ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 23 



the white spots of a tapiroid progenitor, we see in this dapple pattern a 

 stage in the evolution of equine coloration antecedent to the banded 

 zebroid pattern hitherto regarded as the most primitive pattern extant 

 in the Equida). 



Albinism.* — A. F. de Seabra discusses the albino types in the 

 Lisbon Museum, e.g., mole, rat, mouse, Microtus subterraneus, Oryctolagus 

 cuniadus, Cervus axis, Phascolarctus cinereus, house martin, sparrow, 

 starling, Buteo vulgaris, Balearica pavonina, Arriblystoma tigrina, and 

 two fishes, Batrachus didactylus and Pscudotriacis microdon. 



Struggle for Existence among South African Rats.f — H. Lyster 

 Jameson, in the course of a report on a collection of S. African 

 Mammals, has some interesting notes on Mm microdon zuluensis Thos. 

 and Schw. This multi-mammate rat approaches more nearly in its 

 habits to the imported M. decumanus, M. rattus, and M. musculus than 

 any other native species. They occur everywhere, and become a pest in 

 houses. Although it is fierce and aggressive, it is unable to compete 

 with the imported forms, and has consequently disappeared in the larger 

 towms, where the latter have become established. 



Jameson has also interesting notes on Mystromys albicaudatus Smith, 

 which was found living in a warren occupied by the meerkat (Suricata). 

 Litter seems to succeed litter at intervals of thirty-seven days throughout 

 the year. The female carries her young about attached to her mammae, 

 and if one happens to become detached she picks it up in her mouth 

 and carries it back to the nest. The young ones are thus dragged 

 about until a week before the next litter is born. Re-impregnation 

 occurs a few hours after the birth of the litter. Cats will not eat this 

 species, presumably because of some protective secretion. 



Variation in Comb of Domestic Fowl. J — Raymond Pearl and 

 Maud Dewitt Pearl give a description of the nature and amount of 

 variation normally occurring in a homogeneous pure-bred strain of 

 barred Plymouth rock hens in respect of form and size of the comb. 

 There appears to be continuous variation, considerable in amount, in 

 every definable characteristic of the comb. All degrees of intergradation 

 between the extreme conditions of each of the characteristics regularly 

 occur. 



Variations in Tropidonotus.§ — Louis Roule has studied variations 

 in colour, in the relation of the length of the head to the length of the 

 body, and in the scales. He discusses the question of species, and con- 

 trasts, for instance, the well-defined, strictly unimodal T. viperinus, and 

 the extremely variable plurimodal T. natrix. 



Attitude of Dinosaurs. || — 0. Abel argues against the view that 

 Sauropoda had a crocodile-like position of limbs and mode of pro- 

 gression. The structural features of the carpus and tarsus are in favour 

 of an upright position of the limbs. 



* Bull. Soc. Port. Sci. Nat., 1909, pp. 256-63. 



t Ann. Nat. Hist., iv. (1909) pp. 455-74. 



t Biometrika, vi. (1909) pp. 420-32 (3 pis.). 



§ Arch. Zool. Exper., ii. (1909) Notes et Revue, No. 1. pp. i.-xvii. 



|| Verh. Zool. Bot. Ges. Wien, lix . (1909) pp. 117-23. 



