710 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



empty. A sheet of fat from the rump and upper hind quarters weighed 

 416 grains, one-ninth of the total weight. The total fat amounted to 

 (!27 grains, more than one-sixth of the total weight. As the racoon 

 curls up in the hollow tree with its nose between its hind legs and its 

 tail over its head and shoulders, the rump and back make the least 

 protected part of the circle. Hence the location of the heavy fat 

 blanket in that region. 



Genital Organs of Rodents.* — Lars Gabriel Andersson has made 

 an elaborate study of the structure and development of the external 

 genital organs and the anus in rodents, especially rat, guinea-pig, and 

 squirrel. 



Hairs in Adult Dolphins.f — W. Ktikenthal refers to the usual 

 statement that hairs are absent in adult dolphins, except in the case of 

 the river dolphin In la. But Ktikenthal found twenty large " hair- 

 roots," not of a rudimentary character, on the head of a female dolphin 

 caught at Rovigno. Six pairs were on the upper jaw, and four pairs 

 occurred in the frontal region. Similar " hair-roots," which did not 

 suggest a rudimentary character, were also found on a male Delphinus 

 tursio. 



Types of Human Ears.J — R- B. Bean has studied the characters of 

 the ears in the cosmopolitan population of Manila, and he seeks to 

 establish definite types associated with definite physical types of men. 



Large Parasphenoid in Turtle.§ — J. Versluys has made the some- 

 what surprising discovery of a large parasphenoid — a bone till recently 

 regarded as absent in Chelonia — in the skull of an adult turtle (Dermo- 

 chelys coriacea). It is firmly fused with the basisphenoid, but is a quite 

 distinct bone. This is interesting in connection with the phylogeny of 

 Chelonia, for it implies that the ancestral stock from which Chelonians 

 sprang must have had a well-developed parasphenoid rostrum. 



Pseudemydura.|| — -F. Siebenrock describes an interesting Australian 

 tortoise, Pseudemydura umbrina Siebenrock, which is in some ways 

 related to Emyclura, but serves to link the Australian to the South 

 American Chelydidae. 



Organ of Bidder in Toad.1T — Paul Aiine and Christian Champy 

 refer to Policard's conclusion that the removal of this organ was soon 

 followed by the toad's death. They find that the organ may be removed 

 with impunity, even at the time of its maximum development. 



Warning Colours in Coral-Reef Fishes.** — J. Reichard has made 

 an experimental study of the coral-reef fishes of the Tortugas region 

 with a view to determining the biological significance of the con- 

 spicuousness which characterises many of them. He shows that this 



* Arkiv f. Zool., v. (1908) pp. 1-230 (142 figs.), 

 t Anat. Anzeig., xxxv. (1909) pp. 8-10. 



% Philippine Journ. Sci.,vi. (1909) pp. 27-52 (10 pis. and 19 figs.). 

 § Zool. Jahrb., xxviii. (1909) pp. 283-94 (3 figs.). 



j| SB. k. Akad. wiss. Wien, cxvi. (1907, rec'd. 1909) pp. 1205-11 (1 pi. and'l fig.). 

 \ C.R. Soc. Biol. Paris, lxvii. (1909) pp. 181-2. 

 ** Publications Carnegie Inst. Washington, No. 103, pp. 257-325 (5 pis.). 



