Decembek 13, 1901.] 



SCIENCE. 



943 



guineas, for what is thought to be the best egg 

 of the great auk extant. 



The large tusk of an African elephant, recently 

 noted in Science as having been purchased by 

 the British Museum, is said to be one of the two 

 shown by Messrs. Tiffany & Company at their 

 rooms in New York. These tusks, whose 

 measurements and weight were given in 

 Science and have also been noted in Mr. 

 Lucas's 'Animals of the Past' will probably 

 continue to hold the record for elephant tusks. 



President Francis, of the Louisiana Pur- 

 chase Exposition Co., states that the "Wash- 

 ington University site will be enclosed within 

 the limits of the fair grounds, and all the new 

 buildings will be used for the purposes of the 

 exposition. The university grounds comprise 

 about 110 acres, and upon them have been 

 erected during the past two years educational 

 buildings which have cost approximately $1,- 

 000,000. None of these buildings is yet com- 

 pleted, but all now in course of construction 

 will be finished within the next six months. 

 The exposition company will give liberal com- 

 pensation to the University for the use of its 

 grounds and buildings, but the entire considera- 

 tion for such use will be put into the erection 

 of additional buildings, and into the embel- 

 lishment of the grounds for the use of the ex- 

 position, thus affording unparalleled advan- 

 tages for an educational exhibit." 



At the meeting of the Zoological Society of 

 London on November 19, Professor E. Eay 

 Lankester, F.R.S., read a memoir on the new 

 African mammal Okapia johnstoni. After an 

 account of the history of the discovery of this 

 remarkable animal by Sir Harry Johnston, Pro- 

 fessor Lankester gave a description of its skull 

 and skin, based upon the specimens forwarded 

 to the British Museum by the discoverer, and 

 compared its structure with that of the giraffe 

 and the extinct member of the same family, 

 JSelladotherium. The nearest living ally of the 

 Okapi was undoubtedly the giraffe. Mr. Old- 

 field Thomas read a paper on the five-horned 

 giraffe obtained by Sir Harry Johnston near 

 Mount Elgon, It was shown that, although 

 the horns were unusually developed, the animal 

 could not be specifically separated from the 

 North- African giraffe, Giraffa camelopardalis. 



This latter was believed to grade uniformly in 

 the development of the horns and other charac- 

 ters into the South African form, which would 

 therefore be only a subspecies, G. c. capensis. 

 On the other hand, de Winton's G. c. reticulata 

 (from Somaliland) seemed to be sharply sepa- 

 rated, and therefore to be worthy of recognition 

 as a distinct species, G. reticulata. With re- 

 gard to the accessory horns, it was shown that 

 they, or rudiments of them, existed in all male 

 giraffes, even in the southern subspecies. 



The Davenport Academy of Sciences has ar- 

 ranged a course of popular scientific lectures as 

 follows : 



January 4—' The Snake Dance of the Mokis ' : Dr. 

 J. Walter Fewkes, Bureau of Ethnology, Wash- 

 ington, D. C. 



January 11 — ' The Degenerates of Animal Society': 

 Professor Henry B. Ward, The University of 

 Nebraska. 



January 18— ' The Glacial Period in Iowa': Pro- 

 fessor Samuel Calvin, The State University of 

 Iowa. 



January 25 — 'Some Remarkable Members of an 

 Ancient and Highly Distinguished Family ' : Peo- 

 FESSOR Thomas H. Macbride, The State University 

 of Iowa. 



February 1 — ' The Aztecs of Ancient Mexico ' : 

 Professor Frederick Stare, The University of 

 Chicago. 



' The Bottom of the Sea ' : Professor C. 



C. Nutting, The State University of Iowa. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS. 



Mr. Andrew Carnegie has offered to give 

 $10,000,000 to the United States for the pur- 

 pose of establishing in Washington a national 

 university. 



Mrs. Jane L. Stanford completed the 

 transfer to Leland Stanford Junior University, 

 on December 9, of property, consisting of 

 stocks, bonds and real estate, said to be worth 

 approximately $30,000,000. 



Mr. John D. Rockefeller has offered to 

 give Bryu Mawr College $230,000 for the erec- 

 tion of a new dormitory building and a central 

 heating and electric light plant, conditional 

 upon the trustees of the College being able to 

 secure by commencement day, in June, 1902, 

 pledges for the additional sum of $250,000 

 needed for a library building. The authorities 

 of the College are taking steps toward raising 



