Juty 6, 1899] 
NATURE 
231 
SLOWLY but surely is our information as to the former exten- 
sion of the range of the Saiga antelope of the Volga steppes 
tending towards completeness. The latest addition to the 
remains of this animal is a skull from the superficial deposits of 
Kulm, recently added to the museum at Dantzic. This speci- 
men, which has been identified by Dr. A. Nehring, is the second 
hitherto obtained in Germany. As our readers may remember, 
an imperfect skull was dug up a few years ago near 
Twickenham. 
To the last number of the Proceedings of the Royal Physical 
Society of Edinburgh Messrs. W. S. Bruce and W. Eagle 
Clarke communicate a paper on the mammalia and birds of 
Franz-Josef Land. That such a desolate region would have 
but few land mammals was only to be expected, and the Polar 
bear and Arctic fox are the only two actually met with, although 
there are reports as to the occurrence of a hare, and the reindeer 
is represented by accumulations of its antlers, which were prob- 
ably carried to their present position years ago by ice-floes. 
On the other hand, the birds number at least two-and-twenty 
species. 
Mr. F. Turner reprints, from the Proceedings of the Austra- 
lasian Association for the Advancement of Science, a paper on 
the supposed poisonous plants of South Australia. 
THE most recent numbers received of the Avéologesches 
Centralilatt contain a continuation of Dr. Keller’s useful 
epitome of the results of recent researches in vegetable physi- 
ology and biology, as well as several original papers in 
different departments of zoology and botany. 
WE learn, from an article in the Board of Trade Journal for 
June, that the source of the india-rubber exported from Peru 
through Para has been determined by M. Hubert, a botanist on 
the scientific staff of the Museum of Para, to be a species of 
Castilloa, possibly identical with the Casti//oa elastéca of Central 
America. 
THE TZyazsactions of the British Mycological Society for 
«897-1898 contain several interesting papers on British 
Mycology, but some of them are (admittedly) reprints, and, 
with regard to the others; there is no information as to the date 
or place where they were read, or even any note of the meetings 
of the Society. No date even is given to the delivery of the 
**President’s Address.” The officers of the Society appear to 
be a President, an ‘‘ Acting President,” and an Honorary 
Secretary and Treasurer. 
WE have received vol. i. No. 3 0. the Communicaciones del 
Museo Nacional de Buenos Aires. It contains:a paper on the 
Coleoptera of Tierra del Fuego, and some short articles on 
botany, geology and nomenclature. 
AN important paper, by Dr. Philip P. Calvert, on Odonata 
from Tepic, Mexico, with supplementary notes on those of Baja, 
California, has appeared in the Proceedings of the California 
Academy of Sciences (third series, Zoology, vol. i. No. 12). 
Detailed descriptions are given of many of the species. 
THE thirteenth volume (new series) of the Geographevcal 
Journal, containing the six numbers of the /Jowrna7 issued this 
year, has just been published. The papers printed in the 
volume ; the record of geographical events and investigations ; 
and the monthly bibliography of current geographical literature, 
make the volume, like previous ones, essential to the library of 
the student of geography. 
THE second part of the first volume of the Azzals of the 
South African Museum has reached us. Among the papers in- 
cluded in it are: a descriptive list of the rodents of South 
Africa, by Mr. W. L. Sclater; a further contribution to the 
NO. 1549, VOL. 60] 
South African Coleopterous fauna, by Mr. L. Péringuey ; the 
South African species of Peripatidze in the collection of the 
South African Museum, by Dr. W. F. Purcell ; and a descrip- 
tion of a new genus of Perciform fishes from the Cape of Good 
Hope, by Mr. G. A. Boulenger, F.R.S. 
A THIRD edition, considerably enlarged, of ‘ Metal-Plate 
Work,” by Mr. C. T, Millis, has been published by Messrs. 
E. and F, N. Spon, Ltd. The volume shows how nearly all 
the patterns required by sheet-metal-workers can be set out 
on general geometrical principles. The book has proved of 
great value to pattern-makers since it was first published twelve 
years ago, and as the system of construction set forth in it is 
now regarded as the best means of making the practical man 
familiar with the geometrical principles underlying his work, 
the volume should be even more widely used in the future than 
it has been in the past. 
THE additions to the Zoological Society’s Gardens during the 
past week include a Common Paradoxure (Paradoxurus niger) 
from Java, presented by Mr. J. Osborne; a Barbary Mouse 
(Alus barbarus) from Barbary, presented by Miss Lyell ; a Cor- 
morant (Phalacrecorax carbo) from Scotland, presented by Mr. 
Percy Leigh Pemberton ; two Carrion Crows (Corvus corone) 
British, presented by Lieut.-Colonel Vilett Rolleston ; a Rock 
Thrush (Montzcola saxati/is), European, a Yellow Hangnest 
(Casstcus persicus) from South America, presented by Mr. H. 
J. Fulljames; twelve African Walking Fish (Perdopthalmus 
koelreutert) from West Africa, presented by Dr. H. O. Forbes ; 
a Brown Mouse Lemur (Chirogaleus miliz), two Elegant 
Galidias (Galidia elegans) from Madagascar, a Red-bellied 
Tamarin (Jfédas labtatus) from the Upper. Amazons, two 
Mexican Conures (Conurus holochlorus) from Mexico, a Tabuan 
Parrakeet (Pyrrhulops?s tabuensis)|from the Fiji Islands, de- 
posited ; a Wapiti Deer (Cervus canadensis, 8), a Great Eagle 
Owl (2ub0 maximus), bred in the Gardens. 
OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 
ComEY 1899 @ (SwiFrt).—This comet, after passing peri- 
helion, showed such a definite increase of brightness and other 
evidence of internal action, that its progress was closely watched 
at several observatories (Astronomical Fournal, No. 464, vol. 
xx. pp. 60-61). Prof. E. E. Barnard, observing it on May 20 
and several succeeding occasions, with the 40-inch refractor of 
the Yerkes Observatory, found the head of the comet to be 
distinctly dowb/e, the smaller component being south preceding 
with reference to the main body. From successive measures it 
was found that the position angle was gradually decreasing, 
while the distance between the two nuclei was increasing from 
28"°84 on the 20th to 3816 on the 23rd. Though no tail was 
visible to the eye, a photograph obtained on May 18 showed 
a slender tail 6° or 8° long. 
Prof. C. D. Perrine also secured several observations with the 
36-inch Lick refractor, confirming the duplex character. of the 
head of the comet. The two nuclei were estimated to be of 
the 80 and 9‘5 magnitude respectively, and neither appeared 
stellar with power of 270. 
The following continued ephemeris is given by Dr. A. 
Stichtenoth in Astr. Mach. (Bd. 149, No. 3574) :— 
Ephemeris for 12h, Berlin Mean Time. 
1899. R.A. Decl. Br. 
eens) S) ey 
July 6 14 16 54 +17, 16°54 .. LOZUE 
15 29 16 12°6 > 
10 M4e2Oe 5, 15/1350 008 
12 13 26 14 17°3 
14 12 43 13 24°9 0°06 
16 ed ae) 12 35°6 
18 TS 2) II 49°2 0'05 
20 14 II 40 +1I 52 
