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NATURE 



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191 1 



to the public last week, is of interest from two points of 

 vi«;w. It is. for instance, the first attempt to bring 

 together in this country a collection of the big-game 

 animals (exclusive of zebras, wild asses, and giraffes) to 

 bo found within the limits of the British Empire, while, 

 in the second place, it includes many of the finest heads of 

 animals of this nature which have fallen during the last 

 thirty or forty years to the rifles of (mainly British) sports- 

 men. Although it was found impossible to render the 

 series absolutely complete, the exhibition affords an excel- 

 lent idea of the wonderful extent of the big-game fauna of 

 Greater Britain, and how vastly it exceeds that of any 

 other empire in the world. The specimens are arranged 

 according to countries, and thereby afford an excellent 

 object-lesson in geographical zoology, so far as it can be 

 learnt from a few groups of mammals. Those who visit 

 the Crystal Palace exhibit will at once realise how much 

 is lost by the lack of a geographical section in the zoo- 

 logical department of the Natural History Museum. A 

 considerable proportion of the specimens exhibited at the 

 Crystal Palace were shown last year at Vienna, but, on 

 the other hand, there are many new objects, a few of which 

 are of more than ordinary interest. To particularise these 

 on the present occasion is, however, out of the question, 

 and we may conclude by offering congratulations to Lord 

 Woiverton, the president, Mr. C. E. Pagan, the hon. 

 organising secretary, and the other promoters of this 

 extremely successful and instructive exhibition. 



We have received a booklet entitled " Vergiftungen 

 durch Tiere und animalische Stoffe," by Dr. Kanngiesser 

 (Jena: Gustav Fischer, 191 1, price i mark), which gives 

 a brief but simple and comprehensive survey of animal 

 poisons, e.g. those of insects and arthropods, molluscs, fish 

 and toads, snake venom, &c. Some of the subjects, how- 

 ever, being infections rather than intoxications, e.g. 

 amicbic dysentery, coccidiosis, trypanosomiasis, and 

 trichinosis, seem somewhat out of place. 



In a review on " Salvarsan " which appeared in Nature 

 of May 25 (p. 412), it was stated that Ehrlich had intro- 

 duced trypan red for the treatment of piroplasmosis. Prof. 

 Nuttall writes pointing out that this is an error ; it was 

 tried by Ehrlich for the treatment of trypanosomiasis. 

 Trypan red was first used by Prof. Nuttall in conjunction 

 with Dr. Hadwen for the treatment of canine piroplas- 

 mosis, but proved unsatisfactory, and trypan blue, a drug 

 which emanated from Mesnil, has been used instead with 

 considerable success in the treatment of piroplasmosis in 

 different parts of the world. 



No. 42 of the Scientific Memoirs of the Government of 

 India deals with the cultivation of the leprosy bacillus. 

 The cultivation of this micro-organism has almost baffled 

 investigators, only a few undoubted cultures having been 

 obtained. Major Rost makes use of a culture medium 

 prepared by steam distillation of rotten fish, and to this 

 distillate some weak Lemco broth and milk are added. 

 Inoculated with material from leprosy patients, masses of 

 " acid-fast," leprosy-like bacilli develop in a few days. 

 Captain Williams, using Major Rost's medium, or a 

 somewhat similar one, in which distilled water replaced 

 the fish distillate, has also obtained cultures of what he 

 considers to be the leprosy organism. An interesting fact 

 brought out by the work is the extreme variation of the 

 leprosy organism ; sometimes it has the ordinary bacillar 

 form and is " acid-fast," at others it is non-acid-fast, while 

 diphtheroid and streptothrix forms frequently appear, the 

 streptothrix often breaking up into bacillar forms. Both 

 NO. 2172, VOL. 86] 



these observers have prepared vaccln»'> 

 promising results, as regards the cure ■ 

 been obtained. 



In the report of the Horniman Museum and Library 

 for 1910 attentk)n is directed to the gift, by Mr. A. R. 

 Brown, of a number of specimens illustrative of th" 

 ethnology of the Andaman Islands. During the year, the 

 museum has lost the services of Mr. F. Slade, whose 

 appointment as naturalist considerably antedates r' 

 ference of the institution to the County Council. 



In an article in the May number of I'he Museums 

 Journal, Dr. Bather directs attention to the palaiontological 

 exhibit at the " White City," the leading idea of which 

 is to display the scientific results attained by the study of 

 palaeontology, and more especially such as can be obtained 

 only by means of this science. The restoration of extinct 

 animals constitutes one section of the exhibit ; a second 

 is devoted to extinct faunas and floras in connection with 

 their bearing upon the present distribution of animal and 

 plant life upon the surface of the globe ; while a third 

 section illustrates contemporary individual variation in a 

 species. The last-named feature leads on to the evolution 

 of species and genera, which is also exemplified by actual 

 examples. 



The Scientific American of May 11 contains an illus- 

 trated account on the so-called " dinosaur-mummy " — that 

 is to say, a skeleton of Trachodon still covered with the 

 skin obtained in 1908 by Mr. C. H. Sternberg from the 

 Cretaceous of Wyoming. One of the illustrations shows 

 the finely tuberculated, or granulated, structure of the 

 external surface of the skin, while a second reproduces the 

 latest restoration of the entire animal. The tenuity of 

 the skin suggests aquatic habits on the part of these dino- 

 saurs, and this view is strengthened by the circumstance 

 that the relatively small fore-legs terminated in a broad 

 expansion of the skin, converting the toes into a kind of 

 paddle, and projecting beyond their tips. The expansion 

 of the extremity of the muzzle into an edentulous, duck- 

 like beak seems likewise indicative of aquatic habits. 



To La Nature of May 27 Dr. E. Trouessart contributes 

 an account of a specimen of the New Guinea long-beaked 

 Echidna (Zaglossus, or Proechidna, bruyni) now living in 

 the Zoological Gardens at Amsterdam, which is probably 

 the first example of its kind ever brought alive to Europe. 

 It belongs to the race for which Mr. Rothschild proposed 

 in 1892 the name Z. b. nigro-aculeatus. The communica- 

 tion is illustrated by two photographs, which show that the 

 pose of the creature is quite different from the one given 

 in pictures and mounted specimens. In these the animal 

 is represented with the belly resting on the ground, and 

 the claws of the hind-legs directed like those of a 

 lizard. In reality, it stands up on its legs in elephant- 

 fashion, with the hind-claws directed outwards and slightly 

 forwards, this being a remarkable attitude for a burrowing 

 animal. Unlike the ordinary echidna, which refuses to 

 touch them, the long-beaked species exhibits a marked 

 partiality to earth-worms. 



A PALiEONTOLOGiCAL communication by Mr. E. W. 

 Berry, published in the Proceedings of the United States 

 National Museum (No. 1821), presents a revision and 

 reduction of species referable to fossil gymnospermous 

 genera from the Potomac group. Of eight genera re- 

 viewed. Sequoia is represented at the present day, 

 .Arthrotaxopsis and Cephalotaxopsis indicate by their names 

 their relationship to modern genera, Brachyphyllum and 

 Sphenolepis are sedis incerta ; the two latter genera are 



