620 The American Naturalist. [July, 
millions of hectares of cultivable surface, some four and a half mil- 
lions, comprising the landes, marshes, heath, etc., are absolutely with- 
out culture ; more than three and a half millions fallow ; four millions 
are covered with natural, unirrigated pasture in plains, hillsides, etc. ; 
and more than half the forests, comprising nearly five millions of 
hectares, are without roads, uncared for, and unexplored, — abandoned 
entirely to nature. Thus more than one-third of the cultivable area of 
France is practically uncultivated. More than this, the agricultural 
population, which in 1861 was 19,873,493, had in 1881 decreased to 
18,249,209, and the rate of decrease seems to have accelerated since 
elers. Dr. Humann and 
iken an archaeological journey into the 
centre of Asia Minor, and have operated in the neighborhood of Aidin, 
on the site of the Acropolis of Thralles, one of the most renowned 
centres of antiquity. 
Captain J. Jacobsen, already known for his travels in British Co- 
lumbia, Alaska and Siberia, has, since the end of September, 1887, 
been exploring the East Indian Archipelago with his friend Kuhne, 
in the service of the ethnographical museum of Berlin. He has visited 
Flores, Wetter, Kiffer (a small populous island where the people call 
themselves Christians, and go regularly to church, and yet worship 
wooden images), Letti, Moa, Luang, and Babar. Herr Kuhne then 
explored Ceram, Coram, and Burru, and Captain Jacobsen, Timulant, 
Timoe, and other islands. The result was a considerable collection of 
ethnographical material. 
Since the death of the illustrious general Prejevalsky, the Russian 
expedition has been under the direction of Colonel Pievtzov, already 
known from his geographical researches in Mongolia. A mining engi- 
neer, M. Bogdanovitch, accompanied him. 
Colonel Bolchefif has published the most complete map of the 
Pamir that has yet been made. The names are in French, and the 
French Government has given an academical prize to its author. 
The leveling of the southern part of the Siberian coast between 
Vladivostok and Ussuri has shown that there are no obstacles to the 
construction of a railroad. Moreover, the engineers have found that 
the flat and marshy lands to the south of Lake Hanka are of great 
fertility. Numerous colonists have already established themselves 
