1899] A TRILO BITE FROM NEWFOUNDLAND 13 



Mexican and Central American Squirrels. 



In the first volume of the Proc. Washington Acad. (pp. 15-106), Mr. 

 E. W. Nelson attempts a revision of the species of squirrels inhabiting 

 Mexico and Central America. In these days of " scrappy " papers, it 

 is always refreshing to meet with anything of the monograph type ; 

 and a welcome should therefore be extended to this communication, 

 even if we fail to accept all its conclusions. 



The most generally interesting part of the paper deals with the 

 degree of development of the fur of these rodents, according to the 

 nature of the climate they inhabit. " The effect of climate," writes the 

 author, " on the character of the pelage is so marked, that it is possible 

 to tell with considerable certainty whether a species belongs to the 

 tropics or to the higher mountains. Tropical species have thin 

 pelage, short thin under-fur, and coarse, stiff, or almost bristly dorsal 

 hairs ; those of the Transition and Boreal zones have thick, soft 

 pelage, with long dense under-fur. . . . Species of the hot coasts of 

 Central America are characterised by peculiarly coarse, shining, bristly 

 dorsal hairs. Seasonal differences in pelage are usually slight, since 

 there is no area of heavy snow-fall or long-continued cold weather 

 except in the Sierra Madre of Durango and Chihuahua. Individual 

 variation, on the other hand, is often excessive, and renders some 

 species extremely difficult to describe/' 



This, so far as it goes, is zoology in its highest and best sense. 

 With regard to the descriptive portion of the paper, it must suffice to 

 say that while the author finds it necessary to split up the genus into 

 a number of groups, it is satisfactory that these are regarded in the 

 light of sub-genera rather than distinct genera. 



Spinning at Dawn. 



Dr. Emil A. Goeldi, the enthusiastic director of the museum in Para, 

 tells an interesting story of an early rising spider — Epdroidcs bahicnsis 

 Keyserling by name. The spinner was common in his garden, but 

 the web defied discovery until Goeldi's son Walther, a boy of seven, 

 sat up to detect the trick. The fact is that the spider makes its web 

 in the early hours, and rolls it up and decamps after the sun rises. 

 Penelope-like it destroys its web daily, but not without result to man 

 as well as to itself, for it catches the minute winged males of the 

 destructive Coccidae, of Borthesia americana in particular. After 

 retiring under the shade of a leaf the spider investigates the insects in 

 its rolled up net, and spends the hot hours in digesting them. Its 

 behaviour reminded Goeldi of a southern bird-catcher hastily gathering 

 his roccolo together as the dawn breaks, but with this difference that 



