68 



KNOWLEDGE & SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



[March, 1907. 



Barn urn and Bailey's travelling menagerie in the year 

 1855, agrees very closely with the onv figured by Mr. 

 Pocock. 



Peculiar British Mammals. 



At one time ii was considered that there were no mammals 

 peculiar to the British Isles. The refinements of modern 

 zoological methods are, however, gradually demonstrating 

 tli.it the British representatives ol various species are, .-is 

 might be expected, distinguishable from the Continental 

 forms, and are, therefore, entitled to rank as separate 

 races, although ii must be confessed that, in some cases at 

 anj rate, their distinctive features are but slight. Some 

 time ago, for instance, Prof. Einar Lonnberg, of I psala, 

 pointed out thai Scotch red deer are distinguishable from the 

 typical Swedish Cervun elaphus, and he according^ pro- 

 posed that thej should !»• regarded as representing a race 

 apart, under the name ol C. elaphus scoticus. More recently 

 Dr. E. Satunin, of Xiflis, has called attention to the facl 

 ili.il the British badger has a wider skull than the Con- 

 tinental animal; and on this ground he has raised ii to the 

 rank of a special local race, with the title Melts taxus 

 britannica. 



Parasite and Host. 



Sea-cucumbers (holothurians) arc infested with certain 

 small transparent fishes, which take up their abode in the 

 body-cavitj of their host and live in luxury on the food 

 brought within reach without any active exertion on their 

 own part. Recently an American naturalist has had an 

 opportunity of observing the manner in which the uninvited 

 effects an entrance into his lodgings, "the fish, it seems, 

 when it encounters a holothurian, feels its way with its 

 head along the creature's side till it comes to the vent, into 

 which it inserts the lip of its slender tail, and then gradually 

 forces its way into the roomy interior. 



Three Interesting Mammals. 



The rare bush-dog (Speottos venaticus), of Guiana and 

 Brazil, has long been the only known representative of its 

 genus. A second species is. riv Ii) has, however, recently 

 turned up in the Andes of Ecuador, and is remarkable for 

 possessing a soft, woolly coat like that of an opossum, 

 therebv differing altogether from any other known member 

 of the dog- family. 



Another mammal which has hitherto been generally re- 

 garded as the sole representative of its genus is the Chinese 

 water-deer, Tlydropotes lor Hydrelaphus) inermis, charac- 

 terised, in common with the musk-deer, by the absence of 

 antlers in the bucks, whose upper jaw is, however, armed 

 with long, sabre-like tusks. This animal inhabits the reed- 

 beds ol the Yang-tse valley. Recently Dr. Max Hilzheimer, 

 ol Strassburg, has described what he regards as a second 

 species, under the name of II. kreyenbergi, from the neigh- 

 bourhood of Hankow. It is chiefly, if not entirely, dis- 

 tinguished by the characters of the skull. 



In the columns of the Field the present writer has contri- 

 buted a note on certain North American moose-heads 

 characterised by having the bald patch on the flabby muzzle 

 T-shaped in place of triangular. He might have added 

 that a Canadian specimen presented recently to the British 

 Museum by Mr. Frank 1 1 Lit t shows the same peculiarity. 

 The two specimens in which the feature is best displayed 

 wi re reporti d to come from British Columbia, but this is 

 now denied. The attention of sportsmen may be directed 

 to the interest connected witli this feature. 



The papers read at the meeting of the Zoological Socictv 

 on January 15 are mentioned in our last issue. 



REVIEWS OF BOOKS. 



New Catalogues. 



We have received catalogues — from Chas. Baker, of 244, 

 High Holborn, of second-hand instruments of all descrip- 

 tions, including microscopes, objectives, accessories, tele- 

 scopes, physical and photographic apparatus, all excellent^ 

 arranged ; from John YVheldon and Co., 38, Great Queen 

 Stint, being the second and third parts of their excellent 

 botanical catalogues, containing books on economic and 

 geographical botany respectively; from E. George and 

 Sons, 151, YVhitechapel Road, List Xo. 44, covering books 

 on Natural History and kindred subjects ; and from YVm. 

 Bryce, 54 and 54 V, Lothian Street, Edinburgh, containing 

 books on chemistry, electricity, technology, &c. 



ASTRONOMY. 



A Century's Progress in Astronomy, by Hector Macpher- 

 ■011, Junr. ; pp. xi. and J40 (Edinburgh: Blackwood, 1906; 

 Os. net). To a certain extent this work resembles a simpli- 

 fied edition of Miss ('hike's well-known work, to which the 

 author acknowledges his obligation, an obligation which it 

 will be difficult for any similar compiler for some time to 



come to avoid, lb- follows her in choosing Herschel as his 



Starting point, which, though .111 obvious thing to do, makes 

 the "century" rather long. 'I he volume contains a fairly 

 complete sketch of modern progress in most branches of 

 astronomy, though geodetic work, for instance, is practi- 

 Callv ignored. We do not like the persistent italicising of 

 names, which is a feature of the book : nearly every man 

 referred to, however unimportant, being provided with what 

 are presumably intended to be lull and correct Christian 



names. The italics only serve to emphasize tin 1 fairly obvi- 

 ous fact that the names are nol invariably full or cornet. 



We may instance tin- names ol <iauss, Hough, and Charles 



Easton as having caught the eve in this connection, and, to 

 show the indiscriminate use of the italicised names, we note 

 they are given (incompletely, as it happens) for one man 

 whose sole claim to mention in the book appears to In- a 

 ileal phrase in an obituary notice of somebody else. The 

 author, as regards living astronomers, is open to a suspicion 

 of personal bias in respect, possibly, of those of whom he 

 has more intimate knowledge. We question whether Mr. 

 Gore will full\ appreciate the remark that his calculations 

 " represent our highest scientific conception of the uni- 

 verse," on the palpably inadequate ground that he has 

 written down some purely hypothetical figures which 

 transcend the author's powers of imagination. There is a 

 certain monotony in the constantly appearing description, 

 "the celebrated Esquimaux astronomer," or some similar 

 phrase. Such a description is either superfluous, or con- 

 veys nothing beyond the bare fact of nationality, and, be- 

 sides, possesses the same disadvantage as the indiscriminate 

 use of " swear words " in certain circles, which render the 

 user powerless to express himself in a real crisis. Super- 

 ficial defects, which, after all, tire largely a matter of 

 taste, being put on one side, the book strikes us as con- 

 taining an array of facts marshalled in an orderly and read- 

 able manner, various theories carefully weighed, and con- 

 clusions in general not too rash. The errors of authorities 

 are bound to be repeated to a certain extent. It is of no 

 great importance, so long as it does good work, to know 

 who actually made the Crossley reflector, but, as a matter 

 of fact, it was nut Common, but Calver, from whom 

 Common purchased it. Of misprints, bevond those noted 

 by the author himself, the only obvious one we noticed is 

 Pusiex for Puiscux. 



BIOGRAPHY. 



Sir William Flower, by R. Lydekker (London : J. M. 

 Dent and Co. ; 1906; price 3s. 6d. (English Men of Science 



Series).- The task of the biographer is a notoriously diffi- 

 cult one, and this is especially true when the waiter under- 

 takes to summarise the life of one to whom he was bound 

 by the ties of friendship and common pursuits. The 

 judicial balance is hard to keep in such a case. It may be 

 true enough that no man is a hero to his own valet ; but in 

 the matti r of friendship, sentiment and sympathy are apt to 

 swing to the opposite extreme. Mr. Lvdekker, however, in 

 his life of Sir William Flower, has displayed a line restraint, 

 and, as a consequence, we have a dignified portrait of one 

 who, in his time, played main parts, and always with distinc- 

 tion. This versatility is well brought out in Mr. Lvdekker's 

 introductory chapter, where Flower's career is briefly traced. 

 Beginning, naturally enough, with his boyhood, we are 

 taken on to his student days, and thence to that 

 critical time when, as an army surgeon, he faced the 

 horrors of war, in the Crimea. " The hardships and priva- 

 tions which caused the strength of his regiment to be re- 

 duced by nearly one-half within the short period of four 

 months could not but tell severely on the constitution of 

 the young surgeon, which was never very robust ; and from 



