3-8 



NAl'URE 



{:ycii. 31, is?4 



liy Mr. J. \V. Filth; four Il^vest Mice I^Mus minutus), Urilisli, 

 jresrnted by Mr. G. T. Rope; a Greater Sulphur-crested 

 Cotkr.too [Ccca/ua ga/in'/a) from Australia, presenttd by Mr. 

 •George Wood ; a Great Grey Shrike (Lanhis excubitor), British, 

 ^jresented by Master Arthur BIyth ; two American Flying 

 ■Squirrels {Sa'iiroplerus voliicella) from Norih America, presented 

 by Mr. F. S. Mostly, F.Z.S. ; a Cape .\dder ( Vipcra alropus) from 

 ■.South Africa, presented liy Mr. C. B. Pillans ; a Black Tanager 

 {Tachyphonus mulahuciis), a White-throated Finch {Spermophila 

 ■/iliigitlaris), a Tropical Seed Finch {Oryzoboi us torridus), a 

 Common Bra [Boa constricloi^, a South African Rat Snake 

 (Spiloici varuibilis) from Si uth America, a Cheila Eagle (Spi- 

 Jtvnis ch(ela) from Ceylon, two lUiger's Macaws {Ara maracana) 

 from Brazil, a Common Guillemot (Lomvia troile), British, ] ur- 

 ihased ; two Brown-tailed Gerl illes {Gerbidus eryth7'uius), born 

 in the Gardens^ 



GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES 

 The first report (.f Prof. Hvill, dated from Gaza, January i, 

 h.is been received. It is necessarily brief, the details being 

 re erved for the full report to f jUow, but it announces the 

 sucee s of the expedition =0 far. The professor has made a 

 ■complete geological furvey of the Wady Arabah and the Pead 

 Sea, with a traverse acrors Sruthern Pa'estine. Capt. 

 Kitchener, R. E., who accompanied him, has made a trigono- 

 jnetricil survey. Akabah he found to be laid down too far 

 70Uth ; the south part of the Dead Sea as shown on the maps, 

 IS quite out of its true shape and position, and the I.isan has to 

 be -shifted three miles. From Gaza, when the rest of the party 

 were in quarantine, Capt. Kitchener rode back to Fgypt, 

 accompanied by four Arabs only. He took a previously un- 

 known route, particulars as to which will follow, and arrived 

 at Ismadia after a ride of 200 miles. He was everywhere well 

 yeceived by the Aral s, who took him for a cousin of Sheikh 

 Abdullah (the late Prof. Palmer), whose memory is still revered 

 among them, and who?e murder they still deplore. They are 

 rilso reported to be deeply impressed with the energy and perti- 

 «>acily of Sir Charles Warren's pursuit of the murderers. As 

 regards the other members of Prof. Hub's party, Mr. Hart is 

 reported to have made large additions to the flora ; Mr. Law- 

 rence has l;ei t a continuous series of mete rological observations, 

 and Mr. Gordon Hull has obtained a hundred phoiog aphs, 

 Sarge and sm;ill. Prof. Hull had still to extcute tv o traverses 

 of the country, in v\hich he is no doubt at present engaged. 

 The complete reports, both of himself and Capt. Kitchener, 

 will he extremely important. They will probably be published 

 in the jour; al of the Society. 



W'E have received the ninth issue of the Geo^raphisc/ies 

 Jahiiitcb. In the present volume, the reports v\hich appeared 

 in the first six publications on the additions successively n ade to 

 oiii knowledge of extra- European parts cf the earih are re- 

 sumed; the new .A.frican annexations to geography being dis 

 Xosed of by Prof. K. Zbppritz, the Asiatic by Dr. Hans Lullies, 

 a-nd the Polar by Herr W. Withmann. Two important depart- 

 meats in geograjihy find for the fir.-.t time distinct places as-i.i;n d 

 .■hero in ih-: jre-ent number ; geographical onomati^l gy and 

 theoretic cartography. The former has indeed but very recently 

 been recognised as 'he independent and important province of 

 gei-graphy it really is. The first and as yet only comprehensive 

 scientific work on the subject is that by its reviewer in the 

 ^^esent Jahrhiuh, Pref. J. J. Egli, " Versuch einer Allge- 

 iMeioen Geographischen Onomatologie " (Leipzig, 1S70-72), 

 «ssay towards a general geographical onomatology. The name 

 of a ] lace is either immediately c'escript-ve of its phy^ieal fea- 

 tures ("nature-names," as Prof. Egli calls this cla's) or descrip- 

 .ti-i?e of some historical or other conu' cion between t' e place 

 and its earlier or later inhabitants or discoverers ("culture- 

 iiimes"), in either and every case is significant and intere ting and 

 ai organic part of its gergraphy. — Pro*^. Sigismund Giinlher, in 

 fii^ masterly review of theoretic cait- graphy, first gives a brief 

 yet clear an 1 comprehensive " hist ry of the development of 

 Geometrical cartography,'' taking notice more partieularly of 

 jji^dern woiks on the subject, and then estima'es recent works 

 < n pre jeciion. — Prof, von Oppober, reporting the (Progress made 

 in Europe" n measurement of degrees, summarises the transactions 



of the sixth General Conference held on the subject at Munich, 

 September 13-16, 18S0. He calls special attention ti the results 

 deduced by von Bauernfeind from taking the measurement of the 

 zenith simultaneously at Dubra and Kappelleiiburg, in which the 

 same anomalies came to light as those pointed out years before 

 by von Bayer. These anomalies are entirely par.-dlel with iho e 

 which appear in taking barometrical measurements of heights, 

 and voii Bauernfeind attributes tbeni to the circumstance that the 

 1 egistered temperatures at given places form no correct criterion 

 of the temperatures of the intern-ed-ate air-strata, the tempera- 

 tures at the given places being to a certain extent determined by 

 purely local influences. These conclusions are confirmed 1 y 

 Oppolzer's studies in astronomical refaction, in which analo- 

 rous anomalies are to be explained by the fact that the universal 

 law of diminution of temperature with ascent is modified in the 

 lowest air-sirata by local causes. In clear 1 ights, e.<;., the tem- 

 perature in the lowe t atmospheric strata invariably rises with 

 a'cent up to a certain moderate height. During the day, on the 

 other hand, in correspoiiding conditions, temperature diminishes 

 with ascent at a rate considerably above the average. These 

 facts afford Oppolzer a very simple cxplana'inn of hitherto 

 puz/Iing phenomena. — In the review of geographical meteoro- 

 logy by Prof. J. Hann is presented a great treasure of data as to 

 rainfall, nebulosty, atiuospheric presures, winds, &c. — In a 

 map by Remon of the nebulosities of different parts of Europe 

 and North Africa, the extremes are given at 2o' in the Algerian 

 .Sahara, and 68° in the north-west of Europe. Cloudiness in 

 general diminishes southwards and eastwards, as compa-ed widi 

 the centre of Europe. — Space allnvs only of the bare men'ion 

 of the review of the geography of plants by Prof. Drude ; e)f 

 animals, by Prof. Scbmarda ; of ethnology, by Prof. Gerland ; 

 of deep sea exploration, by Prof, von Boguslawski ; of the struc- 

 ture of the earth's surface, by Prof, von Fritsch ; and of the 

 meih- d of geogrrphy, by Prcf. Wagner. 



We understand that the expedition w ith which Mr. Wilfrid 

 Pcwe'l has urdertaken to explore New Guinea wi'l leave this 

 country about the beginning of March. It wi!l consist of Mr. 

 Powell, with four or five Europeans, including a naturalist and 

 a geologist, and the work of traversing the thousand or twelve 

 hundred miles which have been mapped out for the route is 

 likely to occupy ever a year. Mr. Powell has chartered a small 

 screw steamer, in which ihe party will proceed upthe Ambcrneli 

 river, a large stream in Dutch territory, on the north c^ast. The 

 explorers will proceed up this river in a sterm launch as far as 

 they can get. The Uunch will then return to the steamer, anfl 

 the parly will strike in a south-westerly direction aero s the high 

 central range of moun'ains which runs from east to west, called 

 the Snow Mountains, or the Finisterre Mountains. When this 

 difficult task has been accomplished, Mr. Powell will march to 

 the east coast, where he w-ill hope to find his screw steamer in 

 Astrolabe Bay. After refitting, he will again strike westwaiels, 

 across the south-east corner of the island, to Port Moresby. 

 Mr. Powell will thus explore the country from nf rth to south, 

 avoir ing the Fly Kiver, or any other portion which has been 

 visited by Europeans. 



The Si. Pelers'urger Ziitung has received news from Khar- 

 toum about Dr. Junker. Herr Bohndorf, Dr. Junker's com- 

 panion, has arrived at Khartoum, and reports that Junker is still 

 in the Niam Niam country, ard that his researches are favouriibly 

 progressing. 



The last is ue of the Bulletin of the St. Petersburg .-Kcademy 

 I f Sciences contains a 'etter of M. Bunge, the medical officer of 

 the Lena polar me'eor. logical station. The country r round the 

 station is but little fitted for coUecting. It is a fl.rt region, 

 period'cally covered by the tide, and there may be ro ques'ion 

 about sea-flora or sea-fauna to be found in the creeks that inter- 

 sect the grtund. The ice hear s-imetimes makes his appearance, 

 as a'so the wolf, the fox, especially Caiiis lagopiis, of whieh 

 the neighbouring Yakuts catch about 300 eveiy year; the 

 Mus'ela hn-iiiin;a is not very rare. The Yakuts do not know 

 lemuiings, but one :pecies at least, the M\oJes /nrquatus, in- 

 hab ts the fitlta. The reindeer come in large flocks in the 

 summer, returning to the forest region in the autumn. They are 

 killed when passins; the streams, shooting being prohibited by 

 the Yakut community. One ^gocerus monlanus has \ eeu jjer- 

 ceived, f on) a great distance, within thedel'a. Walruses, some- 

 times seals, and dol| bins also enter the meuth of the Lena. .Vs 

 to the birr's, M. Purge gives a list "f loi species he has cb- 

 served or shot dull g his j urney. The water inverlebrata are 



