June 8, 1905] 



NATURE 



133 



No. 1402 (vol. xxviii.), pp. 425-460, of the Proceeditigs 

 of the U.S. National Museum contains descriptions by 

 Mr. E. A. Mearns of new mammals from the Philippine 

 Islands. The most interesting of these is a new genus of 

 insectivore represented by Podogymnura truei. It is allied 

 to Gymnura and Hylomys, and has a long hind-foot and 

 a stout tail rather more than a third the length of head 

 and body. Two tupaias are likewise referred to a new 

 genus, Urogale, one of these having been previously de- 

 scribed by Mr. O. Thomas as Tupaia everetti. They are 

 characterised by the round tail. Several new genera of 

 rats are likewise described, for one of which the author 

 proposes the name BuUimus, a term, in our opinion, too 

 like the familiar Bulimus. In vol. i.. No. 6, of the Bulletin 

 of the Brooklyn Institute, Dr. J. A. Allen describes a 

 collection of mammals from Beaver County, Utah. 

 Copies of three other American papers have been received 

 during the current week. In the first, Bulletin of the 

 Brooklyn Institute, vol. i.. No. 6, Mr. C. Schaeffer records 

 additions to the beetle fauna of the United States, with 

 notes on some previously known species. In the second. 

 Proceedings of the U.S. National Museum, No. 1400, Miss 

 Richardson describes two new isopod crustaceans from 

 California. In the third, op. cit. No. 1401, Mr. T. W. 

 Vaughan gives a critical review of the genera of the 

 fungoid corals, with a tentative classification. 



When the " Book of Antelopes " was concluded in 1900 

 the authors were unable to give any satisfactory account 

 of Heuglin's " giant eland " of the Bahr-el-Ghazal from 

 the want of accessible specimens. Heuglin had described 

 it in 1863, but had based his description on a single pair 

 of horns, and Schweinfurth, who had subsequently met 

 with the same animal in Bongoland, had given very little 

 further information about it except that it had stripes on 

 its body. In these circumstances Messrs. Sclater and 

 Thomas classed the giant eland of Central Africa as a 

 subspecies of the common eland {Taurotragus ory.x) under 

 the name Taurotragus oryx gigas (" Book of Antelopes," 

 iv., p. 208). This splendid animal, which may be fairly 

 called " the grandest of all the African antelopes," has 

 lately been re-discovered by Mr. A. L. Butler, the super- 

 intendent of game preservation in the Anglo-Egyptian 

 Sudan, who communicated a full description of it to the 

 Zoological Society at a recent meeting. It appears, from 

 the evidence given by Mr. Butler, that its nearest ally is 

 the Derbian eland {Taurotragus derbianus) of Senegal, and 

 not the typical T. oryx, and he therefore proposes to call 

 it Taurotragus derbianus gigas instead of T. oryx gigas. 

 This is probably correct, as the description given by Mr. 

 Butler agrees very fairly in most points with the Derbian 

 eland. But the giant eland appears to be a still larger 

 and finer animal, with much stronger horns ; its height at 

 the withers is stated to be 68 inches. On this question we 

 may shortly have an opportunity of forming an opinion, as 

 Bimbashi Collins, of the Egyptian Army, who has himself 

 shot two specimens of the animal, has sent the heads and 

 skins to Mr. Butler to be forwarded to England, where 

 they will probably go to the Natural History Museum at 

 South Kensington. 



The question of the sleep of fishes was referred to 

 (p. 104) last week in our notice of the last volume of the 

 " Cambridge Natural History." Mr. F. Davis, writing 

 from 49 and 51 Imperial Buildings, Ludgate Circus, E.C., 

 says that observations of many varieties kept by him in 

 aquaria extending over a period of twenty years show that 

 fishes do sleep. He has also observed what appeared ♦* 



NO. 1858, VOL. 72] 



be the play or sports of fishes, which probably serves the 

 same biological ends as in the higher vertebrates. He 

 remarks : — " Apparently when kept in aquaria fishes only 

 sleep during the hours of darkness. If an artificial light 

 be thrown upon them they quickly regain consciousness." 



We have received the annual report for 1903 of the 

 Government bacteriologist and director of the laboratory 

 (Mr. H. Watkins-Pitchford), Pietermaritzburg, showing 

 that much good work is being done in the colony. It 

 contains a valuable bacteriological report on the plague in> 

 Natal in 1902-3. 



The " Nervous Diseases Research Fund " has just issued 

 its first annual report. The object of the fund is to pro- 

 mote and carry on research into the origin and cure of 

 diseases of the nervous system. The work is carried on 

 at the National Hospital, Queen's Square, W.C., and is 

 under the direct supervision of the medical staff of the 

 hospital. During 1904, forty-eight autopsies were per- 

 formed and the pathological condition investigated. Special 

 attention has been directed to the study of a disease known 

 as myasthenia gravis, which is almost invariably fatal, and 

 about which little is known at present. 



The development of lenticels at points where the stress 

 is small is discussed by Mr. J. A. Terras in an article in 

 the Transactions and Proceedings of the Botanical Society 

 of Edinburgh (vol. xxii., part iv.), and the origin of 

 lenticels on roots is described in some detail. A first 

 account of new species of flowering plants from the Re- 

 public of Colombia, mostly collected by the writer, who 

 accompanied Captain Dowding's expedition in 1898-g, is 

 contributed by Mr. T. A. Sprague to the same number. 



A recent leaflet issued by the Board of Agriculture and 

 Fisheries furnishes an account of the life-history of the 

 pine sawfly, Lophyrus pini, which attacks more especially 

 the Scots pine and the black .Austrian pine. Two broods 

 develop in the year, the first in May and the second in 

 August. The larvae are the source of damage, as they 

 devour the pine needles. Amongst the animals which feed 

 on the larvae are mice, squirrels, goatsuckers, and 

 starlings, also numerous ichneumon flies. In plantations 

 the best remedy is to kill the larvje by hand, but as a 

 spray for ornamental trees in parks and gardens, hellebore 

 essence or arsenate of lead is recommended. 



Although the investigation of the gametophytes and 

 embryo of the gymnospermous genus Torreya has not 

 yielded the critical results which had been expected, several 

 interesting taxonomic characters were observed by Dr. 

 J. M. Coulter and Mr. W. J. G. Land, and are described 

 in their account of Torreya taxifolia In the Botanical 

 Gazette (March). The archegonium initial is differentiated 

 very early, while most of the endosperm develops after 

 fertilisation. A pro-embryo of twelve to eighteen cells 

 completely fills the egg and persists through the winter, 

 until in the spring the suspensor elongates, and later the 

 ruminated appearance of the endosperm becomes apparent. 

 Rumination is shown to be due to the unequal resistance 

 offered by the perisperm in different parts of the seed to 

 the encroaching endosperm. 



The report of the Meteorological Commission of Cape 

 Colony for the half-year ending June 30, 1904, has been 

 received. The usual tables of rainfall, temperature, &c., 

 at various stations will not be published until the issue of 

 the next half-yearly report, so that the data may be com- 

 parable with the information contained in previous yearly 

 reports. But in lieu of the usual tables above referred to, 



