280 



KNOWLEDGE, 



[Dbcembek, 1903. 



continuous spectrum. In Nova Persei, the nebular line is 

 still bright, but striking changes have been noted in other 

 lines. Nova Geminorum is still at an earl_y stage, the 

 nebular line continuing to increase in relative intensity. 

 It is considered that the spectra of the three recent Novae, 

 like the spectrum of Nova Cygni, are destined to attain 

 the same character as that of the great majority of the 

 stars, and that the whole cycle of changes will occupy but 

 a few years. 



As a result of the application of a very powerful spectro- 

 graph to the detenuination of the surface velocity of the 

 planet Venus, Mr. Slipher, of the Lowell Observatory, finds 

 that the rotation period of the planet is much greater than 

 the twenty-four hours assigned by some observers, and 

 though no numerical result is derived from the obser- 

 vations they tend to confirm the longer period of 225 days 

 arrived at by other observers. — A. F. 



Botanical. — Hooker's "Flora of British India," a work 

 of seven thick octavo volumes, the elaboration of which 

 occujiied nearly a quarter of a century, is likely to remain 

 for a long time the standard general Flora of the Indian 

 Empire. Since its completion, however, in 1897, several 

 Indian local Floras have appeared, more or less based on 

 Hooker's Flora, which will prove a boon to those who wish 

 to limit their study of Indian botany to the flora of some 

 presidency or well-defined district. A " Forest Flora of 

 the School Circle. N.-W.P.," by a native botanist, TJ. 

 Kanjilal, was issued in 1901. Dr. Theodore Cooke has 

 undertaken the " Flora of the Presidency of Bombay," of 

 which the first volume, containing Eanunculacese to 

 Rubiaceee, has appeai-ed. A work which employed 

 many of the latter years of the life of the late Sir Henry 

 CoUett was the " Flora Simlensis : a Handbook of the 

 Flowering Plants of Simla and the Neighbourhood." This 

 was published last year, shortly after the author's death. 

 Besides an interesting introduction by Mr. W. Botting 

 Hemsley, it has two hundred illustrations, which the student 

 will find of much service in the work of identification. 

 Mr. J. S. Gamble's excellent "Manual of Indian Timbers," 

 of which a new and revised edition appeared last year, 

 appeals especially to the forester. The latest local Flora is 

 Mr. J. F. Duthie's " Flora of the Upper Gangetic Plain," 

 <tc. Part I., containing Eanunculaceae to Comaceee, has 

 just been issued. All these works are in English, and are 

 as concise as is compatible with utility. Though no 

 attempt is being made here to draw attention to all the 

 important publications on Indian botany, reference should 

 be made to the fine series of profusely illusti-ated 

 monographs which have appeared in the " Annals of 

 the Eoyal Botanic Garden, Calcutta." Ficiis, Qiiercus, 

 Pedicularis, Anouaceas, OrcMdacese and Bambusex, are the 

 principal genera or orders dealt with. 



In the Kew Museums is preserved a remarkable 

 proliferous pine cone about which Sir W. T. Thiselton- 

 Dyer has a note in the September number of the " Annals 

 of Botany." The specimen was sent to the author of the 

 note by the late Comte de Paris, in 1894, having been 

 found on his estate near Seville, in Spain. The cone is 

 that of the " Stone Pine " {Piniis Finea), a species which 

 produces edible seeds, these being strung together and sold 

 in the markets of Lisbon. A normal cone is about sis 

 inches long, but that here referred to is only three and a 

 half inches long, the diminution in size being due to the 

 smaller number of scales. When found it was lying on 

 the ground and bore a shoot at the apex about six inches 

 long. It was taken home by the Comte de Paris and left 

 on a table, where it continued to grow for a month, making 

 a stem more than a foot long, and having three branches. 



Growth then suddenly ceased, and in spite of every 

 attention the shoot withered and died. This is the first 

 case recorded of terminal prolification in a pine cone. 

 — S. A. S. 



Zoological. — According to Mr. J. L. Bonhote {Zoologist, 

 1903, October), the Cambridge Museum possesses an un- 

 doubted British-caught specimen of the mouse-coloured bat 

 (Myotis murinus, or M. ynyotis), taken at Girton, in 1888, 

 by a lady student. The only previous British record was 

 based on specimens taken some time before 18.5.5 in the 

 grounds of the British Museum. These specimens have 

 been lost sight of. The Girton specimen, Mr. Bonhote 

 thinks, was probalily brought from the Continent with 

 plants or other produce. 



In a recent issue of the Proceedings of the Cambridge 

 Philosophical Society, Prof. Eidgeway announces that he 

 believes the thoroughbred horse to be descended from 

 Grevy's zebra (Equiis grevyi) of North-east Africa. A 

 more astounding statement could scarcely have been made 

 in a scientific journal, especially when it is borne in mind 

 that the Professor derives horses, other than thorough- 

 breds, from the prehistoric horse of Europe. That is 

 equivalent to saying that two strains, so alike in general 

 characters as in-e the thoroughbred and the ordinary " cold- 

 blooded " horse, are the descendants of totally different 

 species, one of which was uniformly coloured, while the 

 other was striped I Prof. Eidgeway also states that the 

 prehistoric European horse was only ten bands high, or 

 about the size of a Shetland pony. We wonder whether 

 he has ever looked at the series of cannon-bones of the 

 prehistoric horse in the Natural History Museum, and 

 compared them with the corresponding bones of recent 

 horses. 



A new generic type of marine turile(Eocheloiie hrahantica) 

 from the Middle Eocene of Belgium, is described bv Mr. L. 

 Dollo, in the Bulletin of the Eoyal Belgian Academy. In 

 the forward position of the inner nostrils, as well as in the 

 shortness of the union between the two branches of the 

 lower jaw, this species differs from the true turtles of the 

 present day, and approximates to the luth, or leathery 

 turtle (Dermochelys). Moreover, both the upper and 

 lower shells are much reduced, and show many vacuities. 

 These features serve to confirm the view that the luth is a 

 specialized form derived from the ancestors of the true 

 turtles. Nevertheless, on account of its peculiar un- 

 attached "mosaic" carapace, Mr. Dollo considers that, 

 together with the extinct Psephophorux, it should represent 

 a family by itself. On the other hand, all the other turtles 

 including the luth-like Eosphargis of the London clay, 

 should be placed in the family Chelonidse, on account of 

 their possessing, albeit in some cases in a rudimentary 

 condition, a carapace attached to the ribs. 



The function of the so-called labmnth of the internal 

 ear of fishes, forms the subject of a yjaper by Mr. T. 

 TuUberg, published in the Bihang of the Swedish Academy. 

 Although this structure may also act as an organ of 

 hearing, the author is of opinion that its principal function 

 is to take cognizance of the movements of the water in 

 which fishes live. 



Glyptodons, or giant extinct armadillos, were long 

 supposed to be confined to South and Central America. 

 Some years ago their remains were, however, discovered 

 in Texas ; and recently Prof. H. F. Osborn (Bull. Amer. 

 Mus., Vol. XIX., p. 491) has described and figured a very 

 fine carapace and tail-sheath of one of these strange 

 monsters from the latter state. It is regarded as 

 representing a new generic type, under the name of 

 Glyptotherium. 



