448 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



develops from the muscle fibres in the broad ligament. The interesting 

 fact is noted that the ovary of a laying hen is practically walled off by 

 peritoneal surfaces from the rest of the abdominal cavity. The dis- 

 charged ova are by mechanical necessity brought close to the mouth of 

 the oviduct. 



Change of Colour in a Ratel.*— F. D. Welch observes that a rate 

 ( Mellwora ratel) which has lived in the Zoological Society's Gardens for 

 about twenty years has begun to change markedly in colour — probably 

 through senescence. The large dorsal patch of grey began in 1907 to 

 turn black, and now the whole of the back is black with just a sprinkling 

 of grey hairs. 



Immunity of Hedgehog.| — Alex. Strubell finds that the hedgehog 

 (so highly immune to snake poison) is relatively immune to the toxins 

 of diphtheria and tetanus. The question arises whether the hedgehog 

 has separate antitoxins for these various poisons, or whether it lacks 

 appropriate receptors in the essential organs. The resistance of adult 

 hedgehogs to cyanic compounds injected intra-pleurally is as great as, or 

 greater than that of new-born puppies and guinea-pigs, which is much 

 greuter than that of the adults. Towards other poisons the hedgehog 

 does not seem more resistant than other animals. 



Reptiles and Amphibians of Jamaica. J — Thomas Barbour makes 

 a preliminary report on the reptiles and amphibians of this island, where 

 great changes have taken place and are still going on. The intro- 

 duction of the mongoose (Herpestes griseus) has caused the almost 

 complete extinction of many species which were once abundant, and has 

 in some ways radically changed the facies of the fauna. Snakes have 

 suffered perhaps more than lizards. None are venomous. 



The island has thirty-four species of amphibians and reptiles, of which 

 twenty-five are peculiar. The derivation of these is partly through the 

 Lesser Antillean Chain from north-eastern S. America, and partly from 

 directly west. The nature of the land animals (including snails, earth- 

 worms, Peripatus, etc.) shows that fortuitous distribution has played 

 practically no part in providing the Antilles with a fauna. The Greater 

 Antilles must have had continental land-connections westward and south- 

 eastward. 



Toxic Action of Mucus of Amphibians.§ — Mine. Phisalix finds 

 that the mucus of Triton cristatus, Salamandra maculosa, aud Alytes obste- 

 tricans, is a true poison, sometimes as toxic as the secretion of the dorsal 

 poison-glands. It has the same influence on all the animals experimented 

 with (amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals), stupefying, paralysing, 

 and stopping the heart. A frog is killed by an injection of its own 

 mucus. 



Nesting Habits of Phyllomedusa sauvagii.|| — W. E. Agar describes 

 the remarkable nesting habits of this tree-frog from the Paraguayan 



* Proc. Zool. Soc. London, pt. 4 (1910), pp. 889-91. 

 t Gentralbl. Bakt. Parasitenk., liii. (1909) pp. 43-G0. 

 I Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., lii. (1910) pp. 273-301 (2 pis.). 

 § Comptes Kcndus, cl. (1910) pp. 415-18. 

 || Proc. Zool. Soc, 1909, pt. 4 (1910) pp. 893-7 (1 pi.). 



