i 



July i6, 1903] 



NATURE 



255 



Anchilophus desmaresti. The brain of this mammal, it 

 appears, although essentially primitive, exhibits all the 

 characteristic ungulate features, with a marked approxima- 

 tion towards the modern perissodactyle type. 



To the June number of the Zoologist Mr. Lydekker 

 contributes a note on the probable use of the bilobed canine 

 tooth of the giraffe and its allies, which forms the outer- 

 most of the four pairs of lower front teeth. It has been 

 iliserved that, when browsing, a giraffe (unlike a deer or 

 111 antelope) strips the leaves from the branches without 

 biting off the twigs, and it is inferred that the complex 

 structure of the canine is designed to aid in this " comb- 

 ing " action. 



The June issue of the Economic Proceedings of the Royal 

 Dublin Society is devoted to an aiccbunt, by Mr. G. H. 

 Carpenter, of injurious insects and other animals observed 

 in Ireland during 1902. Special interest attaches to two 

 excellent illustrations, one showing the caterpillar of the 

 ghost swift moth (Hepialns htimtili) feeding on the roots of 

 wheat, and the other the injury done to young wheat by 

 the maggot of the wheat-bulb fly (Hylemyia coarctata). 

 Reference is made to the new fern-weevil {Syagrius 

 intrudens) recently described by Mr. Waterhouse on the 

 evidence of imported specimens found in the fern-houses at 

 the Royal Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin. 



The Cairo Survey Department has recently published a 

 preliminary description, by Messrs. Andrews and Beadnell, 

 of the remains of a giant land tortoise (Testudo ammon) 

 from the Eocene of the Fayum district. The especial 

 interest of this form is its antiquity, which far exceeds that 

 of all other known members of the group. Dr. Andrews 

 thinks it probable that T. ammon is the ancestral form of 

 the giant tortoises met with in several European Tertiary 

 horizons, and that the existing African T. pardalis may be 

 a small survivor of the group, to which the Siwalik 

 T. atlas and T. cautleyi, and the existing T. sumeirei (the 

 well-known giant tortoise of Port Louis) may also pertain. 



In the current number of the Zeitschrift fiir physikalische 

 Chemie Prof. F. Kohlrausch gives a summary of the work 

 which he has carried out during the last thirteen years on 

 the electrical conductivity of saturated solutions of slightly 

 soluble salts. In all forty-one such salts have been investi- 

 gated, and the electrical conductivities determined at 

 different temperatures. The data are to be used for the 

 calculation of the solubilities of the various salts, and the 

 numbers, which must be of considerable value to the 

 analytical chemist, are to appear in a later paper. 



The results of a careful investigation by Dr. Freundlich 

 ■on the precipitation of colloidal solutions by electrolytes are 

 published in the current number of the Zeitschrift fjir 

 physikalische Chemie. The capacity of different electrolytes 

 for precipitating the colloids is dependent, in a large 

 measure, on the valency of the ions, this capacity increasing 

 •with increase of valency. For colloids which show anodic 

 convection under the influence of an electric current, the 

 nature of the anion is without influence, whilst for those 

 which exhibit kathodic convection the precipitation is in- 

 dependent of the nature of the cation. 



An interesting account of the behaviour of chlorine to- 

 wards benzene under the influence of various catalytic 

 agents is given by Mr. Slator in the Journal of the Chemical 

 Society. With iodine chloride as catalytic agent, about 

 70 per cent, of the reacting chlorine is used up in the pro- 

 duction of chlorobenzene, while the remaining 30 per cent, 

 •disappears in the formation of the addition compound 



chloride are employed as catalysers, the whole of the chlorine 

 is used up in the substitution reaction. On the other hand, 

 when chlorine interacts with benzene under the influence 

 of light, addition only takes place. 



For many years past it has been the practice of the Iron 

 and Steel Institute to republish from time to time rare and 

 interesting papers relating to the history and manufacture 

 of iron and steel. With the permission of the council of 

 the British Association, the institute has now added to 

 the series the report presented by Bunsen and Playfair 

 to the British Association at Cambridge in 1845, on " The 

 Gases Evolved from Iron Furnaces, with Reference to the 

 Theory of the Smelting of Iron." This research has long 

 been looked upon as a model of the application of the 

 methods of scientific investigation to the elucidation of 

 industrial problems. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during 

 the past week include a Macaque Monkey {Macacus cyno- 

 mblgus) from India, presented by Miss Gayner Rowland ; 

 two Bristly Ground Squirrels {Xerus capensis) from South 

 Africa, presented by Mr. H. J. Palmer ; a Ruddy Ground 

 Squirrel {Xerus rutilus) from Burao, East Africa, presented 

 by Mr. Bennett Burleigh ; a Brazilian Tapir {Tapirus 

 americanus), a Red Brocket {Cariacus rufus) from ManAos, 

 Brazil, presented by Mr. Charles Booth; a Grand Galago 

 (Galago crassicaudata) from East Africa, presented by 

 Captain C. Mylton Thornycroft ; three Fat-tailed Desert 

 Mice {Pachyuromys dupresi) from Egypt, presented by Dr. 

 H. P. Keatinge ; an Undulated Grass Parrakeet {Melop- 

 sittacus undulatus) from Australia, a Goldfinch {Carduelis 

 elegans), European ; a Red-bellied Waxbill {Estrelda rubi- 

 ventris) from West Africa, a Yellow-bellied Liothrix {Lio- 

 thrix luteus) from India, presented by Mrs. Halsey Ralph 

 Ricardo ; a Punjaub Sheep {Ovis cycloceros) from North- 

 west India, two White-necked Cranes {Anthropoides leuca- 

 chen) from Japan, four Demoiselle Cranes (Anthropoides 

 virgo) from North Africa, purchased ; a Burrhel Sheep {Ovis 

 burrhel), a Sambur Deer {Cervus aristotelis), born in the 

 Gardens. 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 



Comet 1903 c. — A new ephemeris, calculated from new 

 elements by Herr M. Ebell, is given in Kiel Circular No. 

 62. It extends to a later date than the one previously 

 published by M. Fayet, and also varies slightly from that 

 one. The following data are given for the four last dates 

 included in the new ephemeris : — 



Ephemeris 12/4. {M.T. Berlin). 



\o% A Brightness 



The following observations of this comet are recorded 

 in No. 3882 of the Astronomische Nachrichten. 



Dr. Meyermann, using the Kreutz micrometer on a 6-inch 

 comet-seeker, and Prof. Ambronn, with the Repsold helio- 

 meter, record that on June 23 the comet was 2' in diameter 

 and had a faint tail, whilst for June 24 the latter observer 

 records that in difficult " seeing " a faint tail extending 

 towards the south was seen. 



Prof. Hartwig, using the Bamberg heliometer, records 

 that on June 23 the nucleus was between the tenth and 

 eleventh magnitudes, and the tail was of the divided form, 

 having a mean position angle of 250°, whilst the coma was 

 about lo' in diameter. 



Prof. Millosevich, observing at Rome with a 39cm. 

 equatorial and a filar micrometer on June 23, recorded a 



^ , . 95 magnitude nucleus, and a very short tail, which ex- 



benzene hexachloride. When tm tetrachloride and ferric tended in a S.S.W. direction. 



NO. 1759, VOL. 68] 



