478 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XVIII. No. 458. 



with the greatest interest by all vertebrate 

 morphologists." 



The Field Columbian Museum, Chicago, 

 begins its twentieth free lecture course on 

 Saturday afternoons as follows: 



October 3, ' A Visit to the Island of Sumatra,' 

 Professor E. E. Barnard, University of Chicago. 

 October 10, 'A Tour of the Plant World- 

 Japan,' Dr. C. F. Millspaugh, curator. Depart- 

 ment of Botany. 



October 17, ' Travels on Vancouver Island,' Mr. 

 Harlan I. Smith, American Museum of Natural 

 History, New York, N. Y. 



October 24, 'Bird Migration,' Mr. W. E. 

 Praeger, University of Chicago. 



October 31, 'On the Isthmus of Tehuantepec,' 

 Dr. Seth E. Meek, assistant curator, Department 

 of Zoology. 



November 7, ' In Eastern Mexico,' Dr. Seth 

 E. Meek, assistant curator. Department of Zool- 

 ogy- 

 November 14, ' Where Sea and Kiver meet,' 

 Dr. Chas. B. Davenport, University of Chicago. 



November 21, ' How Ores grow,' Mr. Henry W. 

 Nichols, assistant curator, Department of Geol- 

 ogy- 

 November 28, ' Cats and Dogs, their Origin and 

 Distribution,' Dr. S. W. Williston, associate cura- 

 tor. Division of Paleontology. 



We noted recently that Mr. Robert E. 

 Peary had been given three years' leave of 

 absence from the navy to continue his Arctic 

 explorations. It is now stated that Mr. 

 Peary's plan contemplates the construction of 

 a strong wooden ship Nvith powerful ma- 

 chinery, in which he will sail next July to 

 Cape Sabine and, after establishing a sub- 

 base there, force his way northward to the 

 northern shore of Grant Land, where he will 

 spend the winter with a colony of Whale 

 Sound Esquimaux, who will be taken there 

 by him from their homes further south. This 

 winter base will be at or in the vicinity of 

 Cape Columbia or Cape Joseph Henry, sit- 

 uated about the 82d degree of north latitude. 



We learn from the London Times that Mr. 

 W. N. McMillan, who has just returned from 

 a six month's sporting trip in East Africa, 

 has presented to the Zoological Gardens the 

 animals trapped by his men or given him by 

 native chiefs. These include three Arabian 



baboons {Papio hamadnjas) , three variegated 

 jackals (Canis varicgafus), two spotted hyenas 

 (Ilywiia crocuta), one striped hyena (//. liy- 

 ana), one young lioness (Felis leo), one 

 leopard {F. pardus), one Abyssinian duiker 

 (Gephalophus ahysslnicus), and three Somali 

 ostriches (Struthio molydophanes). The 

 duiker fills a gap in the Regent's Park menag- 

 erie, for till now this species has never been 

 exhibited. Indeed, a good deal of confusion 

 existed about it since it was described by 

 Riippel, and this was not cleared up till Mr. 

 Oldfield Thomas described all the duikers in 

 a paper presented to the Zoological Society in 

 1892. Since then the result of his work has 

 been made more generally accessible in the 

 ' Book of Antelopes,' on which he collaborated 

 with Dr. Sclater, the late secretary. The ani- 

 mal is much greyer than the forms living 

 further south, and is also easily distinguished 

 by the median line of dark hair on the face, 

 which ends in a tuft. The suborbital glands 

 are large, and their dark color gives the face 

 a curious appearance. The hair on the front 

 aspect of the fore limbs is dark, and the tail 

 is black above and white on the under surface. 

 The observations of Riippell and the later ones 

 of Dr. Blanf ord showed that this antelope lived 

 at high elevation. Mr. McMillan confirms 

 this, and his experience is that it is rarely, if 

 ever, met with on terraces at great elevations, 

 but always on sloping ground. At one time 

 he had three in his camp, all quite tame, 

 but two unfortunately died. The jackals are 

 of interest, as this species differs very widely 

 from others found in North Africa in its 

 lank form and curious coloration of pale buff, 

 washed and blotched with black on the back 

 and tail. The first specimen exhibited at the 

 gardens was sent home in 1894 by the late Dr. 

 Anderson, in whose ' Mammals of Egypt ' there 

 is an excellent figure. 



VNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS. 

 The late Richard W. Foster, of Clinton, 

 Mass., has bequeathed $25,000 to Harvard 

 University. Other public bequests are made, 

 and the residue of the estate is left for a 

 club house for the factory hands of Clinton 



