ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, xMICKOSCOPY, ETC. 35 



money ; it is conspicuous even in the late dusk ; it is fearless in its 

 behaviour. "We have in this species distastefulness associated with 

 fearlessness of exposure, and with advertising attributes that appeal to 

 the sight, hearing, and scent of possible enemies." 



The common hedgehog is comparatively easy to see at night ; it is 

 easy to catch because it stops to roll up ; it sniffs furiously as it goes, 

 and is noisy ; it can make a horrible stench. It can afford to advertise 

 itself. ]\Iany exotic hedgehogs are more conspicuous. It is true that 

 eagle-owls, badgers and foxes sometimes eat hedgehogs ; that a dog can 

 be trained to kill them ; that a brown rat has been known to kill one ; 

 but, like porcupines, they are on the whole safe. 



Among other warningly coloured animals, Pocock ranks some species of 

 Gijmnura, e.g. G. rafflosi, and the crab-eating mongoose, Miingos nrva, 

 or cancrivora, of Assam, Burma, and Southern China. 



Vision in the Mouse.*— K. T. Waugh finds that mice distinguish 

 different degrees of illumination and different colours (preferring red 

 and yellow to blue and green), but have little sense of form. The 

 retinahas no rods and no fovea. There is little Ijinocular vision, but 

 there is quick detection of movements. 



Tooth-marks of Thylacoleo-t— Baldwin Spencer and E. H. Walcott 

 show that Thylacoleo with its shearing teeth may be legitimately credited 

 with having produced cuts on kangaroo bones and the like, which 

 bear a striking resemblance to the notches made by civilized man. 



British Fossil Shrews.^— Martin A. C. Hinton finds that it is not 

 till we reach the latest Pleistocene deposits that we meet with remains 

 of species apparently indistinguishable from the living British forms. 

 Hitherto the remains of shrews from the Xorfolk " Forest Bed " and 

 other British Pleistocene deposits have been referred to one or other of 

 the three extant species, but this cannot stand. He describes three 

 new species of SorexS. savini, S. runtonensis, S. Icennardi—und two of 

 Xeomys — JSf. newtoni and N. Irowni. 



Melanic Pigment.§— Maurice Piettre has studied the physical and 

 chemical character of the black pigment of the horse, abundant in sar- 

 comatous tumours. He finds that it is formed of an albuminoid group 

 (amido-acids), which can be isolated by hydrolysis,and of a more condensed 

 jet-black pigment-nucleus, insoluble in acids,' very soluble in alkalis. 



Caeca of Birds. || — A. Magnan has investigated the cfeca of a large 

 number of birds. There is great diversity. They are absent in para- 

 keets ; they are 85 cm. long in the male Capercailzie. Sometimes there 

 is only one, as in some fish- eating birds ; usually there are two, which 

 may be long or short ; there is a third caecum in many ducks and birds 

 of prey. 



* Journ. Neurol., xx. (1910) pp. 549-99 (10 figs.). 



t Proc. R. Soc. Victoria, xxiv. (1911) pp. 92-123 (4 pis.). 



X Geol. Mag., viii. (1911) pp. 529-39 (1 pi. and 13 figs.). 



§ Comptes Rendus, civ. (1911) pp. 782-5. 



II Ann. Sci. Nat. (Zool.) xiv. (1911) pp. 275-305. 



D 2 



