j68 



KNOWLEDGE & SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



[Nov., 1904. 



Osprey in Surrey. 



During the middle of September oue of these magnificent 

 birds took up a temporary residence near the lake at Cran- 

 U'igh. and, as might have been expected, was shot almost 

 immediately — charged with depredations on rainbow trout 

 which have been introduced there. Since then another of 

 these birds has been seen, and an appeal has been made by 

 Mr. John Bickerdyke, in the columns of the FiilJ for ( )ctober i, 

 fur its protection. 



* * * 



Aquatic Warbler in Norfolk. 



The l-'iclii (October S) records the capture on September 15 

 at Cley, in Norfolk, of an a<iuatic warbler, Acroiiphuliis aquati- 

 nts. This is the seventh occurrence of this bird in Great 

 Britain. The sex of this last specimen is not stated. 



* * * 



White Waterhen. 



The Natural History Museum at South Kensington has just 

 received a very beautiful variation of the Common Waterhen. 

 The bird, which was killed at Stour, Dorset, on October 2, is 

 very nearly entirely white, the red colour of the frontal shield, 

 and the green colour of the legs, forming ;i very handsome 

 contrast with the snowy plumage. The red colour of the beak 

 and the " garter " round the leg, it is interesting to notice, 

 was very intense, but the green pigmentation of the legs and 

 toes was paler than normal; the claws, indeed, were nearly 

 white. 



ZOOLOGICAL. 



IJy K. LVUEKKKR. 



The Mammals of Central Asia. 



Ik connection with the article in our September number, 

 on the mammals of Tibet, considerable interest attaches to 

 Dr. W. Leche's account of the large m.immals collected by 

 Sven Hedin during his travels in Central Asia between i^Sgy 

 and 1902, published at Stockholm, in the sixth volume of tfie 

 " Scientific Results " of that adventurous journey. Perhaps 

 the most interesting conclusion is that the wild camels found 

 in large droves in the deserts of Central Asia are truly wild 

 .animals, and not, as has been generally supposed, the descend- 

 ants of individuals escaped from captivity. From the exist- 

 ence of intermediate forms, the author is led to confirm the 

 view of the present writer that the Tibetan argali is merely a 

 local race of the Siberian animal, and that if should conse- 

 ([uently be known as Ovh ammun hodf^soni. He also describes 

 a stag which appears to be in some respects intermediate 

 between the Yarkand (Ccrvus cauadensis) and the Lhasa stag 

 (C. alhirostiis) ; and arrives at the conclusion that the two 

 forms of bear mentioned in our article belong to a single 

 species (Ursm pnmwsus). 



* * * 



Armoured Cat-Fishes. 



.Vn important memoir, by Mr. C. T. Regan, of the British 

 Museum, on a peculiar group of South American freshwater 

 fishes, which may be popularly known as armoured cat- 

 fishes, has recently been published in the 'J'raiisiuiioHs of the 

 Zoological Society. For a long time these fishes were in- 

 cluded among the SHurida-, or true cat-fishes, as typified by 

 the wels (Si7»ri(s ,i,'/i(;i(.s) of the rivers of Continental Europe, 

 but are now regarded as forming ;i family (Lvrkariida:) by 

 themselves. The majority of the characters by which these 

 fishes can be distinguished from the Silundic are connected 

 with the skull and skeleton, but the more typical forms may 

 be easily recognised by the armour of overlapping bony plates 

 protecting the body, from which the type genus Loricaria takes 

 its name; the inferiorly-placed sucking mouth is also very 

 characteristic. There are, however, certain degenerate types, 

 such as .1 ixv.s, in which the armour has been completely 

 lost. Probably these fishes are derived from the Siluridic, 

 and their recognition of their right to rank as a family adds 

 one more peculiar type to the fauna of Central and 

 South .'\merica, which their ancestors m;iy have reached by 

 means of a former land-coimeetion with Africa, and where 

 they range from Panama and Trinidad or Porto Rico to 

 Uruguay. No less than i8g species, arr.inged in 17 genuine 



groups, are recognised. It appears that these fishes are in the 

 habit of anchoring themselves to stones in the river-bed by 

 means of the sucker-like mouth ; respiration being at such 

 times effected by taking in water through the gill-openings 

 and expelling it again by the same aperture in the opposite 

 direction. Most of the genera are represented in all the 

 South American river-systems, while even some'of the .species 

 have a very wide geographical distribution. 

 -If -X- * 



" The Pa.ca-rana.." 



In this coluuui reference has previously been made to Dr. 

 ("loeldi's interesting re-discovery of the remarkable Peruvian 

 rodent Dinoiitys braniclii, hitherto known only by a single indi- 

 vidual captured in 1873. As Dr. Goeldi's paper is now pub- 

 lished in the October issue of the Zoological Society's I'ruccid- 

 iiii;s, a few notes may be added on such an interesting creature. 

 In the first place, it appears that the animal is known to the 

 Tupi Indians, by whom it is called the paca-rana, or false paca, 

 in allusion to the resemblance of its coloration to that of the 

 true paca {Curln.i^tiiys pam), from which it differs, however, by 

 its well-developed tail and the absence of cheek-pouches. 

 The Tupi name mav be adopted as the popular title of the 

 species. Dr. Goeldi states that the paca-rana is a rodent of 

 phlegmatic and gentle disposition, which may account perhaps 

 for its rarity, if, indeed, it be really scarce in its nati\'e home, 

 which is probably the eastern slopes and table-lands of the 

 Bolivian and Peruvian foot-hills bordering on Brazil, inclusi\e 

 of the headwaters of the Purus, Acre, and Jurua rivers. Dr. 

 Goeldi adds that ho " shall soon have occasion to show that a 

 scientific exploration of that region will result in a multitude of 

 great surprises both from a zoological and a pakeontologic.al 

 point of view, of which the interesting re-discovery oiDinoinijs 

 hranicln is only a first instalment." 



* * * 



The Races of Europe. 



In his Huxley Memorial Lecture, delivered on October 7, 

 Dr. Deniker, after referring to Huxley's recognition of two 

 main stocks, the fair Caucasians, or Xanthochroi, and the dark 

 Caucasians, or Melanochroi, in Europe and Asia, expressed 

 the opinion that there are really six well-marked European 

 races of mankind. These are (i) the blonde, wavy-haired, 

 long-headed, long-faced, and tall Northern Race ; (2) the 

 Eastern Race, which is also blonde, but has straight hair, a 

 rather short head, and broad face, with a short stature ; (3) the 

 Ibero-insular Race, of Spain and Portugal, which is dark, very 

 short, long-headed, with straight or retrousse nose, and some- 

 times curly hair : (4) the Western Race, dark, round-headed, 

 and short, with round face, broad nose, and thick-set body ; 

 (5) the .Mlanto- Mediterranean Coast Race, very dark, mode- 

 rately long-headed, and fairly tall ; and (6) the Adriatic Race, 

 from the borders of the Gulf of Venice, which is dark and 

 short-headed, with the nose slender and straight or arched. 



# * * 



The New Central African Pig. 



When Stanley heard of the occurrence in the forest of 

 Central .\frica of the animal now known as the okapi, he also 

 saw or received reports of a large species of pig. 

 These reports have proved true, for Mr. R. Meinertz- 

 hagen has killed specimens of a wild swine from the eastern 

 side of the great forest, the spoils of which have s ifely reached 

 the Natural History Museum. Mr. O. Thomas reports that 

 these indicate not only a new species, but likewise a new 

 generic type of wild swine, for which he suggests the name 

 Hylu(h(i-nis ))hiiieytzha,t;cin. The forest hog, as it may be 

 called, apparently comes nearest to the wart-hogs (Phaco- 

 clia-nis) of .Africa, but has a less specialised type of skull and 

 dentition, and thus serves to connect those hideous creatures 

 with more typical swine. The tusks, although very much 

 smaller, have the characteristic curvature of those of the wart- 

 hog, and there is the same reduction in the number of the 

 upper incisors to a single pair. The coat of black hair is, how- 

 ever, much more profuse than in the wart-hogs. Although the 

 discovery of this new type falls far short of that of the okapi in 

 the matter of interest, yet it is nevertheless one of very con- 

 siderable zoological importance. Unfortun.ately, the specim.ens 

 sent home are too imperfect for mounting. Mr. Thomas's 

 description of the new animal appeared in Natiitx of 

 October 13. 



