420 



NATURE 



[March 3, 1881 



The Khedive of Egypt has nominated M. Gaston Maspero to 

 the directorship of the museums in the place of the late archceo- 

 logist, M. Mariette. To the latter a monument is to be erected 

 at Cairo. A committee has already been formed, of which the 

 Foreign Minister is president. 



A NEW Italian serial will shortly be published at Naples. Its 

 title will be Rassegna critka di opere scientifiche e letterarie, and 

 its editor Prof. Andrea AngiuUi. It will appear six times a 

 year. 



Last Thursday the Hackney Microscopical and Natural 

 History Society held their annual soin'c, always a very successful 

 event. Many other similar London societies were reprdented at 

 the meeting. 



An elaborate report upon the opening up of two of the 

 pyramids at the boundary of the Libyan Desert near Sakkara 

 is now published by Prof. Brugsch. The learned professor 

 estimates the matter to be of the most important and valuable 

 kind. At the close of iSSo the entrances to the sepulchral 

 chambers of the three pyramids were laid bare. The ceilings 

 were taken off, and only the two sides, all covered with hiero- 

 glyphics, rose from the dibris. The hieroglyphics point to the 

 reign of Pharaoh Apappus. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include a Bactrian Camel (Caindus bacirianus) from 

 Afghanistan, presented by Col. O. B. C. St. John, R.E., F.Z.S. ; 

 a Punjaub Wild Sheep (Ovis cycloccros) from Afghanistan, pre- 

 sented by Capt. W. Cotton; a Mona Monkey (Cercopithccus 

 mono) from West Africa, presented by Mr. W. MacmiUan 

 Scott ; two Common Peafowls [Pavj ciistatus) from India, pre- 

 sented by Mrs. Edward Brown ; a Roseate Cockatoo (Cacatiia 

 roscicapilla) from Australia, presented by Miss Mary J. Richard- 

 son ; a Stump-tailed Lizard (Trachydosaurus 7-ugoms) from 

 Australia, presented by Mr. F. O. Maitland; a Horsfield's 

 Tortoise {Testudo horsfieldi) from Cabul, deposited ; two Globose 

 Curassows {Crax globkera) from Central America, a White- 

 browed Amazon {C/irysotis albifvons) from Honduras, purchased- 



GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES 

 We take the following from the March number of the Proc. of 

 the Royal Geographical Society : — The eminent Russian traveller 

 ^.ui. savaut, Col. Prejevalsky, intends, we are informed, to devote 

 himself for some time to the preparation in retirement of a great 

 work on the results of his travels, including, besides his recent 

 expedition to Tibet, his previous journey to Lob-nor, of which 

 he was prevented, by want of time, from giving more than a bare 

 outline. The work is to consist of eight volumes, and to be 

 entitled " Travels in the Deserts of Central Asia." Volumes i. 

 and ii. will contain the narrative and an account of the physical 

 geography and ethnography of the countries he has visited, and 

 will include also his surveys, the pictorial illustrations being from 

 original sketches by his com; anion, Lieut. Robarofsky. Vol. 

 iii. will be devoted to the mammalia of Central Asia ; vol. iv. to 

 the birds ; vol. v. to the reptiles, amphibia, and fishes ; vol. vi. 

 to the flora of Mongolia ; and vol. vii. to that of Tibet. Vol. 

 viii. and last will contain the geology and mineralogy as far as 

 materials will permit. The first two volumes, each containing 

 500 pages, and perhaps more, will be written by the traveller 

 himself, and will appear towards the close of 1S82. The 

 ornithology will also proceed from his pen, as well as that 

 portion of the zoology which treats of the antelope, buffalo, and 

 a few other of the more important animals. The remainder will 

 be written by the Academicians Strauch and Maximovitch, Pro- 

 fessors Kepler, Inostrantsef, and Bogdanof, and will be issued in 

 parts. The whole will not be completed for several years. The 

 work will be brought out under the auspices of the Geographical 

 Society, and a special grant for the purpose will be asked for 

 from H.M. the Emperor. 



At the Geographical Society on Monday evening Sir Richard 

 Temple delivered a lecture on the lake-region of Sikkim on the 

 frontier of Tibet, which, in point of fact, was a description of 



the impressions acquired during a tour which he made as Lieut.- 

 Governor of Bengal. Sir R. Temple told his audience that the 

 fact of any part of Sikkim being British territory was due to the 

 imprisonment of Sir Joseph Hooker and Dr. Campbell by the 

 R:ijah; and he then gave a geographical sketch of the whole 

 region. Possibly the most important matter dealt with was the 

 construction of the politico-commercial road from Darjiling to 

 the Jyalap Pass into the Chumbi A^alley, which Sir R. Temple 

 considers the frontier-line between British and Chinese territory. 

 Sir R. Temple is apparently sanguine that the Tibetans \\-ill 

 continue the road on to Lhasa, but he did not say w hen they 

 were likely to do so. Mr. W. T. Blanford, who had also 

 visited Sikkim, afterwards e.xplained to the meeting that he 

 believed these lakes to be due to glacial action, and that the 

 Bidan Tso was a beautiful specimen of this kind of lake. Mr. 

 Blanford also called attention to the opening afforded for 

 exploration in Northern Sikkim, which has not as yet been 

 visited by Europeans. 



We understand that Mr. Joseph Thomson has been elected 

 a life-member of the Royal Geographical Society, in further 

 recognition of his eminent services to geography during the 

 recent East African expedition. The Council of the Society 

 have presented to the British Museum the collection of shells 

 which he made during his journey. 



The Oesterrekhische Monatschrift fiir den Orient of this 

 month contains a highly interesting paper by Prof. H. Vambery, 

 on the proposed Hyrkanian railway, a valuable description of 

 the roads and land communications of Persia by Baron Gbdel- 

 Lannoy in Teheran, a paper on the coffee districts of Yemen 

 by Baron Schweiger-Lerchenfeld, besides two well-written 

 historical papers. 



At the last meeting of the Berlin Geographical Society Prof. 

 W. Forster, the director of the Berlin Observatory, made an 

 interesting communication regarding one of the most important 

 tasks of travellers in unknown regions, i.e. the exact determina- 

 tion of latitude, longitude, and elevation above sea-level. With 

 several of the results of recent German expeditions serious 

 errors in this regard were detected. Prof Forster stated that 

 the Berlin Observatory staff would shortly be in a position to 

 undertake the practical and theoretical instruction of travellers 

 and to superintend the selection, testing, and packing of the 

 necessary scientific instruments for the various expeditions before 

 starting. 



The last number of the Tour du Monde contains an instal- 

 ment of Dr. Crevaux's account of his journey from Cayenne to 

 the Andes, the present part dealing more particularly with the 

 exploration of the River Parou. The illustrations are from 

 original sketches, and are admirably drawn. 



In a recent issue Les Missions Catholiqties publishes a letter 

 from a missionary among the Kakhyens, which contains some 

 interesting notes concerning that comparatively unknown people. 



A Sydney telegram states that a bushman named Skulthorpe 

 has telegraphed from Blackall asserting that he has found the 

 explorer Leichhardt's grave, and has recovered the diary of the 

 whole of his last expedition, together with other relics. Skul- 

 thorpe refuses to show any of the articles until his arrival in 

 Sydney. 



The last number of Le Globe contains part of a paper entitled 

 " Tartaric," by M. F, de Morsier, in which the writer proposes 

 to deal with the Tartar, Turcoman, and Kirghiz steppes. 



By a telegram from Brisbane we learn that the Queensland 

 Government expedition for the survey of the projected Trans- 

 continental railway started on January 14, presumably from 

 Blackall. A previous survey, it will be remembered, was 

 made by a party under Mr. Kavene, despatched by the proprietors 

 of the QiHenslander, but so far as we are aware no detailed 

 account of his explorations has ever been made public, and 

 possibly the new expedition has been sent to endeavour to find 

 a better line of route. 



The Wellington correspondent of the Colonics and India 

 states that the Southern Alps and other of the principal moun- 

 tains of New Zealand are to be explored next year by members 

 of the Alpine Club, who will find ample scope for their energies. 

 The top of Mount Cook, the loftiest peak in New Zealand, 

 between 13,000 and 14,000 feet in height, has not yet been 

 reached. 



The International Alpine Congress will meet at Salzbiirg in 

 1882. The committee is now being formed. 



