36 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



the apparent disproportion between the amount of musculature in the 

 walls of the oviduct and the physical activity of the organ. He shows 

 that the dorsal and ventral ligaments undergo a progressive change in 

 shape and size relations as the oviduct enlarges in preparation for 

 functional activity, and the character of these changes is described. 

 The ligaments of the oviduct possess a well-developed musculature 

 which is continuous with the outer muscle-layer of the oviduct. The 

 mutual relations of the abdominal viscera are such as to form a pocket 

 in which the ovary Ues. This walling off of the ovary tends mechanic- 

 ally to direct detached ova to the mouth of the oviduct. 



c. General. 



Evolution of Man.* — Henri Douville suggests that a change of 

 climate towards cold caused a recession of forests in which Anthropoid 

 apes lived and throve. The area previously covered with forest became 

 dry " bush," and it was there that Man emerged — adapted not to arboreal 

 life, but to walking on the ground. 



European Mammals, f — E. L. Trouessart makes a plea for the more 

 thorough and critical study of the European Mammals. The Mammalian 

 fauna is much less uniform than is usually supposed. The little grey 

 squirrel of the north of Scandinavia, which sometimes becomes white in 

 Siberia, the red squirrel of Central Europe, and the black squirrel of the 

 mountainous parts of the Mediterranean region, cannot be included in 

 the same diagnosis. In the same way the " weasel " of Sardinia (Putorius 

 boccameld) is neither weasel nor stoat ; in Ireland there is the inter- 

 mediate P. hibemicus ; in Malta and Egypt there is P. subpalmatus ; and 

 so on. The water-vole (Arvicola amphibius L.) of France is different 

 from A. terrestris L. of Scandinavia, and from A. scherman (Shaw) of 

 the Swiss Alps. These local differentiations demand further study. 



Six New European Mammals.j — Gen-it S. Miller gives brief de- 

 scriptions of Sorex araneus granarius subsp. n. from Spain, Dyromys 

 robustus sp. n. from Bulgaria, Microtus dentatus sp. n. from Spain, 

 Pity my s atticus sp. n. from Greece, Apodemux sylvaticus creticus subsp. n. 

 from Crete, Capreohts capreolus canus subsp. n. from Spain. 



Atlas of the Okapi.§ — E. Ray Lankester has published a fine atlas 

 of this interesting type, which is isolated from other living forms, and 

 nearly related to Palseotrayus and Samotherium of the Lower Pliocene 

 of Greece. The atlas has been compiled with the assistance of W. G. 

 Ridewood, and the beautiful plates are for the most drawn by G. M. Wood- 

 ward and Gronvald. The variability of the skull and of the leg-striping 

 is very remarkable. An interesting diagram compares the various planes 

 of the skull in the Okapi with those of other Mammals. There is an 

 interesting photograph of a young Okapi. There is no text published,, 

 but with its full descriptions the atlas is complete in itself, and a beautiful 

 piece of work. 



* Comptes Rendus, cli. (1910) pp. 742-6. + Tom. cit., pp. 648-50. 



t Ann. Nat. Hist., vi. (1910) pp. 458-61. 



§ Monograph of the Okapi : Atlas. Printed by order of the Trustees of the 

 British Museum, 1910 (48 pis.). 



