Bibliographical Notice, 04 7 



subspecies are described, amongst them the Kilimanjaro lion. Lions 

 abounded in the steppe-zone, but only two examples were shot, and 

 one of those was diseased, its nasal cavity being tilled with Penta- 

 stomids and Nematodes. Concerning the very asymmetrical skull 

 of a giraffe with large exostoses on the right side and the right 

 ossicone much thicker and shorter than the left, Dr. Lonuberg makes 

 the interesting suggestion that the asymmetry was brought about 

 by the giraffe always butting with the right side of the head. A 

 very similarly deformed skull has been obtained by Major Powell- 

 Cotton in S. Lado. Considering that thirteen bird-collectors have 

 visited Kilimanjaro, Dr. Sjostedt did well to find seventy-five species 

 new to the district, three new species and one new subspecies ; his 

 bionomic notes are full of interest to the ornithologist. It was, of 

 course, amongst the Invertebrata that the largest haul of new 

 species was made, and the great majority of these are insects. The 

 adult of one of the three ffistrid larva3 which infest the East- 

 African rhinoceros was successfully bred, and proves to be a new 

 species, SpatMcera meruensis; it is interesting to note that this fly 

 is a good mimic of a large Sphegid wasp, as was noted by Mr. S. A. 

 Neave in N.E. Ehodesia. Dr. Sjostedt neglected no method whereby 

 his collections might be increased : on setting fire to the grass in 

 the prairie zone he observed hundreds of insects fleeing before the 

 flames and smoke ; amongst them were numerous Phasmidae, which, 

 on account of their cryptic habits and appearance, had till then 

 defied the closest scrutiny of the collector. One of the most 

 interesting memoirs is that in which the peculiar growths on acacia- 

 trees inhabited by ants are discussed. Dr. Sjostedt believes that 

 the ants have nothing to do with the production of the " galls," but 

 that they have merely taken advantage of strictly normal structures 

 which happen to be suitable as shelters and nesting-places. Thus 

 he brings his observations into line with those of recent workers 

 on " myrmecophily " in plants, and consequently is in opposition 

 to the school typified by Belt and Beccari. 



Enough, perhaps, has been said to show that these volumes, 

 besides containing a wealth of information for the pure systematist, 

 bristle with points of general interest for all naturalists. It is 

 difficult to know if Dr. Sjostedt is more to be congratulated on the 

 energy and zeal with which, in sjute of attacks of malaria and 

 blackwater fever, he formed these immense collections, or on the 

 catholicity of his owii studies of his collections, or on the 

 rapidity with which these volumes have been published. To bring 

 to a successful issue a monograph of this nature within four years 

 is a work of which any man might well be proud. I can find only 

 two words of adverse criticism. No good map accompanies the 

 volumes. It is a pity that the proofs of thosenon-British zoologists, 

 who elected to write their memoirs in English, were not more care- 

 fully revised ; we should then have been spared such barbarisms as 

 "youngs " (for " young ones "), "splitted up," and " changements." 



E. S. 



