OCTOBKB, 1901.] 



KNOWLEDGE. 



235 



tho wiiiifs (at least in tho foinali's') to useless vestiges, and 

 the swollen membranous liiud-l>oil_v, whieh contains a 

 gland, j>robabl_v the source of some secretion appreciated 

 by the ants. 



The recent ajipearancc of the dreadeil Colorado beetle 

 (Doryphiird ilereiiiliiit'tita) in large nuuilxrs iu a potato 

 field near Tilburv, Essex, has again called attention to 

 the jiossibility that this terribly destructive insert may 

 K'come established in these comitriv s. Twenty-four years 

 ago the rapid eastward migration of the beetle through 

 the United States to the Atlantic seaboard, and tlie 

 occurrence of stray six-cimens on a steamer at Liverpool, 

 caused such alarm that a S])ecial Act of Parliament was 

 passed to euforce its exclusion from our islands. On the 

 present occasion drastic measures were taken l)y the Board 

 of Agriculture, the whole infected crop being dug up and 

 destroyed. It is to be hoped, therefore, that we may hear 

 no more of such unwelcome invaders.— G. H. C. 



ZooLoc;ic.\L. — Tho recent visit of Dr. C. W. Andrews, 

 of the British Museum, to Egj-pt has resulted in dis- 

 coveries of the highest importance in regard to mam- 

 malian palaeontology. In company with Mr. H. J. L. 

 Beadnell. of the Egj-ptian Geological Survey, Dr. 

 Audrews visited the Fayum district, where a large 

 number of mammalian and reptilian remains, many 

 belonging to entirely unknown types, and in an 

 excellent state of presentation were collected. A jsre- 

 limiuai'v description of the mammalian remains has 

 been published by Dr. Andrews m the September issue 

 of the Gdihjgiciil Miujaiine. By far the most interesting 

 of these belong to certain primitive types of Proboscidea 

 — a group whoso origin and relationships have hithei'to 

 been a puzzle to naturalists. As many of our Feaders 

 are awai-e. this gioup has hithei-to been known only by 

 the elephants, mastodons, and Diiuitheriuin. From 

 (probably) lower oligocene strata Dr. Andrews now 

 makes kuo\vn a small mastodon-like animal (Pafieo- 

 niiixtodoii). differing from the true mastodons by its 

 simpler last lower molar, and also by having five pairs 

 of check-teeth in use at the same time. More remark- 

 able still is a creatiu"c from Eocene beds, termed 

 Mwritherium, which has still simpler cheek-teeth, of 

 which six pairs are simultaneously in use, and a nearly 

 full series of incisors and canines. Very noticeable is 

 the fact that the second pair of incisors in each jaw is 

 much larger than the others, thus foreshadowing the 

 upper and lower tusks of certain mastodons, of which 

 the upper tusks of the elephants ai-e the sole survivors. 

 M'rritlieriiim is, iu fact, a generalized ungulate, bear- 

 ing evident marks of being the ancestor of tho elephants. 

 A much larger beast (Brad yther htm) reminds us in some 

 respects of Dniofheriiiiii. and in others of the so-called 

 Dinocerata of the American Eocene. If, as seems 

 probable. Dr. Andrews has solved the problem of the 

 origin and birth-place of the Proboscidea, he has earned 

 the gratitude of all students of mammalian history. 

 We await -with interest a notice of the associated 

 reptilian remains. 



An addition to the important series of memoii-s on 

 the natives of southern India published from time to 

 time in the Bullitin of the Madras Government Museiun 

 has recently been made by Mr. Fawcett, who treats of 

 the Nayai-s of Malabai-. The Nayars, the Narea of 

 Pliny, are the swordsmen of the western coast of India, 

 and are the best living examples of "matriarchy," or, 

 to speak more accurately, of inheritance through the 

 female sex. 



In a memoir on Ruminants published in the Iland- 



/iiii/iir of tho Swedish Academy of Science, Dr. Einai- 

 Lonnbeii;, of Stockholm, li;us some interesting obser- 

 vations on tlio structure of tho horns and horn-cores of 

 the oxen, sheep, goats, and anteloiies, and how these 

 vaiy in the difl'ciciit groups. Tho simplest type is that 

 of tile little African duikerboks, in which the horn 

 forms a simple spike with a solid core. Tho more com- 

 plicated spiral and ridged horns appear to have been 

 modified to resist strain and torsion ; but among these 

 there is great variation, the cores of sonic, like the 

 saiga antelope, being solid throughout, while those of 

 others arc spongy. From the somewhat similar form of 

 their horns the author hazards the suggestion that the 

 African buffaloes arc more nearly related to the gnus 

 than to their Asiatic represciit.ativcs, but such a startling 

 innovation is scarcely likely to be accepted without 

 much stronger evidence. 



It may be news to many that Spitzbcigen possesses 

 a race of reindeer peculiar to itself. Hitherto we have 

 known very little about it; but in the Meiiiorir of the 

 Turin Academy of Science, Dr. L. Camcrano publishes 

 a full account of this animal. 



Those of our readers interested in fossil corals should 

 consult a memoir on the Pala;ozoic corals of Canada, by 

 Mr. L. M. L. Lanibe, recently published by the 

 Geological Survey of Canada. 



The Okapi, which has been so successfully mounted 

 by Rowland Ward, Limited, is now publicly exhibited 

 in the Natural Hist/ory Museum, and attracts a large 

 amount of attention on the part of visitors. Some of 

 the groups of large mammals in the Museum are now 

 being mounted iu imitation of their natural surround- 

 ings. Among these are the zebras and the wild sheep 

 of Central Africa ; both cases have elicited much 

 admiration from the public. 



The latest issue of the Transactions of the Zoological 

 Society contains the results of Mr. J. S. Budget's 

 investigations into the breeding habits of the African 

 lung-fish, the bichir {Polyptcrua), and other fishes, 

 collected by him in the Gambia. Tho residts 

 are too technical to be noticed in detail here, 

 but general interest attaches to the account of the nest 

 of the bichir, and likewise to the figures of the lai-val 

 stages of this and sonic of the other fish, in which the 

 plumed or thread-like external gills are beautifully 

 shown. 



THE MECHANISM OF A SUNSET. 

 By Arthur H. Bell. 

 Most people if they were asked to state the colour of 

 the sun would say that it was orange, and they would 

 as confidently assert that the colour- of the atmosphere 

 was blue. Recent researches and investigations, how- 

 ever, point to tho conclusion that the real colour of 

 the sun is blue, while that of the atmosphere surround- 

 ing tho eai-th is orange. Commonly the earth's atmo- 

 sphere appears so transparent and translucent that it 

 is hard to realise the fact that it has as much effect 

 on the light and heat coming from the sun as if it 

 were a roof of thick glass. But the atmosphere is veiy far 

 from being as coloui-less as it seems to Ix;, and the best 

 way of discovering its tnie tint is, not to gaze imme- 

 diately overhead, but to look away towards the horizon. 

 By so doing the atmosphere will be seen, as it were, 

 in bulk ; for overhead there is only a small accumula- 

 tion of it compai'ed with the many miles of thickness 

 through which tho vision travels when the eye looks 

 towards the horizon. 



