566 



NATURE 



{^April 



12, I 



western shore, for at least 6 or 7 miles, might be one 

 vast forest of cocoa-nut trees. The small plantations 

 of fifty or sixty near the dwellings present a very healthy 

 appearance, and are in full bearing. 



" Otherwise the population of the place, amounting to 

 about 500 I should suppose, support themselves by trading, 

 sailing, collecting sponges, and going abroad as labourers 

 for steamers in the West Indian trade. Some salt is 

 made from an extensive salt-pond that stretches for 4 

 to 5 miles just inside the north-western shore. Another 

 smaller pond is found on the south-eastern shore. 



"The town is a decent little village, with a good 

 church, school, post-office, jail, and very creditable 

 dwellings. The people are very well behaved and decent 

 on the whole. Among cultivated plants around dwellings 

 I can mention Poinciana regia, Casuarina equisetifolia, 

 Terininalia Catappa. 



" It is very gratifying to see the spirit of neatness and 

 order that pervades everything in the English islands, 

 and which forms such a contrast to the squalor and utter 

 wretchedness that marks much richer islands, like Hayti, 

 Porto Rico, and Cuba. As the coloured population is of 

 the same race in all these places, it can only be ascribed 

 to the example set by the governing race in this case. 



"As you may imagine, the vegetation of this, as of 

 most of these islands, possesses a strong uniformity and 

 sameness, as thereare no elevations of any extent to pro- 

 duce variety, and partakes in fact of the character of the 

 vegetation of the sea-shore. I therefore can hardly 

 expect to add much to my collections in this place now, 

 and therefore intend to pass to Crooked or Acklins 

 Island as soon as an opportunity offers. 



" In a certain sense, of course, locomotion is easy 

 enough from one island to another, yet you must always 

 wait for an opportunity if you do not want to hire a vessel 

 or a boat for your own use. 



" After I have finished this group I propose to go to 

 Nassau, and from there to pass over to Andros, which, 

 from what I have been able to gather, is somewhat 

 different from the other islands, especially an account of 

 its being full of swamps and fresh-water lakes, which ought 

 to give the vegetation a somewhat difterent character. 

 Andros, too, is heavily wooded, both with pine forests as 

 also with other trees, of which many are cut and exported 

 for timber. 



" As the season advances I also expect to find a greater 

 proportion of plants in blossom than at present, so as to 

 make my collections from these islands as complete as 

 possible. Still a number of trees will most likely be 

 represented by their leaves only or at best in fruit, which 

 of course cannot be avoided, unless the exploration were 

 continued through the year, and this, as you may imagine, 

 cannot be done for the amount at my disposal, of which 

 necessarily a part has already been consumed by the 

 voyage hither. 



" From what I have collected already, I think, however, 

 I am able to say that I shall get together a considerable 

 herbarium, which I hope will contain no few novelties, and 

 give a fair representation of the flora of this archipelago. 

 1 need hardly add that I make copious general notes 

 on the vegetation, as well as on the natural history and 

 physical conditions of the islands in general. 



" Yours very faithfully, 



" Eggers." 



NOTES. 

 We understand that, in accordance with the arrangement 

 made on March 24, an important deputation, consisting of Sir 

 Henry Roscoe, Sir Lyon Playfair, Sir John Lubbock, and Mr. 

 Howorth, met Mr. Stanhope and Lord Harris on Monday last, 

 to discuss the regulations for the selection of Woolwich cadets, 



so far as they relate to natural science. We believe that the 

 proposals submitted by the deputation will receive favourable 

 consideration. 



The late Mr. Thos B. Curling, F.R.S., has bequeathed ;^200 

 free of legacy duty to the Scientific Relief Fund of the Royal 

 Society. 



A FRESH case of specimens from the borings in the Delta of 

 the Nile has just been received at the Royal Society. 



Prof. Hofmann, the chemist, celebrated his seventieth 

 birthday on Monday. The Emperor Frederick sent him a patent 

 of nobility, and among many other birthday gifts were portraits 

 of Queen Victoria and the German Empress. From the Prince 

 Regent of Bavaria Prof. Hofmann received a high decoration. 



Dr. Emil Holub, the African traveller, intends to open a 

 South African Exhibition in the old Exhibition building known 

 as the Rotunde, in Vienna, in May 1889. The industries, ex- 

 ports, and dwellings of the natives will be exhibited, as well as 

 the collections made by Dr. Holub. 



A YEARLY pension of 800 roubles has been granted by the 

 Russian Government to M. Potanin in recognition of his work 

 .as an explorer in China and Mongolia. 



The question as to the best means of promoting technical 

 education is being earnestly discussed in Russia. A Congress, 

 summoned by the Permanent Committee for Technical Educa- 

 lion,is about to meet at St. Petersburg for the consideration of the 

 subject. The sum of ;^5oo has been granted by the Government 

 for the expenses of the Congress. 



A Russian zoological station has been established at Villa- 

 franca, a few miles from Nice. The Bay of Villafranca is well 

 known for the work that has been done there by some of the 

 most prominent Continental biologists, and it certainly offers 

 great advantages for the study of marine fauna. An old Italian 

 prison, which was formerly sold to the Russian Govei^nment, and 

 used as a kind of naval station for repairs of ships of the Russian 

 Navy, has now been transformed into a zoological station, sup- 

 ported by the Russian Naval Ministry. It has two spacious and 

 well-lighted halls for microscopical work, five smaller rooms, 

 and accommodation for men of science who may wish to carry 

 on biological investigations. It is under the direction of Dr. 

 Korotneff. 



W^E regret to learn that Captain Temple has been compelled 

 to discontinue the issue of his most interesting and valuable 

 periodical, Indian Notes and Queries. His duties at Mandalay, 

 where he is playing an important part in the work of reorganiza- 

 tion in Upper Burmah, so occupies his time that he is quite 

 unable to put together periodically the notes sent to him by many 

 contributors. His other periodical, the Indian Antiquary, is 

 to be maintained, and contributions to the now defunct serial 

 will be diverted to it. 



A DEPUTATION from the "Australian Natives' Association" 

 waited recently on the Minister of Education of Victoria to urge 

 that an Australian series of school-books should be published, 

 so that fuller information on purely Australian subjects should 

 be made available to the children in State schools. It was 

 argued that there was virtually no special information about 

 Australian geography in the books used. The Minister was 

 asked to bear in mind that 650,000 of the total population of 

 Victoria were native born, and that the vast majority were 

 growing up in ignorance of the geography of their native land. 

 Australian literature, like Australian geography, was neglected 

 by the Education Department. The deputation laid particular 

 stress on the argument that the Government would stimulate 

 the Federal sentiment by giving Australian subjects prominence 

 in the State schools. 



