4^ 



KNOWLEDGE & SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



[Mar., 1904. 



January ly. From Madagascar the speaker described a pelvis 

 and thigh-hone of an ostrich-lil<e bird closely allied to the ex- 

 tinct roc LJipyoniis) of that island, but regarded as generically 

 distinct, under the name of Mullcyoritis.. Much greater interest 

 attached to a fragment of another bird of the same group from 

 the Eocene strata of the Fayum district of Egypt, for which 

 the name F.nmuiiiis was suggested. Possibly the discovery of 

 this specimen might serve to demonstrate that all the ratitc 

 birds ha\e a common ancestry, and are not. as some suppose, 

 isol.ited members of a number of distinct groups which have 

 lost the power of flight independently of one another. 



A Sub Species of Gira.ffe. 



M the meeting of the abo\ e-named Society, on February 2, 

 the local sub-species of girafl'e formed the subject of a com- 

 numication by Mr. Lydekker. It was shown that, as in the 

 case of the boute-quagga, or BurchoU's ;;ebra, a number of 

 local forms readily distinguishable by their colour and mark- 

 ings, and (in the case of the giraffe) to some extent also by 

 difterences in the skull, are recognisable as we proceed from 

 north to south down the eastern side of the Continent. In 

 both instances it seems advisable to regard their local forms 

 as races, or sub-species, rather than species. The northern 

 tonus are characterised by the presence of a large frontal horn 

 and the white legs; but, as we proceed south, the median 

 horn gradually becomes reduced to a mere boss, while the 

 legs aci|nire spots right down to the hoofs. In the latter 

 respect giraffes show a modification, exactly the opposite of 

 that presented by the boute-quaggas, in which the legs lose 

 their stripes as we proceed south. Some of the East African 

 giraffes are very remarkable, developing, in certain instances, 

 rudimentary horns on the occiput, or o\er one eye, or dis- 

 playing a marked sexual difference in colour. A race from 

 the south of Lada was named in honour of Major Powell- 

 Cotton, the celebrated explorer, and a second, from the 

 Northern Tranb\aal, after Mr. Rowland Ward, of Piccadilly. 



Ca.chalot Whales. 



In the I'lilil of January j reference is made to the occurrence 

 ol (juite a number of sperm-whales, or cachalots, in the North 

 Sea and North Atlantic ; no less than se\en adult bulls lieing 

 definitely known to have been captured. As a rule, these 

 whales are confined to tropical and subtropical seas, only a 

 few old bulls occasionally straggling northwards. In the pre- 

 sent instance a whole herd must have thus wandered out of 

 the proper latitude. Recently Sir William Turner has re- 

 corded the capture of an old bull in the Shetlands in igoi, 

 also mentioning that a herd was seen off the Faroes in iSyy; 

 while in the Field of January jO Mr. T. Southwell refers to 

 accounts of herds of these whales straying northwards in 1723 

 and 1752-53. 



The Primeval Instincts. 



A discussion has been going on in the columns of the Field as 

 to the reason why horses when getting up from the recumbent 

 posture raise themsehes first on the fore-limbs while ruminants 

 do so on the hind-limbs. It appears that tapirs, apparently 

 rhinoceroses, and swine follow the horse-fashion ; an associa- 

 tion which demonstrates that the movement is not dependent 

 on the presence of a third trochanter on the fenmr of the 

 Perissodactyla (hor.ses, tapirs, and rhinoceroses). One writer 

 has suggested that the ruminants' mode of rising is for the pur- 

 pose of bringing the horns into action for defence as soon as 

 possible, but against this is the case of the rhinoceroses. 

 I'ossil;ly the raising of the hind-legs first may be connected 

 with the function of rumination and the complex form of 

 stomach correlated therewith. One correspondent stated, 

 however, that an ass rises like a ruminant, which, if true, upsets 

 all theories. 



New Ma.mmals. 



An instance of the pace .it which .Vmerican naturalists are 

 increasing zoological nomenclature is atlorded bv a paper by 

 Dr. 1). G. Elliot recently published by the Field Columbian 

 Museum of Chicago, in which no less than twenty-seven ap- 

 parently new forms of manunals arc described. Hitherto 

 there has been supposed to be only a single species of glutton, 

 ur wolverine, but tlie author describes the .\laskan represen- 



tative of that animal as new, under the name of i;ulo lutcus. 

 A new race of bighorn sheep {Ovis caiunlcnsis cremnobates) is 

 also recorded from the San Pedro Martir Mountains of Lower 

 California and Mexico. 



Bird Migration. 



Mr. W. Eagle Clarke, who is well known as an authority on 

 the subject of the migration of birds, made a month's stay last 

 autunm on the Kentish Knock Lightship, and the results of 

 his \aluable observations are detailed by him in the Ihit,. It 

 recpiired a good deal of courage to brave the hardships and 

 discomforts inseparable with life on a lightship 21 miles from 

 the nearest point of land, but Mr. Clarke was so engrossed 

 with watching the birds which passed the ship by day and 

 were lured to its light by night that he seems to have hardly 

 noticed the discomforts involved, .'\part from the valuable 

 details regarding the various species of birds migrating and 

 the directions in which they were travelling, as well as many 

 other points which we have not space here to discuss, Mr. 

 Clarke makes some remarks of high importance with regard 

 to some of the phenomena of general interest connected with 

 bird migration. As an explanation of how birds find their way 

 during migration it has been suggested that the great height 

 at which they fiy enables them to see enormous distances. 

 But Mr. Clarke, while not denying that birds sometimes do 

 migrate at great elevations, disposes of the theory that they 

 depend on this means for finding their way. During all the 

 time he was on the Kentish Knock Lightshii) the migrants of 

 every species flew close to the water. Vet whatever the 

 weather or state of the sea they kept a straight and apparently 

 unerring course for the coast 21 miles distant. Mr. Clarke 

 reaches the conclusion from this and other facts that liirds are 

 endowed with a sense of direction. Such a statement is, of 

 course, in no way an explanation of the mystery as to how 

 birds find their way, since we have no conception of the 

 nature or workings of such a "sense." But the evidence that 

 they do not find their way by sight is of the utmost import- 

 ance. Those interested in bird-migration should not fail to 

 read Mr. Clarke's latest and very valuable contribution to our 

 knowledge of the subject. 



Burrowing Fishes. 



In h'lihiiiitli MiiLiwnsis.a. publication devoted to the descrip- 

 tion of the results of a recent expedition to the Malay Penin- 

 sula, a writer records a remarkable habit on a part of one 

 species of the nuid-haunting fishes of the genus Pcriophthalmui. 

 These fishes make burrows in the nmd, and retain a pool 

 above the same, by preventing the water from flowing away 

 during low fide by means of a circular well built by them- 

 selves. 



One of the most remarkable paheontological discoveries is 

 recorded from North .America, where an Eocene lemur is 

 believed to be allied to the curious aye-aye iChii'omys) of 

 Madagascar. The extinct form is named Parihtiiroinys. 



Papers Rea.d. 



In addition to those already mentioned in special para- 

 graphs, reference may be made to the following zoological 

 papers read at various scientific societies. .At the Linntean 

 on December 17, Mr. H. J. Fleure discussed the origin and 

 evolution of the gastropod molluscs known as Ducogloisa, of 

 which the limpet is a famiUar example. At the same Society 

 on Jamiary 21, the Rev. T. R. R. Stebbing read a paper on 

 the Crustacea obtained during surface dredgitig from H.M.S. 

 lifsearcli, in the Bay of Biscay, during the sunnner of ii)00. 

 On January ly, before the Zoological Society, Mr. O. Thomas 

 described a new subspecies of the aoul(<;((;i7/((ii(i-»;H;t' /•/»!,';) from 

 North-East Africa. At the same time Mr. G. A. K. Marshall 

 presented a monograph of the beetles of the genus IlippurliiHUi. 

 Dr. W. Kidd called attention to the importance of the arrange- 

 ment of the hair and the distribution of hair whorls in the 

 classification of mammals. Dr. W. G. Kidewood described 

 the skull of the giraffe, as seen in vertical transverse sections ; 

 and Mr. F. E. Beddard read a note on the brain of two lemurs. 

 At the meeting of the same Society on February 2, in addition 

 to Mr. Lydekker's paper on girartes, a communication was 

 received from Mr. tX Thomas on a collection of mammals 

 from .Namaqualand, including a new species of strand-mole 



