86 



KNOWLEDGE 



[Apkil, 1903. 



well as by those specially interested in botanical science. 

 The history of this remarkable man intimately concerns 

 the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, of which he was director 

 from 1841 to 1863, previouslv having been Professor of 

 Botany in the University of Grlasgow. The extinction of 

 Kew as a botanical establishment was seriously considered 

 at the close of Mr. Alton's term of office, but narrowly 

 escaping such a fate, the gardens soon rose, through Sir 

 William Hooker's directing energy, to the foremost 

 position among the botanical iostitutions of the world. 

 The author of manv splendid works, his connection with 

 the Botanical Magazine is particularly interesting. This 

 famous serial came into existence in 1787, two years after 

 the birth of Sir William Hooker, was continued through- 

 out his long life, which terminated in 1865, bearing for 

 years on its title-pages his name as editor, and in many 

 cases the plates with his name as artist, and is existing 

 still, controlled by another Hooker, the author of this 

 entertaining biography. — S. A.S. 



Entomological. — Conspicuous in Prof. J. W. Gregory's 

 book on the " Great ELft Valley," is a coloured frontispiece 

 representing the protective resemblance of certain homop- 

 terous insects to a flower-spike. The insects are shown 

 grouped on an upright stem, small green individuals above 

 representing unopened buds, and larger red specimens 

 below looking like blossoms. In a recent paper in the 

 Trans. Entom. Society (1903, pp. 695-698, pis. 26-27), Mr. 

 S. L. Hinde, who has studied the habits of these insects in 

 East Africa, states that the green individuals are as large 

 as the red, that he has never observed them on vertical 

 shoots, but always on horizontal branches, and that the 

 red and green forms occur mixed together. Nevertheless, 

 the whole effect is strikingly like the inflorescence of a 

 leguminous plant common in the district. The larvae, 

 which are protected by long white waxy threads, do occur 

 in companies on vertical shoots, and present a remarkable 

 appearance. The insect has been identified as Flata 

 nigrocincta, Walker. — G. H. C. 



Zoological. — In the Annals and Magazine of Natural 

 History for Decemlier, Mr. 0. Thomas describes a new mole 

 (Talpa roniana) from the neighbourhood of Rome. This 

 species differs from both the common mole and the South 

 European Savi's mole (T. caeca) by the much larger teeth, 

 as well as by certain peculiarities in the skull. Savi's 

 mole, it may be remarked, differs from the common species 

 in having a membrane of the eyes, and lieing therefoi'e 

 truly blind. It is decidedly remarkable that such a distinct 

 form should so long have escaped the notice of naturalists. 

 A wood-mouse collected by Mr. H. F. Witherby, at an 

 elevation of over 5000 feet, near Sheoul, in the Fars 

 district of Persia, has been described by Mr. Thomas in 

 the same issue as a new race, under the name of Mas 

 sylvatieiis witherbyi. It is characterized by the pure white 

 under-surface, and the small size of the teeth. 



The full text of Dr. W. G. Ridewood's valuable memoir 

 on the structure of the gills of the lamellibranch molluscs, 

 the abstract of which was noticed in these columns when 

 it appeared in the Proccedin^js of the Roval Society, has 

 recently been issued in the Philosophical Transactions. 



Much difference of opinion obtains as to the mode in 

 ■which the more complicated cheek-teeth ha"e been evolved 

 from teeth of a simpler type. By some authorities it is 

 considered probable that the primitive type was a tooth with 

 three cusps on the crown arranged in the form of a triangle 

 (tritubercular type). Others, on the contrary, favour the 

 idea that complex teeth have been developed by the fusion 

 of two or more teeth of a simple conical type. This view. 



with certain limitations, receives support in an illustrated 

 article by Dr. H. W. M. Tims, published in the January 

 number of the Journal of Anatomy and Physioloijy. 



Many persons have probably been jjuzzlcd to account 

 for the circumstance that while the ancestral wild cavies 

 are uniformly greyish coloured animals, the domesticated 

 guinea-pig is usually marked with patches of black, orange, 

 and white. The explanation is, however, not far to seek. 

 As the result of hybridisation, what is known as the dis- 

 sociation of colours frequently takes place. For instance, 

 hybrid mice may be either black or sandy coloured. The 

 black bi-eed is due to the elimination (probably by 

 crossing with an albino) of the rufous element in the 

 colouring of the typical grey coat ; while, conversely, 

 sandy or fawn-coloured mice are the result of the elimina- 

 tion of the black constituent of the compound colour. 

 The various distinct colours^ or patches of colour, in the 

 guinea-pig have doubtless (originated in a similar manner; 

 that is to say, by the breaking-up of the composite colour 

 of the coat of the wild guinea-pig owing to a cross with 

 an albino subject. Those desirous of further information 

 on this subject, and like%vise on the fact that hybrids 

 produce offspring of which some resemble one of their 

 grandparents and some the other, should consult an 

 article on Mendel's law of heredity, recently published 

 by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences 



According to the view of Dr. Scharff, as expressed iu a 

 paper recently published in the Royal Irish Academy's 

 Proceedings, the " Atlantis " of Plato was a reality and 

 not a myth ; Madeira and the Azores having been con- 

 nected bv land with the European and African continents 

 so late as the early portion of the human period. This 

 connection was, however, but the last phase of a great 

 Atlantic continent, which the author believes at an earlier 

 epoch to have extended from Morocco (which was then 

 connected with Portugal i to South America, reaching at 

 least as far south as St Helena. The evidence in favour 

 of this former extensive land connection has been drawn 

 from a careful survey of the whole fauna of the Atlantic 

 islands, which displays marked affinities with that of the 

 Mediterranean countries on the one hand and that of 

 South America on the other. That a land connection 

 between Africa and South America existed at a relatively 

 remote geological epoch is now generally admitted ; but 

 stronger evidence will, we think, be required before the 

 theory that the Azores were in connection with Portugal 

 during the human period is accepted. One of the author's 

 arguments is based on the circumstance that so far back 

 as 1385 two of these islands were named from their being 

 inhabited respectively by rabbits and goats, at a time 

 when there were no human denizens of the group. Hence, 

 it is urged, these animals were indigenous, and not, as 

 generally supposed, introduced. 



Naturalists will read with interest a paper by Mr. E. T. 

 Newton, in the last number of the Geological Society's 

 Journal, describing remains of the elk recently discovej^d 

 in the Thames valley. The author alludes in some dettiil 

 to previous finds of elk-remains in this country. 



The total result of last year's whaling and sealing by 

 British vessels, according to Mr. Southwell's annual 

 report in the Zoologist, w^as 12 right whales, 652 white 

 whales, 118 walrus, 1984 seals, and 168 bears. Apart 

 from hides, these yielded 212 tuns of oil, worth ^22 10s. 

 per tun, and 187'cwt. of whalebone, which now sells at 

 =£2500 per ton. Some years ago the price of whalebone 

 reached ^£2800 per ton ; " the reduction is probably due to 

 the use of strips of horn for many purposes where whale- 

 hone was formerly employed, since the supply of the latter 

 article has certainly not increased. 



