NATURE 



[August 31, 1911 



from Bombay through Jubbulpore to Darbhanga : nearly half 

 of the whole country. A report dated August 21 showed, 

 however, that conditions had greatly improved in several 

 provinces, although famine appears to be certain in 

 Kathiawar and Gujarat. In parts of the United Provinces 

 and the Punjab the canals and rivers were also well sup- 

 plied with water from the melting of the snow of last 

 spring in the Himalayas. 



The Australian Monthly Weather Report for July, 1910 

 (lately received), contains an interesting article by Mr. E. T.. 

 Quayle on the amount of dust suspended in the atmosphere 

 at Melbourne. One of Dr. Aitken's dust counters was in 

 regular use at the Weather Bureau from March to July, 

 1909 ; one observation was usually made in the morning 

 and another in the afternoon of each day. The average 

 number of particles per cubic inch during this period was 

 674,000 ; the number steadily increased from an average 

 of 460,000 during the first fortnight to 909,000 in the last, 

 indicating a tendency to a winter maximum. This increase 

 appeared to be seasonal, probably due to the diminished 

 power of the sun in causing convectional movements of the 

 air, and to greater relative humidity, rather than to smoke 

 from chimneys. Taking only those days on which the wind 

 direction remained the same, the morning observations gave 

 an average of 638,000, and the afternoon 536,000. Wind 

 direction had a considerable effect, the north wind being 

 least dusty, and the north-east the most so, calms being 

 by far the most dusty. The fact that the northerly winds 

 in Melbourne are the least dusty is entirely contrary to the 

 general impression on this subject. The greatest number of 

 dust particles obtained in any one observation was 1,902,000 

 on a calm morning during a dense fog ; the lowest recorded 

 was 128,000, on a wet day. 



In conformity with the new regulations introduced by 

 the Indian Museum Act of 1910, the report of the super- 

 intendent of the zoological and anthropological section of 

 the museum at Calcutta for 1910-n is issued in two 

 divisions, one dealing with the progress and general con- 

 dition of the establishment as a whole, and the other with 

 the aforesaid section. In the former, after reference to the 

 complete reorganisation of the various sections of the 

 museum and the progress on a new wing, it is stated that 

 the most unsatisfactory feature is the relatively small 

 number of Europeans by whom the galleries are visited, the 

 ratio being 15,485 Europeans to 786,519 natives. In the 

 sectional portion of the report it is mentioned that the 

 augmentation of the scientific staff has rendered it possible 

 to provide instruction in the methods of zoological research, 

 and likewise to institute inquiries relating to the fishing 

 industries of the country. The report also contains two 

 relating to the volumes on invertebrates in the 

 "Fauna of British India," with reference to the advisa 

 bilit >' "' ' '■■■■■'■ ' n g for this work the services of naturalists 

 personally acquainted with India, and also whether the 

 work could be best done in Calcutta or London. 



In the Transactions of the Lincolnshire Naturalists' 

 Union for 1910 attention is directed by the president to 

 the excellent manner in which the Lincoln Museum is dis- 

 charging its proper and legitimate function as an exposi- 

 tion of everything connected with the natural history and 

 antiquities of the county, strictly limiting its scope to the 

 productions of that area. To this issue Mr. G. W. Mason 

 contributi - thi fourth part of his catalogue of Lincolnshire 

 Lepidoptera. 



In The Field of Augusf ■<> Mr. Pocock expresses the 

 opinion that the animal commonly known in this countrv 

 as the chita (Cynaelurus jubatus) is closelv allied b 

 1. 2183, VOL. 8/] 



more typical cats, the puma, and the lynx, whereas lions, 

 tigers, leopards, and jaguars are as markedly different. 

 This conclusion is largely based on the fact that in the 

 former group the hyoid apparatus is intimately connected 

 with the skull, and that these animals purr instead of 

 roaring. In the second group, on the contrary, the hyoid is 

 suspended to the skull by means of a pair of long elastic 

 cartilages, this structure being apparently connected with 

 the power of roaring. The partial retractility of the claws 

 of the chita is regarded as an adaptive feature connected 

 with speed, for which this animal is specially built. It 

 may be mentioned that in India the name chita (meaning 

 spotted) is applied indifferently to the leopard and to 

 Cynaelurus jubatus, for which reason " hunting leopard " 

 is a preferable designation for the latter. 



In The Zoologist for August Captain Stanley Flower 

 records his impressions of zoological gardens, museums, 

 and aquariums in various parts of Europe visited by him- 

 self during the last three years, these including Birming- 

 ham, Brighton, Brunn-am-Gebirge (Austria), Cologne, 

 Halifax, Lyons, Marseilles, Munich, Naples, Paris, South- 

 ampton, Stuttgart, and Vienna. 



The first of a series of " Behaviour Monographs " (New 

 York: Hy. Holt and Co., 1911) in connection with The 

 Journal of Animal Behaviour is by Mr. F. S. Breed, and 

 deals with the development of certain instincts and habits 

 in chicks. The results of a great number of experiments 

 are tabulated and plotted. The author considers that the 

 initial accuracy of the instinctive pecking has been 

 exaggerated, and regards the improvement observed in 

 the early days of life as due rather to the maturing of the 

 organic mechanism than to the effects of habit. The 

 efficiency of pecking has reached nearly 60 per cent, of 

 accuracy by the beginning of the third day, about So per 

 cent, on the eleventh day, after which it rises to a limit 

 of about S5 per cent. The experiments on the rate of 

 learning to respond differentially to objects of different 

 brightness, colour, and size are carefully devised. The 

 results of tests with differences of form were, however, 

 negative. There was no conclusive evidence that the 

 previous establishment of differential response to different 

 colours facilitated that of responding to different sizes. 



In a paper on the birds inhabiting the bush (forest) 

 districts of New Zealand, published in The Emu for July, 

 Mr. J. C. M'Lean states that the number of such species 

 is much less than in Australia. Originally there were only 

 about a score of birds with strictly arboreal habits to be 

 found in the whole of the North Island, and of these 

 many which were once common are now rare, while one 

 or two may possibly be extinct. An impression has, 

 indeed, prevailed among ornithologists that nearly all the 

 New Zealand bush-birds are m extremis ; but this, it is 

 satisfactory to learn, is not shared by Mr. M'Lean, who 

 is of opinion that, although many are retreating before 

 the axe and forest-fires, yet they are still to be met 

 with in considerable numbers in the higher and more 

 remote bush-country, where, it may be hoped, steps will be 

 taken for their preservation. 



In vol. Ivi., No. 21, of the Smithsonian Miscellaneous 

 Collections Mr. E. W. Nelson describes a humming-bird 

 from an elevation of about 3000 feet on Cerro Azul, in 

 the Chepo district hi Panama, which is referred to a new 

 genus and species. Goldmania violiceps. The new bird is 

 allied to the members of the large genus Saucerottea, but 

 [uished by certain peculiarities o) tin 1 under tail- 

 coverts and primary quills, and the short feathers of the 

 tarsus, which leave the outer side ol that segmi m -xposcd. 



