l.-Jl 



KNOWLEDGE. 



[June, 1902. 



allowed a fair amount of light to pass throiit,'b to the 

 seedlings ; ami the cotvlcilons were distiiictlv j^reon. there 

 being, however, a ver}- small d<'veloj)nu'nt of ciilorophvll. 

 Precocious germination sometimes occurs in the orange 

 and other species of OltriiK. in the papaw {Cnrira Papnyn ), 

 in Dipteroearpaceie, and in Ithizophoraicie. It is known 

 also in Liliacpie, as illustratod by an exhibition, af tiic 

 meeting of the Tiinnean Society on April 3rd, of some seeds 

 of a Dracaena, which had developed into small plants 

 while the berries were still hanging on the parent. 



Herr H. Moliseh records in the Berirhte (Irr (leiitsrhcn 

 liotanifcht'ii Ge»elhchaft, 1901, p. 32, his observations on 

 variegation in a variety of cabbage (llransira olerareti 

 arfiphala). This when cultivated in an unheated liouse 

 during the winter bore distinctly variegated leaves, but in 

 the summer it was noticed in more than a Imndred 

 individnaLs concerned in tlie experiment that the variega- 

 tion completely disappeared, to return in the autumn and 

 winter, reaching its highest development about the end of 

 February. This peculiarity was not affected by the 

 nature of the soil in which the plants were cultivated, but 

 appeared to be wholly duo to the changes in temperature. 

 Plants removed from a cold house to a warm one in the 

 winter became green, the process beginning in from eight 

 to fourteen davs and being completed in about a month. 

 — S. A. S. 



ZoOLOGicAi.. — For many years those remarkable West 

 African lemurs known as the potto and the awantibo — 

 both characterised by the abortion of the index finger — 

 were the sole known i-epresentatives of their respective 

 genera, the second of the two being extremely rare in 

 collections. In 1879, a potto from the Gaboon was, how- 

 ever, described by a French naturalist as distinct, on 

 account of its larger size, longer head, shorter tail, and 

 greyer tone of coloi'ation. Quite recently, Mr. W. E. de 

 Winton, m a paper contributed to the January number of 

 the Annals and Magazine of Natural Historij, has added a 

 species from the French Congo to each group. The new 

 potto (PerorUciicns bafesi) is intermediate in size between 

 the other two species, and of a richer and more rufous 

 colour than either, the tint being almost that of red 

 mahogany. The Congo a'.vantibo {Ardocehits aureus) 

 differs from the typical species of Old Calabar by its 

 inferior size, still shorter tail, in which the terminal hairs 

 are stiff and closely pressed together, and the liright 

 golden colour of the fur. which shows no black tips to the 

 hairs. It may l>e added that the awantibos differ from 

 the pottos by the structure of the hand, the fuller develop- 

 ment of the cheek-teeth, the absence of a projecting ridge 

 of the skull above the aperture of the ear, and of pro- 

 jecting processes to the vertebrae of the neck. 



An interesting discovery has been made by Miss D. Bate 

 in certain limestone caves in Cyprus, This consists of 

 remains of a hi])popotamus of even smaller size than the 

 one from the Maltese bone-fissures, and only about half 

 the dimensions of the common African species. The 

 describer, Dr. Forsyth Major, regards the Cyprian species 

 as the true Hijipopotamus minutus of Cuvier, and con- 

 siders that it displays aflinities on the one hand with the 

 living pigmy hippopotamus of W^est Africa, and on the 

 other with an extinct Italian representative of the group. 

 The occurrence in Cyprus of this dwarf fossil hippo- 

 potamus is considered to be confirmatory of the view that 

 many of the later Tertiary mammals of the Mediterranean 

 islands were slightly modified survivors of species which 

 disappeared at an earlier date from the adjacent main- 

 land. 



Naturalists have long been familiar with a group 



of exthict crocodiles from the Kimeridge and Oxford 

 clays of which Geunaitras, DnrntauruH and Milriorhym-hnu 

 are the best known rejiresentatives. It has also been 

 long known that these reptiles lacked the bony scutes in 

 tlie skin of the back charact^^-ristic of ordinary crocodiles, 

 and likewise that the fore-limbs were relatively small and 

 weak, and that the eyes were furnisheil with a ring of bonv 

 ]dates similar to those of the ichthyosaurs, or fish-lizards. 

 From the associated remains, it was also evident that 

 these crocodiles must have been marine. The structure of 

 the lower portion of the limbs has, however, hitherto been 

 unknown. This gap in our knowledge has been bridijeil 

 over by the recent discovery in the upper Jurassic strata "f 

 the Continent of two nearly complete skeletons of members 

 of the group, one belonging to the genus Ifarosaurng, and 

 the other to Geosaurus. These valuable and interesting 

 specimens have Ijeen described by Professor E. Fraas in a 

 recent issue of the German Paln'ontofjra i)hica, where a 

 restoration of the form of the living animal is attempted. 

 From the structure of the skeleton, it is quite evident that 

 the fore-limbs were short and paddle-like, but the hind 

 pair departed less widely from the ordinary type. The 

 jaws were relatively long and armed with powerful teeth ; 

 and it is considered probable that the long tail terminated 

 in a strong vertical fin. The creature must apparently 

 have been a formidable rival to the ichthyosaurs and 

 plesiosaurs of the Jurassic seas. 



On a previous occasion reference has been made in these 

 columns to the remarkable lower Eocene vertebrate fauna 

 recently discovered in the Fayum district of Egypt, of 

 which a part has been described by Mr. C. W. Ajidrews. 

 Mr. H. J. L. Beadnell, in a paper published by the Survey 

 Department at Cairo, gives a note, accompanied by figures, 

 of a remarkable horned ungulate skull, for which the 

 name Arsinotherium is proposed. At the conclusion 

 the author states that Arsinotherium, so far as can be 

 judged by the character of the teeth, is probably " an 

 ancestral form of rhinoceros." From the figure of the 

 teeth (which is far from satisfactory), we take leave to 

 state that this is precisely what the creature cannot have 

 been. 



Every step in the evolutionary history of the man-like 

 apes, and therefore of man himself, has more than 

 ordinary interest for the naturalist. It is accordingly a 

 matter of satisfaction to find that the pedigree has been 

 carried one step further back in time by the discovery in 

 the middle Tertiary of Swabia of teeth of a small ape 

 recently described by Professor Max Sehlosser under the 

 name of Aiitliropodiis hrancoi. This ape is regarded as the 

 probable ancestor of the long-known DryopitJiecus of the 

 French Miocene. 



American naturalists continue to describe species and 

 sub-species of rodents literally by the dozen. For 

 instance, in a paper contributed to the rroceedinys of the 

 Washington Academy, Dr. Hart Merriam names no less 

 t han twenty-three mice of the genus B/M7/iro(7oH/omy« as new. 

 Whether these are really entitled to rank as new species 

 or races, it is almost, if not quite, impossible for English 

 naturalists to decide, owing to the fact that no skull- 

 measurements are given. In place of this, the skull is 

 said to be longer or shorter, or wider or narrower, than 

 that of the species with which it is comjiared, as the case 

 may be. If this omission has been made on purpose, 

 it is scarcely playing the game fairly, as it prevents 

 naturalists other than American from determining new 

 species, or revising those already named. 



The raking-up of obscure names to replace those long 

 in use for well-known animals seems carried to an un- 



