28 



HARD WICKK S SCIENCE- G OSS I P. 



Conglomerate of Bristol," by Joel Lean; "The 

 Mendips, A Geological Reverie"; "The Stones of 

 Stanton Drew, Their Source and Origin," and 

 " Elimination and Selection," by Professor C. Lloyd 

 Morgan ; " Remarks About Seals, and their So-called 

 ' Ballast- bag,' " by A.J. Harrison; "Researches 

 on Evaporation and Dissociation," by Professor 

 William Ramsay, and Professor Sydney Young ; " The 

 Crossmg of Ferns," by Colonel Arthur M. Jones ; 

 "The Illumination of the Eclipsed Moon," by G. F, 

 Burder. Chichester and West Sussex Natural His- 

 tory and Microscopical Society : ' ' Notes from a Berar 

 Camp," by Rev. C. D. Ash; " The Use of Natural 

 History Collections," by A. Lloyd ; "Nummulites," 

 by Dr. Panton ; "The Antennae of Lepidoptera," by 

 J. Anderson, jun. ; " Phyto-Geography of the South 

 Coast," by Rev. F, H. Arnold; " A Chapter from 

 the History of Oils," by Rev. J. Eraser. Dum- 

 friesshire and Galloway Natural History and Anti- 

 (jtiarian Society : "Atmospheric and other Influences 

 on the Migration of Fishes," by J. J. Armistead ; 

 " The Graptolites of the Moffat District," by James 



Dairon. Hertfordshire Nattiral History Society and 



Field Club : " The means of Protection possessed by 

 Plants," by F. Maule Campbell ; " On Walckenaera 

 interjecta, a New Spider from Hoddesdon," by Rev. 

 C. P. Cambridge ; " A Record of Water-level in a 

 Deep Chalk Well at Barley, Herts," by H. George 

 Fordham : " Some Methods of Moth-collecting," by 



R. M. Bowyer.- Leeds Geological Association : 



"Oceanic Deposits," by Thomas Tate; "The 

 Occurrence of Quartzite and other Boulders in the 

 Lower Coal Measures at Wortley, near Leeds," by 



C. Brownridge. Liverpool Geological Society : ' ' Local 



Historical, Post-glacial and Pre-glacial Geology," by 

 G. H. Morton ; " A Theory to Account for the 

 Airless and Waterless Condition of the Moon," by 

 Rev. F. F. Grensted ; "Geological and Physical 

 Notes on the above," by T. Mellard Reade ; " Stan- 

 low, Nice, and Frodesham Marshes," by G. H. 

 Morton : " Notes on Glacial Deposits and Markings 

 in the South of the Isle of Man," by W. Hewitt ; 

 "Notes on the Geology of St. David's, Pembroke- 

 shire," and " Notes on a Large Boulder found in 

 Driving a Sewer Heading in Oxford Road, Man- 

 chester," by T. Mellard Reade ; " Geological Notes 

 on the Preston Dock Works and Nibble Develop- 

 ment Scheme," with illustration and plan, by E. 

 Dickson ; " Examination of Quartzite from Mills 

 Hill, Pontesbury," by P. Holland and E. Dickson ; 

 " On the Colouring Matter of the Mineral 'Blue 

 John,'" by A. Norman Tate; "Some Irregularly 

 Striated Joints in the Keuper Sandstone of Lingdal 



(Quarry," with plans, by H. C. Beasley. Penzance 



Natural LListory and Antiquarian Society: "The 

 Mosses of East Cornwall," by R. V. Tellam ; " Notes 

 on the Echinodermata of Mounts Bay," by G. F. 

 Tregelles ; "Additions to the recorded Fauna and 

 Flora of West Cornwall." 



HORNS AND ANTLERS. 



\ LECTURE recently delivered by Professor 

 Flower, Director of the British Museum, to 

 the County of Middlesex Natural History and Science 

 Society, on the above deeply interesting subject, is 

 given in full in the last issue of the "Transactions." 

 We extract the following paragraphs (illustrated by 

 the original block used in Professor Flower's lecture), 

 and for the loan of which we are indebted to the 

 Hon. Sees. : — 



It is among the ruminating section of the even-toed 

 or Artiodactyle ungulates that frontal appendages are 

 most universally developed. In some of these, how- 

 ever, as thejTragulida?, or Chevrotains, and Camelida?, 

 camels and llamas, they are absent. In the great 

 group of Bovidse, consisting of oxen, sheep, goats, 

 and antelopes, they are present in the form of true 

 horns. These are permanent, conical, usually curved, 

 bony processes from the frontal bone, into which air- 

 cells from the frontal sinuses commonly extend, called 

 the "horn-cores," ensheathed in a case of true horn, 

 an epidermic development of fibrous structure, which 

 grows continuously, but slowly, from the base, and 

 wears away at the apex ; but is not shed entire. Its 

 structure is very much the same as that of a nail, 

 hoof, or claw. When the horn is removed from the 

 core, the basal part is seen to be hollow, the terminal 

 portion beyond the core alone being solid. This 

 part may be cut without giving rise to more sensation 

 than cutting nails or hair. The surface of the core 

 itself is soft, vascular, and sensitive. As with most 

 similar appendages, horns are not present at birth, 

 but begin to grow soon after. The males of all 

 existing Bovidae possess them, and they are also 

 present, though usually not so fully developed, in the 

 females of all except certain genera of antelopes. In 

 one species, the Indian four-horned antelope {Tetra- 

 ceros quadricornis), there are two pairs ; in all others 

 only one pair. They vary immensely in size, form, 

 and curvature, sometimes being perfectly straight, 

 sometimes spirally twisted, sometimes coiled almost 

 in one plane, as in the familiar ram's horn {Cornu 

 ammonis). Sometimes the surface is smooth, and 

 sometimes covered with annular ridges, or a series or 

 projections or knobs on one side only, but they are 

 never branched. 



A single species, the North American prong-buck 

 (Antilocapra Americana), differs from all the true 

 Bovidae, in possessing horns composed of fibrous 

 epidermic material ensheathing a permanent bony 

 core, but which is bifurcated at the end, and is 

 regularly and periodically cast off and replaced by a 

 new horn growing from the surface of the core 

 beneath the old one. 



In the family 1 Cervidce, or deer, the frontal 

 appendages take the form of "antlers," which must 

 be carefully distinguished from the horns of the 

 bovine ruminants. These are the outgrowths of true 



