492 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
In a special Antarctic number of the ‘ Scottish Geographical Magazine,’ 
Sir John Murray urges the need of a British Antarctic Expedition. The 
importance of such an expedition has been insisted upon more than once, 
and we hope that Sir John Murray’s efforts will-assist in impressing the 
mind of the Government. Our maps are a feeble blank concerning 
Antarctica, and the information we possess as to its fauna and flora is 
nconspicuous. <A few Cetacea, a few Seals, and a handful of birds are all 
that Mr. Chumley can record; while as to the Invertebrata, practically all 
we know was gained in a few dredgings by the ‘Challenger’ during the 
cruise from the Cape of Good Hope to Australia. Dr. Murray’s plea is not 
for a dash to the South Pole, but for a ‘steady, continuous, laborious, 
hydrographical, and topographical examination of the whole South Polar 
Area during several successive years,” . . . which ‘ would enrich almost 
every branch of science, and would undoubtedly mark a great advance in 
the philosophy of terrestrial physics.” He asks some of our wealthy 
citizens to come forward with £100,000, which might be placed in the 
hands of the President of the Royal Society.—Natural Science. 
SoME very interesting ornithological news has lately been received from 
New Zealand. A fourth specimen of Notornis mantelli, a large flightless 
Rail, has been captured. The last specimen of Notornis was captured 
some twenty years ago, and it has long been considered extinct by most 
people, although a few have clung to the idea that the species yet lived 
hidden in some of the great marshes of New Zealand. The name Notornis 
was originally given by Owen to some fossil bones discovered in the North 
Island, New Zealand. In 1849, a few years later, Mr. W. Mantell obtained, 
in the Middle Island, a freshly-killed specimen of a flightless Rail, which 
was declared to be of the same species as Owen's Notornis. A second 
specimen was obtained in 1851, and a third in 1879. The present speci- 
men was killed by a dog in the bush adjoining Lake Te Anan. The skin 
and all parts of the bird have been carefully preserved, so that we may look 
forward to having some exceedingly valuable details concerning this in- 
teresting bird. The fact that this fourth specimen was a young female 
proves that the bird is by no means extinct, and also that it is not easy to 
find.— Knowledge. 
‘‘ BrusHer MILs,” the well-known New Forest snake-charmer, has so 
far this year killed sixty Snakes and ninety Adders, and destroyed between 
eighty and ninety Wasps’ nests. 
