184 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. VIII. No. 189. 



Dr. Terwange, who lias been for some time 

 making preparations, left for Skaguay on Fri- 

 day to look for Herr Andree and his balloon. 

 At Skaguay he will be met by eight other mem- 

 bers of the party and M. Varich, head of the 

 expedition. It was intended to make the 

 search for Andree first in a balloon capable of 

 carrying 9,000 pounds. It was decided to take 

 a smaller and speedier air-vessel, however, and 

 one which will carry 5,000 pounds was built in 

 Vancouver, B. C. Supplies have been sent 

 around by St. Michael's, and will be cached at 

 different points along the river. The expedi- 

 tion is under the auspices of the Geographical 

 Society of Frence. 



We learn from Natural Science that the gov- 

 ernment of New South Wales has fitted out a 

 deep-sea trawling expedition for experimental 

 fishing off the coasts of the colony. Mr. E. E. 

 Waite, of the Australian Museum, is attached as 

 naturalist, and much valuable material, includ- 

 ing many new species, is finding its way to the 

 Museum. 



The botanical expedition to the La Plata 

 Mountains of southwestern Colorado, organized 

 by Professor C. T. Baker, and accompanied by 

 Professors S. M. Tracy and F. S. Earle, has re- 

 turned after being five weeks in the field. It 

 was originally intended to extend the work over 

 a much longer period, but the illness of one of 

 the members of the party prevented. The 

 work will be continued another year, which is 

 amply justified by this season's results. Collec- 

 tions of the greatest value have been made, the 

 number of specimens taken in the five weeks 

 exceeding twenty-five thousand. Many novel- 

 ties (a new Lupinus, a new Oilia and other new 

 things) and many rarities (as, for instance, Ha- 

 mmculus Macauleyi in flower and fruit, Ligusticum 

 eastivoodise, Trifolium brandegei, Astragalus hey- 

 denianus, A. lonchocarpus, A. scopulorum, A. 

 ivingatensis, etc.) were collected in quantity and 

 will be issued in the sets which have been sub- 

 scribed for by most of the greater herbaria of 

 this country and Europe. 



Three Italian investigators, K. Nasini, F. 

 Anderlin and B. Salvadori, who have been en- 

 gaged in the study of gases emanating from the 

 earth, write to Nature that in the spectrum of 



the gases "of the Solfatara di Pozzuoli, which 

 contain argon, we have found a sufficiently 

 bright line with the wave-length 531.5, corre- 

 sponding to that of corona 147-1 K, attributed to 

 coronium, an element not yet discovered, and 

 which should be lighter than hydrogen. This 

 line has never before been observed in earthly 

 products. Besides we have noted the following 

 lines : 653.5, 595.5, 536.2. In the spectrum of 

 the gases gathered from the Fumarole of Vesu- 

 vius we have observed the lines : 769.5, 631.8, 

 572.5, 636.5, 441.5, and again 595.5. All 

 these lines do not belong to the spectrum of 

 argon or helium ; they show a coincidence or 

 proximity only with some unimportant lines of 

 various elements, such as iron, potassium, tita- 

 nium. Considering the conditions of our ex- 

 periments, the presence of these elements in the 

 gases we have studied is not probable. The 

 line 572.5 is near to one of nitrogen, but being 

 the onlj' visible line of the spectrum of this gas 

 it cannot be attributed to it. Besides coronium 

 we have thus probably other new elements in 

 these gases." 



De. J. N. Eose, of the National Museum, 

 contributes to the ninth report of the Missouri 

 Botanical Garden a paper of several pages, 

 illustrated by three plates, on several Agaves 

 which have bloomed in the Botanical Garden 

 at Washington. One of these, the original 

 home of which is not known, is described as new, 

 under the name A. Washingtonensis Baker & 

 Eose. Some years since. Professor Williams 

 described and figured, for the first time, fruit- 

 ing specimens of the rather common lichen 

 Parmelia molliuscula. In a brief note of a recent 

 publication in the same report of the Missouri 

 Garden, Mr. Henry Willey calls attention to 

 the existence in his collection of another speci- 

 men in fruit. 



A DISPATCH to the daily papers from Vienna 

 says that Dr. Leo Lillienfeld, of that city, has 

 demonstrated to the Chemical Congress, in ses- 

 sion there, the discovery of a method of pro- 

 ducing artificial albumen, identical with natural 

 albumen, which hitherto, it has been believed, 

 could only be produced by organic means. 



We called attention recently to the prize of 

 $10,000 oflered by the Belgian government to 



