November, 1901.] 



KNOWLEDGE. 



257 



Botanical. — In lihodora for September, Dr.'- B. L. 

 Robinson notes a case of " sclf-sU'angulation in the 

 Virginian Creeper" {Aiiijielopsis qiiiiKjurfolla). A ten- 

 dril from tlie main stem had wound itself round a 

 higher internode of the same shoot so tightly Uiat 

 further eulai-gement of the st<?m at this point ceased. 

 Growth, however, continued above and below, resulting 

 in a deep constriction in which the tendril was buried. 

 In the following spring the part of the stem below the 

 constriction developed leaves as usual, but that above 

 showed unmistakable signs of death. Dr. Robinson 

 remarks tliat on examining several plants of the 

 Virginian Creeper, he found that it was not unusu.il 

 for tendrils to attach tJiemselves to the shoots that pro- 

 duce tJiem, but without any injurious results. 



Among the plants pai-ticulai-ly noteworthy in the new 

 part of Hooker's Icones Planianim are : Lepinia »olo- 

 moiieiiMix (Apocyuacese), remarkable for its curious fruit, 

 consisting of four cai-pels on very long, arched stalks, 

 and connate at the apex; Bret.<rhneidera sintnsin, a 

 handsome new genus of SapindaceM, from Yunnan, 

 China, allied to the common Horse-chestnut, and named 

 in honoiu' of the recently deceased Dr. E. Bretschncider, 

 author of the elaborate History of European Botanical 

 Discoveries in China ; Urnularia, a new genus of 

 ApocvnacccB from Borneo, interesting on account of one 

 of its species yielding, iiccording to Professor Beccari, a 

 good rubber ; Sijiii petalanflrn, a somewhat anomalous 

 new genus of Lcguniinosse, also from Borneo; and tlic 

 puzzling Mexican JuHania. which, though known t-o 

 botanists for more than half a century, has not been 

 definitely assigned to any natural order : its seed-vessels 

 are singularly chai'acterised by having three collateral 

 or parallel cells. — S. A. S. 



Entomological. — A fine male specimen of the 

 " Timberaian Longhoni Beetle {Acoiiflujcinuii nediiix) 

 has been sent to us for identification from New Seahain, 

 Co. Durham, by Mrs. F. M. Sturley. It is a remarkable 

 insect on account of the inordinate length of the feelers. 

 Probably all the specimens which occur in England and 

 Ireland ai-e imported in timber from the north of 

 Europe, but the beetle is believed to be tiidv indigenous 

 in Scotland.— G. H. C. 



Zoological. — Professor Ray Lankester's memoir on 

 the affinities of the gi'eat panda (JUIuropui melanvhucmt) 

 of Tibet has just appeared in the Transactions of the 

 Linnean Society. It is illustrated by a beautiful plate 

 of the under surface of the skull, displaying the remark- 

 able character of the teeth. Almost synchronously with 

 the appearance of the memoir the mounted specimen of 

 the animal in the Natural History INIuseum has been 

 placed in a case in company with its relatives, the long- 

 tailed panda and the raccoons. 



The October issue of the Proceedings of the Zoological 

 Society contains Professor Lankester's diagnosis of the 

 genus Ocapia, together with Sir Harry Johnston's 

 account of how he obtained the okapi skin and skulls. 

 A reproduction of the original sketch of the animal by 

 Sir Hany, before the skin was mounted, accompanies 

 the latter communication. 



In the same periodical will be found an account of 

 the rediscovery, by Mr. J. G. Millais, of Bechstein's bat 

 in England. The first English examples of this species 

 were taken many years ago in the New Forest; the 

 specimen described by Mr. Millais was captured last 

 ilarch near Henley-on-Thames. This bat must now 

 definitely Ije included in the British fauna. 



Among other now mammals obtained by Sir 11. 

 Johnston in Uganda, Mr. O. Thomas describes in the 

 same journal a handsome genet, for which the name 

 drnittd rirtiiri(e is suggested. On another page Mr. 

 Walter Rothschild mentions a series of magnificent 

 specimens of the Abyssinian ibex {Capra. villi) recently 

 obtained by Capt. Powell-Cotton, one of which is now 

 mounted in the Natural History Museum. Previously 

 this splenilid species was known only by the type 

 specimens in the Senckenbourg Museum at Frankfort ;uul 

 a few pairs of horns. 



It seems as tliough we never should get to tlio end 

 of changes in nomenclature. In a recent issue of the 

 Xort/i American Fauna, now in course of publication by 

 the Agricultural Bureau at Washington, it is proposed 

 to replace Mejdiitis, the well-known title of the true 

 skunks, by Cliinc/ia; the fonner name being transferred 

 to the little skunks (Spilogali). But there are worse 

 tilings than this in nomenclature. In a notice of fossil 

 remains from Patagonia, an Argentine writer proi)oses 

 such uusp(,'akalile compounds as Thoniashu.vleija, Guliel- 

 inolltiircria. Oldjieldthoiuasia, and Asinithwoodwardia. 

 The only consolation is that thoy arc not likely to come 

 into use, ;us mosti, if not all, will probably turn out to 

 be synonyms. Still, something ought to be done to 

 stop such practices. 



Not long ago Dr. D. G. Elliot, of the Field Columbian 

 Museum, published a Synopsis of North American 

 Mammals ; this, in the Publications of the Museum, he 

 has just followed with a revised list, containing 

 additions and cei-tain amendments in noiiicnclaturc. In 

 another paper in the same serial he raises a protest 

 against the excessive multiplication of specific and sul> 

 specific names among the smaller American mammals. 

 And in a third, throws doubts on the distinctness of 

 some of the forms of caribou which have been recently 

 named. 



The last two numbers of the Quarter/;/ Journal of 

 ^[ irroxropical Science contain important papers by Mr. 

 R. Evans on the Malayan representatives of that primi- 

 tive arthropod /'crijiafus, together with remarks on tlie 

 classification of the different generic types of the group. 

 In the October issue of the Transactions of the 

 Zoological Society, Mr. G. A. Boulenger publishes his 

 third contribution on the fishes collected by Mr. J. E. S. 

 Moore in Lake Tanganyika. The whole collection has 

 shown the striking fact that the peculiar beaked fishes 

 forming the family Mormyridaj, so^ eminently character- 

 istic of the fresh-waters of Ethiopian Africa generally, 

 are imrepresented in Tanganyika. Ajiother peculiarity 

 is the occiuTence in this remai'kable lake of a repre- 

 sentative of the Asiatic cyprinoid genus C'apoefa, known 

 elsewhere in Africa only by a single Abyssinian species. 



The Inverness Earthquake. — It is seldom that earth- 

 C[uakes in this country are sufficiently strong to cause 

 much damage to buildings. Within the memory of the 

 jjrcsciit generation, there have been only three — the 

 Essex cart,hciuake of 1884, the Hereford earthquake of 

 1896, and the earthcjuakc that was felt throughout the 

 north of Scotland shortly before 1.30 a.m. on September 

 IS. There was no considerable destruction of chimney- 

 stacks and roofs in the last case, such as occun-ed in 

 the neighbourhood of Colchester in 1884, but it is said 

 that few streets in Inverness have escaped some damage 

 of a more or less slight character. Fissiu-cs in the ground 

 are a rare result of British earthquakes, and it is there- 

 fore worthy of notice that one about 600 yards in length 

 V.HS formed in the north bank of the Caledonian canal 



