February 26, 1903] 



NATURE 



399 



and 39'38 in. Discussing the temperatures at I9'68 in. and 

 3938 in. in detail, Father Algue finds that at the former 

 depth the minimum of the year falls in December and the 

 maximum in May ; the minimum of the day occurs at 

 6 a.m., a secondary minimum at noon, and the maximum 

 about 10 a.m. The daily range varies from about 6° C. in 

 April to about 3 C. in the coldest months of the year ; 

 temperature is nearly constant from midnight to 6 a.m. 

 At a depth of 39'38 in. the minimum temperature usually 

 falls in December and the maximum in May ; a large oscil- 

 lation takes place from about 6 a.m. to 10 a.m., followed 

 by a slight descent until 11 a.m.; from January to May 

 temperature remains low to about 4 p.m., rises slightly 

 until 5 p.m., and then remains steady all night until 6 a.m. 



The affective quality of auditory rhythm is the subject of 

 a paper by Mr. Robert MacDougall in the Psychological 

 Review for January, which deals more particularly with the 

 external conditions of pleasurable or painful feeling in 

 rhythm. Mr. MacDougall considers that the qualities of a 

 rhythmical sequence which render it gay or restful ire 

 not attributable to secondary associations, but to the rhythm 

 itself, and in particular to a relation of agreement between 

 the rate of the rhythm and the prevailing mood of the 

 observer. Variations in intensity of the rhythmical element 

 are much less marked in their effect than variations oi 

 tempo. In regard to the proportion between the lengths 

 of the various elements within the rhythm, it is found that 

 those forms are the most pleasing in which the accentuated 

 element is lengthened (as is commonly done in the recital 

 of music or poetry), but a marked difference exists between 

 trochaic and dactylic forms. In the former, equality of 

 the two elements is the least pleasing form, while inverted 

 types in which the unaccented element is lengthened have 

 a peculiar character of their own which produces an agree- 

 able sensation. In the dactylic form, the inversion of the 

 intervals so as to give greater length to the unaccented 

 element produces a more displeasing effect than absolute 

 uniformity. The feeling of monotony when a rhythm is 

 repeated is attributed to the tendency to differentiate be- 

 tween successive groups, and to combine them into larger 

 rhythmical unities. The pleasure derived from pure rhythm 

 is more marked in music than in poetry, where its continuity 

 is continually interrupted by the stream of images aroused 

 by the articulate sounds which support it. 



Mr. W. R. Ogilvie Grant, of the Natural History 

 Museum, has started on a collecting expedition to the 

 Azores. Such an excellent all-round collector ought to 

 obtain many novelties. 



The case of " recent additions " in the central hall of 

 the British Natural History Museum contains an interest- 

 ing series illustrative of burrowing animals. The exhibit 

 at present includes a number of mammals, such as the 

 common mole, star-nosed mole, golden moles, sand-moles, 

 naked sand-rat, marsupial mole and duckbill, together with 

 various burrowing snakes, beetles, molluscs, &c, as well 

 as one species of bird. 



In Naturwissenschaftliche Wochenschrift of February 8 

 Dr. von Linden concludes his paper on the markings of 

 animals, making special reference to the effects of change 

 of temperature on those of the Lepidoptera, and pointing out 

 that by means of such variations what are practically new 

 species may be artificially produced. 



In the course of the second part of his article on the nests 

 of bees, published in the Biologisches Ccntralhlatt of Feb- 

 ruary 1, Dr. von Buttel-Reepen publishes a phylogenetic 

 table of the Apidae, in which the honey-bees (Apinee) and 

 NO. I 739, VOL. 67] 



the stingless bees (Meliponinaj) are regarded as forming 

 diverging branches from the ancestral humble-bees 

 ( Rombinae). 



In response to a suggestion of Prof. Bardeleben, to the 

 effect that a fresh study of the anatomy of generalised types 

 of the different groups of vertebrates could scarcely fail to 

 lead to good results, Dr. H. H. Wilder undertook the de- 

 tailed examination of the skeleton of the American spotted 

 salamander (Necturus maculatus). The result of his work, 

 with numerous illustrations, forms vol. v., No. 9, of the 

 Memoirs of the Boston Natural History Society. 



In a note in vol. xxvi. of the Proceedings of the U. S. 

 National Museum, Mr. M. W. Lyon records the interesting 

 fact that the females of the American bats formerly known 

 as Atalapha, but now generally termed Lasiurus, are 

 furnished with two pairs of mammae, and generally produce 

 from three to four young ones at a birth. A photograph 

 of a female of the common North American L. borealis, 

 with four young, is reproduced. Later on in the same 

 volume Dr. L. Stejneger records the rediscovery of the 

 Salamandra quadrimaculata of Holbrook, which inhabits 

 Georgia and the Carolinas, and is entitled to rank as a dis- 

 tinct species of the genus Desmognathus. 



The Irish Naturalist for February records the breeding 

 of that essentially Arctic bird, the red-necked phalarope, in 

 the west of Ireland. In a series of notes on the birds of 

 the Outer Hebrides, published in the Annals of Scottish 

 Natural History for 1902 and January, 1903, Mr. J. A. 

 Harvie-Brown adds the same species, together with the 

 lesser tern, the pochard and the scaup-duck to the list of 

 birds breeding in those islands. Mr. Brown mentions that 

 although about 25,000 sea-birds of various kinds are 

 annually killed by the islanders for food, yet this slaughter 

 has no perceptible effect on the numbers of the feathered 

 inhabitants of the islands. On the contrary, fulmar-petrels 

 are steadily on the increase, and annually extending their 

 breeding range. 



The Emu for January contains the presidential address 

 of Colonel Legge read before the congress of the Austral- 

 asian Ornithologists' Union. Reference is made to the 

 good work done by the members of the Union, and especially 

 to the success which has attended their official journal, 

 the Emu. It is hoped that before long means may be 

 found of illustrating that periodical, when necessary, with 

 coloured plates. One of the most important papers to which 

 the president referred is Mr. Le Souef's note on the feathers 

 of the emeu, in which it was pointed out that although the 

 barring characteristic of the nestling plumage usually 

 vanishes in the first year, yet that it occasionally reappears. 

 Regret was expressed that the Tasmanian emeu, which prob- 

 ably belonged to a distinct race, was allowed to be extermin- 

 ated before its characteristics were described. An excellent 

 plate of a little penguin, with young, on its nest, forms a 

 feature of the January number. 



In a paper on the Coleoptera of Colorado, published in 

 vol. v., No. 3, of the Bulletin of the Iowa University, Mr. 

 H. F. Wickham makes the following general remarks : — 

 " The phenomena of distribution in Colorado are of much 

 interest. Within a radius of a few miles we may find assem- 

 blages of species representing at least three distinct faunae. 

 The first, that of the great plains surrounding the moun- 

 tains, is marked by a great development of wingless or 

 imperfectly winged forms, probably largely invaders from 

 the south, where we may suppose that the arid deserts first 

 made their appearance, and where this characteristic feature 

 is more in evidence among the beetles. . . . Occasionally 

 these forms leave their natural haunts and extend for long 



