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, aud 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 unconspicuous. 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. Tn 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, aud a third in 1879. The present specimen 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 interesting 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 Mills," 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.
