340 



NA TURE 



[Feukuary 9, 1899 



LETTERS TO THE ED /TOR. 



[The EJilor does not hM himself responsible for opinions ex- 

 pressel by his correspondents. Neither can he tinierlake 

 to return, or to correspond with the writers of rejected 

 manuscripts intended for this or any other part of NATURE. 

 No notice is taien of anonymous communications.] 



The Alleged Destruction of Swallows and Martins in 

 Italy. 



I AM naturally adverse to polemics, for I believe that what 

 little time we have can be belter employed. .And yet, as an old 

 client and reader of Naturk, and as Director of the Italian 

 Bureau of Ornithology, I can hardly allow the .several com- 

 munications on the alleged decrease of swallows and martins 

 and the destrnclion of small birds in general in Italy, which 

 have appeared in recent numbers of Nature (see p. 271), to pass 

 without a comment. 



That small birds are netted and eaten in this country is a fact 

 which many of us deplore, and we are trying to prevent, or at 

 least to diminish, that kind of destruction with regard to small 

 birds, all of which I consider useful. But as to the Hiran- 

 dinidje, no such ruthless destruction as that described by .Mr. 

 J. H. AUchin takes place in Italy. To my knowledge no 

 swallow or martin is ever netted in this country, and I confess 

 that I should like to sec such birds captured with a fish-hook I 

 I can only ask .Mr. .Mlchin if he candidly believes it possible to 

 catch swallows in great numbers with artificial flies and fish- 

 hooks? I simply do not. In Italy the Ilirundinidas are, besides, 

 the only birds w hich owe protection to popular belief : in many 

 localities they are considered " the birds of the Madonna," and it 

 is considered unlucky to destroy them. I can assure Mr. AUchin 

 that no decrease of the llirundinida; (nor indeed to a certainty 

 of any other small Passerine bird) has been detected in Italy. 



Finally, if Mr. AUchin is really desirous of acquiring trust- 

 worthy information on the condition of birds m Italy, instead 

 of consulting the newspaper articles of Mr. Stillman, the 

 veracity of whose assertions on such matters may be doubted, 

 or still worse of quoting "Ouida" as an authority on a subject 

 of which she knows nothing, he would do well to betake 

 himself to the library of the British Museum, or to that of the 

 London Zoological Society, and consult the four volumes which 

 by Government commission 1 have published on the Avifauna 

 of Italy ' ; the three last being the results up to 1891 of an 

 official inquiry on the condition of each species of bird, care- 

 fully conducted by trained and experienced observers all over 

 the country. This inquiry is yet going on, and possibly a 

 second report will .soon be issued. Mr. AUchin is also evidently 

 misinformed as to the international aspect of the question ; at 

 least, so far as Italy is concerned. Henry H. Gigi.ioli. 



R Zoological .Museum, the University, 

 Florence, January 27. 



The Hatching of Tuatara Eggs. 

 In a memoir on the development of the Tuatara, which I am 

 shortly about to publish, and upon my preliminary notes on 

 which an interesting comment by .\Ir. G. A. Boulenger, F.R.S., 

 has recently appeared in the pages of this journal (N.VTURE, vol. 

 Iviii. p. 619), I have come to ihe c<mclusion that the eggs of this 

 reptile hatch about December of the year following that in which 

 they are laid, and that they thus occupy about thirteen months 

 in their development. Hitherto, so far as I am aware, no 

 specimens have actually been hatched out in captivity, or under 

 direct observation. On December I, 1898, however, Mr. V. 

 Henaghan, the keeper of the lighthouse on Stephen's Island, 

 brought to my laboratory some eggs which had been recently 

 laid, together with others laid during the previous season. On 

 unpacking the eggs, one of the latter was found to be already 

 hatched, having yielded a fine, active young Tuatara, which is 

 still (December 21) in a state of vigorous health, though it 

 has not been observed to eat anything. On December 8-9 a 

 second specimen hatched out, though I am inclined to think a 

 little prematurely, as a large part of the yolksiic was still 

 attached. These specimens agree closely with the dead 



1 E. H. Giglioli, "Avifauna Iialica," pp. vii.-626. Firenze, 1866. 

 "Primo Rnoconio dei risullali della inchicsia ornilologica in Italia." 

 Parte I., "Avifauna Ilalica," pp. vii.-7o6. Fircnye, 1689. Parte II., 

 'Avifaunc locali," pp. viii -695. Firenze, 1890. Parle III., " Noli«e 

 d indole gcncralc, " pp. vii.-5i8. Fircn/e, 1891. 



NO. 1528, VOL. 59J 



specimens of Stage S. received by me last year, and described 

 in my memoir, but it seems worth while to place on record the 

 actual time of hatching, although the new observations only 

 confirm the conclusions already arrived at. The hatching prob- 

 ably continues throughout the month of December, as the eggs 

 of last season, opened during the last few days, each contain a 

 considerable amount of yolk, together with the very advanced 

 embryo. 



A point which seems worthy of attention is the large size of 

 the eggs containing embryos nearly ready to hatch. Two eggs 

 opened on Decemtxr 17, and containing embryos at Stage S., 

 measured 35 x 27 5 and 32-5 x 265 mm. respectively, while 

 recently-laid eggs opened on December 21, and containing 

 embryos of about Stage N. , were much smaller, the six 

 measured ranging from 25 '5 x 20 to 29 22 mm. These 

 observations certainly seem to confirm the opinion of Mr. 

 Henaghan that the eggs swell during development, which I have 

 been at some pains to controvert in my memoir. It must be 

 remembered, however, that the eggs of the Tuatara vary con- 

 siderably in size. 



The eggs nearly ready to hatch are still very tense and turgid. 

 In hatching, the leathery egg-shell appears to be simply torn or 

 split irregularly, probably by the shell-breaker of the young 

 animal. In the recently-hatched animal the nostrils are still 

 plugged up. though the plug appears to be loosening, and after 

 a short while it conqiletely disappears externally. 



.\RTHUR Dendy. 



Christchurch, N.Z., December 21, 1S9S. 



The afore-mentioned memoir, by my friend Prof Dendy, 

 has been accepted by Prof. Lankester, F. K.S. , for the Quarterly 

 Journal of Microscopical Science, and is al)out to appear in the 

 February number of that journal, to be followed immedi.itely by 

 another on the Pineal Eye ; Prof Lankester having arranged 

 for publication with that generous enthusiasm he extends to all 

 good work. As already announced in the-se pages. Prof Dendy 

 sent me last autumn some preserved material for the investiga- 

 tion of the development of the Tuataras skeleton, and with it 

 half-a-dozen eggs due for hatching about December. The latter 

 were in moist sand packed tight in a tin canister, and were 

 brought by Mrs. Dendy in her cabin, on a voyage to England. 

 Upon delivery they were transferred to a hot-air bath and kept 

 at an approximate temperature of 25° C. One embryo decom- 

 posed, and a .shell, containing another, having collapsed, was 

 opened by my pupil, Mr. H. H. Swinnerton, who is co- 

 operating with me in the task of investigation. The other four 

 were opened by the enclosed embryos ; one prematurely on 

 November 22, the others respectively, and at the full time, 

 on January 14, 19, and 24 of the present year. The embryo 

 which emerged prematurely had a pendant yolk, and was but a 

 centim. shorter than those of Dendy's Stage S. in my possession. 

 The three young ones which remain left the egg with the yolk 

 absorbed, and they continue active and healthy, .\llhough their 

 incubation period would appear to have exceeded that of those 

 hatched out in Prof. Dendy's laboratory, the largest eggshell 

 measured but 31 5 ■ 24 mm., the smallest 28-5 >: 21 mm. 

 The apparent swelling of the shell, alluded to by Prof Dendy, 

 had independently arrested the attention not only of both Mr. 

 Swinnerton and myself, but also of our laboratory attendant, 

 George Woodrow, who in December remarked tome that "the 

 eggs seemed rising above the sand " ; and the phenomenon 

 would appear to be due to internal tension, no doubt resulting 

 from the actual growth of the enclosed embryo. One of the 

 young ones had just liberated itself as we arrived on the morning of 

 January 24, and we were able to note that on leaving the shell 

 it lay torpid beside it for a period less than an hour, and then 

 with a sudden start ran briskly forward. One of the youngsters, 

 tempted on the day of hatching with a small earth-worm, ran 

 from il affrighted, and by all three meal-worms are still refused. 

 " Bluebottles," however, are eagerly devoured, and upon these 

 all are at present thriving, with every indication of success. 

 Concerning the rupture of the egg-shell, the four shells from 

 which the young in my possession escaped were each cut cleanly, 

 as by a razor, along the long axis. In the c:ise of the prema- 

 turely hatched embryo, the incision extended the whole of one 

 side, from pole to pole, while in that of each which went the full 

 lime it started short of one pole and extended longitudinally 

 round the other to an approximately corresponding point on the 

 opposite side. In every case the underlying serous envelope 

 was similarly clean cleft, and on examination of the newly- 



