810 SCIENTIFIC RECORD FOR 1885. 



The temperature of the body in Monotremes. — The mean temperature of 

 the body of mammals is but little under or over 100° F. : — according to 

 Dr. John Davies' observations on thirty-one different species, lOfo 10' 

 F. The corresponding temperature has been measured by Baron M. 

 Miclucho Maclay, in two species of Monotremes of Australia, and it ap- 

 pears that it is much lower than in most other mammals, an interesting 

 fact in connection with the relation of the forms to the amphibians and 

 reptiles. 



A thermometer inserted in the cloaca of the duck-mole or Ornitho- 

 rhynchus paradoxus and allowed to remain therefor five minutes indicated 

 a temperature of 7(P 3' F., the temperature of the air being at the sam« 

 time 73° C F., and the water of the tub in which it had been placed at 

 750 8' F. 



The Spiny ant-eater, or Tachyfflossns aculeatus, showed a somewhat 

 higher temperature, a thermometer, also introduced into the cloaca, 

 denoting a temperature of 82° 4' F. Baron Maclay, believing that the 

 large opening of the cloaca had interfered with the correctness of the ob- 

 servations in the case of the first observations, made a small incision, 

 just large enough to introduce the oblong bulb of the thermometer into 

 the cavity of the abdomen, and the thermometer was left in over ten 

 minutes. The scale indicated a temperature of 86^ F. {Proc. Linn. 

 Soc. N. S. Wales, v.. 8, part 4.) 



A new Porpoise. — The species of the genus Phocaena, in which are in- 

 cluded the typical porpoises (perhaps better known to many as the pufi"- 

 ing pigs or bay-porpoises), are in some confusion, it being doubtful 

 whether certain variations observed are of specific or individual value. 

 However, seven species have been quite generally recognized by cetol- 

 ogists. These are all very closely related and agree essentially in the 

 number of vertebrae. But a species has lately been found in the Alas-kan 

 waters, and described by Mr. F. W. True as the Phoccena Balli, which 

 differs much from its relatives in the sum of the vertebrae ; it has twenty- 

 seven lumbar and forty-nine caudal in place of fourteen lumbar and thir- 

 ty-two caudal, as has the Phoccena communis and (approximately at least) 

 the hitherto known species. In all, the Phoccena Balli has about ninety- 

 seven or ninety-eight vertebrae, while the other species have only from 

 sixty-three to sixty-six. The newly-discovered species exhibits also 

 striking peculiarities in the coloration as well as in the shape of the 

 dorsal fin. The only specimen that has been noticed by naturalists 

 was 6 feet long. {Proc. U. 8. Nat. Mus., v. 8, pp. 95, pi, 2-5.) 



The Fin-whale Fishery of Norway. — At Vado, in East Finmarken, fin- 

 whales are found in sufficient numbers to be subjects of a profitable fish- 

 ery, and various observations have been made on the habits of the ani- 

 mals. In 1885, Dr. Robert Collet, a well-known Norwegian naturalist, 

 made interesting observations upon the structure and habits of Ru- 



