394 
hoped that the valuable manuscripts on the Touareg 
people which he was preparing may have escaped 
destruction. 
Pror. G. Extior SmirH contributes to the Journal 
of the Manchester Egyptian and Oriental Society for 
1g15-16 an important paper on “Ships as Evidence of 
the Migrations of Early Culture.” In this commen- 
tary upon certain aspects of the history of. shipbuild- 
ing, he lays special stress upon the factors which in- 
fluenced the early development of the shipbuilder’s 
craft in Egypt. ‘I have indicated how the dug-out 
became transformed when more efficient tools enabled 
the Egyptians to shape the vessel, and add beams, at 
first tied. to its sides, to increase its capacity. The 
shape of the papyrus-boat determined the earliest form 
of the ship; and the Egyptian conception of the vessel 
as a living thing led to subsequent modifications in its 
build. All of these features, with distinctive methods 
of- rigging and steering, represent so many tokens of 
characteristic Egyptian inventions which can be re- 
cognised whereon ships have been built.” 
Tue current number of the Quarterly Journal of 
Microscopical Science (vol. Ixii., part 1) contains a 
very complete and interesting account of the develop- 
ment of Alcyonium digitatum by Miss Annie Mat- 
thews. As thiscommon British species forms the usual 
laboratory type of the Alcyonaria, an up-to-date descrip- 
tion of its development will be of great value to 
zoological students, and Miss Matthews’s work is not 
only up to date, but also readable. One of the most 
interesting features of the development is the occur- 
rence of additional, imperfect mesenteries in the 
primary polyp, a very remarkable fact in view of the 
constancy with which the normal eight mesenteries 
occur throughout the entire group, possibly indicating 
an ancestral condition: in which many: mesenteries 
were present, Much light is also thrown upon the 
order of appearance of the polyps in the-young colony, 
and upon many details of development. 
An important paper on the early larval stages of the 
fresh-water eel (Anguilla) and some other Atlantic 
Murzenoids, by Dr. J. Schmidt, appears in Meddelelser 
fra Kommissionen for Havundersogelser, Serie Fiskeri, 
Bind. v. ‘The author has had the good fortune to 
obtain ‘a ‘number. of ‘specimens of between eight and 
nine millimetres in’ length, which are ‘carefully de- 
scribed» and’ figured. ~He also describes and figures 
numerous specimens of the American eel, A. rostrata, 
and a number,of Leptocephalid forms which he regards 
as new species. He gives some valuable figures illus- 
trating the development of the hypural bones, and a 
number of others, greatly enlarged, showing the teeth 
during these early stages. As to the nature of the 
food seized by these teeth, and ‘the precise use of the 
anterior grasping teeth, which are long, median in 
position, and forwardly directed, nothing appears to 
be known. 
Tue National Geographic Magazine for November, 
1916, is devoted to the description of the larger 
American mammals, and is illustrated by no fewer 
than thirty-two coloured plates of remarkable beauty 
by Louis Agassiz Fuertes, and in addition to these 
are a number of uncoloured plates of no less merit. 
The text is by Mr. E. W. Nelson, the assistant-chief 
of the U.S. Biological Survey, and is thus in every 
way worthy of the illustrations. The descriptions are 
of necessity brief, but they are sufficient to furnish a 
survey of the salient features of each of the species 
described; its haunts, range, and numbers. We regret 
to note that the prong-horn antelope is almost as much 
in danger of extermination as ‘the sea-otter. Having 
NO. 2464, vor. 98] 
NATURE 
[JANUARY 18, I917 
regard to the jealous guardianship which is nov 
played over the native fauna, 
it is surprising to be 
told that complaint has to be 
ade of ‘the despicable 
work of poachers, who are shooting elk [wapiti] for 
their two canine teeth, and leaving the body to the 
coyotes.” Information has been received that more than 
500 were ruthlessly slaughtered for this purpose about 
the border of Yellowstone National Park during the 
winter of 1915-16. In referring to the size of the bull 
sperm-whale no mention was made of the very great 
disparity in size between the male and the female, nor 
is any mention made of the teeth of the upper jaw 
of the male. 
WE regret to learn that that old-established and very 
useful journal, the Zoologist, ceased to exist with the 
issue of the December number. In name, at any 
raté, it still survives, since it has been incorporated 
with “British Birds, published by Messrs. Witherby 
and Co. All other branches of natural history 
which found a place in the Zoologist will, 
however, now be excluded. This we gather from 
the January number of British Birds, which, at the 
same time, makes the welcome announcement that in 
future its pages will be open to articles and notes on 
the avifauna of other parts of the western portion of 
the Palearctic region, or, in other words, of Europe 
and North-West Africa. This number includes some 
valuable observations ‘*On the Breeding Habits of the 
Red-backed Shrike,” by Mr. J. H. Owen. The author 
believes that the cock is responsible for the “larder” 
peculiar to the shrikes, and that it is usually made 
during the incubating period, presumably for the use of 
the female. The indigestible parts of the food are 
thrown up by the young birds, he remarks, in the form 
of pellets. These are often so large that the very young 
birds are unable to expel them, so that they have to 
be drawn out of the mouth by one of the parents. 
Both birds take part in cleaning the nest, and the 
excrement for the first few days is swallowed by 
them, but later it is generally carried away and 
dropped at a distance from the nest. : 
AccorD1nG to the Chemical Trade Journal of Decem- © 
ber 30 the Trade and Industry Committee of the ~ 
Royal Colonial Institute has investigated the proper- 
ties of the grass lalang, which is found in large quan- 
tities close to the coasts of Malaya, as a possible paper- 
making material. ‘The grass, which can be obtained 
for the mere cost of collection, is shown by chemical 
analysis to .be capable of yielding a good quantity of 
cellulose, quite suitable for the manufacture of paper. 
It is very susceptible to the action of dilute alkalis, 
but the final product is unusually pure and readily 
resolved. After washing, the pulp obtained is uniform 
in quality and of good colour, and, subject to judicious 
treatment for the improvement of the latter, it would 
furnish a paper very suitable for printing purposes. A 
high-class wrapping paper, strong, and having a com- 
paratively high resistance to folding, would be obtained 
by using a mixture of half lalang grass pulp and half 
cotton beaten together. os 
Tue November issue of the Journal of the Board of 
Agriculture contains a useful summary of experimental 
work with palm-kernel cake’ carried out during the 
past year by Prof. C. Crowther and his colleagues in 
the Agricultural Department and Institute for Research 
in Animal Nutrition of the University of Leeds. The 
work includes studies of the palatability. digestibility, 
and keeping properties of the cake, together 
with an examination of its effects upon the vield 
and ‘composition of milk and butter. Apart from 
an initial reluctance of the animals to eat the cake, 
which was traced to difficulties of mastication, the 
dis- 
