March 23, 191 1] 



NATURE 



119 



rardens, and was taken in Gahvay Bay in 1895, turns 

 it to be Phoca foetida, a species of which there appear 



) be extremely few previous British records. Dr. Scharff 

 refers to certain dental characters by which the ringed 

 seal may be distinguished from P. vituUna, but omits to 

 mention a much more important difference between the 

 two. In the common seal the two branches of the lower 

 jaw form a very short union in front, but in adult speci- 

 mens of the ringed seal the symphysis is of great length, 

 almost recalling, in miniature, that of a sjyerm-whale. 

 So great is the difference in this respect between the two 



:)ecies, that it affords considerable justification for Gray's 

 ^ neric separation of the ringed seal. 



Two papers on armoured dinosaurs have recently 

 ppeared in The American Journal of Science. In the 

 : St (December, 1910) Mr. R. S. Lull describes the skele- 

 >n, or rather the compound skeleton, for it is made up 

 ■1 two individuals, of Stegosaunis iingulatus, recently 

 lounted in the Peabody Museum of Yale University. 

 his is claimed to be the first reconstructed specimen with 

 ihe bones in their proper position, and with the dorsal 

 plates in two parallel rows. A restoration of the external 

 form of this strange reptile is also attempted. In the 

 second paper (February, 191 1) Mr. G. R. Wieland suggests 

 that even Mr. Lull's restoration is incomplete, for he 

 claims to have evidence of the existence of a series of low 

 pleural keels in addition to the large dorsal plates. In 

 this communication Mr. Wieland furnishes additional par- 

 ticulars with regard to the dermal plates and other remains 

 described under the name of Hierosaiirus sternbergeri. 

 These, it is stated, indicate a reptile of about 5 metres in 

 length, and therefore about half the size of Stegosaurus. 

 Possibly they may prove generically inseparable from the 

 previously named Stegopelta. 



We have received a copy, bearing the date of May, 

 19 10, of an important memoir, by Dr. O. Abel, on the 

 early Tertiary rhinoceroses of Europe, published as part 

 lii. of vol. XX. of Abhandlungen der k.k. Geologischen 

 Reichsanstalt, Vienna. The author adopts the view that 

 the rhinoceros group should be divided into three families, 

 namely, Hyracodontidae (including Hyrachyus as well as 

 , Hyracodon), Amynodontidae, and RhinocerotidiE, each of 

 which has undergone divergent development. No fewer 

 than four new generic terms are proposed for the Euro- 

 pean early Tertiary representatives of the latter, the first 

 two of these being based, respectively, on Cuvier's Rhino- 

 reros minutus and Filhol's Aceratherium minus, while the 

 •her two are established as new species, one from the 

 :,'nite of Monte Bolca and the other from the Oligocene 

 t Krain. Special classificatory importance is attached to 

 'le fourth upper premolar, of which the oldest type is 

 •und in Hyrachyus, where the tvi'o cross-crests converge 

 ■:i the inner side to form a U-like loop. From this we 

 find a gradual transition in the early Tertiary European 

 forms to the modern Rhinoceros type, in which the last 

 molar has become molariform with sundered and parallel 

 cross-crests. Progressive increase in the comple-vity of the 

 upper molars is likewise noticeable. The proposed 

 ■ emendation of the name Prohyracodon oricntalis to P. 

 orientale is uncalled for. 



The fourth volume (185 pp.) of Papers from the Tortugas 



Laboratory of the Carnegie Institution of Washington 



contains three contributions :— (i) An account, with text 



n figures, by Prof. H. S. Pratt, of the anatomy of Mono- 



• "tyle floridana, a new monogenetic trematode from the 



■Us of the whip-ray (Myliobatis freminvillei). (2) A 



••stematic survey of the trematodes of the Dry Tortugas, 



NO. 2160, VOL. 86] 



by Prof. E. Linton, in which are described, and figured 

 on twenty-eight plates, thirty new genera and eleven new 

 species of previously known genera. The author, while 

 disposed to regard the generic limits proposed by modern 

 helminthologists as being too narrow, is not prepared to 

 suggest, at present, any change in the conception of what 

 should constitute a generic character in the Trematoda ; 

 he has chosen to make this large number of new genera, 

 all of which, except three, are represented by a single 

 species, rather than to extend the limits of those already 

 known. (3) Dr. Wayland Vaughan's contribution to the 

 geological history of the Floridian Plateau, which he traces 

 from Lower Oligocene time to the present, includes 

 detailed studies on the geology, topography, bottom 

 deposits, and on the transporting agents and their effects. 

 The account is illustrated with maps, figures, and photo- 

 graphs. 



The March issue of The Naturalist contains a revised 

 check list of British earthworms, by the Rev. Hilderic 

 Friend. It is nearly twenty years since the previous list 

 was issued, and in the meantime a dozen new species have 

 been discovered by the compiler, and several important 

 varieties. The additions to the former list include 

 Aporrectodea similis, Fr., found at Kew last year, and 

 described in The Gardeners' Chronicle of August 6, 19 10 ; 

 also Dendrobaena submontana, Vej., Octolasion inter- 

 medium, Fr., from Oxford, Eophila icterica, Sav., from 

 Cambridge and Chelsea, Allolobophora alpina, Rosa, and 

 Allurus hercynius, Mich., from Scotland, and the two 

 interesting worms Allolobophora hermanni, Mich., and 

 Helodrilus oculatus, Hoffm., which Michaelsen in his 

 " Tierreich " regards as one and the same species. The 

 list contains thirty-five species, besides several varieties, 

 chiefly under the heading of Eisenia veneta, Rosa. One 

 entirely new name also appears, but it is at present 

 doubtful whether Helodrilus elongaius, Fr., found last 

 year m Cornwall, may not have to be relegated to another 

 group. It may possibly be a Sparganophilus. The author 

 has overlooked the fact that Bimasiiis beddardi, Mich., was 

 found by himself in Ireland, but described as a variety of 

 B. constricta, Rosa. As he is preparing a monograph of 

 British earth- and water-worms for the Ray Society, he 

 appeals for help to make his researches complete. 



Under the title " The Native Camphor Trees (Cinna- 

 mons) of Australia," a paper was read by Mr. R. T. 

 Baker, curator of the Technological Museum, Sydney, 

 before the biological section of the Australasian Associa- 

 tion for the Advancement of Science, held in Sydney in 

 January last. In this paper the author endeavours to 

 show that the Australian species hitherto recorded are all 

 endemic, and makes use of anatomical and chemical 

 characters as auxiliary to the morphological characters 

 usually relied upon in discriminating between the species. 

 The appearance of the paper itself will be looked for with 

 considerable interest. 



We have received copies of The American Review of 

 Tropical Agriculture, a monthly journal, still in its first 

 year of issue, devoted to the agriculture of those tropical 

 countries in which America is particularly intereited. It 

 is published in Mexico under the editorship of Dr. Pehr 

 Olsson-Seffer at the price of 15 c, and is intended for 

 scientific and technical communications rather than mere 

 newspaper items. Nos. 5, 6, and 7, which have already 

 come to hand, contain articles on rubber and on the desert 

 rubber-bearing plant, guayule (Parthenium). 



Three bulletins received from the Bureau of Entomology 

 of the U.S. Department of Agriculture deal with insect 

 pests of fruit trees. Mr. Hammar describes the life- 



