568 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



four levers till he found the one with the same sign, and pressed it. 

 Afterwards, being a clever dog, he discovered that a simpler way was to 

 begin at one end and press the levers till he came to the one thai 

 worked. When electric shocks were attached to the " wrong " levers, he 

 decided not to play any more. 



Ear of Hungarian Blind Mouse.* — Julius Szakall gives a full ac- 

 count of the auditory organ in Spalax hungaricus, and shows that it has 

 a very high development in compensation for the degeneracy of the eye. 

 Although there is some hint of retrogression even in the ear, e.g. in 

 the absence of the musculus tensor tympani and the musculus stapedius, 

 the greater part of the structure is very highly developed. Indeed, the 

 author shows that in some respects the internal ear of Spalax is more 

 perfect than that of auy other Mammals hitherto studied. 



Quagga of Turin Museum.f — L. Camerano discusses this specimen, 

 which seems to be intermediate between Equus quagga greyi and Equus 

 quagga lorenzi, which may therefore equally deserve a sub-specific name, 

 trouessarti being proposed. 



Tobacco-poisoning in Rabbits.} — L. Richon and M. Perrin gave 

 eight rabbits subcutaneous injections of infusion of tobacco ; there 

 was a very marked retardation of growth ; and in two cases, after the 

 cessation of the poisoning, there was a renewal of growth. 



Prozeuglodon atrox.§— C. W. Andrews regards it as settled that the 

 Zeuglodonts are descended from Creodonts, and that Odontoceti are 

 derived from Zeuolodonts. There is a series of forms linking: the 

 Zeuglodonts to the terrestrial Creodonts ; the earliest of these is Pro- 

 tocetus atavus from the Middle Eocene of Cairo, and somewhat later is 

 Prozeuglodon atrox, which has many Creodont features. It seems to 

 have been with great rapidity that both Cetaceans and Sirenia became 

 completely adapted to an aquatic life. They diverged from a terrestrial 

 stock during the Lower Eocene, and were completely adapted long before 

 the close of the Middle Eocene. The great marine reptiles had vanished 

 from the seas, and that gave the newcomers free scope. The limbs 

 ceased to support the weight of the body, and many changes followed 

 from this. The body is subjected to pressure on its anterior end, and 

 some of the peculiarities of the skull are associated with this. Abundant 

 food and the floating of the body may have made the large size possible. 

 "No doubt the various changes above noticed may be regarded as 

 entirely the result of selection acting on variations in the necessary 

 direction, but the rapidity with which these changes took place, and the 

 apparent uselessness of some of them, at least, suggest that in spite of the 

 generally accepted doctrine that acquired characters are not inherited, 

 in some cases complete change of the conditions acting throughout the 

 life of each individual for generations does actually give rise to and 

 direct the modifications undergone." 



* Math. Nat. Ber. Ungarn, xxi. (1907) pp. 135-58 (8 Sgs.). 



+ Atti R. Accad. Sci. Torino, xliii. (1908) pp. 562-5. 



+ C.1I. Soc. Biol. Paris, lxiv. (1908) pp. 563-5. 



§ Geol. Mag., v. (1908) pp. 209-12 (1 pi.). 



