83 



NATURE 



[March i6, 191 i 



»ide the Rocky Mountains, arc much older than the latter, 

 representing in this region the original main axis of the 

 North Anvrrican Cordillera. The Purcell Range, like the 

 Selkirks proper, attains no great height in its southern 

 portion, but the northern half riws well above the snow- 

 line in numerous glacier-clad peaks. The author was 

 accompanied by Mr. Wheeler, a well-known Canadian 

 mountaineer and topographer, who with theodolite and 

 survey-camera made large additions to the survey of the 

 regi<)n where the Dominion Government has of late 

 susp' ml. 1! work to press forward that in more fertile 

 an MS. A large glacier which descends to the valley floor 

 amongst the timber was visited, and its present phase 

 was found to be one of retreat. Stations were occupied 

 up to more than 8000 feet, and from the photographic 

 survey 11,489 feet was determined as the height of the 

 principal peak. This may be Mount Nelson or Mount 

 Hammond, which, however, the author thinks may be 

 identical. By the latter part of September it was neces- 

 sary to leave the high valleys, after Mr. Wheeler had 

 completed a considerable amount of surveying, and after 

 the expedition had gained a general knowledge of the 

 riircfll range and the location of its highest and most 

 glaciated portions. 



Mr. R. a. Leslie Moore amused his audience at the 

 Royal Society of Arts on February 24 by an account of 

 Indian superstitions — omens, the evil eye, spooks and gob- 

 lins, mystic animals, birds, insects, reptiles, trees, and so 

 Torth. The learned student of custom and tradition who is 

 familiar with the abundant literature gathered on this sub- 

 ject in India will find little that is novel in this pleasant^ 

 bur lambling paper, or in the discursive remarks of Sir G. 

 Hinhvood and other Indian authorities which followed. 

 But the paper will have a useful effect if only by direct- 

 ing attention to the vast, and still only partially garnered, 

 material which India can supply. 



The recent death of Sir Francis Galton, the founder of 

 the science of eugenics, naturally leads to a discussion in 

 The Fornightly Review for March on the relation of 

 eugenics to Mendelian genetics, contributed by Mr. G. C. 

 Nuttall. The latter is working, and apparently on 

 successful lines, to bring law and order into the inchoate 

 mass of the facts of heredity ; the former is striving to 

 teach man to use his conscience, as well as his intellect, 

 in dealing with this new knowledge. The writer believes 

 it to be proved that feeble-mi ndedness could practically be 

 stamped out in two generations if the State rigorously 

 determined to check the perennial flow of the strain of 

 the unfit into our national life. All this may be true ; but 

 the voice of the teacher is still that of one preaching in 

 the wilderness. The remedy involves the seclusion of all 

 persons defective in mind or body, a drastic method which 

 our democracy, largely swayed by sentimental emotions, 

 seems, for the present at least, not prepared to adopt. 



The Public. Works Department of the Government of 

 Egypt has published a second edition of the List of 

 Animals in the Zoological Gardens at Giza, near Cairo, 

 compiled by Captain Stanley S. Flower, the director, and 

 illustrated by twenty plates reproduced from photographs. 

 The names of species inhabiting Africa (inclusive of 

 Madagascar), Arabia, and Syria are respectively indicated 

 hy an asterisk. An important feature of the work is a 

 record of the number of years specimens have lived in the 

 gardens since Captain Flower took over charge in 1898. 

 At the annual census, taken in October, 19 10, the total 

 number of animals living in the gardens was 1464, refer- 

 able to 391 species, both these figures being higher than in 

 any previous year. 



NO. 2159, VOL. 86] 



In No. 1796 (vol. xxxix., pp. 489-93) of the Pr<>' 

 of the U.S. National Museum, Mr. R. L. .Mfxxlie 1'. 

 a labyrinthodont fr<Mii ilie Kansas Coal Measures, wi. 

 is of interest alilc <»ii account of the rarity of such 

 mains in that formation and from its own intrii. 

 characters; for this labyrinthodont, 'which is describ«d 

 a new genus and species, Erpeiosuchus kansensis, diff 

 from all its relatives in the presence of a pair of <r. 

 vacuities on each side of the inner wall of the lower j.i 

 comparable to those of a crocodile, while it is fur;'; 

 distinguished by the uniform character and shortness 

 its teeth. It is assigned to the family Labyrinthodont!' 

 Greek scholars will r<-^nt that the genus was not nan 

 Herpetosuchus 



Taking as his text a statement by Mr. C. B. Devon- 

 port, to the effect that self-coloured fowls, as being m- 

 conspicuous, tend to be eliminated by natural enemi 

 whereas barred birds, on account of being less conspicuous, 

 are more immune to attack. Dr. Raymond Pearl, in the 

 February number of The American Naturalist, states that 

 he has found the alleged contrast in regard to conspicuous- 

 ness to be well founded. On the other hand, as the re- 

 of experiment, he denies the truth of the theory based 

 these facts. " We have been prone," he writes, " to aj: 

 that because an organism was coloured or formed in si 

 a way as to be inconspicuous, it was, therefore, necess.-i: 

 protected from attack by its enemies. . . . The logic ■,.. 

 such reasoning is flawless. . . . But a conclusion may be 

 perfectly logical and still not true. In the study of pro- 

 tective coloration, including mimicry, it is essential that 

 a discovery that an organism is to human eyes incon- 

 spicuous or not readily distinguishable from some other 

 organism shall not be considered the final goal." 



The recent appearance in vast numbers of the giant 

 African snail Achatina fulica in Ceylon forms the subj 

 of an article by Mr. E. E. Green in the February issu< 

 The Zoologist. This bulimus-like species is a native 

 East Africa, but appears to have been introduced ma;,, 

 years ago into Mauritius, where it is now common. To 

 Calcutta it was introduced about half a century ago, and 

 by 1877 was abundant in the gardens of the houses in 

 Chominghi, while it had also crossed the Hughli to How- 

 and Barrakpur. About ten years ago a collector in:: 

 duced the species on his estate in the highlands of central 

 Ceylon, but soon after attempts were made to exterminate 

 the intruders, and it was believed effectually. It appears, 

 however, that some escaped destruction, and of these a 

 couple were recently carried down with vegetables to the 

 low country. Here they increased to such an amazing 

 extent, over an area of about five square miles, that their 

 numbers were to be reckoned by millions, no fewer than 

 227 being counted in a cluster on the stem of a cocoanul 

 palm in a length of about 6 feet. Naturally the natives 

 were in fear that their crops would be devastated ; but, as 

 a matter of fact, little or no serious damage has been in- 

 flicted, and it appears that the species largely acts the part 

 of a scavenger, so that in some degree, at any rate, its 

 introduction is a benefit. The adults are attacked by a 

 terrapin of the genus Nicoria, and in its young stages the 

 species probably has many foes. The enormous fecundity 

 of these snails on their first introduction to the lowlands 

 was probably a temporary phenomenon, and their numbers 

 now appear to be diminishing. 



Dr. Rudolf von Ritter-ZAhony gives (Fisheries, 

 Ireland, Sci. Invest., 1910, iv.) an account of the 

 Chcctognatha taken during the years 1905-6 off the coast 

 of Ireland. .As was to be expected in the surface waters 



