19^ 



NA TURE 



[December 17, 1908 



Society on December 7 by Lieut. A. TroUe, R.D.N. The 

 principal object of the expedition, which was planned by 

 the late L. Mylius Erichsen, was to explore the north- 

 east coast of Greenland from 77° N. lat. to the cairns 

 erected by Peary in 82° N. lat., and the east side of Peary 

 Land in about 83° N. lat. The vessel Danemark, a steam 

 barque of 242 tons register, carried a fully equipped ex- 

 pedition, with supplies for three years, and reached Kolde- 

 way Island (76° 20' N. lat., 18° 30' W. long.) on August 

 13, 1906, after thirteen days' navigation through 125 miles 

 of drift ice. Winter quarters were ultimately established 

 near Cape Bismarck (76° 46' N. lat., 18° 37' \V. long.), 

 where meteorological, magnetic, and tidal observations 

 were established, and a number of expeditions went north- 

 wards for the purposes of mapping and placing depfits 

 containing stores for subsequent journeys. Towards the 

 end of March, 1907, expeditions set out northwards in 

 four divisions. The fourth and third divisions returned 

 in May with valuable cartographical material ; the second 

 returned on June 23, after a remarkable journey of some 

 1250 miles, having reached Cape Bridgman (83° 30' N. 

 lat.). The first division, under Erichsen, did not return, 

 and it was only after several fruitless attempts at rescue 

 that a sledge party sent out in the following March 

 definitely ascertained that all the members of this division 

 had perished. The precise value of the scientific results 

 of the expedition is not yet known, but it is certainly 

 exceptionally high. Large collections of ethnographical, 

 geological, zoological, and botanical specimens have been 

 secured, a large area of newly discovered land has been 

 accuratelv mapped, and a valuable series of meteorological 

 observations, including kite observations of the upper 

 atmosphere, has been recorded. 



" There is no doubt that the hopes expressed by Prof. 

 Koch and others that atoxyl would prove a general and 

 permanent cure for cases of sleeping sickness must now 

 be abandoned. . . . We have at present no other treat- 

 ment, apart from atoxyl and its allies, which has shown 

 any signs of successful results whatever." These two not 

 very hopeful statements are the opening and closing 

 sentences in the introduction written by Dr. A. D. P. 

 Hodges to the Quarterly Report on the Progress of 

 Segregation Camps and Medical Treatment of Sleeping 

 Sickness in Uganda, by Captain A. C. H. Gray, published 

 by the Sleeping Sickness Bureau. Captain Gray's report 

 contains a full account of the results obtained by various 

 methods of treatment in the three sleeping-sickness camps 

 in Uganda, and if the outcome is not so encouraging as 

 might be wished, the publication of so much experiment 

 and experience in the treatment of sleeping sickness will 

 be of great value to those engaged in the difficult quest 

 of a remedy for this terrible scourge. 



We have to acknowledge the receipt of vol. ii., No. 70, 

 of the Anatomical Record, a serial published at Phila- 

 delphia, and largely devoted to reviews of anatomical 

 literature. 



The latest issues of the Proceedings of the U.S. National 

 Museum include the following, viz. : — a revision of certain 

 species of Noctuidas hitherto included in Homoptera, by 

 Mr. J. B. Smith (No. 1645) ; new .American PalfEozoic 

 Ostracoda, by Messrs. Ulrich and Bassler (No. 1646) ; and 

 descriptions of fossil crabs from California, by Miss 

 Rathbun (No. 1647}. 



We are indebted to Mr. A. J. Jukes-Browne for a copy 

 of a paper on the bivalve molluscs of the " Venus " group 

 from the older Tertiary formations of England and France, 

 this paper being extracted from the October issue of the 



NO. 2042, VOL. 791 



Proceedings of the Malacological Society. In addition lu 

 re-defining the genera, the author makes numeious 

 emendations on the nomenclature commonly in use among 

 palEBontologists in this country. 



The Horniman Museum and Library at Forest Hill, 

 according to the sixth annual report, continues to make 

 steady progress, both as regards the increase of the collec- 

 tions and in the matter of attracting visitors. The increase 

 during the past year is specially notable in the etlino- 

 logical department, the additions including implements and 

 other specimens from the French caves, presented by the 

 Christy trustees, and palaeolithic implements from Swans- 

 combe, Kent, the gift of Mr. J. Cross. 



.Special attention may be directed to a paper by Mr. R. I .. 

 Moodie in the October issue (vol. xix.. No. 2) of the 

 Journal of Morphology on the lateral-line system in extinct 

 amphibians. Out of the five groups into which the stego- 

 cephalian amphibians are divided, a lateral-line system is 

 found in all except the Aistopoda. As a rule, the system 

 presents itself in the form of the channels of grooves 

 constituting the " lyra " on the skulls of the typical 

 labyrinthodonts ; the smoothness of the bottom of these 

 canals, which is most developed in the Stereospondyli, 

 being apparently a feature distinctive either of age in the 

 individual or of specialisation in the group. While these 

 canals differ to some extent from the slime-canals of 

 certain fishes, such as Amia, yet some degree of homo- 

 logy between the two types of structure can be traced. 

 For these canals on the stegocephalian skull, the author 

 proposes definite names. In the branchiosaurian group 

 the head-canals are lacking, and their place is taken by a 

 true " lateral line " on each side of the tail, similar to 

 that of the modern salamander Necturus. An important 

 corollary to, or rather result of, the investigation is the 

 determination that the bone originally termed the 

 squamosal in the stegocephalian skull is really that 

 element, and not, as it has been attempted to prove, the 

 supratemporal. The paper closes with the determination 

 of the homology of other elements in the stegocephalian 

 skull with the cranial bones of fishes. 



We have received from the author, Dr. W. L. H. Duck- 

 worth, an admirable descriptive catalogue of the specimens 

 illustrating the comparative osteology of man and the 

 higher apes contained in the museum of human anatomy 

 at Cambridge. Although intended primarily for university 

 students, this fully illustrated pamphlet of forty pages is 

 well worthy of the best attention of naturalists, since it 

 contains several items of information which it would be 

 dilTicult, if not impossible, to find elsewhere. As an 

 example we may cite the author's account of the dis- 

 tinctive characteristics of the heads of the gorilla and 

 chimpanzee, which runs as follows : — " In the head of the 

 gorilla the chief points of interest to be noted are the 

 prominent brow-ridges, the flatness of the nose, the re- 

 markable elevations on each side of the nasal aperture, 

 the short but prominent upper lip, and the small ears with 

 inconspicuous lobules. The nuchal region is not depressed 

 as in man, for in the gorilla the great development of 

 the muscles of the back of the head fills up the space 

 between the head and the shoulders. . . . The head of the 

 chimpanzee is smaller and rounder, and though the brow- 

 ridges are very prominent and the upper part of the nose 

 is depressed, yet the physiognomy is very different, owing 

 mainly to the smaller size of the nasal ala;, and the long 

 protruding upper lip. The ears, too, are different, being 

 very large. There is also a slight but distinct nuchal 

 depression." 



