October 3, 1907J 



NA TURE 



577 



that it will ultimately cease to be any financial burden to 

 the State. 



Mainly at the instigation of the Hon. John Ferguson, 

 C.M.G., the Government of Ceylon has granted to Dr. 

 A. Willey, director of the Colombo Museum, a sum of 

 3000 rupees (200L) to secure the services of a British 

 anthropologist for the study of the Veddahs during 1908. 

 Dr. C. G. Seligmann, who has made most admirable 

 investigations in British New Guinea, has been invited to 

 undertake this research, and we have the pleasure of stating 

 that he has accepted the commission. The Cousins 

 Sarasin have published a fine monograph on the physical 

 anthropology of these interesting people, in which they 

 have also given valuable information concerning their 

 habits and customs ; but the cultural life of these hunter 

 folk has never been thoroughly investigated. Dr. Selig- 

 mann will mainly study the sociology and religion of the 

 \'oddahs, but he will also make his researches as complete 

 as possible in other directions, and will pay especial atten- 

 tion to the old stone implements of the Veddahs, the 

 recent discovery of which was duly announced in N.4TURE. 

 He will receive cordial assistance from Dr. Willey, who 

 has a practical knowledge of the Veddah country, and 

 with this, and other help and information which will be 

 offered to him, there is everv reason to hope for a 

 successful expedition. Dr. .Seligmann, who will be accom- 

 panied by his wife, expects to sail at the end of November. 



The first exhibition of the Society of Colour Photo- 

 graphers, open free to the public, is being held at the 

 offices of the British journal of Photography, 24, \\*elling- 

 ton Street, Strand, W.C. In organising the exhibition 

 the society is appearing before the public for the first 

 time since its formation a year ago, but its first year of 

 active existence opportunely coincides with the appearance 

 of simplified methods of colour photography, already de- 

 scribed in these columns. 



Dr. \V. S. Biuce, Mr. Stewart Ross, and Mr. Gilbert 

 Kerr returned to Edinburgh on Monday on the conclusion 

 of the Scottish expedition to Prince Charles Foreland. 

 Dr. Bruce told a Reuter representative that thev have been 

 able to make a detailed survey of the whole of the west 

 coast of Prince Charles Foreland, of the interior with its 

 mountains, and of a considerable portion of the east coast, 

 (iood zoological collections have been obtained, including 

 a specially fine set of bird skins, a few seal skins, and the 

 skeleton of a whale. Valuable geological and botanical 

 collections have also been secured. A Renter represent- 

 ative has also obtained details of the Arctic expedition 

 undertaken by the Due d'Orl^ans, who, together with Dr. 

 Recamior, the surgeon and naturalist of the expedition, 

 arrived in England on Monday. The expedition, which 

 was on board the duke's Polar yacht Belgica, under the 

 command of Captain de Gerlache, returned to Hammerfest 

 on September 15. The scientific work accomplished will, 

 it is said, prove of great interest. 



We have to acknowledge the receipt of a copy of the 

 report of the museums of the Brooklyn Institute of Arts 

 and Sciences for iqo6, in which it is stated that the most 

 important additions to the natural history department com- 

 prise a collection of sponges and corals made bv the late 

 Prof. H. A. W'ard in Japan and Australia, and another 

 of shells, late the property of Phebe L. Mumford. Con- 

 siderable progress has been made in the mounting of 

 realistic groups of mammals and birds, of several of which 

 illuslrallons are given. 



NO. 1979, VOL. 76] 



Bulletin No. 5 of the entomological division of the 

 experiment station of the Hawaiian Sugar Planters' 

 .\ssociation (published at Honolulu, August 2) is devoted 

 to the sugar-cane leaf-roller, the caterpillar of the moth 

 Omiodes accepta. The moths of this genus are regarded 

 by Sir George Hampson as inseparable from Phryganodes, 

 but this is not accepted by Mr. O. H. Swezey, the author 

 of the report, who states that they agree more nearly 

 with the diagnosis of Nacoleia. The caterpillars are very 

 destructive to grass crops, rolling up and glueing together 

 the edges of the blades, and then devouring the softer 

 tissues. 



Captain T. H. Tizard, F.R.S., assistant hydrographer 

 of the Admiralty, sends us a copy of a notice to mariners, 

 issued on September 14, relating to a volcanic eruption 

 near the Tonga or Friendly Islands, South Pacific Ocean. 

 The notice states : — " Information, dated July 29, 1907, 

 has been received through the Government of the State of 

 Victoria, that the Government of the Tonga Islands has 

 given notice that a volcanic eruption is in progress about 



Vole .nic eruption near the Friendly Islands. 



thirty miles south-west of the western point of Tongatibu 

 (Niuanofo)." The approximate position of the disturb- 

 ance is lat. 21° 25' S., long. 175° 45' W. All the in- 

 formation received has been given in the notice, but 

 probably fuller details will be eventually published. The 

 accompanying illustration from Admiralty chart No. 3421 

 shows the approximate position of the eruption, and also 

 that it appears likely that a bank runs south-west from 

 TongatAbu towards Pylstaart Island, and that the eruption 

 is situated near the edge of this bank. 



.\ccoRDiNG to the report of the Government Museum 

 and Connemara Library. Madras, for the year 1906-7, 

 issued by the Educational Department of Madras, July 19, 

 the erection of a new room for the prehistoric collection 

 made by Mr. R. B. Foote is in contemplation. Consider- 

 able progress has been made in the anthropological and 

 ethnological section, both in the matter of collections and 

 publications. Unfortunately, the supv.Tintcndent, Mr. E. 



