Africa. About the beginning of last year, M. Milne-Edwards and other naturalists who accompanied him started in a ship named "Talisman," with all the necessary engines, apparatus and instruments for soundings in the depths of the ocean, and which were placed at their disposal by the French Govern¬ ment. The explorations were pushed to 6,000 me¬ ters, or about 19,686 feet. They lasted several months, which enabled them to collect the most cu¬ rious specimens of the fauna and flora of the great

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... ep. Specimens of vegetables and of animals ab¬ solutely unknown to the present time, were also col¬ lected. All the different specimens have been well preserved, and will be exposed in a few days, as I have just stated. Before the opening of the exhibi¬ tion, however, M. Milne-Edwards thought proper to give the result of his exploration in a most interest¬ ing communication he made at the Academy of Sci¬ ences. At the conclusion of the paper, the reading of which was listened to with intense interest, M.