DECEMBER 15, 1899.] 
Tue New York Zoological Society has issued 
a Popular Official Guide to the New York Zo- 
ological Park as far as completed, with maps, 
plans and illustrations. It contains a brief 
account of the Society, its origin and aims; tells 
how to reach the Park, describes the general 
topography of the grounds and the animals it 
now contains. There is much information con- 
cerning the range, size and habits of the ani 
mals, their former abundance or present 
scarcity, and the accompanying illustrations are 
very good. 
A TELEGRAM has been received at the Har- 
vard College Observatory from Professor Kreutz 
at Kiel Observatory, stating that a planet of the 
tenth magnitude was discovered by Charlois 
Dec. 42.377 Greenwich Mean Time in R. A., 
4» 37™56° and Dec. + 14° 137. 
Daily motion in R. A. — 14! 
cee cisco ee Deck 3 4! 
A TOPOGRAPHICAL map of Greater New York, 
24x 28 feet in size, and costing about $10,000, 
is being prepared for the Paris Exposition. It 
is expected that the map will subsequently be 
placed in the New York Public Library. 
THE corals collected by the Beal-Steere Ex- 
pedition and given to the University of Michigan 
have been mounted and permanently shelved 
in the museum. The collection includes several 
hundred specimens taken from the Pacific Ocean 
near the Philippine Islands and the island of 
Formosa. As far as possible each specimen has 
been placed in the position in which it origi- 
nally grew. 
WE learn from the British Medical Journal 
that of the three members of the Malaria Com- 
mission which proceeded to British Central 
Africa in the early part of the year, two, 
Messrs. Christophers and Stephens, have re- 
turned. Dr. Daniels remains for a further 
term in Central Africa. We understand that 
Messrs. Christophers and Stephens will almost 
at once proceed to the West Coast of Africa, in 
the first instance to Sierra Leone, where there 
should be no lack of material for studies both 
in malaria and in blackwater fever. Hitherto 
the work of the Commission has been hampered 
by lack of clinical material. It is easy to under- 
stand how, in the scanty and scattered Huro- 
_ SCIENCE. 
903 
pean population of British Central Africa, 
although blackwater fever is the most frequent 
cause of death, such a concentration of cases as 
would best suit the purposes of the Commission 
might be difficult to effect. In the larger and 
more concentrated European populations to be 
found in West Africa it is to be hoped that in 
this respect the conditions will be more favor- 
able to the work of the Commissioners. 
REUTER’s AGENCY is informed that Dr. Carl 
Peters, in a letter dated Umtali, October 13th, 
just to hand, announces that during the rainy 
season, when practically no prospecting work 
was possible, he intended to come to England. 
He adds: ‘‘I expect to arrive about the middle 
of December, accompanied by Umtete, the 
brother of the famous chief Macombe. I am 
leaving my staff out here. One mining engi- 
neer and a trader are left at the Fura station, 
near the Zambesi, and also at the Inyanga sta- 
tion, near Umtali. I am in first-class health, 
but am feeling a little run down in consequence 
of the marching, exploring, irregular food, ete. 
I have evidence that can prove we have really 
discovered the Fura of the old reports.’’ In 
explanation of this, Reuter’s Agency is informed 
that Dr. Carl Peters’s expedition was mainly 
based on an old atlas published in Amsterdam 
in 1705, with French text, the author being un- 
known. In this atlas it was stated that ‘‘near 
this place (south of the Zambesi and near the 
river Manzoro, now Mazoe) is the great moun- 
tain of Fura, very rich in gold, which some 
people regard asa corruption of the Ophir.”’ 
This view was also held by the Portuguese 
writer Couto, who was quoted by Theodore 
Bent in his ‘Ruined Cities of Mashonaland.’ 
With regard to Fura, Couto said: ‘‘ The rich- 
est mines of all are those of Massapa, from 
which the Queen of Sheba took the greater part 
of the gold which she went to offer to the Tem- 
ple of Solomon, and it is Ophir, for the Kaflirs 
call it Fur and the Mons, Afur.’’ Dr. Peters 
states that uo traveler had visited this region 
within the last 200 years. He has now rediscov- 
ered ancient ruins of Semitic origin, including 
fortifications and what he regarded as a temple 
or storehouse. The whole region is practically 
uninhabited. He also claims to have found dis- 
tinct traces of ancient gold working there. 
