FRESH FACTS. 



Pump Benthos. W. P. Hay. " Description of a new species of subter- 

 ranean Isopod," Proc. U.S. Nat. Mm. xxi. 1899, pp. 871-872, pi. lxxxvi. 

 Forty or fifty specimens were obtained from an old well in Irvington, Marion 

 County, Indiana. They were evidently strictly aquatic. The pump in the well 

 drew water from the bottom, and the animals could be obtained only by 

 vigorous work. After capture they lived for some hours in a jar of water, 

 crawling about on the bottom, very much after the manner of Asellus. While 

 in the water the swimming feet gently moved up and down with a fanlike 

 motion. Several of the females carried eggs, six or eight of which were sufficient 

 to fill the brood pouch. The species is named Haplophthalmm puteus. Other 

 species of the genus are inhabitants of moist situations, such as decaying leaves 

 and wood, in various localities in Europe. It is also closely related to Scypha- 

 cella (Haplophthalmus?) arenicola, which has been found burrowing in the sand 

 in a number of localities along the Atlantic coast of North America. 



't3 



A Zoological Puzzle. William Morton Wheeler. " The Life-history 

 of Dicyema" Zool. Anzeig. xxii. 1899, pp. 169-176. The author's observations 

 suggest a new conception of the life-history of Dicyema, which has been for a 

 long time a zoological puzzle. He believes that the same Dicyema is at first a 

 " nematogen " (or female produced from parthenogenetic ova and producing 

 other females parthenogenetically), and then a "rhombogen" (producing Avhat 

 are called infusiform embryos which arise from fertilised ova and are really 

 males). " As in so many other cases in the animal and vegetable kingdoms the 

 males make their appearance when the conditions of life become unfavourable, 

 viz. after the kidney (of Octopus) is well-peopled with Dicyemids and food is 

 less abundant." Mr. Wheeler believes that the structural and developmental 

 peculiarities of the Dicyemids entitle them to a more independent rank than 

 that of an appendix to the flat-worms. 



How Young Duckmoles get Milk. V. Sixta. " Wie junge Ornitho- 

 rhynchi die Milch ihrer Mutter saugen," Zool. Anzeig. xxii. 1899, pp. 241-246. 

 Prof. Sixta has been informed by Alois Topic*, who lived for many years in 

 Australia, that the mother duckmole lies down on her back, and that the two 

 young ones press the milk out through the sieve-like apertures with their bills. 

 The milk flows into a median groove which is formed by the longitudinal 

 muscles. Until they are 12 cms. in length the young remain in the nest ; when 

 they measure 20 cms. they are taken by the mother into the water. 



Smell in Birds. Xavier Raspail. " Le sens de l'odorat chez les oiseaux." 

 Bull. Soc. Zool. France, xxiv. 1899, pp. 92-102. It is a common statement 

 that while nocturnal birds have a fine sense of smell, the diurnal birds of prey 

 are guided solely by sight. Indeed, in many good zoological works, the sense 

 of smell in birds is said to be almost nil. Against this, Baspail protests 

 vigorously, and cites his observations on rooks, magpies, and blackbirds, which 



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