

b Susi 7, 1871] 
NATURE 
369 

indeed, the few experiments of the French observers, and 
of Gilbert Child and Bastian in this country are the only 
ones at present made, 
The reason is obvious, the conditions of the ex- 
periment and observation required are so difficult that 
we have not yet mastered them. They are first, 
to ensure all the favouring circumstances in the labo- 
ratory experiment which natural stations afford, and, 
of course, to ensure them it is necessary to know or 
have some idea (which biologists have not) as to what 
they may be; second, to exclude simultaneously all living 
matter; third, to make the observations ¢hroughout 
with the greatest minuteness which the microscope per- 
mits—a necessary condition, on account of the possible 
smaliness of particles of living matter, When we have 
had experiments performed in this way with a vast variety 
in the first-named set of conditions, so as to obtain and 
study the action of various natural circumstances which 
might possibly be present in the de zovo origination of 
living from mineral matter—then we may speak of evi- 
dence on the question. As it is, we have but a very 
incomplete and discordant series of observations on one 
class of conditions in which there is a presumption of 
spontaneous generation (the case of Bacterium), and which 
have been selected for experiments on account of a 
supposed facility for isolation, without interference with the 
conditions, but of which very little is understood at all. I 
venture to submit that this single case, in which there 
has been some little investigation with, be it granted, 
negative result, so far from warranting the enunciation ofa 
dogma, which is declared to be as sure asa great lawexpres- 
sing the concurrence of almost infinitely numerous, varied, 
and reiterated observations, does not even justify an 
opinion ; it has no possible bearing upon the source of 
the minute protoplasmic particles which the microscopist 
finds abundantly in sea-water, nor upon the origin of the 
atmospheric germs which are so largely invoked by some 
persons. It leaves us necessarily to a fyzoré considera- 
tions in regard to the origin of life on the earth, and until 
direct researches are made, the hypothesis developed by 
a priové argument must have far more claim on the adhe- 
sion of an unbiassed mind, than a pseudo-law, though the 
latter bear an authority so great in some departments of 
science as is that of Sir William Thomson. 
E, Ray LANKESTER 

RECENT FRENCH ZOOLOGICAL DISCOVERIES 
pve naturalists, who have been more than usually 
successful in their investigations of the faunas of 
distant and little-known countries, have recently returned 
to France, and are now engaged in working out the results 
of their arduous expeditions, These are M., le Pére 
Armand David, and M. Alfred Grandidier. 
M. le Pére Armand David is a missionary priest of the 
Order of Lazarists, who was for many years resident at 
Pekin. Here he devoted much time and attention to the 
fauna of the surrounding country, which was at that period 
little known, and entering into communication with the 
authorities of the Jardin des Plantes of Paris, supplied 
that establishment with many interesting novelties. 
Amongst these one of the most remarkable was a new 
deer with very peculiar horns and a long tail, which was 
named by M. Alphonse Milne-Edwards Elaphurus davidi- 
anus, after its indefatigable discoverer. But about two 
years ago Father David moved the seat of his investiga- 
tions into still more promising quarters, It was, we 
believe, the magnificent new species of Pheasants trans- 
mitted by Bishop Chauveau from Ta-tsien-leou—a town 
in Western Szechuen upon the frontiers of Tibet—that 
first called his attention to the probable richness of this 
district in other departments of zoology. Nor have his 
expectations been in any way disappointed. The collec- 
tions of Mammals, Birds, and Reptiles, obtained by Father | 

David during the recent exploration of JZofz, as this portion 
of the Celestial Empire is termed by the Frenchwriters, have 
of late years seldom been equalled in any part of the world 
for extent or variety. The fauna of these mountains seems 
to be a sort of Zexdant to that of the Himalayas, which, 
some years ago, was so successfully investigated by Mr. 
Hodgson. The singular 4/wrus or Wah, of Nepal, is re- 
placed by a larger and even stranger form, the Zuropus 
of M. Milne-Edwards, a large bear-like mammal, quite 
distinct from anything previously known. A long-haired 
monkey inhabits the pine forests, remarkable for the 
development of its nose, which the same naturalist has 
proposed to name Ahinopithecus. The Takin of the 
Mishnees of Upper Assam (Szdorcas taxicolor) is repre- 
sented by a second species of this most singular genus of 
Ruminants. A new form of Cervide is remarkable for 
its small horns and well-developed canines ; and there are 
a host of interesting novelties belonging to the insecti- 
vorous and rodent orders in Pére David’s series. In birds, 
M. Jules Verreaux, to whom the working out of this part 
of M. David's collections has been assigned, has already 
discriminated upwards of thirty new species. Amongst 
these many belong to the remarkable genera discovered 
by Mr. Hodgson in the hill-forests of Nepaul, and hitherto 
unknown to occur elsewhere. Perhaps the most note- 
worthy of them is a small Passerine form allied to Pava- 
doxornis, which has only three toes, a phenomenon 
hitherto unknown in that typical order of birds. The 
Reptiles and Batrachians obtained by Father David in 
Moupin are also said to contain many novelties. Since 
the lamented death of Prof. Duméril, their investigation 
has, we believe, been undertaken by Prof. Blanchard, who 
has within these few last days brought before the French 
Academy a notice of one of the most extraordinary ani- 
mals of the latter group. ‘This is no other than a gigantic 
aquatic Salamander allied to, but distinct from, the now 
well-known Szeboldia maxima, of Japan. The discovery 
of this form of life in continental Asia is a fact of the 
highest significance as regards geographical distribution, 
as it was previously believed to be in the present epoch 
confined to the Japanese Islands, though remains of a 
closely allied animal (Andras scheuchzer?) are found in 
the tertiary freshwater deposits of Central Europe. 
We have mentioned only a few of the principal dis- 
coveries of M. David, but enough has been said to show 
the importance of the additions he has made to zoological 
science, and to heighten the interest attaching to the 
complete investigation of the fauna ‘of the Chinese fron- 
tier of Tibet, which this distinguished naturalist has thus 
inaugurated, 
While Father David has been labouring among the 
snows of Central Asia, another not less arduous devotee 
of science has been risking his life in the tropical forests 
of Madagascar, and has likewise made many brilliant 
discoveries. M. Alfred Grandidier, who has now returned 
from, we believe, his ¢iz7d voyage of discovery in that 
strange island, has shown that the riches and eccentrici- 
ties of its fauna have not yet been exhausted. His 
collections, which have only reached the Jardin des 
Plantes very recently, although brought to France before 
the political storm of last autumn commenced, have not 
yet been fully examined. But they are said to contain 
very full series of several species of Lemuridz, the com- 
parison of which is likely to lead to important results, 
besides examples of a new genus of Rodentia, and many 
other Mammals of high interest. M. Grandidier has 
also paid much attention to the fossil deposits of 
Southern Madagascar, which contain the remains of the 
extinct gigantic bird, “fyornzs maxima, and has arrived 
at some important results (such as the former presence 
of Hippopotamus in Madagascar) which may ultimately 
tend to modify some of the views generally held con- 
cerning the true nature of the fauna of this island and 
its origin, Pilar. 
