Sept., 1904.' 



KNOWLEDGE & SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



223 



a python devours one of its own kind, \vc have an undoubted 

 case of cannilvilisni ; but it is highly improbable th.it acts of 

 this description ever take i>lace in a state of nature. 



» * * 



Black Leopards. 



Many people persist in believing that the black leopard is a 

 distinct species. .\n addition.al piece of evidence that this is 

 not the case is alTorded by a correspondent of the huluiii I'iclil 

 newspaper, who writes that in the Bhanio district of Upper 

 Burma he reiently found a pair of leopard-cubs, one of which 

 was black and the other of the ordinary spotted type. The 

 tendency to blackness, or melanism, it may be noted, is most 

 marked in hot. moist climates, like that of the district in 

 question. 



« * * 



The World's Consumption of Ivory. 



Our contemporary tlie /••,>if^ist lor M.iy List contained .1 

 verj' interesting article on the supply of ivory from the Congo 

 Free St.ate, and of the world's annual consumption of tills 

 commodity. .As regards the latter item, it .ippears that the 

 total reaches the enormous figure, on an average, of 647,000 

 kilos., of which India and China take 144,000 kilos., the rest 

 going to European markets. As regards the price of ivory, it 

 may be mentioned that .average tusks fetch froui 24 to 25 

 francs per kilo., white the round and full tusks of from 6 to .S 

 centimetres in diameter realize as much .is 30 francs per kilo. 

 On the other hand, the price of inferior descriptions is only 

 from 13 to 15 francs per kilo. A kilo, we may add. is equal to 

 2'204 lbs., that is to say practically ai lbs. 

 » * * 



The Classification of Reptiles. 



The relationships of the diiferent orders of living and extinct 

 reptiles and the best mode of illustrating these in systematic 

 classification are discussed by Mr. G. A. lioulenger, of the 

 British (.\atural History) Mu.seuin, in the August issue of 

 the Zoological Society's !''>-iici\-iliiii;s, at the end of a paper 

 on the skeleton of a curious little reptih; from the New 

 Red Sandstone of Elgin. It has of late years become 

 more and more evident that the remarkable e.\tinct anonio- 

 donts of the equivalent of the New Red Sandstone in .Africa 

 and el.sewhere differ very widely from all other reptiles, and 

 approach inammals, of which they were undoubtedly the 

 ancestors. For the first time this has been fully and definitely 

 recognized in classification by Mr. Boulenger, who now divides 

 reptiles into two brigades, the one including the anomodonts 

 and their immediate relatives, and the other all the rest. The 

 former brigade is termed Keptilia Theromora (= Thero- 

 raorpha),or .Mammal-like Reptiles, and the latter (from which 

 birds took their origin) Reptilia Herpetomorpha, or Reptile- 

 like Reptiles. In view of the fact that the latter combination 

 is nothing less than tautology, the substitution of Reptilia 

 Ornithomorpha (Bird-like Reptiles) maybe suggested; and 

 the two brigades would then be respectively known as the 

 Theromorpha and the Ornithomorpha. There can be no doubt 

 that Mr. Boulenger's classification is much superior to the 

 one recently proposed by Professor H. F. Osborn, of New 

 Haven, CS..\. 



» » * 



Corrigendum. 



In the article on the Later History of the Horse in our 

 August issue cuts 2 and 3 are unfortunately transposed. 



CORRESPONDENCE. 



Sa.lmon irv Fresh Water. 



Dr. Thom.\s B. Tucki;v writes: — That salmon never feed in 

 fresh water I cannot credit, notwithstanding all the evidence 

 adduced to the contrary. That no food has ever been found 

 in the stomach of a salmon caught in fresh water I can well 

 believe. I have the evidence of a man who fished the Black- 

 water in the South of Ireland ever since he could fish. This 

 man died only a couple of years ago. He was a grown man 

 before I was born, and I am a grandfather. This old man 

 told me only the ye.ar before he died that he had never found 



.anything in a salmon's stomach. Nay, he told me of a salmon 

 which he once gatTed, supposing it to h.ive been a fish which 

 li.id broken away from some angler .and which had been 

 caught by the attached piece of line in a snag. To his astonish- 

 ment, he found that the fish was stone-blind, and h.id only 

 rudimentary eyes; it was, however, pluni]), and had all the 

 appearance of a newly-run fisli. But I have instituli^d 

 iiupiiries among the fishermen who take salmon in nets at 

 the mouth of Fowey Harbour, and also .unoiig those who 

 catch them in the tidal part of that river, ,ind thev have 

 assured my informer that, though in the habit of repeatedly 

 cleaning salmon after their capture, tliey h,i\c never found 

 any food in such salmon. Now, it is quite incredilile lh.it 

 salmon never feed either in the se.i or during their sojourn in 

 rivers, ;ind it is much more probable that the s.ime causes 

 operate on the salmon in both their salt and fresh water habi- 

 tats. We know how greedily they rise ;it the .artificial lly, an 

 object, to be sure, like notliing on e.irth or in the water, but 

 still the salmon must liken this bait to some natural object, 

 or they would not be .so fre<|uently caught by means 

 of it. A salmon's sole idea of a salmon fiy must be that 

 it is something eatable, otherwise it would not open its 

 mouth to get caught by the hook. But whatever objection 

 may be brought forward about the artifici.d fly, wli.it cm one 

 s,iy .about the worm, the minnow, , and the shrimp '.' The worm 

 the salmon h.is often seen floating by; the minnow .and the 

 slirinip swimming about in dozens, is it to be sujiposed that 

 the fish will only take one or the other of the latter when they 

 have a piece of gut attached to them. Such reasoning is truly 

 a rciluctio ml ahsurtliiiii .' I dares.ay th.it salmon find it hard to 

 support themselves in rivers, but Mr. .Mlalo, in his " Natural 

 History of the British Islands," states that " Salmon-roe is a 

 deadly and illegal bait for the fish themselves." Salmon-roe 

 is, I know, a deadly bait for trout. I liavc not heard of its 

 being used for salmon, but I am sure, if we are to judge by 

 the rest of his work, that he knows what he is writing about. 



The true solution of the matter, I think, will be found, 

 when we know e.\ac(ly what the salmon's usual food is. I 

 should guess that in the sea it consists of jellyfish or some such 

 soft gelatinous food, that its digestion is very raiiid, and the 

 undigested residue \ery trifiing; and that in rivers the ova of 

 fish may make one of its principal meals. I have .also thought 

 that the iridescent colours of the artificial fly may, to the 

 salmon, similafe the appearance of jellyfish, some of which 

 when floating in the water display all manner of delicate and 

 beautiful colours. This, of course, is mere conjecture, but I 

 cannot fancy that a salmon swallows ,i mixture of gold twist 

 and jay feathers for the fiin of the thing, any more than I can 

 believe the old fox-hunter when he assertid that Reynard 

 liked being hunted. 



REVIEWS OF BOOKS. 



We have received from Messrs. Newton and Co., of Meet 

 Street, their new X-Ray catalogue, which includes informa- 

 tion of a comprehensive kind regarding the " .Apps-Newton " 

 induction coils, the mercury breaks of improved iiatterns, and 

 other apparatus for both experiment.il and pr.ictical work. 

 Messrs. Newton announce the install.ition on their premises 

 of an extremely useful switchboard equipment, by means 

 of which customers can make themselves familiar with its 

 use, and with the proper manipulation of their instruments. 



The Ndiilidnif'loii Imlilutc and 'J'cchnical Optics. — In connec- 

 tion with the extremely useful classes in Technical Optics 

 which have been developed at the Northampton Institute by 

 Dr. Mullinciix Walmsley, and which have received the warm 

 support of the optical trade, a scholarslii]i has been instituted 

 by .'VIessrs. Aitchison, tobe called the " .'\itchison .Scholarship," 

 which will defray the cost of the course of instruction of the 

 student who wins it in the Institute's IXiy Coursesof Technical 

 Optics for two years, and will leave him a small bal.ince in 

 addition. The full cour.se, as at present contempl.ited, extends 

 over two years, and consists of lectures, laboratory work, 

 drawing office work, tutorial classes, and workshop practice. 

 Partial courses, extending over three years, have been arr.inged 

 for those already engaged in some optical trail(>, and the 

 scheme must command the warmest supiiort of all interested 

 in British Technical and Optical industries. 



