May 14, 1874] 



NA TURE 



33 



Procyonidfe of the New World. The AHliiropus is a 

 large bear-like animal clad in snow-white fur. It inhabits 

 the highest forest?, and is called by the Chine.se hunters 

 " Pae-sliiflinig" or " white bear." Its food is said to be of 

 a vegetable character. 



Proceeding to the Ungulates, we find other very re- 

 markable discoveries recorded. The singular form 

 Budorcas, hitherto only known from the Mishmee Hills 

 of Assam, a large antilopine-looking creature with a pair 

 of in-curved horns, is also met with in Moupin. Three 

 ne-w Nfiiwr/u'di, or goat-like antelopes, are also in the list. 

 But perhaps the most interesting of all P^re David's dis- 

 coveries in this order of mammals is a new form be- 

 longing to the family Ct-rvid(T, which M. Milne-Edwards 

 has termed Elapliodiis CLphaloplius. It is intermediate 

 between the muntjacks and the true deer, having the 

 highly developed upper canines of the former, but pos- 

 sessing a minute pair of horns about an inch in length, 

 covered by a long tuft of frontal hairs as in the antelopes 

 of the genus Ci-phalopluis. 



Altogether, out of the 1 10 species of mammals obtained 

 by Pire D.ivid in Moupin, no less than forty turned out to 

 be new to Science, amongst which, as will be seen from 

 what we have said above, were many of the most remark- 

 able characters. There can be little question therefore, 

 we think, that Moupin presents one of the most extra- 

 ordinary faunas as regards its mammals that has become 

 known to us for many years. It must be conceded that 

 the land is difficult of access, and that perhaps no living 

 European, except P&re David, clad in Chinese garments, 

 and speaking the ordinary vernacular of the countr)', 

 could have found his way there. It has been lately stated 

 in a scientific periodical that zoology is at a discount in 

 France, and that their recent contributions to this science 

 have been of the most meagre description. The splendid 

 discoveries of Pere David, and the works of Alphonse 

 Milne-Edwards in which they are described, are of them- 

 selves sufficient to refute such a baseless charge. 



THE TRANSIT EXPEDITIONS TO RODRIGUEZ 

 AND KERGUELEN'S LAND 



SOME four years ago (Nature, vol. i. p. 527), we 

 directed attention to the desirable opportunity, pre- 

 sented by the Transit expeditions to several little-known 

 spots in the Pacific, of sending out qualified Natural-His- 

 tory observers to the same islands, in order to obtain a 

 knowledge of their flora and fauna. The astronomical 

 stations selected as being especially worthy of this kind of 

 research were the Sandwich Islands, Kerguelen's Land, 

 and the Island of Rodriguez. This subject having been 

 brought before the Council of the Royal Society last 

 year, and thus to the notice of the Treasury, we are 

 glad to be able to announce that, after certain little diffi- 

 culties on account of the change of Government, the 

 present ministry were induced to grant a sum of money 

 sufficient to send out naturalists to two of these stations, 

 and that arrangements are now being made for their 

 speedy departure along with their astronomical brethren. 



Three naturalists will proceed to Rodriguez, the most 

 remote and least known of the Mascarene group of 

 islands. Dr. T. B. Balfour, son of the well-known Pro- 

 fessor of Botany of the University of Edinburgh, will 

 devote himself to an examination of the general geo- 

 logical structure of this island, which presents features 

 of the greatest interest, inasmuch as it forms one of the 

 few exceptions to the general rule that all oceanic islands 

 of the deep sea are of volcanic origin. Dr. Balfour will 

 also collect the plants of Rodriguez so as to increase our 

 acquaintance with the flora of the island, which has 

 hitherto, wc believe, been scarcely touched. 



Mr. George Gulliver, of the University of Oxford, has 

 undertaken the zoological department, and will form as 



complete a series as possible of the recent animals of the 

 island of every kind. The fauna of Rodriguez, as is 

 well known, is excessively meagre, but it is very desirable 

 that what little endemic life there is left on it should be 

 investigated and collected at once, as being the relics of 

 a very peculiar phase of life which is now passing away 

 very rapidly. 



To Mr. Henry H. Slater, of the University of Cam- 

 bridge, who has had good experience of cave-digging in 

 the north of England, has been entrusted the task of 

 the complete exploration of the limestone caverns of 

 Rodriguez, which has been so ably commenced by Mr. 

 Edward Newton, the Colonial Secretary of Mauritius, 

 with successful results well known to the majority of our 

 readers. We trust also that Mr. Edward Newton may 

 himself be able to accompany the party to Rodriguez, in 

 order to give them the benefit of his advice and assistance. 

 If this can be arranged, there remains no doubt that 

 the Rodriguez expedition will attain most successful 

 results. ^ 



For the expedition to Kerguelen's Land, the second 

 point to which it has been agreed that natural history in- 

 vestigaton shall be directed, one naturalist has been con- 

 sidered to be sufficient, regard being had to the well- 

 known poverty of its flora and fauna, and to the fact that 

 the ClialUn^cr expedition has paid, or will shortly pay, a 

 visit to the island. For this post the Committee of the 

 Royal Society has selected the Rev. A. E. Eaton, who 

 has already distinguished himself by making excellent 

 collections, both zoological and botanical, in Spitzbergen. 

 Spitzbergen, as observed by Dr. Hooker, lies under some- 

 what similar conditions as regards chmate in the northern 

 hemisphere, to Kerguelen's Land in the southern, and 

 there can be no doubt that a naturalist who has worked 

 well in the former will have gained experience likely to 

 assist him in the latter locality. 



As regards the exact time of the departure of these two 

 expeditions, we believe that nothing is yet finally settled ; 

 but it is probable that the naturalists will in each case de- 

 part in company with the astronomers, who are under 

 orders to leave England in the course of the ensuing 

 month. 



NOTES 



At a meeting of Convocation of the University of London 

 held on Tuesday evening last, a motion " That in the opinion 

 of Convocation it is desirable that women should be permitted 

 to take degrees in the University of London," was carried by a 

 majority of 83 against 65. The subject will, it is said, shortly 

 be brought before the Senate, with whom originates all fresh 

 legislation, Convocalion having only a power of veto. 



At the same meeting a motion urging the Senate not to 

 permit the practice of vivisection to be carried on in the physio- 

 logical laboratory of the Brown Institution under any circum- 

 stances except for medical or curative purposes, was lost by a 

 m.ajority of 59 against 16. 



We have, on more than one occasion, spoken of the disgrace- 

 ful way in which the Natural History Collections belonging to 

 the defunct East India Company have been treated. They have 

 been " boxed up " several years and deposited in the cellars of 

 the India Office, so that they cannot be got at even when access 

 to a particular type-specimen is requisite to enable a naturalist 

 to determine a vexata ipucstio. On the Sth inst. Sir John 

 Lubbock endeavoured to ascertain from the Under-Secretary 

 for India whether there is any prospect of the grievance being 

 remedied, but did not succeed in getting much more than the 

 cautious reply that the srrbject was "under consideration." 

 We believe, however, that there is really a negociation for the 

 transfer of the whole of the collection to South Kensington, in 

 accordance with the suggestion put forward in our article on this 



