53° 
NATURE 
[APRIL 7, 1904 
quadrivalent character of the oxygen atom, which re- 
ceived such remarkable confirmation a few years ago 
through the researches of Prof. Norman Collie and his 
colleagues, now finds definite expression in the formule 
of the oxazines and certain other colouring matters. 
In two respects the present edition differs from its 
predecessor. The tables for the qualitative examin- 
ation of colouring matters have been omitted, and in 
their place a section on the natural dyestuffs has been 
added at the end of the tables of artificial colouring 
matters. This new section is of interest from many 
points of view. It serves, in the first place, to remind 
us that natural dyestuffs have not yet been entirely 
superseded by synthetical coal-tar products. It also 
brings out the fact that with respect to the chemistry 
of these vegetable colouring matters pure science is in 
advance of technology, inasmuch as the constitutional 
formula of the majority of these compounds has been 
determined with more or less probability. With the 
exception, however, of luteolin, the colouring matter 
of weld, which has been synthesised by Kostanecki 
and his colleagues, none of the products entered in this 
last table have been produced by laboratory processes. 
Such important colouring matters and dyestuffs as 
hematoxylin from logwood, brazilin from Brazil wood, 
quercetin from quercitron, and rhamnetin from Persian 
berries have for many years been undergoing investi- 
gation here and abroad, and some or all of these may 
have to be transferred to the tables of artificial pro- 
ducts by the time this work reaches a new edition. 
Supposing such syntheses to be accomplished, the 
struggle between the synthetical and the natural pro- 
ducts will no doubt furnish the industrial world with 
further material for serious reflection. Whether the 
result of the artificial production of these outstanding 
members of a group which supplied the world with 
dyestuffs before the discovery of the coal-tar products 
will be the same as that which followed the synthesis 
of alizarin, and threatens to follow the synthesis of 
indigo, it would be extremely rash to predict. 
The usual considerations respecting the loss of the 
coal-tar colour industry to this country cannot but arise 
in looking through the present series of tables. The 
enormous development to which attention has been 
directed in this notice is almost entirely due to German 
discoveries. The hundreds of patents referred to in 
the bibliographical columns are German by an over- 
whelming majority. The causes of this decadence of 
what was originally a British industry have been so 
frequently discussed that it would appear that nothing 
further is to be gained by their reiteration. Of late 
years, however, two subordinate causes of this decline 
have been thrust upon public notice with such vehe- 
mence that the uninitiated may be led to believe that the 
“imperfection of our patent laws’? and the want oi 
“duty free spirit ’ have together wrecked manufactur- 
ing enterprise in this direction. The present writer is 
glad of this opportunity of expressing dissent from 
these statements. An amendment of our patent laws 
is certainly desirable, and duty free spirit would un- 
questionably be a boon for certain branches of manu- 
facture. But to exalt these, which may be called minor 
British failure and German success is simply dragging” 
the proverbial red herring across the trail. 
No further commendation of the well-known worl: 
which has led to these reflections is necessary than the 
statement that it is as indispensable as its predecessor 
t> all who are in any way concerned in this branch of 
chemistry and of chemical technology. 
R. MELpoLa. 
THE MALAY FAUNA. 
Fasciculi Malayenses. Results of an Expedition under- 
taken by N. Annandale and H. C._ Robinson. 
Zoology. Parts i., ii. and Supplement. By various 
authors. (London : Longmans, Green and Co., 1903.) 
()" late years, mainly owing to the labours of 
Captain Stanley Flower and to the collections 
made by the Skeat Expedition (of which, by the way, 
Mr. Annandale was a member), very considerable ad- 
vances-:have been made in our knowledge of the verte- 
brate fauna of the Malay countries. So large, indeed, 
was the amount of new information thus acquired that 
it might have been supposed little more remained to 
be accomplished. If such an idea were ever seriously 
entertained, it is, however, at once disposed of by the 
work before us, which, as stated on the title-page, is 
intended, when complete, to give a full account of the 
anthropological and zoological results of an expedition 
to Perak and the Siamese Malay States undertaken 
during the years 1901 and 1902 by Messrs. Annandale 
and Robinson, under the auspices of the Universities 
of Edinburgh and Liverpool. That the wise liberality 
of these two bodies has been amply justified is fully 
demonstrated by the present parts, which form only 
a foretaste of what is to come. 
In the introductory note to the mammals, Mr. 
Robinson states that he was not so successful in the 
capture of these creatures as he had hoped to be, and 
that, in his opinion, there are many new small forms 
yet to be discovered. Nevertheless, Mr. J. L. Bonhote, 
to whom this section of the work has been entrusted, 
announces the discovery of eight new species. Among 
these, the most interesting are, perhaps, a cat 
and a squirrel respectively allied to Felis badia and 
Sciurus lowei of Borneo, and thus indicating a close re- 
lation between the faunas of that island and the Malay 
Peninsula. Not less important is the identification of 
the Malay porcupine with the Histrix grotei of Gray, 
hitherto known solely by one young example. 
Of even greater interest 1s the series of reptiles and 
amphibians, which is described by Mr. G. A. 
Boulenger. In collecting reptiles for the Skeat Ex- 
pedition, Mr. Annandale paid special attention to 
snakes; on the second occasion his attentions were 
mainly devoted to lizards; consequently the two collec- 
tions are complementary. Mr. Boulenger describes as 
new two frogs, as many tortoises, a lizard and a 
snake, while he adds one snake and three lizards to 
the fauna of the Malay Peninsula. The new tortoise 
(Testudo pseudemys) is a near relative of the Burmese 
brown tortoise (T. emys), an isolated species, with the 
limbs enveloped in a complete bony panoply, which 
also ranges into the peninsula. In regard to frogs, 
deterrents, into the rank of a complete explanation of | the most interesting observations are by Mr. Annan- 
NO. 1797, VOL. 69] 
