January 19, 191 1] 



NATURE 



3S1 



lecies up to eleven, and proposes to distribute them 

 nongst three distinct genera. The problems involved are 



> no means of purely academic interest, but have the 



:most practical importance from the known fact that 

 fferent species of tsetses are instrumental in transmitting 

 - different species of trypanosomes that produce diseases 



. man and animals, and it is a matter of urgent necessity 

 determine exactly the various species of these flies and 



>? limits of their distribution. 



Is its issue of January 6, the Times announces the 

 ant by the Treasury of 40,000/. to the Board of Agri- 

 , Iture and Fisheries for the encouragement of light 

 rse breeding in Great Britain. In administering the 

 ant, the Board will have the assistance of a special 

 ivisory Council. The purposes of the grant are five in 

 :mber, namely : — -(i) the award of premiums to stallions ; 

 • awards for the purchase of half-bred working brood- 

 ares for location in specified districts; (3) free nomina- 

 ns for suitable mares for service by premium or 

 proved stallions ; (4) the purchase — for re-sale — of 

 llions; (5) the voluntary registration of stallions. The 

 vards to stallions will be of two classes, viz. King's 

 miums and the Board's premiums, the former to be 

 en to stallions at the ensuing spring show in London, 

 d the latter to animals exhibited at other spring shows 

 selected by the Board. In an article on the grant in 

 Daily Telegraph of January- 11, it is stated that certain 

 rhorities consider that it will increase the supply of 

 rtters, cobs, &c., and ask what means are provided to 

 ate a demand for this increased stock. Owing to the 

 -ready development of motor traction, the demand for 

 light horses is not increasing, and will probably become 

 still smaller, so that unless the War Office is prepared to 

 increase largely its purchases, it is difficult to see where 

 breeders are to find a market. 



P.4RT ix. of the fifth volume of the Annals of the South 

 African Museum is devoted to a revised list of the local 

 reptiles and amphibians, with descriptions of new species, 

 by Mr. G. A. Boulenger. In connection with this may be 

 mentioned a list of East African reptiles and amphibians, 

 by Mr. S. E. Meek, published by the Field Museum at 

 Chicago (Zool. Ser., vol. vii., No. 11), based on a collec- 

 tion made from 1905 to 1907. 



According to the Egyptian Morning Xetvs of December 

 20, 1910, Captain Stanley Fk>wer has been unusually 

 successful in his eleventh coUeqting trip to the Sudan, 

 from which he returned with no fewer than 170 live 

 animals for the zoological gardens at Giza, tt^ether with 

 a number of museum specimens. The rarities include a 

 Sudani galago (Galago teng), a white-tailed mongoose in 

 which the whole tail is (abnormally) black, and a cow 

 buffalo from the Blue Nile, the last-mentioned race being 

 already represented in the gardens by a bull. 



In our own Zoological Gardens it is intended to display 

 a special exhibition of African animals during the coming 

 summer. Some out of a series of birds collected for the 

 King were received at the gardens a few months ago, and 

 it is announced in the Field of January 7 that half a 

 dozen mammals brought home by H.R.H. the Duke of 

 Connaught. These include a couple of meerkets, two 

 specimens of the Cape zorille, or muishund, as the animal 

 is called by the Boers, a Sykes's guenon, and a Malagasy 

 ring-tailed lemur. These animals were presented to Prin- 

 cess Patricia of Connaught by the Chief Lewanika. 



In British Birds for Januan,-, Messrs. Witherby and 

 Hartert, after referring to the distinctness of the English 

 jay (Garrulus glandarius rufitergum) from the txpical Con- 

 -NO. 2 15 I, VOL. 85] 



tinental representative of the species, announce that, in 

 their opinion, the Irish jay is likewise entitled to rank as 

 a local race. Compared with British specimens, the Irish 

 jay (G. g. hibernicus) has the feathers of the sides of the 

 head and ear-crests markedly darker and more rufous, 

 while there is a tendency to a similar darkening all over 

 the under-parts, and the crest is conspicuously darker. 

 The Irish jay is mainly restricted to Leinster and the 

 adjacent districts of Munster, although of late years it 

 has spread into the south of Ulster. The Irish repre- 

 sentatives of two other birds — the water ouzel and the 

 coal titmouse — have recently been described as local forms. 

 Whether we are any the forwarder for such splitting-up 

 of species may be a question. 



We are indebted to Mr. W. H. Shrubsole for a copy of 

 an unpublished article on the contrast between the protec- 

 tion accorded to useful birds in Hungary and Great 

 Britain. The Hungarian Government employs the services 

 of an ornithological expert, and from the results thereby 

 attained has been enabled to draw up a series of enact- 

 ments which appear admirably adapted for the protection 

 of all species beneficial to the agriculturist. Hea\'}' fines 

 are enacted on the conviction of offenders against these 

 Acts, while rewards are offered to the writers of the best 

 essays on bird-protection. Other paragraphs in the Acts 

 prohibit the possession or transport of scheduled birds or 

 their nests and eggs. On the other hand, the British Acts 

 for the protection of wild birds are, in the author's opinion, 

 altogether inadequate. Attention is also directed to the 

 use in Italy of huge nets — some half a mile in length and 

 of great height — for the capture of swallows and other 

 migrattMA' birds. 



Ix the issue of Nature of October 6 last (vol. Ixxxiv., 

 p. 428) a letter was published from Prof. T. D. A. 

 Cockerell containing some interesting information concern- 

 ing the fur trade. Prof. Cockerell gave extracts from a 

 detailed synonymy contained in the retail catalogue of an 

 important American firm dealing in furs, which showed 

 how far the furs bought from shops may be identified 

 from the names under which they are sold. A letter to 

 the Morning Post of Januarv" 12, from Mr. E. M. Kirwan, 

 raises the same point, and offers a warning to the public 

 in the form of a list showing the proper names of the 

 various furs and the permissible descriptions sanctioned bv 

 the Fur and Skin Section of the London Chamber of 

 Commerce and the London Drapers' Chamber of Trade. 

 Mr. Kirwan 's list is as follows: — 



Name of Fur. Permissible Description. 



American sable Canadian sable c«- real sable. 



Fitch dyed Sable fitch. 



Goats dyed Bear goat. 



Hare dyed Sable hare or fox hare. 



Kids Caracul kids. 



Marmot dyed Sable marmot, mink marmot, 



or skunk marmot. 



Mink dyed Sable mink. 



Musquash dyed Mink musquash or sable 



musquash. 



Musquash pulled and dyed Seal musquash. 



Nutria pulled and dyed ... Seal nutria. 



Nutria pulled, natural Beaver nutria or otter nutria. 



0|>ossum sheared and dyed Beaver opossum. 



Otter pulled and dyed Seal otter. 



Rabbit dyed Sable coney. 



Rabbit sheared and dyed ... Seal coney or musquash 



coney. 



Rab'oit, w^hite Mock ermine. 



Rabbit, white, dyed Chinchilla coney. 



Wallaby sheared and dyed Skunk wallaby. 



White hare Imitation fox <h- mock fox. 



White hairs inserted in 



foxes and sables Pointed. 



