RECENT ADVANCES IN SCIENCE 311 



races of Citellus fulvus, and (b) Pteropine bats from islands off 

 the north-east coast of Guinea (April 191 5) ; an account of a 

 small shrew from Lake Baikal and notes on the genus Nycto- 

 philus (May 191 5). Notes on bats of the genus Coleura, and a 

 description of three new bats that were obtained in the 

 Sudan by Mr. Willoughby (June 191 5). The African Shrews 

 of the genus Crocidura are dealt with by Dollman in two parts, 

 Part I. (Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist. May 191 5), and Part II. 

 (ibid. June). The structure of the skull and skeleton of a 

 peculiarly modified Rupicaprine antelope, Myotragus balearicus, 

 is described by Andrews, who also notices a new variety of it, 

 M. balearicus var. major (Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc. June 191 5). 

 Pocock draws attention to certain external features of the 

 marsupial Cynogale bennetti (Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist. April 

 191 5), and also deals with the external features, including 

 the feet and scent-gland of Viverrids belonging to the genera 

 Paradoxurus, Arctogalidia, Arctictis, and Nandinia (Proc. 

 Zool. Soc. June 191 5). Nato cattle of the Argentine are now 

 extinct, but luckily Gibson, who probably possessed the last 

 survivors, has been able to give an account of them (Proc. Zool. 

 Soc. April 1915). 



A number of fairly important papers on mammalia fall in 

 the period under review. The acquisition of a further specimen 

 of an early stage in the development of Ornithorhynchus gives 

 Wilson and Will an opportunity of reconsidering, in the light of 

 subsequent criticism, the interpretation they had given of the 

 embryonic area and " primitive knot " in the Monotreme egg 

 (Quart. Jour. Micro. Sci. vol. lxi. pt. I, 191 5). Frazer gives 

 a detailed account of the origin of the eye-muscles and head 

 cavities in the marsupials. It is based mainly on Trichosurus 

 vulpecula. A retractor bulbi muscle is present in this class, 

 and although in the sub-class Diprotodontia a large pre- 

 mandibular head-cavity is to be found, it appears to be small 

 or absent in the Polyprotodontia (Proc. Zool. Soc. May 191 5). 

 The marsupials, this time mainly Perameles, furnish the 

 material for an investigation on the early stges of the heart 

 and anterior blood-vessels by Parker. The development is, 

 on the whole, somewhat like that in the Eutheria (Proc. 

 Zool. Soc. June 1915). 



A paper investigating the relation of spermatozoa to Elec- 

 trolytes, by Gray, although somewhat physiological, is of 



