418 



SCIENCE. 



LVoL. VI., No. 144. 



afterward celebrated Liitke. The vessel sailed for 

 Russian - America in 1817, and completed her 

 voyage in two years, when he was promoted to a 

 lieutenancy, after which, through the influence of 

 Golofnin, he was appointed leader of the expedi- 

 tion for the exploration of the east Siberian coast 

 and the lands believed to lie to the north from it. 

 For this journey, which has become classical, he 

 prepared himseK by special study at Dorpat and 

 St. Petersburg. He went out in 1820 and returned 

 to St. Petersburg in 1824. In 1825 he took the brig 

 Krotky on a voyage to Sitka and return, after 

 which he was appointed to the command of a 

 frigate, and in 1829 to be governor of the Russian 

 colonies in America. He married the Baroness 

 Elisabeth Rossillon, and the young pair started for 

 his new post by the overland route across the 

 whole breadth of Siberia. The journey, severe at 

 the present day, was an extraordinary one for 

 that time, and took a year and a half, during 

 which time a daughter was born to them. Arrived 

 at his post, Wrangell distinguished himself by the 

 reforms he introduced into the colonial adminis- 

 tration, and the wealth of scientific material which 

 he gathered for students of geography and eth- 

 nology. They returned via Mexico and the United 

 States in 1836. He was made a director of the 

 Russian- American company, and advanced in the 

 government to the post of director of naval con- 

 struction and conservator of the imperial forests. 

 In 1852 he lost his faithful wife. During the Crimean 

 war he was made du-ector of the hydrographic 

 department, and in 1862 retired from active ser- 

 vice. His life thereafter was passed in the bosom 

 of his family, either in his old home or in Italy, 

 where he remained several years. He was 

 made associate of the Institute of France as 

 successor to De CandoUe, and his latter days 

 were passed in the study of art, science, and the 

 promotion of the Lutheran communion, of which 

 he was a devoted member. On the 25th of May, 

 1870, he died, Ms friend Liitke sm'viving him 

 eleven years. His services to science do not need 

 to be recounted, his character was pure and ele- 

 vated, and his executive ability remarkable. The 

 sketch of his useful and honorable Ufe^ from 

 which the above facts have been gathered, has 

 been prepared as an introduction to a new edition 

 of his ' Journey to the polar sea,' by his daughter, 

 Lisa von Engelhardt. This publication, indis- 

 pensable to all students of arctic matters, contains 

 an excellent portrait and a new map of the region 

 explored. It is well printed in Roman type, but 

 contains no index. We note as a singularity that, 



1 Ferdinand von Wrangel und seine reise langs der nord- 

 kiiste von Sibirien und auf dem eismeere. Von L. v. Engel- 

 hardt. Leipzig, Duncker <& Humblot, 1885. 



notwithstanding Baron Wrangell expressly author- 

 ized his associates, Baer and Helmersen, to print 

 his name with the final consonant doubled,' in. this 

 publication it is found without the final Z. * • 



A SEARCH FOR THE GIGANTIC BIRD OF 

 MADAGASCAR. 

 Grandidier has communicated to the Academy 

 of sciences an interesting account of his search 

 for remains of the gigantic bird of Madagascar, 

 the ^pyornis, supposed to be the original from 

 which the fabled roc of the ' Arabian nights ' was 

 derived. The hope that the bird itself might still 

 survive, according to Grandidier, is without founda- 

 tion. A vast area of the interior south of Lat. 20° 

 S., heretofore hardly visited, now proves to be an 

 arid plateau with sparse desert vegetation, suitable 

 perhaps for ostrich-like birds, but where they 

 could hardly exist without being observed even by 

 the scanty population of these wastes. These 

 natives have neither knowledge nor traditions of 

 any such creature, according to our author. Re- 

 mains, chiefly of the eggs, have hitherto been found 

 only between Cape St. Marie and Machikora on 

 the southern coast, at Mananzari, Port Leven and 

 St. Marie Island. The coast is bordered by im- 

 mense sand dunes, only a few yards from the sea, 

 which are constantly advancing in a southwesterly 

 direction. The complete eggs have been found 

 only where rain, flooding the ravines, has sud- 

 denly washed away large quantities of sand. It is 

 probable that the bird covered its eggs in the warm 

 sand like an ostrich, and that those found whole 

 are such as failed to hatch. They are naturally 

 rare, but fragments of the egg-shell are not un- 

 common and occur chiefly where the sand is sifted 

 by the wind. On the dry plateau none were 

 found. With the pieces of egg-sheU, were found 

 several species of Bulimus, Helix and Cyclostoma, 

 one of which, Buhmus favanneus Fer., stiU retains 

 part of its color marks, and is found living in some 

 parts of Madagascar at the present day. The dunes 

 appear to be formed largely of shell sand mixed 

 with grains of quartz, and occasional concretionary 

 balls of lime. The traveller was not fortunate 

 enough to find any bones. He thinks the ^pyor- 

 nis, hke the moa of New Zealand, though now en- 

 tirely extinct, eixsted during the present era, but 

 was probably exterminated very soon after the ad- 

 vent of man in the region it inhabited. 



— Mr. Latchf ord of Ottawa recently discovered 

 at Quebec, Helix cantiana Montague, hitherto un- 

 recorded from America. It is doubtless an im- 

 portation, but was abundant under the south wall 

 of the citadel, showing that, like many other 

 immigrants, it has found a congenial home. 



