OcTOBER 27, 1899.] 
The Persulfates of Rubidium, Cesium 
‘and Thallium. A. R. Foster and E. F. 
Smith. 
The Chemical Composition of Butter Fat. 
C. A. Browne, Jr. 
Halids and Perhalids of the Picolins. P. 
Murrill. 
JAs. Lewis Howe. 
WASHINGTON AND LEE UNIVERSITY. 
THE COLLECTIONS OF NATURAL HISTORY 
AT SOUTH KENSINGTON.* 
Tue collections in the Natural History 
Museum at South Kensington have recently 
been considerably enriched by means of ex- 
ploring expeditions which have brought 
home from various parts of the world col- 
lections of great scientific interest and 
value. The late Sir William Flower did 
much to encourage scientific studies on the 
part of travellers in remote countries, and 
he was always ready to cooperate in the 
organization of expeditions and in giving 
official aid in the determination of collec- 
tions brought home by explorers. His suc- 
cessor at the Museum, Professor Ray Lan- 
kester has lost no time in evincing his 
complete accord with the ideas of his pre- 
decessor in this respect, and indeed it is 
already evident that he favors a great de- 
velopment of this policy. The fact is be- 
coming more and more generally recog- 
nized that it is the business of a national 
museum of natural history not merely to 
preserve for scientific study and public in- 
struction the specimens acquired by pre- 
sentation or by purchase from dealers and 
others, but to obtain objects by the deliber- 
ate exploration of regions which are likely 
to yield rich harvests of new and important 
material. This idea has, we are glad to 
note, been encouraged by the authorities of 
the Museum. It is seldom now that an 
important expedition organized by private 
enterprise leaves these shores without either 
* From the London Zimes. 
SCIENCE. 
605 
the explorer himself being in a measure in 
structed as to the best means of obtaining 
specimens and supplied with the necessary 
apparatus for collecting or taking with him 
one or more trained naturalists. 
The natural history branch of the British 
Museum benefited greatly by the results of 
the expedition to Sokotra, which, under the 
liberal auspices of the Royal and Royal 
Geographical Societies and of the British 
Association, was organized by Mr. W. R. 
Ogilvie-Grant, representing the British Mu- 
seum, and Dr. H. O. Forbes, director of 
the Liverpool Museum, with the generous 
aid of the committee of that institution, 
for the purpose of investigating and mak- 
ing collections of the natural history of that 
island. Dr. Forbes will, we believe, give 
an account of the geographical results of 
this expedition in Section E at the forth- 
coming meeting of the British Association 
at Dover. As regards its zoological work, 
which was its main object, the general re- 
sults can be described as most successful. 
Sokotra does not seem to be rich in its 
mammal fauna. Only one mammal was 
recorded from it before Messrs. Forbes and 
Grant explored the island. They, however, 
obtained eight distinct species, including a 
wild ass, goat, Arabian hare, rat, two 
species of bat, and the Arabian baboon, of 
which two living examples were brought to 
England for the Zoological Gardens. The 
avifauna is very rich, as many as 62 species, 
represented by nearly 600 specimens, being 
secured. Hight of the species were new to 
science. ‘Twenty-three species of reptiles, 
represented by 350 specimens, 8 of the 
species being new; 20 species of marine 
fish, represented by nearly 60 specimens, 
and large collections of land shells and in- 
sects containing many undescribed forms 
were also included in the harvest. The 
butterflies are especially numerous, several 
of the species being very beautiful and 
hitherto unrecorded. 
