382 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



On July 19th a specimen of the egg of the Great Auk (Alca impennis) 

 was sold by Mr. J. C. Stevens, the well-known natural history auctioneer, 

 of King Street, Covent Garden. The history of this specimen is well 

 known. It was formerly in the collection of Comte Raoul de Berace, 

 having been bequeathed to him in 1834 by the owner of a fishing vessel at 

 St. Malo. It afterwards passed into the possession of Baron d'Hamonville, 

 who was the possessor of four eggs of the Great Auk, which were figured 

 and described in the Memoires of the Societe Zoologique de France for 

 1888 and 1891. Of the four eggs belonging to the Baron, three have been 

 sold by Mr. Stevens. The exact sum realized by the specimen sold on 

 July 19th was 300 guineas. The egg was slightly cracked, and the dark 

 markings were chiefly at the larger end, where the egg was slightly stained. 

 The bidding commenced at £100. There was a brisk competition between 

 two bidders, the egg being knocked down to Mr. Middlebrook, of the 

 ' Edinburgh Castle,' Hampstead Road, the purchaser of Baron d'Hamon- 

 ville's previous specimen, that was sold in June, 1895, at Stevens's, to 

 Messrs. Jays, Regent Street, for sixty-five guineas, and afterwards resold at 

 Stevens's, in July, 1897, to Mr. Middlebrook for 160 guineas. 



The Fortieth Annual Report of the Chicago Academy of Sciences for 

 the year 1897, and dated Jan. llth, 1898, has just reached us (July, 1899). 

 We notice in the Curator's Report of the Museum that, " through the con- 

 tinued generosity of Mr. George H. Laflin, the Academy has acquired the 

 valuable collection of birds lately owned by Mr. F. M. Woodruff. This 

 collection is particularly rich in the birds of the Mississippi Valley, and 

 also includes nearly every species recorded from the Chicago area." 



The Duke of Bedford has been elected by the Council President of the 

 Zoological Society of London, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of 

 Sir William Flower. 



We recently (ante, p. 96) recorded the death of Mr. A. H. Everett, the 

 travelling naturalist and collector. We now with equal regret record the 

 decease of Mr. John Whitehead from pestilential fever while on a scientific 

 mission in the island of Hainan. Mr. Whitehead's zoological enterprise 

 in the Philippines is well known to zoologists, and, as our contemporary, 

 1 Natural Science,' truly observes, " as a collector, Mr. Whitehead was 

 highly esteemed, and his death, at the early age of forty-three, will be 

 especially felt in the Natural History Museum at South Kensington, the 

 zoological collections in which have been enriched through his industry 

 and skill." 



