April 21, 19 10] 



NATURE 



229 



to an account by Dr. Anton Fritsch of the discovery in 

 the granitic area of Skuc of a superjacent deposit of 

 ahcred sandstone containing Rudistae and a number of 

 other Upper Cretaceous molluscs. Another remarkable 

 geological discovery recorded, by Mr. A. Hofmann, in 

 the same volume relates to the occurrence of rounded 

 pebbles of quartzite and other rocks in the brown coal 

 formation. The author figures specimens of these pebbles 

 iM situ, but reserves an explanation of their mode of 

 occurrence. 



Zoological serials, both English and American, are 

 flooded with descriptions of new forms of mammals from 

 British East Africa, the .'Vmerican descriptions being based 

 on specimens obtained during the Roosevelt expedition, 

 which appears to have induced English naturalists to over- 

 haul the collections in this country. The chief American 

 contributors are Messrs. Heller, Miller, and Osgood ; and 

 among a batch of papers recently received we may refer to 

 one by Mr. Heller on a sable antelope from the Shimba 

 Hills, which is described as a new species, although, as 

 it differs from the typical Hippotragus niger mainly by 

 the non-assumption of the full sable livery, it is better 

 regarded as a race of that species. A similar remark is 

 applicable in the case of several of the other new forms, 

 which are mostly rodents, and to the Angolan hippo- 

 potamus described by Mr. Miller as Hippopotamus 

 constrictus. 



Is the Zoologischer Anzeiger of March i (vol. xxxv., 

 pp. 500-8) Dr. Max Schlosser announces the discover}' in 

 the Fayum Oligocene of remains of Primates which are 

 referred to three new genera, viz. Mceripithecus, Para- 

 pithecus, and Propliopithecus. The last, as represented by 

 P. haeckeli, is a small ape intermediate in size between 

 Chrysothrix and Cebus, with the normal simian lower 

 dental formula, the canine and premolars being vertical, 

 and the two branches of the lower jaw running nearly 

 parallel and forming a firm symphysis. Phylogenetically, 

 this genus is regarded b)' its describer as of high import- 

 ance, since, in his opinion, it is the ancestor, not only 

 of the Simiidae, but also of the Hominidae. Parapithecus 

 fraasi is a small species of the size of a squirrel-monkey, 

 with the lower dental formula i.i, c.i, p.3, tii.3. It 

 is regarded as connecting the Eocene Anaptomorphidae with 

 the Simiidae, and perhaps also with the Cercopithecidae. 

 Mceripithecus markgrafi is too imperfectly known to 

 admit of its systematic position being determined ; it was 

 about the size of a spider-monkey. Dr. Schlosser also 

 describes a number of new types of hyracoids from the 

 Fayum, among which Bunohyrax is based on some of the 

 species included by Dr. Andrews in Geniohyus, both 

 genera being regarded as bunodont hyracoids. In this con- 

 nection it may be mentioned that Dr. Marcellin Boule 

 (Comptes rendus, vol. cl., p. 812) has just described 

 remains of a species of the Siwalik genus Merycopotamus 

 from Upper Tertian.' strata in southern Tunisia. This 

 M. africanus, as it is named, affords further evidence in 

 favour of Dr. Arldt's theory as to the migration of the 

 Siwalik fauna through a forest-tract to Africa. 



The association of particular species of insects with 

 particular flowers has always been a matter of interest to 

 those who concern themselves with the question of the 

 natural means of cross-fertilisation by insect agency. With 

 respect to our native orchid, O. maculata, previous 

 records have generally credited insects other than Lepido- 

 ptera as being the fertilising agents. In the Entomologist 

 for November, 1909 (vol. xlii., p. 281), Prof. Meldola re- 

 corded the capture in .August at Onich, Inverness-shire, 

 NO. 21 12, VOL, 83] 



of a specimen of the common " shark," Cucullia 

 umbratica, with one of the • pollinia of O. maculata 

 attached to its head, thus proving that this moth visits 

 the flower in question. Prof. Meldola's observation has 

 been followed up by Mr. A. M. Stewart, of Paisley, who 

 in the current number of the Entomologist (April, vol. 

 .xliii., p. 106) records Plusia festucae as a fertiliser of the 

 same orchid. In view of the large numbers of moth 

 collectors now at work in this countrj*, it is remarkable 

 that such few observations of this kind have been placed 

 upon record. Photographic reproductions of the heads of 

 both species showing the poUinium in situ are given in 

 the Entomologist for this month. 



We have received the Year-book for 1909 of the Dairy 

 Students' Union, a body founded four years ago to assist 

 its members with advice on various difficulties that arise 

 and information of vacancies occurring in different branches 

 of dairying, and " to create and stimulate interest in scien- 

 tific research and new inventions in the dair^' world." The 

 book contains several short articles by Messrs. Blackshaw, 

 D. A. Gilchrist, T. R. Robinson, C. W. Walker-Tisdale, 

 and other dairy writers, and there is an interesting set of 

 replies to queries that have been sent in by members during 

 the year and dealt with by the' advisory board. 



The direct determination of the total solids in milk pre- 

 sents certain practical difficulties which would be of serious 

 disadvantage to the ordinan,' analyst who has to make a 

 large number of determinations. It is found, however, that 

 a simple formula expresses with sufficient accuracy the 

 relation between the total solids, the fat (as determined by 

 Gerber's or similar methods), and the specific gravity deter- 

 mined by the lactometer. Mr. Collins has recently issued 

 an account of a slide rule that he has invented, and is now 

 on the market, by which the necessary calculation, in- 

 cluding the temperature correction, may be made at one 

 setting. Such a rule will be of great benefit to the busy 

 milk analyst, who has hitherto had to work out the calcu- 

 lation in the ordinary- way. The paper is published in the 

 University of Durham Philosophical Society's Proceedings. 



Prince Galitzix has recently published an interesting 

 study of the records of the great earthquake of January* 22 

 (Bull, de I'Acad. Imp. des Set. de St. Pitersbourg, 1910, 

 pp. 2 1 1-6). He estimates the distance of the epicentre 

 from Pulkowa at 2400 km., and its azimuth X.W. — 49-4''. 

 From these data he assigns the following position for the 

 epicentre, lat. 68° N., long. 17° W., that is, a little to the 

 north of Iceland. This agrees somewhat closely with the 

 position calculated by Dr. Tams from the epicentral dis- 

 tances from Jugenheim, Strassburg, Vienna, and Hamburg, 

 namely, lat. 7o-3°±i-° N., long. i4-3°±2-2° W. Accord- 

 ing to intelligence received from Iceland, a violent earth- 

 quake took place in the neighbourhood of that island about 

 the time mentioned. 



Through the courtesy of Dr. Reusch, director of the 

 Geological Survey of Norway, we have received an abstract 

 of the history and proceedings of the Norsk Geologisk 

 Forening, founded in 1905, and of its predecessor, the 

 Geologisk Klub of Christiania. This histon,* is reprinted 

 from the journal of the societi.-, the Norsk Geologisk 

 Tidsskrift (Bind i., 1909), and forms a complete record 

 of investigations and discussions since 1893. Like the old 

 Geological Club in London, the Norwegian club consisted 

 mainly of men engaged in active geological research, and 

 this character is maintained by its successor, the forty 

 members of which resemble an academy rather than a 

 general geological society. In the first volume of the 

 Tidsskrift some of the papers are in German, while ■ 



