April 29, 1875J 



NATURE 



513 



THE ''ZENITH" BALLOON ASCENT 



C\^ Monday, M. Gaston Tissandier read a paper before 

 ^-^ the Paris Academy of Sciences on the recent fatal 

 balloon ascent, in which he expressed his deliberate inten- 

 tion of renewing the attempt. The real cause of the 

 catastrophe was the throwing out of ballast at an im- 

 mense height; Tissandier attributes it to the "vertigo 

 of high regions." The pain felt is so small that one 

 forgets the danger in wishing to reach a higher level ; so 

 that he who is not able to restrain himself is not fitted to 

 be an aeronaut in high regions. 



The carbonic acid tubes having been broken in the fall, 

 no analysis could be made, and consequently it is neces- 

 sary to make another ascent in order to complete the 

 experiment. 



The figures given by M. Tissandier in his paper are 

 substantially the same as those given in last week's 

 Nature (p. 495). The height reached was 8,600 meters, 

 as proved by maximum-barometers, which had been 

 sealed up, and were opened in the laboratory of the Sor- 

 bonne. 



I believe the rapidity of ascent, but mainly the gas 

 which escaped from the balloon, were instrumental in the 

 deaths of Sivel and Crocd-Spinelli. 



The matter deserves to be carefully investigated, and I 

 shall try to elucidate it by an ascent which I propose to 

 make next Sunday from La Villette, with Duruof and the 

 Times correspondent. Our intention is not to make a 

 race for a high altitude, and we will do our best to resist 

 the vertigo of high regions so vividly described by Tissan- 

 dier in his paper. W. de Fonvielle 



LECTURES AT THE ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS 



C\^ Thursday, April 15, the first of the ten lectures announced 

 ^"^ for the present season was given by Mr. Sclater, F.R.S., 

 " On Monkeys and their Geoyraphicil Distribution." 



After referring to the considerable series of monkeys in the 

 Society's collection, from wliich a specimen of the Chimpanzee 

 ( Troglodytes niger), of an albino Macaque Monkey (ii/acacus 

 cynomolgus], and others were e.xhibited, Mr. Sclater drew atten- 

 tion to the six zoological provinces into which the surface of the 

 earth was generally acknowledged to be divided. These he had 

 named and defined as follows : — 



1. PaliVarctic Region. — Europe, Africa north of the Atlas, and 

 North Asia. 



2. Et/iio/rian Region. — Africa south of the Atlas, and Mada- 

 gascar. 



3. Indian Region. — South Asia, Philippines, and Islands of 

 Indian Archipelago to Wallace's Line. 



4. N'earctic Region. — North America down to Isthmus of 

 Tehuantepec. 



5. Aeolropieai Region. — Central America, south of the Isthmus 

 of Tehuantepec, and South America. 



6. Anstraliaii Region. — Australia, New Guinea, and Austro- 

 Malay Archipelago. No monkeys being found in the Austra- 

 lian or Nearctic regions, and norre in the PalKarctic, except the 

 Macaque of North Africa and Gibraltar. 



Commencing with the Anthropoid Apes, the Gorilla (Troglo- 

 dytes gorilla) was shown to inhabit the tropical regions of West 

 Africa only, not extending south beyond the River Gaboon. The 

 same region is the home of the Chimpanzee, which, however, 

 spreads to the east for a considerable distance, having been cap- 

 tured in Abyssinia. It is also found as far south as the north 

 bank of the River Congo. Of the two other genera of Anthro- 

 poid Apes, the Orang Utan and the Gibbon, the former is con- 

 fined to Borneo and Sumatra, the latter to the Malay Peninsula, 

 Assam, and the islands of the Indo-Malay Archipelaj;o. 



Of the Catarrhine or Old World Monkeys, there is a peculi.ir 

 long-tailed genus, Seinnopilhecus, found in India and the Malay 

 region. This is represented in Africa by the similarly peculiar 

 genus Colobus, which wants the thumb ; it is found mostly in 

 West Africa, extending east as far as Abyssinia. Of this group 

 the Indian Entellus Monkey is best known. The genu; Macoeus 

 is almost confined to the Indian region ; a species (J/, speeiostts) 



is, however, found in Japan ; and the Barbary Ape [M. inmis) 

 from Ape's Hill has crossed to Gibraltar. The genera Cereo- 

 pithecus and Cvnocephalus are confined to the Ethiopian region. 



The Platyrrhine Monkeys, with an extra premolar on each 

 side of each jaw, are inhabitants of the tropical portions of the 

 Neotropical region only. Amongst them are included the 

 genera Cebus, Ateles, Mycetcs, Brachyiirtis, and others, some 

 with, and others without, prehensile tails, many of which have, 

 at one time or odier, lived in the Society's Gardens. The Mar- 

 mosets have one less molar in each half of each jaw, which 

 makes the number of their teeth the same as in man, although 

 this is the consequence of there being four more premolars and 

 four fewer true molars. 



The Lemuridoe, whether they ought to be included with the 

 monkeys, or whether they form an independent group, may be 

 considered with the quadrumana, as has been usually the case. 

 They are distributed throughout the Ethiopian and Indian 

 regions, nearly all the species, including Chiromys, being con- 

 fined to Madagascar, which must be considered their true head- 

 quarters. 



The following is an abstract of Mr. J. W. Clark's lecture on 

 Sea Lions, delivered on April 22nd. — The Pinnipedia, com- 

 prising the .Sea Lion, Sea Bear, Seal, and Walrus, are true mam- 

 malian animals, entirely differing from fish both in structure and 

 habit. The Order naturally tails into two subdivisions, namely, 

 the Eared and the Earless Seals ; or, the Oiariad^e, otherwise 

 callel Sea Lions, and the Trichechidns (Walrus), together with 

 the Cystophorid?e {Bladder-nosed Seals) and Ph'ict'ice (True 

 Seals). The lormer of these groups, the Otariadx, differ from 

 the Seals, the Phocidoe, in other respects than the poisession of 

 ears. They can use their limbs freely to raise the body 

 from the ground and to walk on the land. They can 

 even run swiftly for a short distance. The Seals, on 

 the contrary, always retain their hmd feet stretched out 

 backwards, the legs being so enclo-ed within the integument 

 of the body tint they have little or no inde itnd nt mot'on. 

 They consequently are only able to progress on lanH by a series 

 of ungraceful bumps, wriggling on thesiomich. The hody of 

 the .Sea Lion is pcculijry llcxiblt;, whilst hat of the Seal has 

 but little motion on its axis, ihe animil priigressinij in the wa'er 

 in much the same manner as the Pun.ioise. The St-a L on's 

 head is also more elongated and narrow in proportion to its 

 width than that of any Seal. Us ears are smiil, conical organ-;, 

 projecting backwards, and so rolled up, scroll wise, that their 

 concavity is rarely shown. But by far the mo>t modified por- 

 tions of the body of the Si-a Lion are the hands and feet. In 

 the Seal the arm is whol y imbedded in the integument, the 

 hand alone projecting In the Sea Lion, on the contrary, nearly 

 the whole of the upper half of the limb is free, and the thumb is 

 much lengthened, this digit in the Seals being of the s 'me leny h 

 as the others. In the hmder extremity the lo >er ;iart of the leg 

 and the foot are free, the rest of the limb being bound up with 

 the body. 



With regard to the skin of the Sea Lion ; on a superficial 

 view the body appears to be covered with coarse stiff hair, which 

 varies in length on different parl^. Old males are said to develop 

 a mane, whence the name given them by early voyjgers, but it 

 is not certain that this ornament is present in all the species. 

 Beneath this hair there is a crop of under wool, d'stributed in 

 delicate, short, fine hairs set at the base of the other larger ones. 

 It appears to exist all over the body. 



This part of the subject is rather involved. It is stated that 

 of these Otarias, or Sea Lions, some species have under-fur- 

 whilst others have not, and attempts have been made to divide 

 them into lamilies accordingly. It is, however, highly probable 

 that all Otarias have under-fur at some period of their lives. ^ It 

 is this under-fur of the Sea Lions which makes that sealskin in 

 which all ladies delight. 



The habits of the Sea Lion are among the most curious in 

 the whole of the animal kingdom. Its food consists mostly ot 

 fish, mollusca, crabs, and penguins. Th molar teeth hcing 

 small, it cannot masticate its food, and when it has caught a fish, 

 too larf'e to be swallowed outright, it his been seen to give its 

 head a sudden twist, so as to break off a portion of the fish, 

 which it swallows rapidly. It then dives it.to the water, picks 

 up the other portion, and repeats the tearing process until the 

 last fragment is devoured. 



Their favourite places of resort are solitary islands, either lar 

 out at sea, or at any rate clear of an inhabited coast. Many 

 return year after year to the same rock. The niHves at the 



