156 SUMMARY OF CUKKENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



strong reservoir, a globular excretory nipple, with delicate walls, without 

 a terminal tuft of down, e.g. in the sparrow, blackbird, rook. (2) With 

 distinct lobes, with a strong reservoir, a long delicate excretory nipple, 

 and a feebly developed terminal tuft of down, e.g. woodpecker. (3) With 

 distinct lobes, without a reservoir, with a short excretory nipple, trun- 

 cated, with thick muscular walls, and a strong terminal tuft of down, 

 e.g. in the stork, heron, flamingo, cormorant. 



In Ratitffi it is present in the embryos ; it persists (naked) in the 

 kiwi ; its presence in the emu is asserted by Orlandi, but denied by 

 Nitzsch. It is absent in certain (American) parrots, in the bustard, in 

 Tetrax mmpestris, and in the fantail pigeon. 



The fatty secretion varies in colour, contains no excretory products, 

 and has a characteristic odour. Removal of the gland in sUirlings, wild 

 duck, etc., was not followed by any change in the state of the plumage. 

 Obstruction of the canals, e.g. in the fowl, seemed to make no difference. 

 Its importance as supplying a lubricant or varnish for the feathers seems 

 to have been much exaggerated. Its function in many cases seems to be 

 of little or no importance. 



Skeleton of Goniopholis crassidens.*— R. W. Hooley describes the 

 skull and the greater portion of the skeleton of this Crocodilian from 

 the Isle of Wight. The vertical elevation of the orbits is much more 

 accentuated than in the Telosaurs or other Amphicoelians, and very far 

 removed from the everted orbits of the Proccelians. Their direct frontal 

 aspect curtailed the arc of vision, and it would seem that the creature's 

 prey, or foes, were in an unobserved position when behind the orbits. 

 Considering the massiveness of the head, and the weight which its heavy 

 armour must have given to the body, the length and slenderness of the 

 mandibles are remarkable. It is surprising how they withstood the strain 

 ocaisioned in combat or in capture. The animal was capable of a gape 

 of over a metre. The presence of the interorbital keel, found in all the 

 American alligators, is probably the developed trait peculiar to a line 

 descended from the Goniopholidie. 



Colour Variations in Rana temporaria.f— C. B. Klunzinger de- 

 scribes the varieties (a) known as obtmiformis Fatio, with a blunt snout 

 (with colour variations rubriventris, flaviventris, viridis, and reichen- 

 bachensis) ; (b) designated acutirostris (with colour variations on similar 

 lines). He discusses the tendency to melanism in frogs, which he 

 associates with the dark deposits in pools rich in humic acid. 



Red Variety of Salamandra maculosa.^ — Elise Melitta von 

 Schweizerbarth found in a brook near Stuttgart a black-red salamander. 

 Its young were practically normal in coloration. Haeckel found a 

 similar red variety in 1852. 



Structure of a Cave Salamander .§— Ellen Tucker Emerson describes 

 TypMomolge rathbuni Stejneger, a blind cave salamander, discovered in 



* Quart. Jouru. Geol. Soc, Isiii. (1907) pp. 50-63 (3 pis.). 



t Ber. Senckenberg Nat. Ges., 1906, pp. 105-15 (2 col. pis. and 16 figs.). 



X Tom. cit., pp. 119-21 (1 col. fig.). 



§ Proc. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist., xxxii. (1905) pp. 43-76 (5 pis.). 



