AiGlST 21, 1903.] 



SCIENCE. 



255 



composed, had in the process of time eroded 

 and made it possible for a party to descend. 

 The party then, by means of a detour of ap- 

 proximately 150 miles, came down a similar 

 fissure on the opposite side of the river and 

 obtained the topography of that side for about 

 an equal distance. About 12,000 feet further 

 upstream they were able to descend again to 

 another short talus slope, although the de- 

 scent was extremely perilous, it being neces- 

 sary for the party at times to descend over 

 steep cliffs for several hundred feet by means 

 of ropes. On the opposite side was an- 

 other small talus slope, which was reached 

 by a similar descent after the return of the 

 party to the south side. There was one 

 other small talus slope, between the extreme 

 tracts already mentioned, which it was impos- 

 sible for the party to reach with instru- 

 ments, but one man descended this slope also 

 by means of ropes, in order that he might 

 set signals for triangulation. This dangerous 

 piece of work was at last concluded, however, 

 to the satisfaction of the chief of the party. 

 The Uncompahgre Valley project is under 

 the general direction of Mr. A. L. Fellows, 

 district engineer; the men who made the de- 

 scents into the canyon were Mr. I. W. Mc- 

 Connell, resident engineer, Mr. W. P. Ed- 

 wards, assistant engineer, and Messrs. R. H. 

 Sargent and L. E. Foster, topographers. 



The annual Blue-book relating to the 

 British Museum has been published. Ac- 

 cording to an abstract in the London Times 

 the report on the British Museum (Xatural 

 History) by Professor Ray Lankester, director, 

 states that the number of visits was 433,619, 

 compared with 417,691 in 1901. The at- 

 tendance on Sunday afternoons has increased 

 from 57,797 to 61,035. The average daily 

 attendance was 1,197, for week-days only 

 1,201, and for Sunday afternoons 1,173. The 

 report also states that the survey of the fishes 

 of the Nile, begun in Februarj', 1899, in co- 

 operation with the Egyptian government, came 

 to an end in June last. The work done since 

 the last report was on the Blue Nile and 

 White Nile. The former was explored as far 

 as Rosaires, the latter as far as Gondokoro, 



where a valuable collection was made. The 

 whole collection made during the three years' 

 operations, amounting to some 9,500 specimens 

 of over 100 species of fishes (14 being new to 

 science), has reached the museum, and the 

 final description of the material obtained is 

 being proceeded with for publication by the 

 Egj-ptiau government. In consequence of 

 the marked success which attended Dr. C. W. 

 Andrews's mission to Egyi^t in 1901, he was 

 again sent to that country last year, with 

 treasury sanction, for the purpose of con- 

 tinuing the geological exjilorations in the 

 Fayiim. The season's operations resulted in 

 the acquisition for the museum, partly by 

 excavations and partly by arrangements with 

 the Geological Survey of Egypt, of a very im- 

 portant and valuable series of fossils, inclu- 

 ding remains of Arsinoitherium, Palceomasto- 

 don, etc. The collections thus acquired repre- 

 sent nearly all the important forms yet dis- 

 covered in the locality, besides several species 

 that are almost certainly new to science. The 

 trustees have accepted a generous offer by Mr. 

 W. E. De Winton to defray the expenses of 

 carrying on geological explorations in Egypt 

 for one or two seasons, and to present all the 

 specimens obtained to the museum. Dr. 

 Andrews has accordingly been despatched to 

 Egypt to superintend the excavations in the 

 present season. Mr. W. R. Ogilvie Grant, an 

 assistant in the Zoological Department, has 

 been authorized to proceed to the Azores to 

 make a zoological exploration of that group of 

 islands, with a view to collect specimens, the 

 cost of the expedition being defrayed by Mr. 

 Walter Rothschild, M.P. An arrangement 

 has been made with the conmiittee of the Na- 

 tional Antarctic Expedition, under which the 

 British Museum wall receive the collections 

 obtained, the trustees having agreed to pub- 

 lish the natural history results of the voyage. 

 The Experiment Station Record states that 

 the successful work of the local agricultural 

 experiment stations in Japan has made it 

 possible for the ministry of agriculture and 

 commerce to reduce the number of branch ex- 

 periment stations connected with the Central 

 Agricultural Experiment Station at Nishi- 

 gahara, and to concentrate its efforts and 



