Febri-ary, 1902. 



KNOWLEDGE 



37 



eat fish rather than starve, is no argument that thoy do 

 80 in their native state, when their stomachs are invariably 

 found to be filled with the remains of cephalopods. 



When the primeval ox of Europe ceased to exist as a 

 wild iuiimal, its name— aurochs— l)ecanie transferred to 

 the bison, and it is only of late years that it has been 

 relegated to its proper owner. A similar transference of 

 names has taken place in the case of the extinct South 

 African l>la;vubok (^Ilippotragns Jeucophcpus), whose title 

 was long assumed by the roan antelope, of which a wood- 

 cut appears in Wood's Nutunil Histonj under the former 

 name. Of late years, however, the distinctness of the 

 blaaubok has been fully recoguised by naturalists ; and 

 Mr. Graham Kenshaw, in the December number of Th>' 

 /,„./,./(',</, has done good service in collecting all the 

 available evidence concerning the extermination of this 

 interesting species, and in putting On record the specimens 

 known to be still in existence. The blaaixbok, it appears, 

 was always restricted to a small area in South Africa, 

 and ajipears to liave been Icilled out in 1800. There are 

 several mounted skins prestyved in different museums, 

 but noue, unfortunately, in our own national collection. 



At the meeting of the Zoological Society, held on 17th 

 December last, Mr. G. Metcalfe expressed his opinion 

 that naturalists are incorrect in stating that the Australian 

 duckbill really lays its eggs. He believed, after many 

 years' observation, that this remarkable mammal is 

 vivipai-ous, instead of, as generally believed, oviparous 

 So far as we are aware, there is ni) published account of 

 the eggs of the duckbill having been actually taken from the 

 nest in the burrow ; but the late Mr. J. D. Ogilvy iu his 

 "Catalogue of .Vustralian Mammals" (1892) makes the 

 definite statement that two eggs are laid there. Now that 

 the question has been raised, it may be hoped that the 

 matter will be thoroughly thrashed out. 



The Zoological Society have sustained a serious loss by 

 the death of their immature male giraffe, which took 

 place on the ninth of January. This animal, which was 

 purchased for a large sum iil 1899, was afflicted with a 

 "kink" in the neck, doubtless the result of an injury 

 received at or about the time of its capture ; the marvel is 

 that it did not die at a much earlier date. 



The following important message was recently received 

 from Major Ross, now investigating malaria and other 

 diseases on the West Coast of Africa:— "I have much 

 pleasure in informing you that Dr. Dutton has made a 

 very important discovery at Bathurst. He has found a 

 new kind of parasite which causes fever in human beings. 

 The parasite is like the one wliich causes the fatal tsetse 

 fly disease among horses in South Africa." 



An excellent idea iu the way of zoological gardens 

 has been stai-ttxl at Para, Brazil, in connection with the 

 well-known museum so ably directed by Dr. E. Goeldi. 

 Instead of buying foreign animals, the plan adopted in 

 these gardens is to collect only those inliabiting Brazil. 

 By this means, not only do the people learn to know 

 the fauna of their own country, but important infonna- 

 tion with regard to the same will almost certainly accnie 

 to science. Among other animals, a manati has been 

 exhibited. 



In an imjjortant paper by Mr. W. P. Pycraft, recently 

 published in the Journal of the Linuean Societv, the 

 author shows that the bony palate of the Ratit*, or 

 ostrich-like birds, differs essentially from those of the 

 Carina ta^ (we see no reason to follow Mr. Pycraft in 

 changing these familiar names) in several very important 

 particulars. It is also shown that the ratite tvpe of palate 

 (which also occurs in the tiuamus) is the older. Hitherto 



it does not appear to have been recognized that the palates 

 of all Carinata; differ in one and the same particular 

 from that of the Ratita>, but this the author demonstrates 

 to be the case. He also shows that the most ]]rimitive 

 type of carinate palate is that of the fowls, and the most 

 complex that of the ducks, owls, and certain other groups. 

 This complex (desmognathous) type of palate, he suggests, 

 may have been acquired independently in two or more 

 groups of birds, and is not therefore indicative of genetic 

 affinity. This paper is one of the . most valuable con- 

 tributions to avian morphology that has appeared for some 

 time. 



THE NOBODIES -A SEA-FARING FAMILY.' 



By Rev. T. R. R. STEnniNG, m..\., f.r.s., f.l.s. 

 CHAPTER I. 

 Before boring out the eye, the solitary eye, of the 

 stupefied Cyclops, Odysseus, in the Odyssey, took the 

 precaution of stating that his own name was Outis, or 

 Nobody. When the cruel cannibal, awaking to blind fury, 

 shouted for vengeance, his neighbours were not a little 

 mystified to hoar that the outrage had been wreaked upon 

 him by Nobody. They accordingly dispor.sed without 

 attempting to catch Nobody, or put Nobody to death. 

 Eventually, as we know, the so-called Nobody escaped by 

 the skin of his teeth, and the story of his adventures has 

 not ceased to fascinate the world during far more than 

 two thousand years. In the economy of nature there 

 occur bodies without limbs, bodies without apparatus for 

 feeding, and occasionally limbs capable of detachment 

 from bodies without loss of their own life and functional 

 activity. But, strictly speaking-, animals without bodies 

 are unknown to zoology. All that can be said for the 

 family now to be discussed is that they make an 

 uncommonly good attempt to supply the deficiency. 

 Socially we apply the term " nobodies " to persons who are 

 unckissed, whose names never come before the cultured 

 public, whose origin, qualities, and mode of existence are so 

 Uttle or so vaguely known that they neither attract the 

 attention nor influence the thought of the world. In this 

 sense also the group of marine animals now suing for 

 notice justifies the modest title under which it is led on to 

 the stage. Were it something absolutely novel, it might 

 be brought forward with circumstantial pomp and a 

 flourish of trumpets. It is too late for that now. Striiin 

 had a chance a hundred and forty years ago of exulting 

 over his Fliulangium marininn and Phalangium I'dtorale 

 as exceptions to the axiom that " there is nothing new 

 under the sun." But he missed his chance by the very 

 fact of assigning his discoveries to the genus Phalangiuvi, 

 thereby identifying them with the tracheate arachnids, 

 popularly known as "harvest men," a long-legged terrestrial 

 tribe, peculiar indeed, but not new. That Strom was not 

 able accurately to classify creatures, which had a familiar 

 look of being honest harvestmen, but belied their looks l)y 

 living in the sea or clambei-ing about between tidemarks, was 

 really not any discredit to Striim. A thin stream of highly 

 capable observers since his time have busied themselves 

 with the same creatures and their kindred. They have 

 studied many species. They have founded numerous 

 genera. They have assigned the whole group first to one 

 zoological class and then to another with a persistency of 

 irregular oscillation that no pendulum could imitate. The 

 end of it all is very like the beginning, the result being 

 that, place the group where you will in accepted orders, it 

 is only by force and not by fitness that it can be pushed 

 in. Such is the isolated and problematic position of the 

 Pycnogonida. 



