48 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



enlarged " Sharpe's " edition. Ceylon, New Zealand, Para on the Amazon, 

 Fiji, and New Caledonia were the scenes of other governmental appoint- 

 ments, which covered a term of forty-seven years. He was an old and 

 valued contributor to our contemporary the ■ Field.' 



In ' Nature ' for Dec. 28th last is a most useful article on ° Formalin 

 as a preservative " under the easily recognised initials " R. L." We read 

 that " for sterilising freshly killed specimens of mammals and birds, as well 

 as eggs, that have to be sent some distance to a museum in the flesh, there 

 can be no doubt that formalin is invaluable. And it is no less valuable to 

 the field collector of mammals, not only on account of the small bulk a 

 sufficiency of the fiuid occupies, but also from the marvellous preservative 

 power of the fiuid itself. According to Mr. 0. Thomas (who reports very 

 favourably of it for this purpose), commercial formalin, which is .itself 40 per 

 cent, under proof, must be diluted with no less than tweuty-five times its 

 own bulk of water before use. Moreover, whereas when mammals are pre- 

 served in spirit it is necessary to allow a very large amount of fluid to each 

 specimeu, when formalin is employed the vessel may be crammed as full as 

 possibles with specimens, which are preserved without exhibiting the 

 slightest traces of putrefaction. When received at the British Museum all 

 such specimens are, however, immediately transferred to alcohol, on account 

 of their unsuitability for handling when in the original medium." 



A large egg of sEpyomis maximus was sold at auction by Messrs. 

 Stevens on November 7th for forty-two guineas. The purchaser was 

 Mr. T. G. Middlebrook, of Great Auk-egg notoriety. 



The late Sir James Paget, who died in London on Dec. 30th last at the 

 age of eighty-live, beyond his renown as a surgeon, must be remembered as 

 a naturalist. In 1834, with the assistance of his brother Charles, he pub- 

 lished ' A Sketch of the Natural History of Yarmouth and its Neighbour- 

 hood, containing Catalogues of the Species of Mammals, Birds, Reptiles, 

 Fishes, Insects, and Plants at present known.' Our readers will call to 

 mind frequent reference to the same in recent communications in these 

 pages by Mr. A. Patterson. 



News has reached this country of the death of America's great ornith- 

 ologist, Dr. Elliott Coues, which took place at Baltimore, U.S.A., on 

 Christmas Day. We hope to publish an obituary notice very shortly. 



