April, 1904.] 



KNOWLEDGE .^v SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



71 



Arv English Spiral-Sawed Shark. 



For many vears certain remarkable bodies, somewhat resem- 

 blins a large watch-sprinj; armed on the convex side with teeth, 

 have been known from the Carboniferous and Permian rocks ol 

 various countries ; the most nearly complete coming from 

 Russia. There has, however, been much uncertainty as to 

 their true nature. At first they were supposed to be the fin- 

 spines of fishes ; but the aforesaid Russian specimens clearly 

 showed that they belong to the front of the jaws of sharks, and 

 that they are true teeth, which are mounted upon their sup- 

 porting base in such a manner as to form a spiral. Hence the 

 name of spiral-sawed sharks for the group to wliich they per- 

 tained. Hitherto this group has been known only from North 

 America, .Australia, Japan, and Russia; the type genus being 

 Edesttis. Recently, however, Mr. E.T. Newton, in the Qiuirhi-ly 

 Journal of the Gcohi^ical Society, has described part of the 

 " saw " of one of these remarkable sharks from a marine band 

 in the Coal Measures of Nettlebank, North Staffordshire. 

 giving the name of Edcstus triscrraliis to the species it 

 represents. 



The Medusa of Lake Tanganyika. 



The discovery of the Freshwater Nfedusa, Limiioclida Tan- 

 giinyiku, in Lake Victoria, which was announced to the Zoo- 

 logical Society of London at their meeting in December last 

 by Professor Rav Lankester, is an event of some scientific 

 importance, as this remarkable form had been previously be- 

 lieved to be entirely restricted to Lake Tanganyika, and to be 

 one of the most significant pieces of evidence in favour of Mr. 

 Moore's theory of Lake Tanganyika having been formerly 

 connected with the ocean. When Professor Lankester 

 exhibited his specimens he was not quite certain that they 

 had been obtained in Lake Victoria, but we believe that 

 further information recently received leaves absolutely no 

 doubt on this point, the specimens having been tak(Mi in Kavi- 

 rondo Bay by Mr. Hoble\-. Moreover, confirmation on this 

 subject has been furnished by a French Naturalist, M. Ch. 

 Gravier who obtained nine examples of this Medusa in the 

 Bay" of Kavirondo on the i6th of September last year, as has 

 been announced by M. Perrier to the French Academy of 

 Sciences. ^L Perrier agrees with Professor Lankester in con- 

 sidering the Medusa from Lake Victoria to lie identical with 

 that of Lake Tanganyika, and of this we believe there is no 

 doubt. 



Some people have thought that this remarkable discovery is 

 rather a serious blow to the theory of the " halolimnic" nature 

 of Lake Tanganyika, but Mr. Moore does not seem to be at all 

 disconcerted by it. In a letter to Nature (of February i8th) he 

 maintains that so far from this fresh piece of knowledge 

 "being in any way antagonistic to the view in question," the 

 existence of the Medusa in other Lakes is "exactly what one 

 would anticipate, supposing the halolimnic theory to be 

 correct." Mr. Moore thinks that it may be explained in 

 two ways. It is quite possible, he believes, that the Medusa 

 may be a recent importation into Lake Victoria from Lake 

 Tanganyika, caused by the opening of new trade-routes 

 between the Lakes, and the carriage of water in gourds and 

 other vessels from one lake to another. If this shall be found 

 not to have been the case, then future researches will probably 

 result in the discovery of the rest of the " halolinmic fauna," 

 or part of it, in Lake Victoria. This, it is maintained by Mr. 

 Moore, would confirm the view that he has already put for- 

 ward, " that the ancient sea from which the halolinmic relics 

 sprang spread nmch further towards the east than was at first 

 supposed." 



To settle this and many other interesting problems it is 

 certainly advisable that a much more accurate investigation of 

 the Fauna and Flora of Lake Victoria should be made than 

 has yet taken place. Lake Tanganyika seems to have more 

 attention paid to it as yet than Lake Victoria. 



The Palolo Worm. 



In a recent issue of our contemporary, the A meruan 

 Naturalist, Mr. W. McM. Woodworth gives an interesting 

 account of the palolo worm of Samoa and Fiji. For more 

 than half a century the appearance of swarms of these worms, 

 apparently always just before the full moon, in October and 

 November, has been familiar, and it has also been known that 



the worms forming those swarms are always imperfect. It is 

 now ascertained tliat these palolo arc the slender posterior 

 generative portion of the annelid known as liiiiiiic viriilis, 

 which at the swarming season becomes detached and free- 

 swiunning. This portion is very much longer tlian the proper 

 body of the creature, which is, however, much stouter. The 

 complete worm dwells in coral-reefs, into which it burrows ; 

 and, curiously enough, its existence there was quite unknown 

 to the Samoans, to whom the demonstration of its presence by 

 Mr. Woodworth came as a revelation. The worm only attains 

 its full dimensions shortly before the swarmint^ season. 



A Precious Product. 



According to a writer in the February number of tlie 

 /Zoologist, a lump of ambergris, weighing about 4! lbs., w.is 

 taken from tlu' intestines of a male sperm-whale killed last 

 June between Iceland and Norway, in about tlie latitude of 

 Trondhjem ; a very unusual resort, by the way, for cetaceans 

 of this species. Ambergris, which is very largely used in pcr- 

 fumerv, is solelv a product ofthe sperm-whale, and appears to 

 be a kind of biliary calculus. It generally contains a number 

 of the hornv beaks of the cuttlefishes and squids, upon which 

 these whales chiefly feed. Its market price is subject to con- 

 siderable variation^ but from £3 to £4 per ounce is tlie usual 

 average for samples of good quality. Mr. T. Southwell, the 

 writer referred to, states, on the authority of a correspondent 

 in the sperm-oil trade, that in 1898 a merchant in Mincing 

 Lane was the fortunate owner of a lump of ambergris weighing 

 270 lbs., which was sold in Paris for about 85s. per ounce, or 



£i^'i^''- ... ,, . 



African Insects. 



Descriptions and illustrations of the entomological f.iuna of 

 Tropical -Africa are in course of publication in the Annaks of 

 the Congo Museum, issued at Brussels. In one of the two 

 latest parts, Mr. K. Lameere describes the longicorn beetles of 

 the sub-family Prionina:, while in the other Mr. H. Schouteden 

 writes on certain groups of flower-bugs. Both meiiioirs are 

 illustrated by coloured plates remarkable for their beauty of 

 execution. 



Papers Read. 



At a recent meeting of the Royal Society a communication 

 was read on the pharmacology of Indian cobra-venom, based 

 on experiments made by Captain R. H. Elliot, of the Indian 

 Medical Service. On the 3rd of March, at the Linnean Society, 

 Dr. J. G. de Man described certain species of the crustacean 

 genus Piild:inoii from Tahiti, Shanghai, New Guinea, and West 

 .Africa. The papers read at the meeting of the Zoological 

 Society, held on March ist, included one by Mr. K. T. Leiper 

 on A vagina incola, a new genus and species of the Proporiiia-, 

 with a note on the classification of the group ; and a .second, 

 by Dr. Einar Lijunberg, of Stockholm, on two specimens of 

 hybrid grouse of which the exact parentage is known. The 

 papers read at the meeting of the same Society on March 15 

 comprised one by Mr. F. E. Beddard on the anatomy of li/ards, 

 one by Mr. Lydekker on certain points in connection with the 

 skull and colouring of the extinct quagga ; a second by the 

 same author on the distinctive features of the Asiatic wild asses, 

 respectively known as the Chigetai and the Kiang ; one by 

 Mr. R. J. Pocock on a new African monkey, and one by Mr. 

 P. J. Lathy on additions to the list of Dominican buttertlies 

 {Rh op aloe era). 



Certain interesting specimens were exhibited at the Zoolo- 

 gical Society's meeting on March i. In the first place. Dr. 

 (ilinther directed attention to hybrids between Reeves's 

 pheasant and the silver pheasant. Next, Mr. Thomas exhi- 

 bited the skull of a large buffalo killed by Colonel Delnie- 

 Radcliffe in S.W. Uganda, which was believed to indicate a 

 distinct local race of Bos caffer. The same gentleman also 

 displayed a new species of fruit-bat from P'ernando Po, 

 remarkable for its small bodily size. Thirdly, Mr. J. G. 

 Millard exhibited a collection of skins in illustration of the 

 life-history of the grey seal, whose geographical distrilnition 

 was discussed. A few other minor exhibits were likewise 

 made. 



