No. 500] 



NOTES AND LITERATURE 



563 



tion of the gold-washing and sheep-raising industries of southern 

 Patagonia, made the region more accessible ; the increasing use of 

 steam in navigation diminished the terrors of the straits for 

 sailors, and the occasional visits of seal hunters offered opportuni- 

 ties for collection of other than fur "animals. Really valuable 

 material obtained for the Hamburg Museum by the merchant 

 captains and officers Ringe, Kophamel and Paessler drew re- 

 newed attention to the subject, and projects of systematic ex- 

 ploration were discussed by Dr. von Neumayer and director of 

 the museum Professor Dr. G. Pfeffer. 



Times were unfavorable at first, due to civil war and other 

 disturbances in Chile, and it was only in 1892 that it seemed 

 prudent to actually despatch a collector. 



The financial question was settled by the generosity of citizens 

 of Hamburg and by grants from various scientific societies of 

 the city, and plans were decided upon under the skillful direc- 

 tion of Dr. Pfeffer. The choice of Dr. W. Michaelsen as explorer 

 and collector proved well advised. He left Hamburg in July, 

 1892, returning in September, 1893, with an extremely large, 

 valuable and well-preserved collection in all branches; a collec- 

 tion believed to be the largest and most important ever brought 

 from those shores. 



Some papers on part of this collection, or partly based upon 

 portions of it, have already appeared in various publications, 

 notably Strebel's work on the mollusca, Michaelsen on the holo- 

 somate ascidians, Hartlaub on the hydroids, and Ohlin on the 

 valviferous isopods. 



Nearly all the various Antarctic expeditions of the last few 

 years have touched, coming or going, on the Magellanic shores, 

 and much of the zoological material contained in their elaborate 

 reports has been gathered there. 



Meanwhile a multitude of specialists have been busy with the 

 Michaelsen material and many of the papers during the last 

 ten years have been separately issued. At the present time these 

 have been brought together, united with others not previously 

 published, and, under the editorship of Dr. Pfeffer, issued by 

 the Hamburg Museum in three portly, beautifully illustrated 

 volumes. 



The first volume, which relates to generalities, chordata, 

 echinoderms and ccelenterates, has an historical preface by 

 Neumayer, a brief account of his voyage by Michaelsen, and a 



