iF) Nee ws a 
>, as ‘ 
610 
Professor Maspero verified the sites of over a hun- 
dred more similar catacombs, all absolutely intact. 
The necropolis of Ekhmeem, at a rough estimate, 
cannot contain fewer than five or six thousand 
embalmed dead. Of these, perhaps not more than 
twenty per cent will turn out to be of archeological 
or historical value; but the harvest of papyri, jewels, 
and other funeral treasures, cannot fail to be of un- 
precedented extent. Ekhmeem is the ancient Khem- 
nis, —- the Panopolis of the Greeks. Its architectural 
remains are insignificant. 
— The Alert, the store-ship of the Greely relief 
expedition, and the last of the vessels to sail, left New 
York, May 10. The Bear sailed from New York on 
the 24th of April, and reached St. John’s, May 2; 
while the Thetis, the flag-ship of the fleet, and sup- 
posed to be the stanchest of the three, sailed from 
New York on that day, and reached St. John’s on 
the 9th. Every thing that could be suggested in the 
way of equipment has been done for the party, and it 
is to be hoped that the pluck and discipline of the 
personnel will atone for their lack of experience. 
— The subject of the thesis for the annual Walker 
prize of the Boston society of natural history, this 
year, was ‘ The life-history of any animal or plant.’ 
Two essays only were offered in competition, and 
the first prize only was awarded: this was gained by 
Mr. Albert H. Tuttle, of the Harvard medical school, 
Boston, for a study of the embryology of Lunatia 
heros, with numerous illustrations. 
Prof. A. E. Verrill has in press a very important 
paper entitled Second catalogue of Mollusca recently 
added to the fauna of the New-England coast and 
adjacent parts of the Atlantic, consisting mainly of 
deep-sea species, with notes on others previously 
reported. ‘These are chiefly derived from the dredg- 
ings of the fish-commission, are well illustrated, and 
worked up in the full and careful manner character- 
istic of the author. It appears in the Transactions 
of the Connecticut academy of sciences, and is illus- 
trated by Emerton. 
— The annual report of the zoological gardens of 
Cincinnati states that over eight hundred animals 
are on exhibition, and that a hundred and twenty- 
seven were bred in the gardens last year, including a 
grizzly bear. The most noteworthy addition during 
the year was that of a young hippopotamus, which 
promises to become the main feature of the collection. 
Nearly twenty-eight thousand dollars were received 
from visitors’ fees. 
— The additions to the American museum of natu- 
ral history in New York seem not to have been so 
numerous or important last year as in previous years. 
The museum has, however, received its first bequest 
(five thousand dollars, from Mr. W. E. Dodge), and 
makes it the occasion to establish a permanent en- 
dowment-fund. The absence of such a fund, and 
the absolute dependence of this fine museum upon 
annual subscriptions and grants, have been very 
weak points in its organization, and have seriously 
SCIENCE. 
- 
{Vou. IIL, No. 
disturbed its scientific friends. They will not be 
satisfied until it is permanently endowed. 
— The New-York anthropological society was or- 
ganized Dec. 28, 1883, the aim of which is to prose- 
cute researches in the sciences of anthropology and 
psychology. 
—JIn the third Bulletin of the Natural history society 
of New Brunswick, just issued, Mr. G. F. Matthew 
describes in detail the discovery and examination, by 
a small summer party belonging to the society, of a 
village of the stone age, at Bocabec, on Passamaquod- 
dy Bay. Indications of the former site of over thirty 
huts were recognized, each of circular form, bordered 
by a raised edge of gravel, and surrounded by the 
shells of akitchen-midden. A plan of the village, and 
a section of one of the more typical hut-bottoms, is 
given, together with descriptions of the various arti- 
cles—including implements of stone, bone, and ivory, 
as well as pottery —found in and around them; and 
various conclusions are drawn as to their antiquity, 
and the habits, food, and ethnic relations of their for- 
mer possessors. The Bulletin also contains a report 
of the botanical committee, giving a list of over eigh- 
ty species first found in the province during the last 
year, and of which one (Ornithopus scorpioides L.) 
is probably new to America; and a list, the first au- 
thentic one yet published, of New-Brunswick mam- 
mals, by M. Chamberlain. It includes forty-three 
terrestrial, and five marine species. It is noticed, 
that, while the panther and wolf have nearly or quite 
disappeared, the Virginia deer (Cariacus virginianus), 
though still not common, is increasing. 
— The New-Brunswick legislature, at its last 
session, appropriated two hundred dollars towards 
the assistance of the Natural history society of the 
province. This is the first recognition of the claims 
of the society upon the public for support, and will 
be of much service in helping to defray the cost of 
publication of their bulletins. 
— Mr. G. F. Matthew, whose elaborate article on 
the Paradoxides of the St. John group is contained 
in the recently published Transactions of the Royal 
society of Canada, has in preparation, and will pre- 
sent at the next meeting of the society (May 20), a 
similar article on the Conocoryphidae of the same 
group. 
— The California academy of sciences has com- 
menced the issue of a new publication, called Bulle- 
tin, apparently to replace the former Proceedings. 
The papers in this first number are classified under 
zoblogy, botanic section, microscopic section, astron- 
omy, and mineralogy, and are mostly very brief and 
descriptive in character. 
— The Calcutta Englishman announces another 
important result in the investigation of the causes of 
cholera. Dr.Vincent Richards, civil surgeon of Goa- 
lundo, has succeeded in doing what the German com- 
mission have hitherto failed to accomplish: he has 
produced the disease artificially. The subjects of his — 
experiment were pigs; and, atter many trials, he com- 
municated to one of them what appears to have been 
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