Marcu 24, 1904] 
those who have been accustomed to worl: of this nature are 
able to appreciate this fully. This is, however, by no means 
all, for the list before us differs from most of its predecessors 
in giving the family and ordinal groups to which the various 
genera respectively belong, thus not only greatly increasing 
the labour, but likewise vastly enhancing the value of Mr. 
Palmer’s ‘‘ Index.’’ 
Unpber the title of ‘‘ On Humanising the Animals,’’ Mr. 
J. Burroughs, in this month’s issue of the Century, continues 
his protest against the practice of attributing human powers 
of thought and prescience to animals. While admitting that 
the example of parents stimulates the imitative instincts of 
their offspring, the author insists that teaching—in the sense 
of imparting true knowledge—is conspicuous by its absence 
in all animals. Such communications as do pass between 
animals (and means of communication undoubtedly exist) re- 
late only to the present, and have no reference to either the 
past or the future. Hence they come under the denomin- 
ation of feeling or emotion, in contradistinction to know- 
ledge. Such communications are, however, undoubtedly of 
value to the young, which always thrive far better when 
reared by their parents than when brought up by hand. As 
regards the means by which large bodies of animals, such 
as flocks of starlings or peewits, herds of deer or antelope, 
or shoals of herring or mullet, act in complete unison, as if 
acting under the influence of a leader or a code of instruc- 
tion, the author is inclined to attribute the phenomenon to 
something analogous to telepathy in mankind. ‘ There is 
nothing,’’ he writes, “‘ in this state of things analogous to 
a military organisation. The relation among the members 
of the flock is rather that of creatures sharing spontaneously 
the same subconscious or psychic state, and acted upon by | 
the same hidden influence, in a way and to a degree that 
never occur among men.”’ 
Tue development of the giant salamander (Megalo- 
batrachus maximus) of Japan forms the subject of a paper 
by Dr. C. Kerbert, of Amsterdam, in No. 10 of vol. xxvii. 
of the Zoologisches Anzeiger. A female at Amsterdam laid 
a number of strings of eggs, which were deposited in a 
heap at the bottom of the water. As they lay there, the 
male on two occasions forced himself into the midst and 
communicated a vibrating motion to the whole mass, 
apparently to allow a free percolation of water between the 
eggs. This constitutes a new phase of the many examples 
in which male amphibians assist in the care or hatching 
of the eggs. The newly-hatched tadpoles have three pairs 
of external gills, and are remarkable for the circumstance 
that the extremities of the anterior limbs are bifid. The 
figures of certain newly-hatched tadpoles reproduced 
by the Messrs. Sarasin as those of the giant salamander 
have been shown to belong to Onychodactylus japonicus, 
and Dr. Kerbert’s specimens are therefore the first examples 
at this age known to science. 
Last May Major Leishman, R.A.M.C., described certain 
bodies which he believed to be parasitic in nature, and 
which were obtained from a case of fever with enlarged 
spleen (not malaria) contracted in India. These bodies 
have since been studied by Donovan, Laveran, Ross, and 
Manson and Low in cases of the disease known as kala 
azar. The parasite is a small rounded or ovoid body about 
3-7 in diameter, and either free or embedded in a matrix, 
in which case as many as twelve may be present in one 
mass. Each body consists of a larger and of a smaller 
mass of chromatin, and the free forms are encapsuled. 
These bodies have so far not been met with except in the 
spleen. Leishman at first believed that they were de- 
NO. 1795, VOL. 69] 
NATURE 
495 
generate trypanosomes, Laveran has placed them in the 
genus Piroplasma, but since they are not intracorpuscular 
this hardly seems to be correct, and Ross now considers 
that they may belong to a new genus of sporozoa, and 
suggests for them the name Leishmania donovani. 
WE have received from Mr. E. Philip, of Cardiff, a form 
of spinthariscope called Perman’s radioscope, which gives 
the now well-known scintillations on a blende screen with 
marvellous brilliancy. The following statement is made in 
the circular which accompanied it :—‘‘ The effect is some- 
what the same as in Crookes’s spinthariscope, but the 
radium is spread over a larger surface and produces a very 
pleasing and striking appearance, resembling a multitude 
of bright stars twinkling brilliantly in a dark sky. More- 
over, in different instruments different effects are produced 
owing to differences in the arrangement of the radium salt. 
The effect is produced by the radiation from the radium 
known as the a-rays, which consist of minute particles of 
atomic size; these are projected forth with great velocity, 
and when they strike the blende screen cause cleavage of 
the minute crystals which they meet, the cleavage being 
accompanied by a flash of light or scintillation. These or 
similar scintillations are being constantly produced spon- 
taneously in hexagonal blende, and can be seen at any time, 
when the eye is sufficiently sensitive, by looking into a radio- 
scope tube without any radium; but under the influence of 
the radium they are increased enormously in number and 
brightness.’? In the specimen forwarded to us sufficient 
variation of focus to suit different eyes is not provided. 
Tue Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society for 
February contains a short but interesting article by Mr. 
and Mrs. Clement Reid on their discovery of a probable 
Paleolithic floor at Prah Sands, about seven miles east of 
Penzance. This ancient floor was shown to overlie the 
raised beach, which rests on an uneven rocky platform that 
is about 15 feet above high-water mark. The floor is formed 
of loam which at one time was a true land surface, as it 
is full of small vertical roots. Towards the top of it is a 
black layer, with fragments of charcoal, burnt bone, and 
burnt earth. The authors conclude that here is evidence of a 
land surface on which Paleolithic man made hearths and 
lighted fires. They found also in this black layer pieces of 
vein-quartz, apparently fashioned into rude implements. 
Above this earthy deposit was a thick mass of angular 
detritus or ‘‘ head,’’ which was banked up against the old 
sea-cliff, and is generally considered to belong to the later 
stages of the Glacial period. In the same Journal Mr. E. T. 
Newton records the discovery, for the first time in Britain, 
of the remarkable genus of fishes known as Edestus. It 
was obtained from the Coal-measures of north Staffordshire. 
Prof. J. W. Gregory writes on the Glacial geology of north- 
west Tasmania in a well illustrated article, in which he 
shows that the lowest level at which evidence of Pleistocene 
glaciers has been found is 400 feet above sea-level. There 
is, however, evidence of more recent uplift of the land. 
Pror. S. P. LanGiey’s biographical notice of James 
Smithson, the founder of the Smithsonian Institution at 
Washington, has been reprinted from ‘‘ The Smithsonian 
Institution, 1846-1896: the History of its First Half 
Century,’’ edited by the late Dr. G. Brown Goode. 
A sEconpD edition of Dr. Holmes C. Jackson’s ‘‘ Directions 
for Laboratory Work in Physiological Chemistry ’’ has been 
published in New York by Messrs. John Wiley and Sons, and 
in London by Messrs. Chapman and Hall, Ltd. The book 
has been thoroughly revised, and numerous additions have 
been made to the subject-matter. 
