January 2, 1902J 



NA TURE 



209 



M. ArmaM) Gautier contributes to the Revue Gt'nt'rah des 

 Siieiicfs of December 15, 1901, an article entitled " Les 

 Mecanismes moleculaircs de la Variation des Races et des 

 Especes," taking as his text the experiments in hybridisation 

 made of late years with the French and American species of 



Many animals have popular names which have been derived 

 from their cries. Prof. T. D A. Cockerell writes to suggest 

 that this is also the case with the donkey, the "don" repre- 

 senting the inspiratory and "key" the expiratory sound. Most 

 dictionaries describe the word, which is of comparatively recent 

 origin, as signifying a little dun animal, from dun and the 

 diminutive term — key, but the grounds upon which this deriva- 

 tion is based are not easy to find. 



To the Proceedings of the Washington .Academy of Sciences 

 (vol. iii. pp. 577-600) Dr. C. H. Merriam contributes a paper 

 on the various local forms of the puma. It has long been 

 recognised by naturalists that an animal with such an extensive 

 range must be divisible into a considerable number of geographi- 

 cal races ; but Dr. Merriam goes further than this, and considers 

 that several of these ought to rank as species. If such a course 

 were generally adopted it would be advisable to make the puma 

 the type of a genus. Dr. Merriam remarks that these animals 

 are very subject to cleft palate. 



We have received reprints of 3 series of articles from the 

 November issue of the Journal of the Quekett Microscopical 

 Club. In one, Mr. W. Wesche describes a new male rotifer 

 from Hampstead Heath, while Mr. C. F. Rousselet treats of a 

 new species of the same group in a second. In a third, Mr. 

 D. J. Scourfield has notes on the manner in which the fresh- 

 water polyp hydra suspends itself from the surface-film of 

 water. In a note on " red rain dust " from Australia, Mr. G. H. 

 Karop shows that, in addition to mineral matter, the substance 

 in question contains a certain number of diatoms, and a per- 

 centage of what appear to be sponge-spicules. 



We have received the first number of a new journal, The 

 Emu, published at Melbourne, which is to be the organ of the 

 Australasian Ornithologists' Union. In the introductory notice 

 the editor discusses the question whether the name of the bird 

 from which the journal takes its title should be spelt " emu " or 

 "emeu." We are told that the native pronunciation is emyoo ; 

 and if this be so, according to accepted ideas of translitera- 

 tion emeu makes a nearer approximation to the original than 

 emu, which would now be pronounced einoo. The number 

 before us contains some interesting articles and a couple of ex- 

 cellent photographs o( breeding colonies of gannets and frigate- 

 birds. The new venture ought to have a successful future. 



\ SHORT time ago we noticed a communication by Prof. T. H. 

 Morgan on the regeneration of limbs and other parts of the body 

 in animals. The same investigator contributes to the December 

 issue of the American Naturalist an article on regeneration in 

 the egg, embryo and adult. Within the last few years it has 

 been ascertained that portions of an embryo, or even of an 

 unsegmented egg, have the power of producing a new organism ; 

 but it has not been determined whether regeneration of parts of 

 an adult organism and of pieces of an egg are similar or iden- 

 tical processes. The author answers the question in the affirma- 

 tive, but denies that there is any analogy between this process 

 and the natural reparation of a broken crystal. Nevertheless, 

 he connects this recuperative process in animals with a kind of 

 organic " polarity." 



The Christmas number of the Stock-keeper is largely devoted 

 to illustrations and descriptions of famous specimens of the more 

 NO. 1679, VOL. 65] 



popular breeds of domesticated dogs. The editor, it appears, 

 offered a number of prizes for the best photographs of well-bred 

 dogs by amateurs, and the successful pictures, together with 

 many others, have been reproduced as photogravures in the 

 present is?ue. Attention is called in an article on the results of 

 the competition to the importance of preserving photographs of 

 the modern breeds of dogs, and regret is expressed that we 

 possess no such records of their predecessors. It may be added 

 that it would be of the highest importance if arrangements 

 could be made for taking photographs of dogs (and other 

 domesticated animals) from above as well as from in front and 

 from the sides. 



In their fifteenth annual report the Liverpool Marine 

 Biological Committee refer with satisfaction to the arrangement 

 concluded with the Government of the Isle of Man whereby 

 they will in future enjoy much larger laboratory accommodation, 

 and, jointly with a committee of the Tynwald Court, be respon- 

 sible for the conduct of a large aquarium and fish-hatchery. 

 A detailed statement as to how this important change in the 

 position of the committee has been brought about is given, 

 while its probable effects on their work are also mentioned. 

 The greatness of the change may be realised when we state that 

 it involves the moving of the present biological station to a 

 larger and more convenient site on the other side of the 

 bay. The work accomplished during the past year appears to 

 have been large and of a satisfactory nature. The report con- 

 tains an excellent popular guide to the Port Erin Aquarium, 

 illustrated by figures of a large number of its denizens. Prof. 

 Herdman is to be congratulated on the continued progress of 

 the institutions the interest of which he has so much at heart. 



A NOTICB of the collections recently bequeathed by the late 

 Mr. Philip Crowley to the natural history branch of the 

 British Museum appeared a few days ago in The Times. A 

 very important portion of the bequest is the collection of eggs, 

 from which 15,200 specimens have been added to the series 

 previously possessed by the Museum. Among the gems in the 

 Crowley cabinet are an egg of the great auk and one of the 

 extinct pied Labrador duck. Both these specimens were acquired 

 by Mr. Crowley from Canon Tristram. The great auk's egg isone 

 of the last "batch" despatched, in 1844, from Iceland to Denmark. ■ 

 The two specimens in the Museum previous to this addition 

 were both cracked and in otherwise poor condition. An in- 

 teresting item in the collection is the nurnber of clutches of eggs 

 of various species of birds with a cuckoo's egg among them. 

 The Crowley collection has added about 15 per cent, to the 

 species of birds represented by their eggs in the Museum, the 

 increase being especially marked in Australian forms, in which 

 the national collection was previously weak. In addition to 

 eggs, the Museum also acquired a large series of invertebrates, 

 especially butterflies, from the Crowley collection. The article 

 concludes with a reference to the valuable series of specimens 

 from the Uganda district recently presented to the Museum by . 

 Sir Harry Johnston. Apart from the okapi and five-horned 

 giraffe, this collection includes a valuable series of fishes from 

 Lakes Victoria and Birengo — the first ever obtained from these 

 waters. 



A CATALOGUE of the Mediterranean alga; is commenced by 

 Piof. Francesco Ardissone in tlie Lombardy Rendiconti, xxxiv. 

 17. The first part deals with Rhodophyce;e, and the author has 

 decided, for stated reasons, to adopt Agardh's classification. 



Three additional volumes of the Vale University Bicen- 

 tennial Publications have been received. Two contain studies 

 from the chemical laboratory of the Sheftield Technical School, 

 edited by Prof. H. L. Wells, and the third is a text-book on 

 vector analysis, (or the use of students of mathematics and 



