918 



SCmNGE. 



[N. S. Vol. IX. No. 235. 



the State steamers, for the purpose of examin- 

 ing the stratigraphy of the Neocene and Pleis- 

 tocene formations, which are to be the subject of 

 special study during the present field season. 

 Professor W. B. Clark, the State Geologist, was 

 in charge of the expedition, and he had as- 

 sociated with him Messrs. H. F. Reid, E. B. 

 Matthews and G. B. Shattuck as well as other 

 members of the Survey. Dr. Arthur HoUick, 

 of Columbia University, who is to undertake 

 some investigations in paleobotany for the Sur- 

 vey, was one of the party. The expedition 

 occupied ten days, and the trip extended into 

 the lower Potomac basin as well as to several 

 of the rivers of the Eastern Shore of Maryland. 



We have already called attention to the ex- 

 cursion arranged by the Union Pacific Railway 

 Company to visit the fossil fields of Wyoming. 

 Invitations have been sent to about 300 geolo- 

 gists and paleontologists, each of whom may 

 bring at least one assistant with him. The 

 party meets at Laramie on June 19th, and will 

 be under the general direction of Professor 

 Knight, of the University of Wyoming. The 

 railway has issued a popular illustrated ac- 

 count of fossils in Wyoming, which can be ob- 

 tained by application to one of their offices. 



Me. a. J. Balfoue, the government leader 

 in the House of Commons, on June 27th as- 

 sured a deputation representing the Royal 

 Society and the Royal Geographical Society 

 that the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Sir 

 Michael Hicks-Beach, was prepared to give 

 substantial aid to the proposed Antarctic ex- 

 pedition. 



It is reported in the daily papers that Dr. 

 Nansen has resolved to enter the lists as an 

 Antarctic explorer. Letters received in Lon- 

 don from him state that he hopes to have an 

 expedition organized and ready to start in 1902. 

 He is at present engaged in preparing his plans, 

 and will endeavor to shape them so that he 

 may supplement the work which the British 

 and German expeditions propose to accomplish. 

 Dr. Nansen intends to go to Berlin for the In- 

 ternational Congress of Geographers, and Sir 

 Clements Markham and Sir John Murray will 

 also be there to meet Professor von Drygalski, 

 the leader of the German expedition. An Ant- 



arctic conference will be held, at which a gen- 

 eral plan of action can be decided upon. 



Me. H. J. Mackinder, reader in geography 

 at the University of Oxford, has just left Eng- 

 land in charge of an expedition, the object of 

 which is to make a thorough study of Mount 

 Kenia, in British East Africa. The London 

 Times states that the expedition is partly subsi- 

 dized by the Royal Geographical Society, though 

 a very considerable portion of the funds is con- 

 tributed by Mr. Hausburg, one of the members 

 of the expedition. Mr. Mackinder is also accom- 

 panied by two competent Swiss guides and two 

 taxidermists and collectors. The expedition is 

 well equipped with instruments, cameras and 

 other means of carrying on scientific work. Dr. 

 J. W. Gregory, when he visited Mount Kenia, 

 succeeded in attaining a height of 17,000 ft., and 

 his observations proved that further investiga- 

 tion would certainly yield interesting scientific 

 results. Mr. Mackinder and his party propose 

 to camp at a height of about 16,000 ft., and from 

 this as a base they hope to make a good map of 

 the whole mountain, ascend to its summit, 

 journey all around it, investigate its glaciation 

 and its geology, and make ample collections of 

 animals and plants. As the expedition goes to 

 work under specially favorable conditions, in- 

 teresting results are expected. Mr. Mackinder 

 hopes to spend at least a month on the mountain, 

 and expects to be back in England about the 

 beginning of October. 



It is intended that the first malaria expedi- 

 tion of the tropical medicine department of 

 University College, Liverpool, should go to 

 Sierra Leone in August. The expedition will 

 beheaded by Major Ross, and will include Dr. 

 Sunnett, the demonstrator to the Liverpool 

 school. The malarial season is at its height 

 in August, and the conditions are then most 

 favorable for research. Major Ross hopes to 

 prove his theory that malaria is caused by the 

 bites of a certain species of mosquito. The ex- 

 pedition will determine, by the methods which 

 Major Ross employed in India, which are the 

 malaria-bearing species in the locality chosen, 

 and then inquire whether it is possible, by filling 

 up the particular puddles in which they breed, 

 to exterminate malaria in a given district. 



