JULY 10, 1902] 
ALTHOUGH the question as to whether the nitrogen of the 
albuminates present in the animal body is partly set free in the 
form of free gaseous nitrogen has been experimentally studied 
on several occasions, yet the conclusions drawn by different 
investigators working under different conditions are by no 
means concordant. The first series of such investigations was 
carried out by Regnault and Reiset, who found, in the great 
majority of their experiments, a considerable increase in the 
quantity of nitrogen in the respired air. About one hundred 
experiments were made and animals of totally different classes 
were subjected to investigation. Seegen and Nowak, with an 
improved apparatus which permitted of the experiments being 
continued over much longer periods of time, obtained results 
which agreed with those of the first observers. Hans Leo, 
working under different conditions, concluded, on the other 
hand, that nitrogen, as a product of the decomposition of 
albuminates, is not set free from the animal system. In Leo’s 
latest experiments, the bodies of the animals under investigation 
were immersed in water, and under these conditions it was 
found that the alteration in the amount of nitrogen of the air 
was scarcely perceptible. To promote the further investigation 
of this subject, Prof. J. Seegen has placed 6000 kronen at the 
disposal of the Vienna Academy of Sciences, which sum is 
offered by the Academy as a prize for the solution of the 
question. The formulation of the problem reads :—‘“‘ Es ist 
festzustellen, ob ein Bruchtheil des Stickstoffes der im thierischen 
Korper umgesetzten Albuminate als freier Stickstoff in Gasform, 
sei es durch die Lunge, sei es durch die Haut ausgeschieden 
wird.” Papers sent in for competition are to be written in 
German, French or English, and should be sent to the office of 
the Acadeniy before February 1, 1904. 
THE American Naturalist for June contains an article, 
by Mr. W. R. Coe, on the Nemertean worms parasitically 
infesting certain crabs, in the course of which the new genus 
Carcinomertes is described. 
MODERN refinements of description render it of the utmost 
importance that skins of small mammals should be made up 
on one uniform plan. Mr. G. S. Miller has accordingly pub- 
lished in the Budéletins of the U.S. Museum a revised edition 
of directions for making such preparations, with abstracts in 
German, French and Spanish. 
AMONG other articles, part 4 of vol. Ixxi. of the Zeztschr7ft 
fiir wissenschaftliche Zoologie contains one by Dr. K. Escherich 
on the development of the nervous system in flies, and a second, 
by Prof. P. Bachmetjew, on the effects of heat on the develop- 
ment of the pupe of butterflies and moths. The nerves of the 
skin form the subject of a third communication, by Dr, 
Tretjakoff. 
THE thoroughness of American methods is well exemplified 
in a review of the horned larks (Otocoris), by Mr. H. C. 
Oberholser, forming No. 1271 of the Proceedings of the U.S. 
Museum. In addition to four maps illustrating the distribution 
and breeding areas of these larks, this memoir contains photo- 
graphs showing the different kinds of country inhabited by the 
various local races of certain species. These birds vary so 
much according to environment that their classification and 
identification are the despair of the systematist. The manner 
and degree of this variation—and not the mere identification of 
specimens—should be the aim of the investigator. 
In the June issue of the American Naturalist Mr. J. F. 
McClendon describes the life-history of the insect commonly 
known as U/ula hyalina, a near relative of the so-called ant- 
lion of Europe. The larva ‘‘ hides in some slight depression 
or under the edge of a stone, with its body covered with sand 
and its mandibles widely extended so as to touch the fringe of 
NO. 1706, VOL. 66] 
NATURE 
257 
hairs on each side of the head. Its brown colour simulates the 
colour of the sand. Its body is hidden by the covering of sand, 
and the head is somewhat concealed by its peculiar covering of 
hairs, so that small insects may crawl, unawares, too near the 
extended mandibles. In this case the larva thrusts out its head 
and snaps the mandibles together, pinioning the victim on the 
curved points. It then proceeds to suck out the juices of its 
prey like an ant-lion.” 
AN appendix to the twentieth annual Aefort of the Scotch 
Fishery Board contains notes on the digestive tract of salmon 
and sea-trout kelts from the Tweed by Mr. J. K. Barton, illus- 
trated with some beautiful reproductions from photographs of 
microscopic preparations. The author is of opinion that sea- 
trout continue to feed to within a shorter interval of their 
entering fresh-water than is the case with salmon, although when 
in the rivers both fishes are equally abstemious. No trace of 
the desquamative catarrh of the mucous coat which has been sup- 
posed to characterise the intestines of river fish was observed. 
It must be left for subsequent examinations to determine 
whether salmon-disease is due to the fungus Saprolegnia, or 
whether the presence of that fungus is merely the precursor of 
death owing to other diseased conditions. 
MUCH interest attaches to an article in the American 
Naturalist for June on aggregated colonies in madreporiform 
corals, by Dr, J. E. Duerden. The fact that coral larvz will 
occasionally attach themselves to the cups of adult corals of the 
same species has been noticed by previous observers. The 
author finds, however, that in certain West Indian corals an 
analogous process is quite a common method of formation of 
composite corals, the larvee of Siderastrzea frequently fixing 
themselves close together in small groups upon some con- 
venient base. In course of time they grow together to form a 
colony, which thus differs from an ordinary colony in consisting 
of several individuals. Such an aggregate colony may be dis- 
tinguished, for a time at least, from one of the ordinary type, 
by the fact that the component items are not in communication 
at the base. 
THE search for the missing link forms the subject of an 
article, by Mr. R. S. Baker, in this month’s /d/er, mainly 
based on the discovery of ‘‘ Pithecanthropus” and Prof. 
Haeckel’s expedition to Java in search of further remains of 
that mysterious creature. The author traces the gradual 
“evolution” of the conception of the origin of one group of 
animals from another, and illustrates his subject with excellent 
portraits of Darwin, Haeckel, Huxley and Wallace. We are 
afraid that the illustrated table of man’s descent will be apt to 
prove a stumbling-block to the uninitiated, and that the gorilla, 
gibbon, opossum, iguana, &c., will be regarded as among man’s 
direct ancestors. The inclusion of marsupials in man’s genea- 
logical tree is, we fear, an error which it will take some time to 
eradicate from popular writings. The author would have done 
well to have shown his proof to some zoological friend, which 
would have resulted in the elimination of the sentence as to the 
association of Pithecanthropus with the elephant, rhinoceros, 
hyzena, &c. What may be the animal designated in the same 
sentence as “the gigantic pangolin” we are at a loss to 
conceive. 
A BRIEF summary of progress in archeological and ethno- 
logical research in the United States during last year is given 
by Prof. F. W. Putnam in a reprint from vol. xiv. of the 
Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society (1901, pp. 
461-470). Since the paper was read at the annual meeting of 
the Society in October 1901, the Carnegie Institute has been 
founded at Washington, and the broad spirit in which it has 
been organised gives satisfaction to all who are anxious to extend 
