238 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XXI. No. r)28. 



time was taken up in preparations, including 

 arrangements for coolies, military escort, and 

 so forth. Arriving at Merauke (New Guinea) 

 on April 5, Mr. Meyjes did some preliminary 

 work in the way of surveys and observations 

 on the south coast of New Guinea, making a 

 trip also to Thursday Island in order to con- 

 nect his surveys with previously fixed posi- 

 tions. At the date of his last letter, Mr. Mey- 

 jes had returned to Surabaya and Batavia to 

 make the final arrangements for the main ex- 

 pedition. 



The Scottish Geographical Magazine is in- 

 formed by Mr. W. S. Bruce that the Argentine 

 relief ship Uruguay sailed from Buenos Ayres 

 for the South Orkney Islands, to relieve the 

 meteorological party at the station there about 

 the middle of December. We may therefore 

 expect the arrival of Mr. R. C. Mossman about 

 the end of February. Progress is being made 

 with the working out of the collections by 

 various specialists, amongst whom may be 

 named Professor J. Arthur Thomson, who is 

 doing the Alcyonaria; Professor Hepburn, 

 the histology of the Weddell seal ; Dr. Waters- 

 ton, penguin development; Mr. W. Eagle 

 Clarke, the birds ; Mr. E. M. Clark, the plank- 

 ton; Mr. T. V. Hodgson, Pycnogonids and 

 Isopods; Sir Charles Eliot, Nudibranchs. 



Keuter's Agency is informed by the Pacific 

 Cable Board that by an arrangement between 

 the Washington and Sydney Observatories, 

 with the cooperation of the telegraph ad- 

 ministrations concerned, time signals were 

 sent on New Year's Eve from the Wash- 

 ington Observatory to the Sydney Observa- 

 tory. Mr. Lenahan, of the Sydney Ob- 

 servatory, reports as follows : " The first set 

 of signals were received satisfactorily, the 3 

 P.M. contacts being recorded here at -3 hr. 

 min. 3/57 sec. The second set, only 30 sig- 

 nals, were received altogether, the 4 v.m. sig- 

 nal reaching here at 4 hr. min. 3/6G sec. 

 The third set was satisfaftf)ry, the 5 p.m. sig- 

 nal reaching here at hr. min. 2/76 sec. 

 The fourth set was satisfactory, tlie p.m. 

 signal reaching here at 6 hr. min. 2/5r) sec, 

 the final mean l)eing .3/14 sec. Cutting out 

 the second set, the mean gives 2/90 sec. This 

 concludes the arrangements at present exist- 



ing, and the rapid time in sending the great 

 distance separating Sydney and Washington, 

 over 12,000 miles, is a triumph to the elec- 

 trical departments of the states concerned. 

 With many thanks and every good wish for 

 the new year." The signals through the Van- 

 couver-Fanning cable, the longest cable span 

 in the world (3,457.76 nautical miles), were 

 sent by automatic apparatus, and were re- 

 corded, as they passed, at the Vancouver sta- 

 tion on an instrument placed in the artificial 

 line which balances the cable for the purpose 

 of duplex working. The signals consisted of 

 second contacts, omitting the 30th and last 

 five of each minute, except the last minute of 

 the hour, when the 30th and all after the 50th 

 second were omitted, the circuit closing with 

 a long dash on the even hour. The signals 

 were sent for five minutes before the hour 

 from 3 P.M. to 6 p.m., Sydney time, equivalent 

 to midnight to 3 a.m. Washington time. 



It is stated in Nature that the committee 

 for the scientific exploration of Lake Tang- 

 anyika (consisting of Sir John Kirk, Dr. 

 Sclater, Sir W. Thiselton-Dyer, Professor 

 Lankester, Dr. Boulenger and Mr. J. E. S. 

 Moore) has lately received news of the progress 

 of its envoy, Mr. W. A. Cunnington, who left 

 England in March, 1904, under directions to 

 continue the researches carried ovit by Mr. 

 J. E. S. Moore during his two expeditions to 

 Lake Tanganyika. Proceeding by the Zambesi 

 and Shire route, Mr. Cunnington was most 

 kindly received at Zomba by Sir Alfred 

 Sharpe, who granted him the assistance of two 

 native collectors. Mr. Cunnington had in- 

 structions to devote his special attention to 

 the lacustrine flora and fauna of Lake 

 Tanganyika, and, as he passed up Lake 

 Nyassa, began his investigations in that lake, 

 in order to be able to compare its products 

 witli those of Tanganyika. On Lake Nyassa 

 Mr. Cunnington was able to get a good num- 

 ber of tow-nettings from different parts of the 

 lake's surface, and obtained, on the whole, a 

 large qnantity of its characteristic phyto- 

 ])lankton, besides a considerable amount of 

 zoo-plankton, consisting mostly of Copepoda, 

 Cladocera and insect-larva". The tempera- 

 ture of the water of Lake Nyassa was observed 



