92 



NATURE 



[May 28, 1903 



NATURAL HISTORY NOTES. 

 V\J E learn from a contemporary that Mrs. Anderson has 

 ** recently presented to the British Museum the whole of 

 the zoological collections of her late husband, Dr. John 

 Anderson. The great value of this collection is that it com- 

 prises all the original specimens on which Dr. Anderson 

 based his great work on the mammals of Egypt. It also in- 

 cludes a collection made by Mr. T. Bent in the Hadramaut 

 district of Arabia, and many specimens procured by Mr. 

 H. F. Witherby in the Eastern Sudan — areas of which the 

 fauna was but imperfectly represented in the Museum. 



Visitors to the Natural History Museum will not fail to 

 notice the fine new pair of giraffes from East Central 

 Africa which have just been placed on the top of the flight 

 of steps to the right of the Darwin statue. They replace a 

 battered specimen which has been on exhibition since 1842. 

 The male is presented by Mr. Rothschild and the female 

 by Captain Powell-Cotton ; both are mounted bv Rowland 

 Ward. 



Bad Latin, as exemplified in scientific names, is, accord- 

 ing to Prof. Cockerell {Popular Science Monthly for 

 December, 1902), an evidence of too much narrowness and 

 too little general culture among American naturalists. As 

 regards the amount of zoological work done by the latter, 

 it has been estimated that this should be about one-seventh 

 of that of the whole world, and judging from the " Zoo- 

 logical Record," this estimate appears to be somewhat 

 exceeded by the reality. This, however, according to the 

 author, represents only a fraction of the work awaiting 

 to be done if only the number of labourers were sufficient. 

 " The Making of Biologists " forms the title of another 

 article by the same author in the April number of the 

 aforesaid serial, in which it is urged that, although 

 naturalists are undoubtedly " born " rather than " made," 

 yet that many are deterred by adverse circumstances from 

 embarking on the career most suited to their abilities. 



An English translation, by Mr. W. H. Clifford, of two 

 memorials presented respectively in 1895 and 1896 to the 

 Governor and Legislature of Para by Dr. H. Goeldi, direct- 

 ing attention to the destruction of white herons (egrets) and 

 scarlet ibises on the Lower Amazon, has been recently pub- 

 lished at Para. Whether protective legislation has been 

 the result of these appeals is not stated, but from the details 

 of the slaughter it is quite evident that such protection is 

 urgently needed. In an appendix the author directs atten- 

 tion to the possibilities of egret-farming, and states that 

 this has been established with successful results in Tunis. 

 Egret-plumes are worth more than their weight in gold, 

 and the profits from a " farm " of this nature, where the 

 feathers are cut from the birds at the proper season, ought 

 to be very large. 



In the May number of The Field Naturalists' Quarterly 

 the editor directs attention to the great increase in the 

 membership of field clubs and societies, and the multiplica- 

 tion of such institutions all over the country, as satisfactory 

 proof of the awakening of interest in natural history. 

 Among the articles in this number are one, by the Rev. 

 G. C. Bateman, on newts in spring, and a second, by Mr. 

 J. R. B. Masefield, on the white cattle of Chartley, Stafford- 

 shire, both illustrated. In the latter the author adopts the 

 view that British white park cattle are the descendants of 

 white sacrificial cattle introduced by the Romans, ignoring 

 the close relationship between the Chillingham herd and 

 the old Pembroke breed so strongly insisted on in Low's 

 " British Domesticated Animals." Apparently he has not 

 visited the domesticated series in the Natural History 

 Museum, or, at all events, has not read the descriptive 

 labels. 



Unusual interest attaches to an article by Prof. G. H. 

 Parker on the hearing of fishes in the March number of 

 the American Naturalist. After mentioning that the 

 sense of hearing is restricted to a small number of 

 animal groups — notably insects and vertebrates — and 

 is consequently a special development, the author 

 refers to recent investigations which have been thought to 

 prove that the ear of fishes is not connected with the 

 auditory_ function. This view he believes to be incorrect, 

 and he is convinced that fishes do hear sound-waves com- 

 municated through water. The intimate connection between 

 sound and touch is strongly insisted upon, and it is shown 

 that fishes — and, to a certain extent, amphibians — exhibit 



NO. 1752, VOL. 68] 



in a marked degree the connection between the tactile and 

 auditory senses by means of the lateral line system. The 

 three sets of sense-organs under consideration — namely, the 

 skin, the lateral line, and the ear — " may be regarded as- 

 having slightly different kinds of stimuli ; the skin being 

 affected by surface-waves and currents ; the lateral line 

 organs by slight inaudible movements of the whole mass 

 of water ; and the ears by the still more delicate vibrations- 

 of water particles, sound. . . . Hearing, then, is a most 

 delicate form of touching, and the organ of hearing has 

 developed late in the animal series because its processes- 

 are not original, but are derived from those of the more 

 primitive sense, touch." 



Indian Museum Notes, as exemplified by vol. v. No. 3, 

 maintains its high reputation as a chronicle of the economic 

 entomology of the Indian Empire, this part containing five 

 original communications from writers who are not members 

 of the museum staff, and an important series of notes by 

 the latter. In the first category Mr. E. P. Stebbing dis- 

 cusses the insect pests of the sugar-cane, while among the 

 second reference may be made to investigations which have 

 been undertaken in connection with insects found in drink- 

 ing water. It appears that in December, 1900, the filtering 

 beds of the Calcutta water-supply were swarming with a 

 dipterous larva, which on examination proved to belong 

 to the midge Chironomus cubiculorum, while in the follow- 

 ing year the lake in the city of Colombo, Ceylon, was 

 found to be so infested with the larva of a member of the 

 same genus as to be dangerous to health. Special means 

 for exterminating this " lake-fly " are suggested by the 

 Government entomologist. 



We learn from the April number of its official organ, the 

 Emu, that the Australian Ornithologists' Union has 

 successfully completed the first year of its existence, and 

 that its work is steadily progressing. The excellence of its 

 journal speaks for itself, and it may be regarded as a proof 

 of its success that the present part contains a beautiful 

 coloured plate, by H. Gronvold, of blue wrens (Malurus), 

 Perhaps the most noteworthy feature of the work of the 

 Australian O. U. relates to the protection of indigenous 

 birds, and the prevention of the trade in so-called " osprey " 

 plumes. It is most satisfactory to learn that action has 

 been taken for the better protection of the colonies of egrets 

 in Victoria, which were so ruthlessly attacked for the sake 

 of their plumes, with the result that the Government has 

 decided to protect them throughout the year. Suggestions 

 have been forwarded to the Government of Queensland with 

 regard to the advisability of reserving certain islands for 

 the peculiar Torres Strait or nutmeg pigeon, and efforts 

 have been made to secure one of the Victorian lakes as a 

 breeding-reserve for wild-fowl. The Tasmanian Govern- 

 ment has also been approached with a view of preventing 

 -the wholesale destruction of the eggs of the Cape Barren 

 geese breeding in certain islands of Bass Strait, since it is 

 feared that the species is in danger of extermination. 

 Action has likewise been taken to ensure the protection of 

 the colonies of petrels, or " mutton-birds," breeding on 

 Phillip Island. 



" Os Mosquitos no Pard " forms the title of a pamohlet 

 by Dr. E. Goeldi, recently issued by the Government Press 

 of Para. 



To the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal (vol. 

 Ixxi. No. 2) Mr. K. B. Sanyal contributes some observations 

 on the habits of the orang-utan in captivity. 



We have received the report of the Rugby School Natural 

 History Society for 1902, which contains a prize essay 

 on the Tertiary rocks of Hampshire, by Mr. H. A. Ormerod, 

 and shows that the Society continues to prosper. 



In the Boletin of the Agricultural Commission on Para- 

 sites of Mexico (vol. i. No. 8), Prof. T. D. A. Cockerel! 

 describes a new scale-insect (Neolecanium herrerae) infest- 

 ing, agave ; while in the February number of Psyche the 

 same writer records several new races of various species of 

 the same group belonging to the genus Eulecanium. 



The Boletim of the Para Museum contains, among other 

 papers, a list of the birds of Amazonia, extracted from the 

 British Museum Catalogue, and a descriptive synopsis of 

 the lizards of Brazil, both by Dr. E. Goeldi. Botanists 

 will be interested in a paper on the " rubber-trees " of 

 Amazonia, by Dr. J. Huber, as well as in a fifth instalment 

 of the same author's account of the Amazonian flora. 



