Januaby 1, 1894.] 



KNOWLEDGE 



\>^ AN ILLUSTRATED •^^ 



j MAGAZINE OF SCIENCE 



SIMPLY WORDED— EXACTLY DESCRIBED 



LONDON: JANUARY 1, 1894. 



CONTENTS. 



A Land of Skeletons. By R. Ltdekkeb, B.A.Cantab. ... 



Bark-Boring Beetles.— By E. A. Butler 



Periodical Comets due during the remainder of the 

 Present Century. Bv W. T. Lynn, B.A., F.R.A.S. ... 



The Giant Refracting Telescopes of America. Bv 

 A. C. Kantabd ... ... ... 



Notices of Books 



Science Notes 



Letters: — E. E. Barnaed ; .1. Evershed ; Robert R. 



LEVINGrSTOX ... ... ... ... 



The Solar Faculae. By Piof. Geo. E. Hale 



The Face of the Sky for January. By Heebebt Sadlbe, 

 F.R.A.S. 



Chess Column. By C. D. Locock, B.A.Oxon 



PAGE 

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11 



13 

 16 



10 



18 



22 

 23 



A LAND OF SKELETONS. 



By R. Lydekker, B. A. Cantab. 



NEXT to Australia, which, as regards its faiuia, 

 stands quite apart from the whole of the rest of 

 the world, South America possesses a greater 

 number of peculiar types of animals than any 

 other region at the present day. A traveller, 

 for instance, starting from Europe may wander eastwards 

 across the northern part of Asia, as far as Japan, without 

 ceasing to meet with types of mammals and birds perfectly 

 familiar to him ; while the same is, to a gi-eat extent, the 

 case if his footsteps are directed to India or Africa. It is 

 true, indeed, that in both the latter coimtries he will come 

 across creatures like elephants and rhinoceroses which are 

 now unknown in Europe, while in Africa he wiU be con- 

 fronted by hippopotami, giraffes, and ostriches. All these 

 animals, however, once existed in Europe during the later 

 portions of geological history, and may, accordingly, be 

 counted as pertaining to the European fauna. Still more 

 striking is this similarity of the fauna with that of Europe 

 if the traveller's route happen to lie across the northern 

 half of the New World, where he will meet with many 

 mammals, such as the bison, grizzly bear, and wapiti, 

 which are scarcely to be distinguished, even specifically, 

 from their Old World allies ; while others, hke the rein- 

 deer, wolf, and fox, are absolutely identical. On the other 

 hand, when South America is reached, it will be found 

 that not only are all the mammals and birds specifically 

 different from those of Europe, but Ukewise that many of 

 them belong to genera or gi-oups absolutely unknown 



beyond the confines of that country, while Old World 

 types are relatively scarce. For instance, the whole of the 

 typical representatives of that group of mammals techni- 

 cally known as edentates, " such as the armadillos, ant- 

 eaters, and sloths, are exclusively confined to South and 

 Central America ; while the monkeys of that continent 

 are quite different from those of the Old World, and the 

 pretty little marmosets are peculiar to it. The camel-like 

 animals known as guanacos and vicunias, together with 

 their domesticated representatives the llamas, are likewise 

 at the present day exclusively characteristic of South 

 America, although there is reason to believe that they 

 were originally introduced from the north. Then, again, 

 opossums (which, by the way, must not be confounded 

 with the creatures commonly so called in Australia) are 

 among the most characteristic of South American mam- 

 mals, although some range as far north as the United 

 States. The rodents, or gnawing mammals, are likewise 

 remarkable, not only for their numerical abundance, but 

 likewise for the large size of several of their members 

 which belong to genera peculiar to the continent. Among 

 these the capivara or carpincho {Hiidroc/uerus), commonly 

 known as the river hog, is the largest living member of 

 the order, its skull measuring about a foot in length. 

 Another characteristic aquatic type is the coypu (Myopo- 

 tamiis), generally termed by Europeans nutria, which is 

 properly the Spanish name for an otter, and easily recog- 

 nized by its red incisor teeth. Of the terrestrial species 

 the most familiar is the viscacha, which inhabits warrens, 

 like the prairie marmot of North America, with which, 

 however, it has no affinity. Not only is South America 

 remarkable for the number of peculiar types of mammals 

 it contains, but it is likewise noteworthy for the absence 

 of a number of Old World and North American forms ; 

 especially notable is this paucity among the ungulates or 

 hoofed mammals, which are represented solely by the afore- 

 said guanaco and its allies, by a group of deer differing con- 

 siderably from all Old World species, although represented 

 in North America, and by several species of tapirs — the latter 

 animals being at the present day known elsewhere only by 

 a solitary kind from the Malayan region, although they 

 were formerly abimdant over a large portion of the Old 

 World. Consequently, such well-knowu and important 

 groups of ungulates as the oxen, goats, sheep, antelopes, 

 horses, rhinoceroses, hippopotami, and elephants are totally 

 unknown in a wild state at the present day in South America, 

 although two of them, viz., horses and elephants, formerly 

 existed there. Equally characteristic are the birds of 

 South America. Although it will only be possible here to 

 make allusion to a few among these, we may especially 

 mention the entire group of humming birds, together with 

 a peculiar family of perching birds commonly known as 

 wood-hewers, and technically as the DendrocoltqttidtE, of 

 which the well-known oven bird (so-called on account of 

 its dome-shaped mud nest) is a familiar example. The 

 large gallinaceous birds termed curassows and guans are 

 also very characteristic ; while still more distinctive of the 

 country are the tinamus, which, although structurally 

 allied to the ostriches, are so like partridges in form and 

 habits that by English residents in the country they are 

 commonly so termed. Another characteristic South Ameri- 

 can bird which is commonly misnamed by Europeans is 

 the rhea ; this bird, which is almost universally designated 

 an ostrich, differing from its African relative by having 

 three toes instead of two. Yet another remarkable avian 

 type is to be found in the large and somewhat goose-like 

 chaja (pronounced chaha), or horned screamer, which 



* Sec article on " Anni»(lilli>s :iiicl A:inl-\':irl>~." 



