January, 1903.] 



KNOWLEDGE. 



11 



is fouud ill the seeds of S. hilondark. lu referring to the 

 juuipiug bean, the late Prof. Riley called attention to the 

 extraordinary seed-like galls found in great numbers on 

 the leaves of some North American oaks. The ground 

 where they have fallen seems to be alive with motion, and 

 the noise which this causes resembles the pattering of rain. 

 The galls are produced by Cynips saltaioriua, which, in the 

 pupa state, is said to be capable of jumping twenty times 

 its own length. — S. A. S. 



Entomological. — A most important contribution on 

 the " Bionomics of South African Insects," with regard to 

 the value of natural selection as explaining cases of 

 " warning coloration " and " mimicry," appears in the 

 latest number of the Transactions of the Entomoloaical 

 Society of London (1902. pp. 287-584, Pis. IX.-XXlil.), 

 being the conjoint work of Mr. G-. A. K. Marshall and 

 Prof. E. B. Poulton. Numerous experiments on the 

 palatibility, or otherwise, of Acraeine and Dauaine 

 butterflies and other insects with " warning colours " are 

 recorded. The general impression given liy the records is 

 that " warning colour " is frequently, though by no means 

 always, of protective value. Mantids, for example, appear 

 not to recognise these colours as indicating distastefulness, 

 though they often refused Acraeine butterflies after trial, 

 and when induced to eat them through hunger, suffered 

 in health. Perhaps the most valuable support afforded 

 by Mr. Marshall's observations to the theory of natural 

 selection is his undoubted demonstration that butterflies 

 are frequently pursued by birds and superficially injured 

 l>y them, thus effectually disposing of the objection that 

 butterflies have nothing to fear from birds. The observa- 

 tions on seasonal dimorphism in the genus Precis are of 

 very special interest. It seems likely that the striking 

 difference between the dry and wet season phases of these 

 insects is due to the need for perfect protective resemblance 

 in the former season, when insectivorous animals are short 

 of food, and the struggle for survival among insects is very 

 keen, and to the advantages of warning colours in the 

 latter season when insect life is abundant. 



During the last ten years M. Chas. Janet has published 

 twenty-two valuable " Etudes sur les Fournin, les Guepes, 

 et les Abeilles." His latest contribution is a careful study 

 of the structure of the hind- body in the common red ant 

 (■'Anatomie du Gaster de la Myriirica rubra." Paris: 

 Carre and Naud, 1902). The musculature, the nerve- 

 centres, the digestive system, and the re[iroductive organs 

 are described in detail, and the functions of the various 

 parts discussed. — G. H. C. 



Geographical. — Dr. Sven Hediii, who read a paper <m 

 his last journey in Central Asia, to the Royal Geogra[ducal 

 Society on December 8th, seems to lack no quality necessary 

 for a great explorer. His previous journeys, as well as his 

 latest journey of nearly throe years' duration, have jirovod 

 him to be one of the finest travellers the world has seen. 

 Not only is he jiossessed of remarkable endurance and 

 great pluck and determination, but he has great powers of 

 oliservation, and understands besides what is important to 

 examine and record minuti'ly, while his knowledge of 

 languages is extraordinary. In the short time available 

 in an evening. Dr. Hediu could describe but a portion of 

 his long and arduous journey, but we believe that a 

 popular account of his expedition will be published shortly, 

 while the scientific results cannot of course be made known 

 until the mass of material and the records obtained have 

 been worked out, and this will be carried out by specialists 

 under the auspices of the Svvedish Goverument. A 

 part, at all events, of these results will be j)ublished in 

 the English language. The googra[ihical portion of the 



scientific results will be provided by the traveller himself, 

 and the material obtained will necessitate the complete 

 revision of existing maps of Eastern Turkestan. The 

 following is an outline of Dr. Hedin's journey : — Leaving 

 Kashgar, in Eastern Turkestan, in September, 1899, Dr. 

 Hedin proceeded eastwards up the Tarkand River, and 

 eventuallv arrived in the region of Lob Nor. Here he 

 found a ruined town, which he twice visited and partially 

 excavated. Amongst other valuable material. Dr. Hedin 

 found in these ruins a number of Chinese manuscripts 

 which thi-ow light upon the physical and political geography 

 of the interior of Asia during the fir.st centuries after 

 Christ, and show what prodigious changes have taken 

 place in that part of the world during the last fifteen 

 hundred years. These finds and Dr. Hedin's careful 

 investigations of the neighbouring Gobi Desert lead him 

 to the conclusion that Lob Nor, or the Lake of Kara 

 Koshun, is gradually creeping northwards, and will 

 eventually reach the bed in which it certainly was in the 

 year 26.5 a.d. After the completion of this work in the 

 Gobi Desert and round Lob Nor, Dr. Hedin went into 

 camp for a month and prepared a large caravan for a 

 journey southwards into Tibet. We have not space for a 

 description of Dr. Hedin's two most determined and 

 plucky attempts to reach Lhasa. Each time he was 

 confronted and surrounded by greatly superior forces of 

 armed Tibetans, who had the strictest injunctions not to 

 allow him to proceed. After trying every means in his 

 l)Ower to gain entry into the holy city, he was at last 

 forced to turn to the west, and, crossing the northern part 

 of Tibet from east to west (in itself a remarkable journey), 

 he arrived at length in Kashmir in December, 1901. 

 Sj)ending his Christmas at Leh, and the early part of 

 January, 1902, with Lord Curzon, at Calcutta, he then 

 returned to the north, and, picking up his caravan again, 

 proceeded from Leh back to Kashgar, where he arrived on 

 March 14th, 1902. 



Zoological. — At the meeting of the Zoological Society, 

 held on November 18th, was read an extract from a letter 

 from Mr. D. Russell, Hon. Sec. to the Otago .Acclimatization 

 Society, giving an account of the successful naturalization 

 of the red deer in New Zealand. Two stags and six hinds 

 had been turned out in 1868, and their offspring now 

 numbered between 4000 and 5000 individuals. The 

 carcases of some of these deer weighed from 500 to 600 lbs. 



The variation in the shape of the antlers of the Scan- 

 dinavian oik formed the subject of a communication from 

 Dr. Einar Ijonnberg, of Upsala, read at the following 

 meeting of the same body. In this it was shown that elk 

 are not unfrequently met with in Scandinavia with antlers 

 of the general tvpe of those recently descriljed as Alces 

 hedfordini ; these elk also differing somewhat in bodily 

 shape and colour from the ordinary form. Since, however, 

 they do not seein to be restricted to a particular locality, 

 they cannot ajiparently be regarded as indicating a 

 distinct race. A reindeer skull, with antlers, from 

 Novaia Zenibia, was also described at the same meeting, 

 and regarde<l as belonging to a new race nearly allied to 

 sonic of the A luerican forms of the species. 



Two important memoirs on the fauna of the northern part 

 of the Western Hemisphere have recently aj^peared. Under 

 the title of- Gronlands Pattedyr," Dr. H. Winge {MMdel- 

 elser om Groiiland, Vol. XXI.) publishes an annotated list 

 of the laud and marine mammals of Greenland. In the 

 course of his notes ho mentions that the reindeer skulls and 

 antlers recently described by SignorCainerano 0,3 Eangifer 

 npitzbcrgeHi^is, are really from Greenland. The second of 

 tlie two memoirs, by Mr. E. A. Preble, forming No. 22 of 

 the North American Faiina, is devoted to the mammals 



