9 
o 
the passengers, M. Cressy, received a letter from a friend 
stationed 300 miles up the river. It contained the intelligence 
that about 200 miles farther in the interior a white man, accom- 
panied by a number of native attendants, was proceeding in the 
direction of the West Coast. His supplies becoming short, he 
was prevented from proceeding by a tribe, and retained prisoner 
__ until some should be secured. From the description given by 
the native traders to M. Cressy’s friend of this person, and also 
from the fact that no other white man is known to be in this 
region, it is generally inferred that it is Dr. Livingstone. 
WE regret to record the death of Sir Paul Edmund de 
Strzelecki (perhaps better known as Count de Strzelecki) who 
died on Monday morning at his residence in Savile Row, at the 
age of 77 years. Early in life he was a great traveller, and ex- 
plored a great portion of Australia. He was elected a Fellow of 
the Royal Society in June, 1853, was a D.C.L., and a member 
of several of our learned societies. 
Pror. WATSON, of Ann Arbor, telegraphs to the Detroit 
Tribune: ‘‘ On July 24 I observed a star of the twelfth magni- 
tude, which, on Saturday night last (August 16), was missing 
from the place where first seen. A little to the west I saw a star 
of the eleventh magnitude, which proves to be the new planet 
(No. 133), and at present I suppose it to be that seen 
July 24.” 
THE Fungus-show at the Royal Horticultural Society on Oct. 
Ist was a great success ; never had there been a greater or better 
arranged display of these plants, classified under the two sections 
of “edible” and ‘‘ poisonous.” A new economical use for this 
class of plants was indicated by the Rey. Mr. Berkeley, who pro- 
duced a cap made out of the beaten out interior mass of Polyforus 
fomentarius, the amadou or German tinder of commerce, which 
he described as both warm and light. It is stated that large use 
is made in Hungary of this material for caps and waistcoats, 
and it is also used for caulking boots. 
One of the important and beautiful publications which 
‘characterise the Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge is just 
issued under the title of ‘‘ A Contribution to the History of the 
Freshwater Alge of North America,” by Horatio C. Wood, 
jun., M.D. 
Now that so much attention is being paid to the introduction 
nto our colonies of useful foreign trees and crops, we desire to 
‘call special attention to the publication at Brisbane of ‘‘ The 
‘Olive and its Products : a treatise on the habits, cultivation, and 
‘propagation of the tree, and upon the manufacture of oil and 
‘other products therefrom,” by L. A. Bernays, F.L.S., Vice- 
President of the Queensland Acclimatisation Society. The work 
thas special reference to the advantages to be derived from the 
‘introduction of the olive into Queensland, and is printed and 
published at the expense of the Colonial Government. 
News ‘has been received to the date of May 1, from Mr, 
‘Henry Elliott, who has been engaged for two years past in 
making explorations and observations in the fur-seal islands in 
tthe Behring Sea. He announces the continued prosecution of his 
Jabours, the results of which were transmitted to the National 
Museum in the summer.of 1872. He has especially devoted 
himself to an investigation of the habits of the fur-seal, walrus, 
and sea-lion, and has made a topographical survey of the 
‘rookeries upon a portion of the islands on which these animals 
‘come to bring forth their young. His work in 1872 was de- 
voted mainly to St. Paul Island, but he expected, very soon after 
the date of his letter, to visit St. George and the other islands 
‘of the group, there to prosecute similar inquiries. 
WE consider it extremely creditable to the Leeds Daily News 
that it chronicles regularly and at considerable length the pro- 
ceedings of the Leeds Naturalists’ Field Club and Scientific As- 
sociation, and we should like to see other provincial, and indeed 
metropolitan papers follow its example. The principal paper 
read at the Society’s meetings during September was by Mr. 
James Abbott, on the structure and development of the Hepa- 
tice. The Society continues, we are glad to see, to investigate 
very thoroughly the natural history of the district. 
WE heartily endorse the following sentiment of the Athenzum 
in reference to the meeting of the British Association :—‘* The 
opinion is gradually forcing itself upon many of those who attend 
the meetings of the Association that some change in its method 
of procedure is becoming necessary. For the scientific men, on 
whom rests, more or less, the responsibility of keeping up the 
sectional business, either by doing official work or attending the 
meetings and taking part in the discussions, the labour is too 
exacting on an occasion which should have something of relaxa- 
tion about ft. Again, the tendency of the papers is necessarily 
to take a technical direction, which must put them beyond the 
range of the non-scientific audience. The sectional business is 
consequently unsatisfactory, both to those who take part in it and 
to those who attend as listeners. The Association should fulfil 
two functions—first, that of bringing together scattered scientific 
men, who} otherwise rarely or never meet ; secondly, of giving 
the general public some idea of what the scientific world is 
doing. For the first object, more leisure is required during the 
meetings—more opportunity of talking over amongst them- 
selves the work which different men are occupied with. To at- 
tain the second object, instead of miscellaneous papers, short 
addresses, carefully prepared, might be delivered, with one or 
two invited speakers to follow. These addresses should be 
given at morning meetings, which might advantageously break 
up at one, leaving the afternoons free. 
Messrs. SAMPSON Low, MARSTON, and Co. announce the 
following books to be published during the forthcoming sea- 
son :—* The Heart of Africa; or, Three Years’ Travels, Dis- 
coveries, and Adventures in the Unexplored Regions of the 
Centre of Africa,” by Dr. George Schweinfurth. The district 
explored by Dr. Schweinfurth embraces the wide tract of country 
extending southward from the Meschera on the Bahr el Ghazal, 
and between the roth and 3rd degrees of north latitude. The 
work will form two large octavo volumes, and will be illustrated 
by about 130 woodcuts from drawings made by the author 
during<his journey. —‘‘ A Whaling Expedition to Baffin’s Bay and 
the Gulf of Boothia. With an account of the rescue by his ship 
of the survivors of the crew of the Po/aris,” by Captain Mark- 
ham, with maps and illustrations. The maps to this work will 
give the first authentic delineation of Hall’s discoveries, and also 
contain several important corrections of the old charts.—‘*‘ The 
Land of the White Elephant ; or, Lights and Scenes in South- 
Eastern Asia,” being a personal narrative of travel and adventure 
in Farther India, embracing the countries of Burma, Siam, 
Cambodia, and Cochin-China, by Frank Vincent, jun., with 
maps and plans.—‘‘ The Wild North Land,” a winter journey 
with dogs across Northern North America, by Captain W. F. 
Butler, with a map; and a new work on Peru by Thos. J. 
Hutchinson, F.R.G.S., entitled, ‘*‘Two Years in Peru, with 
Exploration of its Antiquities.” 
Messrs. TRUBNER’S List of forthcoming books includes the 
following scientific works :—‘‘ From the Indus to the Tigris :” 
a narrative of a journey through the countries of Balochistan, 
Afghanistan, Khorassan, and Iran in 1872; together with a 
synoptical grammar and vocabulary of the Brahoe language, 
and a record of the meteorological observations and altitudes 
