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NovEMBER 19, 1896] 
NALORE 
59 
who now completes already his second year of travels in Central 
Asia. He went in December last from Kashgar to Khotan, and 
from this town he undertook the exploration of the part of the 
Gobi Desert which is known under the name of Takla Sands. 
There he discovered the ruins of two cities, one of which was 
very big, and now strikes the traveller by the purely Indian 
character of its ruins. Following the banks of the Keria River 
northwards, Sven Hedin crossed the desert, meeting on his way 
with a tribe, entirely isolated from all communication with the 
outer world ; and finding full herds of the wild camel, of which 
he secured three specimens. Then, after an eight days’ march, 
he reached the region where the Chinese maps place Lake 
Lob-nor, and which is situated to the north of the lake which 
was first visited by Przevalsky, and was described by him as the 
Lob-nor, going since on our maps under thisname. Traces of 
an immense lacustrine basin, partly covered with woods and 
thickets, were discovered by Hedin in the region assigned to 
Lob-nor by the Chinese maps, as well as several lakes, which 
were filled up, nine years ago, by the waters of the Tarim River, 
as its bed seems to have been obstructed by sands, and it con- 
sequently began to flow northwards. We thus have two 
Separate lacustrine basins, the Northern and the Southern 
Lob-nor, which are in mutual dependency, and, both being fed 
by the Tarim, alternately receive its waters. 
SOME little time ago (August 27, p. 402) the announcement 
was made in these columns that Prof. J. C. Ewart had succeeded 
in obtaining a male hybrid between a male Burchell’s zebra 
(Agquus Burchellz) and a mare (£. caballus). A full description 
of the animals, with illustrations, appears in the November 
number of Zhe Veterinarian. 
REFERRING to the strange purple patches on pavements, de- 
scribed by Miss A. Pedder in last week’s NATURE, two corre- 
spondents suggest that they are produced by the aniline colour of 
fragments of so-called copying-ink pencils, dropped in the process 
of sharpening, or broken off while the pencils were being used. 
THE Annual ‘‘ Cryptogamic Botanical ” meeting of the Essex 
Field Club will be held on Saturday next, at Chingford. The 
objects of search will be mainly the smaller fungi and the 
Mycetozoa, under the direction of Mr. Arthur Lister and Dr. M. 
C. Cooke. Those wishing to attend should communicate with 
Mr. W. Cole, Buckhurst ITill, Essex. 
A CIRCULAR announces to us the formation of the British 
Mycological Society, having for its objects the study of mycology 
in all its branches, systematic, morphological and pathological, 
the publication of annual reports recording all recent discoveries 
in any branch of mycology, and more especially giving a brief 
synopsis of the work of European mycologists and the recent 
additions to the British Fungus Flora. An annual week’s 
meeting or foray will be held at some place previously de- 
termined at the annual meeting. Mr. George Massee, Royal 
Herbarium, Kew, has been elected first President, and Mr. 
Carleton Rea, 34 Foregate-street, Worcester, is the Secretary. 
The first meeting of the Society will be held in Sherwood 
Forest, commencing on the third Monday in September 1897. 
Lorp WALSINGHAM and his Zoological Secretary, Mr. J. H. 
Durrant, have published a pamphlet entitled, ‘* Rules for Regu- 
lating Nomenclature, with a view to secure a strict .application 
of the law of priority in entomological work.” The subject 
of zoological nomenclature has been a vexed question for half a 
century, and, if we may judge from the amount of discussion 
that has recently occurred, we must conclude that zoologists are 
still far from agreement as to the best means for attaining the 
object they so much desire, viz. a set of cosmopolitan and per- 
manent names for all kinds of animals. Lord Walsingham has 
not, we believe, hitherto expressed any formal opinion on the 
NO. 1412, VOL. 55] 
subject ; and as he has for many years devoted great attention 
to one of the most extensive and difficult departments of 
zoology, his opinions will no doubt receive full consideration 
from other naturalists. The point most prominent in this 
pamphlet is the method of treating the names of génera. No 
doubt this, as well as other details, will be fully discussed 
elsewhere. 
THE identification of the individual, with special reference t 
the system in use in the office of the Surgeon General of the 
United States Army, is the subject of a communication by Dr. 
C. H. Alden in the September number of Zhe Americar 
Anthropologist. The method adopted consists solely of noting 
scars or other marks on outline diagrams representing the front 
and back view of a nude man. Scars form the most important 
group, and are arranged first as to location Z. B. head (left back 
head), 2. B. head, &c. ; then according to height of subject, 
those upon individuals under 67 inches being placed together. 
Then come the tattoos, which are similarly classified according 
to regions, and subdivided by heights; and soon. The first 
classification is of course racial, whether white or coloured. 
The system is claimed to be specially adapted for army use, from 
its simplicity and facility of application. No apparatus and no 
camera, or elaborate personal description is required. The main 
object of identification is to detect deserters, and to prevent 
repeated enlistment. The author states that the Bertillon system 
requires more time than can ordinarily be given to each recruit 
at his examination, and there is the difficulty of the transport of 
apparatus. The success which has attended the use of the 
army system, covering a period of nearly six years, is perhaps 
the best proof of its value. 
A DESTRUCTIVE cyclone was experienced in the Gulf ot 
Aden on October 14, and the reports of the storm already to 
hand show that the disturbance is of considerable interest from 
a meteorological point of view, Cyclones are of very rare 
occurrence in the Gulf, and the storm of last month is probably 
the only instance of such an occurrence at this season in recent 
years. The disturbance was evidently travelling approximately 
from east to west, and must have been met with by many 
vessels either in the Arabian Sea or the Gulf of Aden. A dis- 
cussion of the storm would be interesting, and any observations 
forwarded to the Royal Meteorological Society, 22 Great George 
Street, Westminster, will be used for tracing the development 
and movement of the disturbance. 
THE Washington Weather Bureau has issued a pamphlet 
containing replies to some questions referred to the recent 
Meteorological Conference at Paris, and giving an account of 
the methods of extending meteorological observations in the 
interest of agriculture. By a liberal use of the telegraph and the 
co-operation of the Postal Service, the dissemination of weather 
forecasts has steadily increased until at the present time they are 
exhibited in more than 30,000 places. One of the simplest and 
most effective means of making the forecasts known consists 
in telegraphing them to a central point, and duplicating the 
messages, by using the Government franked postal cards, to all 
places that can be reached in useful time. A simple printing 
outfit, consisting of rubber logotypes with hand-stamp, 1s 
sufficient for the purpose. A novel means has also been lately 
tried with some degree of success, viz. the utilisation of the post- 
office stamp for dating the time of receipt of letters, Kc., at the 
office of destination, by combining the weather forecast with the 
stamp showing the name of the receiving office, Kc. Thus the 
recipients of the letters get the weather forecast at practically no 
additional cost of labour to the post-office officials. The issue of 
the Daily Weather Map is very speedily done by what is called 
the chalk-plate printing process. It consists of a steel plate, 
covered with specially prepared chalk, making a surface suitable 
