14 NATURE 
[ NOVEMBER 5, 1903 
priority,’’ as it is called by Dr. Gadow, in nomenclature, 
especially when there may be a doubt as to whether the 
names are really synonymous. In No. 76 (vol. xi.) of the 
zoological series of Publications of the Field Columbian 
Museum, Dr. D. G. Elliot directs attention to the use of 
the term Odocoileus for the American white-tailed deer 
and its relatives. That term was proposed by Rafinesque 
in 1832 for a fossil premolar of some kind of deer, which 
has been assumed to belong to the whitetail or some closely 
allied species. Even if this be really the case, Dr. Elliot 
doubts ** whether a genus founded upon some fossil remains 
of an otherwise entirely unknown animal of a past age 
should be unhesitatingly adopted for a group of existing 
species that may be, in the majority of its characters, 
widely different from the extinct form.’’ He further 
suggests the inadvisability of adopting palzontological 
names in any case for living forms, but adds that if such 
are used, the name Anoglochis, applied to European 
Tertiary deer, seems, as pointed out by Mr. Lydekker, to 
be available for the whitetail. It may be pointed out that, 
instead of giving a new name to the fossil deer-tooth, 
Rafinesque ought to have called it Cervus, and that by 
adopting Odocoileus we perpetuate an instance of ignorance 
and incapacity on the part of its proposer. 
REFERENCE may be made to another change of nomen- 
clature which, if adopted, is likely to cause the extreme of 
inconvenience with no resulting advantage. Almost from 
time immemorial the marmosets have been known as 
Hapale and the titi monkeys as Callithrix. In the October 
issue of the Annals, a well-known zoologist proposes to 
transfer the latter term to the marmosets (for which it 
appears to have been first employed) and to give a new 
name to the marmosets. In such instances, we venture to 
think, a ‘statute of limitations’’ should be insisted on, 
The replacement of well-established names is bad enough, 
but their transposition is unspeakable. 
Two parts of vol. x. of the Decennial Publications of the 
University of Chicago are to hand. In the one Mr. A. C. 
Eycleshymer treats of the early stages of the development 
of the bony pike (Lepidosteus osseus), as observed in living 
specimens and preserved material. After treating this ex- 
haustively, the author compares the phases with those of 
the few other living representatives of the enamel-scaled 
fishes, concluding with general remarks on the character 
and significance of yolk-cleavage, The view that similarity 
in the first four stages of cleavage indicates kinship between 
the bony pike and teleost fishes is not accepted. The 
second of the two is devoted to the results of a study 
of the development of colour and colour-pattern in beetles 
and in insects generally, by Mr. W. L. Tower. It appears 
that insects show two distinct types of coloration, the one 
—dermal (or cuticula) and hypodermal—as ancient as the 
group itself, and consisting of colours arranged in 
segmentally disposed spots and stripes, correlated with the 
deeper vital organs; the other, of much later origin, pro- 
duced by scales, or modified hairs. This secondary type 
tends to suppress and obscure the original one, and, being 
developed independently of the vital structures, permits of 
much greater variation and diversity ; it is, in fact, a purely 
ornamental type. The essential difference between the two 
may be realised by contrasting the sombre browns and 
yellows of the ground-beetles of the genus Carabus with 
the brilliant pattern of butterflies of the Vanessa group. 
Cuticula colouring (as shown in the beautifully coloured 
plate of beetles) commences in the fore part of the body, 
where the muscles first harden, and gradually spreads back- 
wards. It is clearly connected with the hardening of the 
cuticula, which tends to become brown, hence the preva- 
NO. 1775, VOL. 69] 
lence of browns and yellows in so many beetles and cock- 
roaches, metallic tints in the former being due, of course, 
to another cause. 
Dr. Wace Caruier and Mr. Lovatt Evans have made 
some interesting observations upon the so-called hiber- 
nating gland of the hedgehog (Journ. Anat. and Physiol., 
Xvili., part i.). This is of an orange colour when fully de- 
veloped, but becomes deeper in tint as the winter sleep 
progresses, until, towards its end, it is almost black. It 
at first averages 1-2 per cent. of the body weight, rises by 
the second month to 2-7 per cent., and then gradually falls 
I per cent. towards the close of hibernation. Careful 
analyses show that, to commence with, the gland contains 
40 per cent. of fat, and that this is reduced to 18 per cent. 
at the end of hibernation, the proteids during the same 
period showing a reduction of only 1 per cent. At the 
beginning of hibernation (October) the animals are exceed- 
ingly fat, but by the end of March all the fat stored in the 
tissues has disappeared. For the first month the weight 
of the hibernating gland falls rapidly, much fat being re- 
moved, but from then until the end of March there is little 
change, when again the gland loses weight owing to re- 
moval of its contained fat, and by the end of May it 
is completely exhausted and reduced to a mere fibrous cord. 
It would seem that life during hibernation is maintained 
practically upon fat alone, and that the hibernating gland 
is a store of fat reserved for this purpose. 
WE have received No. 9, vol. i., of the Scientific Roll 
conducted by Mr. Alexander Ramsay. It deals with the 
bacteria, which are arranged according to their size, no 
other information being given than the name of the 
organism and its ‘‘ size’’ position, We have already ex- 
pressed the opinion that this list is an example of misplaced 
energy, because there is no such thing as a fixed size for 
a bacterium, the size varying considerably with alterations 
in the nutrient soil and other conditions. 
Tue problem of tracing out the connection of flowering 
plants with lower types must always possess attraction for 
botanists. In a number of the Decennial Publications of 
Chicago, Prof. Coulter has expressed the general views 
held by botanists that a similar line of development is prob- 
ably not to be expected for monocotyledons and dicotyledons, 
and that neither of these groups are directly connected with - 
the gymnosperms. The positive suggestion is made that 
the origin of flowering plants is to be traced to that group 
of ferns which is represented at the present day by Marattia 
and Angiopteris. 
A GRapuic account of some of the curiosities of flora and 
fauna of the Auckland Isles and Campbell Island is given 
by Mr. L. Cockayne in the Lyttelton Times, wherein he 
relates the general impressions obtained during a short 
cruise in southern waters. Contrasts between the flora of 
these islands and that of New Zealand were observed in the 
brighter, generally purple or bluish tinge of colour, as com- 
pared with white or yellow tones which predominate in 
similar flowers found in New Zealand; this brightness is 
not associated with insect visitors, for they are wanting. 
Again, in New Zealand herbaceous plants rarely die down in 
winter, whereas in the southern islands many do so, but 
not owing to the cold, for the forests keep their summer 
aspect. On Adam’s Island Mr. Cockayne had an oppor- 
tunity of studying the nests of the albatross placed in ex- 
posed situations, where the solitary chicken remains on the 
nest for a year, and on the desolate Bounty Islands were 
found the nests of the mollyhawk, and numbers of animals, 
crustaceans, spiders and beetles which make their home in 
the guano or on the bare rocks, 
