398 
expedition, and I thjak the new discoveries which I now 
communicate to the Geological Magazine may urge on 
the despatch of sch expeditions as I propose. If these 
expeditions be made, how many changes may be pro- 
duced in actugl and general ideas on the age of the 
South Amerigan fossiliferous strata, on the disappear- 
ance of the Jost southern lands, and on the affinities of 
extinct faunas so distant in time and space as those of 
South America and Australia ! 
MR. JOHN CORDEAUX. 
Y the death of Mr. John Cordeaux, ornithology loses, 
not only one of its most ardent votaries, but one 
who had pursued, if he did not strike out for himself, a 
line very different from that taken by most British lovers 
of birds. For nearly six-and-thirty years, as shown by a 
long series of contributions, chiefly to The Zoologist, he 
applied himself to the study of the phenomena of bird- 
migration, at first as exhibited on the coasts of Lincoln- 
shire (in which county he lived) and Yorkshire. This 
led him in the autumn of 1874 to go to Heligoland for 
the sake of comparing notes with the now well-known 
Herr Gatke, whom, it is believed, he was the first 
British ornithologist to visit; and he soon after wrote 
for Zhe és (1875, pp. 172-188) a notice of the very 
wonderful collection formed by that naturalist on that 
island. In 1879 he joined Mr. Harvie-Brown (who had 
just communicated a remarkable paper to the Natural 
History Society of Glasgow) in a successful attempt to 
procure observations on migrating birds from the keepers 
of lighthouses and lightships on the coasts of England 
and Scotland ; and in the following year, when the re- 
sults of their inquiry were brought before the British 
Association at the Swansea meeting, he was named 
secretary of a committee appointed to continue system- 
atically the scheme which they had shown to be 
practicable. Of this committee, which (with a slight 
variation of title) has since been annually reappointed, 
he has always been the hardworking secretary, and it is 
not too much to say that nearly all its success is mainly 
due to him. He not only arranged with the authorities 
for the distribution of the schedules, instructions, and 
other information necessary for the observers, but, by 
his own efforts, raised by subscription a large sum of 
money to meet the expenses of the inquiry, which proved 
to be far greater than had originally been anticipated. 
The time and trouble which all this involved were at 
first enormous ; and, even to the last, the correspondence 
which he had to carry on was immense, yet his services 
were as willingly rendered as though he had been hand- 
somely paid for them, instead of giving them gratuitously, 
and the way in which he contrived to interest the men 
at the lighthouses and lightships in the undertaking was 
marvellous. The results of this labour, continued with- 
out intermission for nine years, were partly shown by 
the admirable ‘ Digest of the Observations,” made by 
Mr. W. Eagle Clarke, which the.committee was able to 
include in its report presented to the Association at 
Liverpool in 1896; and, as has been announced, that 
gentleman is still occupied in working out further details 
from the mass of materials that has been collected. 
Mr. Cordeaux made more than one visit to Heligoland, 
and is understood to have been instrumental in bringing 
about the publication of an English translation of 
Gatke’s celebrated work, though never committing him- 
self to the adoption of his friend’s views on many points. 
Indeed, he abstained on principle as much as possible 
from advocating any theories on the subject of migration, 
being convinced that much more knowledge had to be 
acquired from observation before more than a few first 
principles could be safely accepted. That he was the 
life and soul of the Migration Committee is beyond all 
NO. 1556, VOL. 60] 
NATURE 
[Avucust 24, 1899 
doubt. His happy tact and sanguine temperament over- 
came all difficulties, though—especially from the financial 
point of view—they were at times so formidable as to 
threaten the abandonment of the work ; yet by his care 
funds were always found to carry it on, eking out the 
successive and by no means illiberal grants of the British 
Association. He is said to have been very successful as 
a lecturer, and he often lectured on some ornithological 
subject, especially on the migration of birds, in the 
towns of Yorkshire and other parts of the country. 
Forty papers are credited to Mr. Cordeaux in the 
Royal Society’s Catalogue up to 1883, a number which 
might possibly be doubled now, and in addition to these 
he was the author of an unassuming but well-written 
little book, “‘ Birds of the Humber District,” published in 
1872, a new edition of which it had been his intention to 
bring out. He died, after a short illness, at his residence, 
Great Cotes House, in Lincolnshire, on August 1, in the 
sixty-ninth year of his age, deeply lamented by all who 
had been associated with him in the work he so indefatig- 
ably carried out. 
NOTES. 
WE much regret to record that the serious illness of Prof. 
Rk. W. Bunsen, referred to in last week’s NATURE, has ended 
fatally. An account of the chief work of this world-renowned 
chemist appeared nearly twenty years ago in our Series of 
Science Worthies (vol. xxiii.), and we hope to publish a further 
appreciation of the deceased investigator next week. 
Tue funeral of Sir Edward Frankland took place at Reigate 
on Tuesday. There were present, in addition to the immediate 
relatives, Sir Frederick Bramwell, Lord Lister, Sir Henry 
Roscoe, Sir Myles Fenton, Sir Michael Foster, Dr. Ludwig 
Mond, Dr. Thorpe, and others. The Rey. Prof. Bonney con- 
ducted the funeral service. Many wreaths adorned the coffin, 
including one from the Fellows of the Institute of Chemistry 
and one from the Chemical Society. 
Major RONALD Ross, the leader of the expedition sent to 
Sierra Leone by the Liverpool School of Tropical Diseases to 
investigate the possibility of exterminating the malaria-bearing 
mosquito, has sent to Liverpool the following cablegram : 
“*Malarial mosquito found. Ask Government to send at once 
men.” Major Ross’s observations in India indicated that the 
malaria parasite is borne by the spotted- winged mosquitoes, and 
not by the common brindled or grey mosquitoes ; and his mes- 
sage announces that he has found that malaria on the West 
Coast of Africa is produced under the same conditions as in 
India. There is evidence that the malaria-bearing species only 
breeds in small isolated collections of water which can be easily 
dissipated, but the expedition has not yet had time to verify 
this point. 
THE presence of bubonic plague in Portugal has been 
officially notified to the Local Government Board. Oporto has 
been declared to be infected, and the other ports of Portugal are 
considered suspected. Port sanitary authorities in this country 
have been instructed in the precautions to be observed to 
prevent the introduction or spread of the disease here. 
Ir is announced that Sir Edmund Antrobus is desirous 
of selling Stonehenge, the famous and mysterious monument on 
Salisbury Plain. Thinking it right that the nation should have 
the opportunity of purchasing this great relic of antiquity, the 
owner has offered it to the Government, with about 1300 acres 
of surrounding land (subject to certain pasturage and sporting 
rights), for the sum of 125,000/. 
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