Decemser 1, 1894.] 



KNOWLEDGE. 



265 



\^^ AN ILLUSTRATED ""^^ 



MAGAZINE OF SCIENCE 



SIMPLY WORDED— EXACTLY DESCRIBED 



LONDON: DECEMBER 1, 1894. 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 



The Mysterious Birds of Patagonia. By E. Ltdekkee, 



B A.Cantab., F.R.S " 2G5 



The Rise of Organic Chemistry Pv VArr.nix t'oKxisH, 



M.Sr., F.CS .■ 267 



The Glowworm Bt E. A. Butleb B. ^., B.?c 268 



The Distance and Mass of the Binary Stars. Bv 



J. E. Gore, F.R.A..S '.. 271 



The Degeneration of Human Stature. Bv Miss C. S. 



BrM'.MNKU -" ■ 273 



Mechanical Flight. By Thom.vs 11' v 274 



The Central Equatorial Region of the Moon. Jlv T. 



GwvN' Elger, F.R.A.S ■ ... 276 



Letter: — H. Desi.axpkes 277 



Science Notes , . .. ... ... ... ... ... 278 



Notices of Books 279 



The Industry of Insects in relation to Flowers. Ev 



the Rl-v. Alex. S. Wii.sON, i[.A,. r.Si- .". 2S0 



The Hazing Effects of Atmospheric Ci.:st. Bv Di- J G. 



McPrersox. F.R.S. E. ' 283 



The Web of the Garden Spider. Bv E. A. Biilbh, 



B.A., B.i^'o ' >-... 284 



The Face of the Sky for December. Br Ueebebt 



Sadlee, F.R.A.S ' 285 



Chess Column. By C. D. Locock, B.A.Oion 287 



THE MYSTERIOUS BIRDS OF PATAGONIA. 



By R. Lydekker, B.A.Cantab., F.R.S. 



IF I were asked to name one country more than another 

 where there is a probability that unknown types of 

 the higher vertebrates await discovery by the explorer 

 or the naturahst, I should at once indicate the wilds 

 of the iuterior of Patagonia. Still inhabited by 

 wild and blood-thirsty Indians, and possessing a winter 

 climate of especial severity, many of these districts are 

 practically unlmown to Europeans, while to the naturalist 

 they are a veritable trrm incui/nita. As a result of this 

 freedom from European intrusion, the rhea, or South 

 American ostrich, together with the vicuna, the Patagouian 

 cavy, and the pampas-deer, all of which are on the verge 

 of extermination from the pampas of the Argentine, still 

 flourish in large numbers on the plains and mountains of 

 Patagonia. Even this remote country is, however, slowly 

 yielding to the advance of civilization, and large areas in 

 the Chubut district and on the Rio Negro are already in the 

 hands of the sheep-farmer ; so that ere long we may expect 

 the same destruction to overtake the native animal life 

 which has already befallen that of the Argentine pampas. 

 It, therefore, behoves the natm'alist to use every eflbrt to 

 secure specimens of such animals as may prove to be new 

 before they are swept away by the relentless hand of 

 man. 



That there may be new species of opossums, if not of 

 other kinds of marsupials, as well as rodents, in Patagonia 

 is, I think, highly probable ; but what I wish to lay before 

 my readers in the present communication is the evidence 

 in favour of the existence in the interior of the country of 

 a small bird more or less closely allied to the rheas, or 

 South American ostriches, which are exclusively character- 

 istic of the continent from which they take their name. Up 

 to the present, European naturalists have had no suspicion 

 of the existence of the bird in question ; and since the 

 ostriches and their allies form a group of especial interest 

 both to the anatomist and to the student of the geographical 

 distribution of animals, the discovery of a new species, if 

 not a new genus, would be one of the most important 

 events in the history of modern ornithology. I say n-otdd 

 be with a purpose, because, unfortunately, we have no 

 actual specimen of this presumed new bird, which is at 

 present only known to us tangibly by a single egg. 



Before proceeding further, it is advisable to make brief 

 mention of the known existing representatives of the 

 ostrich-like birds, all of which are characterized by the 

 want of the power of flight, and the absence of a keel on 

 the front of the breast-bone. From the latter feature, the 

 group to which they belong is scientifically known as the 

 Piiitita (from riitis, a flat-bottomed boat), in contradis- 

 tinction to the CaiinntcB (carina, a keel), which include 

 (he whole of the remaining birds of the present day. 

 Commencing with the Australian and New Zealand 

 representatives of the group, we have first of all the 

 diminutive kiwis {Apteri/.r) of the latter country, dis- 

 tinguished from all their kindred not only by their small 

 dimensions, but likewise by their elongated and slender 

 bill, adapted for probing in soft ground for insect-food. 

 As a physiological peculiarity of the kiwis may be men- 

 tioned the enormous relative size of their eggs, which 

 appear nearly half as large as the bodies of the birds by 

 whom they are laid. 



Another group is formed by the cassowaries (Casuariits) 

 and emeus (Dihiikbus), the former of which range over the 

 Papuan islands and the northern part of AustraUa, while 

 the latter are exclusively Australian. Both these kinds of 

 birds are characterized by the feathers (which are more or 

 less hair-like in structure) being apparently double, owing 

 to the circumstance that the secondary or after-shaft of each 

 is as large as the main shaft. They also possess the common 

 feature of laying eggs of a dark green colour, with the 

 surface of the shell peculiarly roughened. The cassowaries, 

 of which there are nine or ten species, differ from the two 

 kinds of emeu by the horny helmet crowning the head, by 

 the great elongation of the innermost of the three toes, and 

 by some portion of the neck bemg bare, and generally 

 ornamented by pendant fleshy wattles. 



As the emeus and cassowaries form one well-marked 

 group of the ratite birds, so the ostrich and the rheas 

 constitute a second section ; the latter section being 

 distinguished by the normal structure of the feathers, and 

 the light colour and smooth surface of the shell of the egg. 

 Towering high above his kindred, the African ostrich 

 (Struthio) not only exceeds all other existing birds in height, 

 but differs from the whole of the other members of the 

 avian class, both recent and extinct, Ln the reduction of the 

 number of toes on each foot to two. Now although English 

 residents in South America, with that pertinacity for 

 applying Old World names to New "World animals for 

 which they are so distinguished, will insist on calling 

 rheas ostriches, the circumstance that they have three 

 instead of two toes clearly shows that they have no right to 

 that title. Rheas are represented by three species, namely 

 the common rhea [Ehca aimrkuna i, of which the eggs are 



