484 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXIII. No.! 



hundred and fifty miles from San Diego. 

 From Guadalupe Island the A Zfcaiross planned 

 to work eastward to begin a fish survey of the 

 peninsula of Lower California. The fishery 

 resources of the region will be studied with a 

 view to the establishment of closer fishery re- 

 lations with Mexico. There will be work on 

 shore also. The peninsula is seven hundred 

 and fifty miles long and will be studied along 

 both coasts. During the progress of the ves- 

 sel along these coasts collecting parties will be 

 landed each day to procure the mammals, 

 birds, reptiles and fishes of the region, which 

 are of especial interest to naturalists because 

 so large a number of them are peculiar to the 

 locality. 



The Charleston (S. C.) Museum has been 

 developing a large amount of public interest 

 recently in the scientific studies that were so 

 much cultivated in that city in the years be- 

 fore the war. In the middle decades of the 

 last century, Charleston was a center of sci- 

 entific work and interest. The visit there of 

 Agassiz in 1850, and the notable work of 

 Audubon and Bachman, and of others beside, 

 gave great stimulus to scientific pursuits. 

 There has been organized in recent years a 

 Natural History Society, as an educational 

 department of the museum, composed largely 

 of young people, but by no means confined to 

 them, which has already done much excellent 

 local work, and is raising up and training a 

 body of enthusiastic observers, especially in 

 botany and ornithology. The museum has 

 also within the past year issued the first vol- 

 ume of its " Contributions," — " The Birds of 

 South Carolina," by Arthur Trezevant Wayne, 

 honorary curator of ornithology in the mu- 

 seum, and a recognized authority on the 

 birds of the region. This is an octavo vol- 

 ume of 254 pages, and is the most complete 

 and accurate work on the subject that has 

 been published. "With a view to stimulating 

 public interest, and also in the desire to link 

 the present and future work of the museum 

 with that which gave Charleston its reputa- 

 tion in the days of Audubon and Bachman, 

 the Natural History Society proposed to de- 

 vote its March meeting to the work of those 



eminent men, and to make it a memorial oc- 

 casion. To this end, request was made for 

 copies in private hands, of the plates and 

 various editions of their works, and also for 

 other objects connected with them. The main 

 hall of the museum was assigned to this 

 Audubon-Bachman exhibit. The result ex- 

 ceeded all anticipation, and revealed a wealth 

 of choice material of this kind, belonging to 

 private owners that had not been suspected. 

 A noble collection of Audubon's bird-plates 

 was thus secured, together with copies of the 

 several editions of his work on birds, and of 

 the joint work of Dr. Bachman on the mam- 

 mals, with busts, portraits, original drawings, 

 etc., of great interest. This loan collection 

 attracted much public attention, and has 

 given a distinct impetus to scientific apprecia- 

 tion in the city. At the memorial meeting, 

 held on March 2, a large audience was pres- 

 ent, and very interesting addresses were given 

 on the life and work of both Audubon and 

 Bachman, by several speakers, including 

 Director Eea, of the Museum, and the vener- 

 able Dr. C. S. Vedder, of Charleston, an inti- 

 mate friend of Dr. Bachman for many years. 



A NEW expedition is being 

 Eeuter's Agency learns, to explore the Snow 

 Mountains of New Guinea, a region in which 

 the British expedition under Captain Bawling 

 is at present working. The Dutch government 

 is interested in the undertaking, and Queen 

 Wilhelmina and Prince Henry have contrib- 

 uted towards the cost. The details have not 

 yet been finally arranged, but it is probable 

 that Captain von Nauhuys, who has already 

 been on three expeditions in New Guinea 

 under Dr. Lorentz, will be in command and 

 will be accompanied by a number of European 

 scientific men. 



The production of tungsten in the United 

 States increased considerably during the year 

 1909, but practically all the nickel, cobalt and 

 tin consumed was imported. In an advance 

 chapter from " Mineral Resources of the 

 United States Calendar Tear 1909," prepared 

 by Frank L. Hess for the United States Geo- 

 logical Survey, the production of these metals 

 and of the rarer metals vanadium, titanium. 



