species 

 only — and its 'previous 'greater extent. Mr. J, A. Allen gives a 

 list of the mammals and birds collected, with field-notes by Mr. 

 Garman, Of mammals only ten species were obtained, none 

 new, four being Llamas. Of birds sixty-nine species were col- 

 lected, includinganew Falcinellus{ridoimyi), andaGallinule [Gal- 

 tinulagarmani) closely resembling G. galeata. It is noted that 

 many of the species had been but a short time before obtained by 

 Messrs. Bartlett, Whitely, Hauxwell, and Jelski, and described 

 by Messrs. Sclater and Salvin, Cabanis and others. Mr. W. 

 Faxon describes the Crustacea, all excepting a species of Cypris, 

 belonging to one amphipodous gexias AHonhcstes, of which seven 

 new fresh- water species are added to the one or two already 

 known. Mr. Agassiz gives a valuable hydrographical map of the 

 lake, and records the presence of corals closely allied to genera 

 living in the West Indies at the height of 2,900 feet above the 

 level of the sea. 



Messrs. Churchill have just published a third edition of 

 Mr. Sutton's " Systematic Handbook of Volumetric Analysis," 

 in which the author has embodied "all such novelties and 

 modifications as experiment have proved to be worthy of 

 notice." 



We have to announce with great regret the death of another 

 martyr to science. In a letter, dated September 15, the Rev. S. 

 McFarlane writes from Somerset, Cape York : "We have just 

 heard of the massacre of Dr. James and his partner, a Swede, 

 at Yule Island by the natives of New Guinea. They had gone 

 in their large boat to the east side of Hall Sound to shoot birds 

 of Paradise, when they were attacked by three canoes, and both 

 white men were killed. The native crew managed to get away 

 in the boat, and brought the sad news here. " Dr. James was a 

 young American who had been collecting objects of natural 

 history in Yule Island and on the opposite shores of New Guinea. 

 His first collections arrived in this country about a fortnight ago, 

 having been sent over by his friend. Dr. Alfred Roberts, of 

 Sydney, to whose liberality the expedition wa? greatly indebted. 

 The excellent way in which the specimens are preserved and the 

 careful notes given by the collector show that Dr. James was 

 enthusiastic in his work, and it is melancholy to think that so 

 promising a scientific career has been thus prematurely cut short. 

 A description of the collection of birds formed by the late tra- 

 veller will be given by Mr. Bowdler Sharpe at an early meeting 

 of the Linnean Society, in continuation of the articles on the 



