66 FRESH FACTS [jan. 1899 



One in the Eye. Frank Finn. — "Note on the Long-Snouted Whip-Snake'' 

 (Dryophis mycterizans) (J. Asiat. Soc. Bengal, lxvii. (1898) pp. 66-67). Mr. 

 Finn had two of these (harmless 1) snakes in his hands, and was holding them 

 gently, when the larger one, which had previously struck at his hand, made a 

 sudden dart at his eye. As he instinctively closed the threatened organ, the 

 snake only succeeded in making two small bites on the upper eyelid and one on 

 the lower. It left one of its teeth, rather over ^ inch in length, but this proved 

 not to be a grooved one. No inconvenience was felt. Mr. Finn thus unexpect- 

 edly verified what is a common belief in India that the whip-snake strikes 

 deliberately at the eye, an interesting trait which, as the author notes, is not 

 alluded to by either Dr. Giinther or Mr. Boulenger in their accounts of the 

 Indian Reptilia. ^ ^ ^ 



A Problem of Sex. R. W. Shufeldt. — " On the Alternation of Sex in a 

 Brood of Young Sparrow-Hawks" (Amer. Nat. xxxii. (1898) pp. 567-570, 1 fig.) 

 In a brood of Falco sparverius Dr. Shufeldt found that the oldest of the five 

 was a male, the next a female, and so on in regular alternation. He inquires 

 whether the alternation is the rule, and, if so, what the correct interpretation 

 of it can be. ^ ^ ^ 



The Kangaroo's Vocal Cords. Johnson Symington. — " The Marsupial 

 Larynx" (Journ. Anat. Physiol, xxxiii. (1898) pp. 31-49, 8 figs.) From among 

 the many interesting facts stated in this paper we select one — that the 

 vocal cords of pouch specimens of Macropus bennettii are well developed, while 

 the adult vocal cord must be regarded as a degenerated structure. " This is 

 interesting in connection with the well-known fact that these animals are voiceless, 

 and it suggests the theory that they are descended from a stock which 

 possessed a voice." 



