August, 1904 



KNOWLEDGE & SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



i8g 



special attention to a number of porcupine quills found buried 

 in the fore-paws of one of these animals. Mr. F. E. Beddard 

 read papers on certain features in the anatomy of three groups 

 of reptiles, namely skinks, sea-snakes, and the Australian 

 skinks of the genus '/"i/ii/Hii. Next came the communication 

 by Ur, Goeldi on the South .\mcrican rodent Diiioiiiys hianicl-i 

 to which special reference is made in an earlier paragraph of 

 these " Notes.'" Dr. C. Satunin described the black wild cat 

 of Transcaucasia as a distinct species ; while Mr. Lydekker 

 contributed notes on a new race of buffalo from Hast Central 

 Africa, and on a new species of tufted deer (Elaplivdus ichaui^- 

 tnsis) from Ichang, Central China. Finally, Dr. A. S. Wood- 

 ward read a paper on two skulls of primeval salamanders, or 

 lab)-rinthodonts, from strata of Triassic age, the one from 

 Staffordshire and the other from Spitsbergen. At the last 

 meeting for the session of the Geological Society of London, 

 Mr. \V. F. Gwinnell described the vertebral column of a small 

 plesiosaur from the Rhictic strata of W'estbury-on- Severn, 

 Shropshire. Hitherto the plesiosaurian vertebra; obtained 

 from this horizon have consisted only of isolated vertebr;c. 

 At the final meeting for the session of the Linnean Society 

 held on June 16, Dr. W. Kidd read a paper on variations in the 

 arrangement of the hair on the neck of the horse, in which it 

 was sought to test the validity of the theory that certain pecu- 

 liarities in hair — arrangement among them — are generally 

 due to mechanical causes. Mr. J. Cash contributed a paper 

 on British freshwater rhizopods. 



« * « 



The Poison of Vipers. 



For some time it has been known that the serum prepared 

 from cobra-poison and known as Calmette's antivenin is to 

 a great extent effectual against the results of the bite of the 

 snake itself. Experiments have recently been undertaken by 

 Dr. Rogers, of the Indian Medical Service, with a view of 

 ascertaining whether a similar serum has equally good effects 

 against the results of the venom of the Indian sea-snakes and 

 other members of the colubrine group whose bite is poisonous. 

 The results of these experiments have been published in a 

 recent issue of the " Philosophical Transactions," and serve to 

 show that the poison of all these snakes has the same effect, 

 namely, paralysis of the lungs. Accordingly, there is every 

 probability that such poisonings may be neutralised by a 

 serum Uke Calmette's antivenin, although this must be of 

 much greater strength in order to be effective. On the other 

 hand, it has been found by Dr. Rogers that the poison of 

 snakes of the viperine group, such as the true viper, pit-vipers, 

 and rattlesnakes, belongs to an altogether different category, 

 causing paralysis of the heart. To fight this effectually it 

 would seem necessary to prepare from vipers' venom a serum 

 analogous to Calmette's antivenin ; and until this be dis- 

 covered, only empirical methods of counteracting the effects 

 of the poison can be emploved. 



* ' * » 



The Supply of Ivory. 



During a recent visit to the London Docks, Her Majesty 

 the Queen was informed that the stock of ivory then shown 

 represented, on an average, the annual slaughter of some 

 20,000 .\frican elephants. This statement has been contra- 

 dicted in two letters in the daily papers. In one of these 

 Messrs. Hale, of 10, Fenchurch Avenue, state that at least 

 85 per cent, of the supply is " dead ivory, " mainly obtained 

 from hoarded stores of the African native chiefs, who are 

 shrewd enough to put their commodities on themarket only in 

 driblets. The most interesting part of the letter is, however, 

 the statement that the great bulk of this hoarded ivory is 

 obtained from " elephant cemeteries " — spots met with here and 

 there in the jungle where elephants have resorted for cen- 

 turies to die. Much of the ivory that comes to the market 

 may, therefore, according to this letter, be several hundred 

 years old. The marvel is why it is not devoured in the jungle 

 by porcupines, as certainly happens with tusks of the Indian 

 elephant which are left in the jungle. The letter adds that 

 very little ivory is now obtained by hunters. 



* * * 



Popular Economic Zoology. 



The following is culled froni the •' Woman's Column " in a 

 recent issue of a local paper : " There are two divisions of 

 pearls, the Oriental, by far the most valuable, and the baroque 



The latter are embedded in shells, and have to be cut out — a 

 process at once diflicnlt and delicate, needing to be performed 

 hy very practised workers. The Oiienlal, of course, are 

 found in fish. The pearl, although one of the most beautiful 

 of jewels, and a particularly dainty gem, has a curious origin. 

 It is formed by the saliva of fish, and it is supposed lliat a 

 grain of sand, perhaps, or some otlier ctjually initating foreign 

 matter, has caused the fish discomfort, and it has covered the 

 sore with saliva, pursuing the process continually until a 

 pearl of considerable size becomes formed. This is proved 

 by the fact that when a pearl is cut in half .always a small 

 speck is found in the centre." .\nd this in an age when we 

 have technical education and science lectures all over the 

 country, to say nothing of special memoirs on the origin of 

 pearls in various scientific journals ! 

 * ♦ » 



Striped Hawkmoth in En{?land. 



In his '■ British Moths," published in ift;.), the late ICdw.ird 

 Newman, in describing the species known as the striped 

 hawkmoth (DiU-philci livuniica), stated that most of Ihe speci- 

 mens alleged to be British were really of Continental origin, 

 but that there were a few undoubted British examples of this 

 beautiful moth. According to the Entom(ilot;i\t for June, the 

 present year will be notable for the number of specimens of 

 this species taken in this country, no less than eiglit being 

 recorded in that issue. The localities where these captures 

 were made are Carlisle, Yelverton (near Plymouth), Worm- 

 well (near Dorchester), Marsemoor (near Gloucester), Bourne- 

 mouth (where another specimen had been taken earlier in the 

 year), Brockenhnrst, and the Isle of Wight (2). 

 » » » 



A Link between Birds aLnd Reptiles. 



It is a well known fact that in certain groups of birds — 

 notably the petrels and albatrosses — the horny sheath of both 

 the upper and lower half of the beak is composed of several 

 distinct pieces. In a communication to a Swedish Zoological 

 journal (Arkiv fur Zoologi, vol. i., p. 479), Dr. E. Lonnberg 

 identifies these elements with certain scales to be found on 

 the head and lower jaw of lizards and other reptiles. If these 

 conclusions be well founded, we have another link in the 

 chain connecting birds with reptiles. 



BotaLrvicQLl Notes. 



By S. A. SK.A.N. 



The genus Begonia, in some of its numerous repre- 

 sentatives, is met with nearly everywhere where plants 

 are cultivated, and though differing very markedly in 

 their vegetative characters, all its species are generally 

 easily recognised by their flowers. When the order 

 Begoniacea; was elaborated for Bentliam and Hooker's 

 Genera Tlantarum, the number of species of Begonia 

 known was about three himdred and thirty, natives of 

 the warmer parts of Asia, Africa, and America. One 

 of the most recent additions to the genus is dealt with 

 by Dr. Trelease in the Fifkeiilh Annual Report of the 

 Missouri Botanical Garden. The new species, appro- 

 priately named by Dr. Rose Begonia unifolia, is re- 

 markable in possessing only one leaf. It belongs to 

 the tuberous-rooted group, and its scape, bearing a 

 few, rather small, nearly white flowers, arises from the 

 sintis of the single rounded leaf. The plant is peculiar 

 in its habitat, for it was found growing on rocks, with 

 its roots penetrating into crevices ; and the large leaf 

 is closely adpressed to the surface of the rock, serving 

 an important function in protecting the lower portions 

 (jf the plant. It is a very distinct species, having only 

 one close ally, B. monopliylla, a little known plant from 

 New Spain. 



