324 



NATURE 



[August 2', 1900 



formed by the ethmoid and surrounding structures, as is well 

 displayed in the text-figures, which resemble puzzles of an un- 

 usually complex type. Very unexpected is the discovery that 

 the structure of the ethmoid divides the more typical Ungulates 

 into two groups, one represented by the Ruminants and the 

 other by the Suina and the Perissodactyla. As this grouping so 

 completely traverses the classification indicated by other parts of 

 the organisation, it may be that the feature in question is purely 

 adaptive. In the general structure of the ethmoid the elephant 

 resembles more typical Ungulates. The second of the above- 

 mentioned memoirs is a continuation of Dr. B. Haller's study 

 of the Vertebrate brain ; the present section dealing with the 

 Pond-Tortoise {Einys orbicularis). At the conclusion of his 

 paper the author refers to the structural resemblances between 

 the reptilian brain on the one hand and that of Monotremes 

 and Marsupials on the other. He is led to conclude that 

 a commissure connecting the hemispheres of the brain was de- 

 veloped in an extinct forerunner of the reptiles, which formed 

 the ancestral type of both the Sauropsida and the Mammalia. 



Twenty years ago the late Dr. Dobson described a new 

 species of Australian bat, remarkable for its white head and lower 

 surface of the body, under the name oi Megaderma gigas. From 

 that time to this the species has been known solely by the 

 type specimen — -a male. In No. 7, vol. iii. of the Records of 

 the Australian Museum, Mr. E. R Waite describes a second 

 example, this time a female, obtained in West Australia. To 

 the same journal Mr. Waite likewise contributes a paper on 

 additions to the fish-fauna of Lord Howe Island, in the course 

 of which he describes four new species, one of them being 

 assigned to a new genus. Several of them belong to the coral- 

 eating Chsetodonts. The author draws attention to the circum- 

 stance that since the transparent larval form to which the name 

 Leptocephalus was assigned in 1763 is now ascertained to be the 

 young of the Conger-eel, the generic title Conger has to 

 give place to Leptocephalus. As this latter name is now no 

 longer available for other similar larvae of which the adults are 

 unknown, he adopts for them the name Atopoichthys," lately 

 proposed by Carman. 



The July number of the Biologische Centralblatt contains an 

 interesting note by Dr. R. Stolzle on the position taken by 

 K. E. von Baer with regard to the origin of the human race. 

 Reference is made to von Baer's opposition to the doctrine of 

 descent from lower animals (i) in pre-Darwinian times; (2) 

 after the appearance of " The Origin of Species" ; and (3) after 

 the publication of " The Descent of Man." 



Captain R. H. Elliott, who has been for some time con- 

 ducting researches into the nature and action of snake venom 

 in India, arrives at the following conclusions in the British 

 Medical J0U1 nal : — (i) The snakemen of South India are cer- 

 tainly ignorant of any method of producing in themselves a 

 highly-developed condition of : immunity. (2) Some few of 

 them appear to practise the swallowing of venom, or the in- 

 unction of venom into their limbs, but.it is doubtful if they do 

 so with any well-defined object. It is possible that they thus 

 obtain some degree of immunisation, (3) They confine them- 

 selves almost exclusively to the cobra, and escape harm by their 

 intimate knowledge of the methods of handling this snake. 



A COPY of the second edition of a catalogue of the fossils in 

 the students' stratigraphical series of the Woodwardian Museum, 

 Cambridge, by Mr. H, Woods, has been received. 



The plants collected on the Antillean cruise of the yacht 

 Utowana, in Bermuda, Porto Rico, the Caymans, Cozumel, 

 Yucatan, and the Alacran shoals, between December 1898 and 

 March 1899, are described, under trhe title Plantae Utowanae, 

 by Dr. Charles Frederick Millspaugh, in vol. ii. No. i of the 

 botanical series of the Field Columbian Museum. 

 NO. 1605, VOL. 62] 



Prof. W. H. Corfield's two Harveian lectures on disease 

 and defective house sanitation have been translated into 

 Hungarian by Dr. Frank, oT Budapest, for the Royal Society of 

 Public Health of Hungary. Dr. Frank remarks in the preface 

 that the lectures " merit the attention of Hungarian readers 

 because they explain the views of a prominent English hygienist, 

 and also because the sanitary arrangements of dwellings in 

 Hungary are much more unsatisfactory than those in England." 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include a White-fronted Capuchin {Cebus hypoleucus) 

 from Central America, presented by Mr, W, H. Laws ; a Two- 

 spotted Paradoxure {Naudinia binotata) from West Africa, 

 presented by Mr. Robert H. Gush ; a Levaillant's Amazon 

 {Chrysoiis levaillanti) from Mexico, four Lorikeets {Tricho- 

 glossus rubritorques) from North-west Australia, six Roofed 

 Terrapins (Aac-^K^a tectum) from British India, two Alligator 

 Terrapins {Chelydra serpentina), an American Box Tortoise 

 {Cistudo Carolina), 3l ScMl^iMitd Terrapin (Clemmys insculpta) 



from North America, deposited ; two Buntings {Emberiza 



stilphurata) from Japan, purchased ; an Altai Deer (Cervus 

 eustephanus), three Crested Pigeons {Ocyphaps lophotes), a 

 Spotted Pigeon (Columba maculosa), four Vinaceous Turtle 

 Doves (Turtur vinaceus), bred in the Gardens. 



OUR AS TRONOMJCA L COL UMN. 

 Comet Borrelly Brooks, 1900 b. — Several telegrams re- 

 ceived from the Centralstelle at Kiel announce the appearance 

 of a new comet in the constellation Aries. The following 

 are the positions given : — 



1900 R. A. Decl. Observer, 



h. m. s. 

 July 23d. I2h. 50-om. ... 2 43 33 ... + ii° 51' ...Borrelly. 

 (Marseilles Mean Time) 



July 23d. i3-ooh. ... 2 43 40 ...-+-12° 30' ... Brooks. 

 (Geneva Mean Time) 



July 24d. I2h. S7Tm. ... 2 44 26 ...-f 14° 32' 42"... Kobold. 

 (Strassburg Mean Time) 



A later circular from Kiel furnishes an ephemeris for further 

 observations of the comet, prepared by Heir J. Moller from 

 measures of' July 24, 25 and 26. 



Elements. 

 T = 1900 Aug. 3, 298. Berlin Mean Time. 



Catalogue of Double Stars. — T\ie. first volume (1900) of 

 the Publications of the Yerkes Observatory of the University of 

 Chicago has recently been distributed ; it contains a list of 1290 

 double stars, discovered from 1871-1899 by Prof S. W. Burn- 

 ham, now on the staff of the Yerkes Observatory. The majority 

 of the measures have hitherto only been published in sections, 

 comprising portions of nineteen different catalogues, and the 

 work of bringing so large a mass of material together was com- 

 menced during the author's connection with the Lick Observatory 

 (1888-1892). While working with the large instrument there, 

 many of the more difficult pairs were re-measured, and their 

 positions carefully re-determined by comparison with the newer 

 star catalogues of the Astronomischen Gesellschaft, Cordoba, &c., 

 instead of those of Lalande and Argelander. As, however, in 

 the present work no attempt has been made to supersede other 

 star catalogues with respect to the absolute positions, it has not 



