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HARDWICKE'S SCIEN CE - GO S S IP. 



deposits. Dr. Falconer was the first to find them 

 in the Miocene strata of the Sewalik Hills in 

 Northern India, in 1S36. In 1S37 M. Lartet 

 communicated to the Academy of Sciences the dis- 

 covery of a quadrumanous animal in a Miocene 

 fresh-water deposit at Sansan, which was subse. 

 queutly named PllopitJiectis antlquus. An allied 

 species was found in 1SG2 in the fresh-water st);ata 

 of the Molasse, in the canton of Zurich. This form, 

 however, does not approach the anthropomorphic 

 ape so much as the preceding. In 1S5G M. Lartet 

 described another anthropomorphous ape, which he 

 named Dryopitliecus. So much did the teeth of this 

 species resemble those of man that they have been 

 frequently mistaken for human molars. M. Fraas 

 also described a species of fossil monkey, from 

 the Miocene bed of Steinheim, in Wiirtemberg, 

 which he believed belonged to a species of 

 Colohus. It is in the Pikermi deposits in Attica, 

 Greece, that the most numerous remains of monkeys 

 have been found, but always confined to a single 

 species, called Mcsopithecus PenteVici. Of this, M. 

 Gaudry sent to Paris the remains of no fewer than 

 twenty-five individuals. Another Miocene monkey 

 has been found in the sands of Eppelsheim, of the 

 same age as the Pikermi beds. In deposits newer 

 than the Miocene, the Macacus plioccenus has been 

 found in the brick- earth of Gray's Thurrocks, Essex. 

 The remains of another species, called Semnopithemis 

 monspessnianus, have been found in the fresh-water 

 marls of Montpellier, of Pliocene age. Another 

 species, met with in the same beds, has been named 

 Macacus priscus. Lastly, in the Brazilian bone- 

 caves, five species of platyrrhine monkeys have 

 been found, showing that the American type has 

 been long in existence. One form, Protopitliecus 

 brasilicnsls, surpassed in size the largest of the 

 living American monkeys, the Mycetes, with which 

 it'.had some relations. Altogether, nineteen species 

 of fossil monkeys have been described. The Eocene 

 deposits have as yet only furnished one species, of 

 which the determination is certain. Until quite 

 recently, fossil monkeys were unknown in the 

 different fossilifei ous formations of Italy, but Dr. 

 C. J. F. Major has just described one belonging to 

 the genus Macacus, which is nearly allied to the 

 European form now inhabiting the rocks of Gib- 

 raltar. This fossil is believed to come from the 

 Val d' Arno, and of Pliocene age. The animal 

 was a contemporary of the Elephas meridionalis. 

 Rhinoceros etruscus, &c. Another monkey, a Cerco- 

 pithecus, is also announced as having been discovered 

 in the lignite of Monte Bamboli, in Tuscany. Still 

 another is represented by several teeth, &c., in the 

 Pisa Museum, from a Pliocene lignite in the Val 

 d' Arno. It will be seen, therefore, that if we are 

 descended from the monkey family, we have more 

 than one stock to choose from in the construction 



of our genealogical tree ! 



J. E. T. 



THE POTATO DISEASE. 



By Worthingtox G. Smith, F.L.S. 



rpHE stormy weather, and warm, humid air 

 -■- of the present season, have been peculiarly 

 favourable to all fungoid growths; therefore, as 

 might have been expected, the potato disease has 

 been more than ever prevalent and destructive. 

 Accounts reach us on all sides of the serious 

 failure, or even total destruction, of the potato 

 crops from the ravages of this insidious pest. How 

 and when it was first observed, what it is, and how 

 to extirpate it, are the three very serious questions 

 which have occupied the attention of scientific men 

 for nearly thirty years. The two first questions can 

 now be pretty satisfactorily answered; but as for 

 tlie third, it is an enigma which has at present 

 baffled every attempt at solution. 



A brief summary of what is known of the potato 

 disease, with a new series of illustrations, drawn to 

 a uniform scale, cannot fail to be of interest to aU 

 readers of Science-Gossip; and in writing this 

 summary and engraving these illustrations, I am 

 bound at once to disclaim all originality, and to say 

 that for nearly all the facts known respecting the 

 potato disease we are in the main indebted to the 

 careful and accurate observations of the Rev. 

 M. J. Berkeley. These observations, witli those of 

 Dr. Montague, Dr. Pay en, De Bary, and others, 

 are spread over the literature of the last quarter of 

 a century, and as their perfect accuracy has now 

 been confirmed by microscopists in every direction, 

 little more can be done than to present these 

 observations in their proper sequence and entirety. 

 Therefore, it must be understood that I am briefly 

 recording what I have seen of the potato disease, 

 after being told what to look for, and how to see 

 and understand it by Berkeley, and other of our 

 foremost scientific writers. 



The autumn of lSi5 will be ever memorable as 

 marking the great outburst of the potato murrain 

 over the whole of Western Europe and the northern 

 parts of the United States of America ; the disease 

 had, however, been very bad the previous year in 

 America, and was even observed in Europe, and 

 repoited, upon in that year by Desmazieres, wlio 

 read a paper upon it at Lille. Even in 1841 Dr. 

 Morren detected it in Belgium, and then and there 

 published a notice of the fungus, and some sug- 

 gestions for contending against it, such as imme- 

 diately removing the diseased haulm, &c. But even 

 so far back as 1830 a disease of potatoes was ob- 

 served in Germany, and called tlie " dry-rot ; " and 

 it is very probable that the first detection of the 

 potato disease dates back for nearly a century. 

 One year before its virulence reached its height iu 

 this country, viz. 1811, it occurred iu its worst form 

 in Canada, and a letter addressed to Dr. Bellingham 



