In the course of the next few days a small but well-organised an-l well-equipped expedition will leave England for the purse of visiting the almost unexplored is-Jand of Socotra, situated about 150 miles east-north-east of Cape Guardafui. The party will consist of Mr.W.R. Ogilvie Grant, of the department of zoology in the British Museum; Dr. H. O. Forbes, the director of the Liverpool Museums; and Mr. Cutmore, taxidermist attached to the latter institution. The Royal Society, the Royal Geographical Society, and the British Association have provided part of the funds for the undertaking, while the trustees the British Museum and the Museums'
Committee of the Liverpool Corporation have officially countenanced the project by granting the necessary leave of absence to their officers and otherwise giving it their support. The expedition will sail for Aden, proceeding thence to Socotra by the Indian Marine guardship Elphinstone, which, in compliance with a request made by the authorities of the British Museum, been kindly placed at the disposal of Mr. Grant and Dr. Forbes for the purpose of conveying them to the is kind and back to Aden on the termination of their stay.
The main object of the expedition is to investigate thoroughly the fauna of the place and make lnrgé and complete _collections in every branch of zoology. In this respect it is intended to work the island thoroughly, for which purpose the party will probably remain there for at least four months. The botany of Socotra is fairly well-known owing tothe visit made to it by Professor Balfour in 1880, when he gave special attention to the fora. From 4 zoological standpoint this most promising island is almost unexplored. During his short botanical trip Professor Balfour secured no less than nine new species of birds, and other evidence is not wanting that a rich zoological harvest awaits the explorers, It may be added that Socotra is now the largest island in the world of which it can be said that nothing is known of its mammal fauna, while its position off the interesting Somali country, the peculiarity of some of its birds, and the unexpected fact that the only mammal as yet recorded from it is of Indian and Mascarene, not African attinities, combine to render an investigation of its mammal fauna a work of the highest scientific interest. The present expedition will no doubt help largely to solve problems of this kind, while from the point of view of the national collections all zoologists are aware of the special value attaching to the results of the first exploration of any island; and that any delay would probably mean that a foreign museum would reap the first results, as unfortunately happened with the West Indian island of Trinidad, a misfortune for British science which no subsequent expenditure of time and money can ever make up for. Fortunately there is no such danger in this case, and it is a peculiarly welcome feature of the present enterprise that the municipality of Liverpool should have ce-operated so heartily with the national institution in the cause of science. On the whole, the expedition promises to yield unusually valuable and important results, and should greatly enrich the collections of the two museums concerned. Socotra has been since 1876 under the government of Aden, which pays small subsidy to the Sultan' of Keshin, to whom it belonged. 72 miles by 22 miles, and has a population of about 4,000, of Arab descent, It was formally placed under British protection by agreement with the Sultan in 1886, together with the neighbouring Abdal Kute and Bromers' Islands.—The Times.
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Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.