652 NATURAL SCIENCE. ^-o,,. 



a particularly fine male bird, and shows a character which we have 

 never before seen in an ostrich at the Gardens. It has a bright red 

 neck — possibly a sexual adornment. The Ostrich tribe generally (the 

 Emeus and Cassowaries, at any rate) show bright colours in this 

 region only, which is, after all, on account of its great extent, a very 

 favourable situation for the development of sexual colours. Unfor- 

 tunately, the Ostrich has within the last few days been in a less robust 

 state of health than when it arrived ; the black boy who accompanied 

 it from Sierra Leone has been summoned in consultation, and has 

 given his opinion that the Giraffe house, which, in the want of any 

 proper inmates, has been given over to the Ostriches, is too hot even 

 for an Ostrich. We believe that this has been remedied. Her 

 Majesty the Queen has most generously presented the bird to the 

 Zoological Society. 



Visitors to the Zoological Gardens should also notice some of 

 the new birds and other animals brought by Mr. Frank Finn from 

 Zanzibar and Mombasa, and presented to the Society. This collection 

 includes at least three species which have never been exhibited before 

 in the Gardens. The most interesting of these is, perhaps, a small 

 Water Hen (Limnocorax), of which there are tv/o individuals located 

 in the western aviary. As the object of Mr. Finn's visit to Africa 

 was to collect Oligochaete worms for Mr. Beddard, he is to be con- 

 gratulated on having been able, without neglecting his proper work, 

 to enrich the Society's Menagerie by so large a number of interesting 

 living animals. 



The question of the extinction of the American prehistoric horse 

 is re-opened by Dr. E. L. Trouessart in Science for September 30. 

 Among other evidence, Dr. Trouessart discusses the recent discoveries 

 of Tertiary horses in South America, and he concludes that the stories 

 as to the absence of the horse in the New World prior to the landing 

 of the Spaniards and Portuguese are quite correct. The extinction 

 of the horse in America " appears to have coincided with that of the 

 Proboscidians (elephant and mastodon) and can consequently be 

 attributed to the same causes, which are to be sought in the environ- 

 ment of these Herbivora (nourishment, nature of the soil, &c.)." 



Professor Victor Hensen, of Kiel, is editing the results of 

 the investigation of the pelagic fauna (" plankton ") of the Atlantic 

 Ocean conducted by the expedition under his charge in the year 1889. 

 The work is announced by Messrs. Lipsius and Tischer, of Kiel and 

 Leipzig, and will comprise five large quarto volumes, illustrated by 

 more than 300 plates. Each group of organisms is being treated by 

 a specialist. 



