278 



KNOWLEDGE & SCIENTIFIC NEWS 



[November, 1905, 



ZOOLOGICAL. 



By R. Lydekker. 

 The Connecticut Footprints. 



Dr. R. S. LiLL. of the AijriciiUura! College at Amherst, in 

 Massachusetts, has recently been devoting attention to the 

 wonderful tracks of fossil animals in the sandstone strata of 

 the Triassic strata of the Connecticut Valley, which have been 

 known to the inhabitants for well nigh a centurj', and were 

 described many years ago by the late Professor Hitchcock, 

 President of Amherst College, who believed most of them to 

 have been made by birds. Owing to the porous nature of the 

 sandstone, very few of the bones of the ancient creatures 

 which formed these tracks have hitherto been discovered, 

 and for a long time indeed, none were known. The few 

 skeletons that have been found indicate, however, that these 

 tracks, as was to be expected, were made by dinosaurian 

 and kindred reptiles, some of which walked on their hind legs 

 alone, while others went on all four. One of these bipeds 

 was a large carnivorous species, which left three-toed tracks 

 of one type. Another dinosaur, of herbivorous habits, has 

 also left footprints which are in most cases not very dis- ! 

 similar to those of its carnivorous relative; but in places \v< 

 find indications that the creature sat down, resting its tail 

 and small five-toed front feet on the ground; thus provin,; 

 that some at least of the four-footed tracks were made by 

 animals which were normally biped. One type of four-footed 

 tracks has, however, been proved to have been made by a 

 reptile very similar to a crocodile in structure, but with the bod > 

 carried high above the ground on long stilted mammal-lik( 

 limbs. For this creature the name of Slixox'tis longipcs has hwu 

 proposed, but it ought surely to bear the title Batraclut[u 

 grucilis, bestowed long previously on its tracks. 



British Dinosaurs. 



In the July number of the Oto!of;iciil .\tcii;a:i)ie Baron Francis 

 Nopcsa continues his restorations of liritish dinosaniian 

 reptiles, dealing in this instance with the remains of a lai ,< 

 carnivorous species from the Oxford Clay preserved in aprisai. 

 collection at Oxford itself. By most palaeontologists these i ■ 

 mains would be referred to the well-known f^enus Megatosaw : 

 Baron Nopcsa identifies them, however, with a reptile repi' 

 seated by a few bones in the Paris Museum, described und. i 

 the name o{Slriplosponclytiis ciivieri. :ind states that thiscreat 1:1 ■ 

 is distinguished from Mrgalosaiinis by having four, in place ■ t 

 only three, toes to the hind feet. We await with interest thr 

 comments of Baron Nopcsa's fellow-workers. 



BlaLck Leopards. 



Black leopards, like black jaguars and black pumas, arc ii' .t 

 a species of themselves, but merely a dark phase of the onii 

 nary spotted leopard. It is, however, interesting to kavn 

 from India that the former animals, so far as the evideu' ■ 

 from a single instance goes, when mated with individual> 

 their own kind breed true, although when crossed with ilr 

 spotted race the offspring may be of either type. In tlx- i:. 

 stance referred to two litters of wholly black cubs were jm 

 duced by a pair of these dark leopards. 



A C\jrio\JS Sqxiirrel. 



A remarkably coloured new species of squirrel has recei ' 

 been de.scribed from Upper Burma, under the name of Sc 

 haringloni. Unlike any other known member of the gr- 

 this species is of a pale creamy buff colour above, witti 

 tail whitish and the under-parts buffish. As two specii 

 were obtained, it is unlikely that we have to do with an al 

 form; and an adef|iiat(- explanation for this di^parturc li' 1 

 the normal typ'- of squirrel < oloration is therefore required. 



The Indian Palm-Squirrel. 



Everyone who has visited India is familiar with the pf i' 

 little striped palm-squirrel, which is to a considerable <xl' : ■ 

 a partially domesticated animal, or. rather, an animal «li 

 has taken to quarter itself in the immediate neighbourln ! 

 of human habitations. Hitherto it has been generally 1; 

 posed that there is only one palm-squirrel throughout Ind 

 It has been recently shown, however, that there are really 1 

 distinct types, each with local modifications. The first i 

 typical palm-,squirrel, Sciim/s (I'linamhiiliisj palmarum, inhabits 

 Madras, has but three light stripes on the back, and shows a 



rufous band on the under-side of the base of the tail. In 

 Pennant's palm-squirrel, S. (F.) f>eiiiiiiiiti, on the other hand, 

 there is a pair of joint addition.il lateral white stripes, making 

 five in all, and the under surface of the tail is uniformly 

 whitish olive. .\s this species has been obtained in Sural and 

 the Punjab it is believed to be the northern type. 



New Africatn Antelopes. 



A well-known German naturalist has rocentlv described no 

 less than twelve antelopes from East Africa as new ; many 

 being ranked as species and a few as sub-species, although 

 we should be disposed to relegate the majority to the latter 

 grade. Perhaps the most interesting feature in the communi- 

 cation in question is the naming of a new gouus (Kliyitcho- 

 tragiis) for those curious representatives of the tiny little ante- 

 lopes commonly known as dik-diks in which the muzzle is 

 produced into a kind of miniature trunk ; Madoqua tiuentheri 

 being the typical representative of this sub-group. 



November Meteors. 



4S- - 



which may be expected ahoul i;-i.5 Nov., showinu the riiilinnt pninl 

 ThU Region l> near the Zenith about 9 to 10 o'clock on those dote». 



