November 12, 1891] 



NATURE 



45 



however, that excellent oysters of fine quality and magnificent 

 proportions, allied to Ostrea edulis, are exported from Spencer's 

 Gulf in South Australia to the Victorian markets, and more 

 especially to Ballarat. Some of these South Australian oysters 

 are of such Brobdingnagian dimensions that it is customary to 

 cut them in four pieces f r sale at the oyster saloons, the quarters 

 thus divided being severally allotted to separate shells of ordinary 

 size and sold as single oysters. 



Mr. Saville-Kent congratulates New Zealand upon her 

 abundant stores of oysters of various kinds. The days for the 

 systematic artificial cultivation of the oyster in that colony have 

 not yet arrived, and if she carefully husbands her natural 

 resources they may, he thinks, be long delayed. 



THE TIBET EXPEDITION. 



A T an extraordinary meeting of the Russian Geographical 

 -^ *■ Society on October 14, General PevtsoflF made his report 

 about the Tibet Expedition, of which he was the commander 

 after the death of Przewalsky. Having crossed the main Tian- 

 shan ridge by the Bedel Pass, the Expedition went southwards, 

 through an extremely narrow gorge of the Kara-teke ridge. In 

 some places the gorge has only the width of 30 to 35 feet, while 

 its walls are 700 feet high. The first Kashgarian village reached 

 was Kalpyn, whence the travellers went to Yarkend. From 

 Yarkend they moved on the great Khotan highroad into the 

 northern spurs of the Kuen-lun. There they stayed for some 

 forty days, at a height of 10,000 feet above the sea, at Tokhta- 

 hon, collecting many interesting plants and birds, while the 

 geologist of the expedition, M. Bogdanovitch, made a long ex- 

 cursion into the region between the Yarkend-daria and the 

 Tyznan Rivers. On September 13 they left the highlands, and 

 after a three weeks' journey arrived at the Khotan oasis, the 

 population of which (120,000) are skilful in the manufacture of 

 carpets, felts, silks, and so on. From Khotan they went to 

 Keria, and next to Niya, where they left their superfluous luggage, 

 and whence they started to explore the Kuen-lun, in order to 

 try to find a good pass to Tibet. The pass was found at the 

 sources, of the Tillan-hadji stream, not far from the Minjilin- 

 khanum monastery. It proved to be quite available both for 

 horses and camels. The winter was spent at Niya. On May 7, 

 the work of exploration was resumed, and next week the Expe- 

 dition reached the Kara-sai village. Followed by two men only, 

 M. Roborovsky went up the Saryk-tuz Pass (discovered during 

 the preceding autumn), and attained the sources of the Keriya- 

 daria on the Tibet plateau. Its altitude proved to be there 

 16,500 feet, and its surface was an absolute desert. The want 

 of food for the horses compelled M. Roborovsky soon to return 

 to Kara-sai. He soon made a second attempt at further explora- 

 tion, but, after having marched some 50 miles southwards on 

 the plateau, he was again compelled to return. During the 

 same time, M. Kozloff went across the border-ridge, follow- 

 ing for some 100 miles the Bastan-tigrak River. He passed by 

 Lake Dashi-kul and went up the river which flows into the lake 

 from the east, through a wild desert, 14,000 feet above the sea. 

 He also was soon compelled to return to Kara-sai. The next 

 attempt was made by all three explorers together, accompanied 

 by four Russians and a few natives. They went up the Aksu 

 River, and soon were on a plateau, 15,000 feet high and almost 

 quite devoid of vegetation. Terrible snow-storms were raging 

 in the first days of July. The only mammals seen were two ante- 

 lopes, and the only bird met with was a lark. Finding no food 

 for the horses, the Expedition had nothing todo but to return to 

 Kara-sai. Thence they started for Tchertchen, and at Atchan 

 they were rejoined by M. Bogdanovitch, who had explored in 

 the meantime the geological structure of the two passes of Saryk- 

 tuz and Aksu. After a short stay at Mandalyk, where good 

 grazing-grounds were found, and the horses recovered, the Expe- 

 dition crossed again the Kuen-lun via the Muzluk Pass (15,500 

 feet high), and after having crossed it they divided into two 

 parties, one of which, under M. Roborovsky, went south-east, and 

 the other, under General Pevtsoff, moved southwards, up the little 

 River Uluk-su, which is the source of the Tchertchen-daria. 

 They soon came to an immense chalky mountain ridge, which 

 rose to about 20,000 feet in the south, while a wide valley 

 stretched south-westwards between that ridge and the Kuen-lun. 

 The party stopped at the foot of this ridge, at a small lake, 

 Yamil-kul. From some natives who were engaged in gold- 

 mining in a gorge of the ridge, they learned that its name is Akka- 

 tai, and that its summits are covered with perpetual snow. The 



NO. 1 1 50, VOL. 45] 



party did not proceed further, and from Yamil-kul they returned 

 to Mandalyk, and ihence began their journey toLob-nor, which 

 journey took no less than one month. From Lobnor the 

 Expedition went up the Yarkend-daria, visiting on the way the 

 great settlement of Kurla (4000 inhabitants), the fort of 

 Karashar (10,800 inhabitants in the fort and the oasis), and the 

 town Uruntchi, situated at the foot of the Tian-shan, and resi- 

 dence of the Governor-General of West China. On their way 

 to the Russian frontier the travellers visited also the oasis of 

 Sa-tsan, peopled by Chinese, and crossed the Malas River as well 

 as the desert Khatyn-ula. On January 15, 1891, they entered 

 the Russian post of Zaisan. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



Oxford.— The Rev. Andrew Clark, M. A., Fellow of Lincoln 

 College, has been elected by Congregation a Curator of the 

 Bodleian Library, in place of Prof. Max Miiller, whose term of 

 office had expired. 



The Provost of Oriel College has been re-elected a Delegate 

 of the University Museum. 



Mr. F. Liddell, B.A. Christ Church, has been elected to a 

 Fellowship at All Souls' College. Mr. Liddell, who is a son of 

 the Dean of Christ Church, was placed in the first class by the 

 examiners in the Final Classical Schools. Mr. A. H. Hardinge, 

 M.A., formerly Fellow of All Souls' College, has been elected 

 to a Fellowship under Statute 3, Clause 10, of the College 

 Statutes. 



There was no candidate for election to the Burdett-Coutts 

 Scholarships. The scholarships are of the annual value 

 of about ;^II5, tenable for two years, for the promotion 

 of the study of geology, and of natural science bearing on 

 geology. This is the fifth occasion since the foundation of 

 the scholarships that there has been either no candidate or no 

 election. 



In consequence of the requirements of the Civil Service Com- 

 missioners for the limited competition for assistantships in the 

 Royal Observatory, Greenwich, the Savilian Professor of Astro- 

 nomy has offered a short course of lectures on Newton's 

 " Principia." The study of Newton has been practically abo- 

 lished from the requirements of the Oxford Mathematical Schools 

 for some time past. 



A studentship, provided out of the funds of the Newton Testi- 

 monial Fund, having been offered to the University by the 

 Managing Committee of the British School at Athens, the 

 Craven Committee will proceed to make the appointment in the 

 course of the present term. The studentship is of the value of 

 ;^50, and is tenable for one year. The holder will be required to 

 reside at Athens for not less than three months during the 

 ensuing winter and spring. Candidates should apply to the 

 Secretary of the Board of P'aculties, Clarendon Buildings. 



Cambridge. — The first award of the Isaac Newton Student- 

 ship in Astronomy and Physical Optics has been made to 

 Ralph Allen Sampson, B.A., Fellow of St. John's College, 

 Cambridge. 



Prof. Thomson, F.R.S., has been elected Chairman of 

 Examiners for Part II. of the Mathematical Tripo«. 



The vacancy of the office of Superintendent of the Museum 

 of Zoology will take place on January i, 1892. The stipend is 

 ;,^2oo. Applications are to be sent to Prof. Newton before 

 November 19. 



The State Medicine Syndicate report that this year there were 

 64 candidates for the Diploma in Public Health, of whom 45 

 were successful. They propose, on account of the large number 

 of candidates, to hold a second examination in the first week of 

 April 1892. The Syndicate have resolved to transfer to the 

 University a sum of ;^iSO from their accumulated funds. 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS. 



American Journal of Mathematics, vol. xiv. No. I (Baltimore, 

 Johns Hopkins Press). — This number, which contains an ex- 

 cellent likeness and autograph of Prof. Klein, opens with articles 

 by Goursat, '* Sur une probl6me relatif a la deformation des 

 surfaces," and by Appell, "Sur une expression nouvelle des 

 fonctions elliptiques par le quotient de deux series." — Major 

 MacMahon, F.R.S., contributes a fourth memoir on a new 



