564 



NA TURE 



[October 5, 1905 



The provisional programme for the session 1905-6 has 

 now been pubh"shed by the Royal Geographical Society. 

 The first meeting will be held on November 6, when an 

 introductory address will be given by the president, Sir 

 George T. Goldie, K.C.M.G., F.R.S. The paper for the 

 evening will be " Travels in the Mountains of Central 

 Japan," by the Rev. Walter Weston. On November 20 

 the paper will be " First Exploration of the Hoh-Lumba 

 and Lobson Glaciers (Himalaya)," by Mrs. Fanny Bullock 

 Workman ; on December 4, " Exploration in the Abai 

 Basin, Abyssinia," by Mr. H. Weld Blundell ; and on 

 December 18, " Exploration in New Guinea," by Mr. 

 C. G. Seligman. Other provisional arrangements include 

 the following papers :— Colonel Sir T. H. Holdich, 

 K.C.M.G., will deal with "Unexplored India"; Prof. 

 J. W. Gregory, F.R.S., takes up " The Economic Geo- 

 graphy of .-Australia " ; Baron Erland Nordenskjold will 

 lecture on " Explorations in Bolivia and Peru "; and Prof. 

 Alleyne Ireland on "The Philippine Islands." Mr. G. F. 

 Scott Elliot will read a paper on " The Geographical In- 

 fluences of Water Plants in Chile," and Mr. Laurence 

 Gomme on " Maps of London." In the research depart- 

 ment. Sir Clements R. Markham, K.C.B., F.R.S., will 

 lecture on the subject " On the Next Great Arctic Dis- 

 covery : the Beaufort Sea." In this lecture Sir Clements 

 Markham will advocate detailed investigation of the un- 

 known region lying between Prince Patrick Island and the 

 New Siberian Islands. 



The Bureau of the Government Laboratories of the 

 Interior has issued a Bulletin (\o. 25) containing two 

 articles by Mr. R. C. McGregor on birds from various 

 islands of the Philippine group. Several species are de- 

 scribed as new, among the most interesting of which is 

 perhaps a new owl of the genus Otus. Illustrations are 

 given of the enormous nesting-mounds of the Philippine 

 megapode and of the nests and eggs of three remarkable 

 species of swifts from the archipelago. 



The contents of the Zoologist for September include an 

 illustrated article by Mr. R. B. Lodge on birds nesting 

 in Andalusia (in the course of which allusion is made to 

 the devastation among the bird-fauna caused by the late 

 drought), and the second instalment of the editor's essay 

 on extermination. .Much interesting information will be 

 found in the latter with regard to the destruction of 

 animals caused in different parts of the world by floods, 

 drought, pestilence, S:c. 



Birds obtained from the islands lying between Kiushu 

 and Formosa form the subject of an illustrated paper com- 

 municated by Mr. M. Ogawa to vol. v., part iv., of 

 Aiinotationes Zoologicae Japonen^es. Coloured plates are 

 given of a Garrulus, a woodpecker, and a heron of the 

 genus Nannocnus, described as new. Special interest 

 attaches to the description, by Mr. H. Sauter, of a riband- 

 like fish from the Sagami Sea regarded as indicating a 

 new genus and species (Ijimaia dofleiiii) of the small and 

 peculiar family which the author considers to be typified 

 by the Japanese and Indian Ateleopus, the new genus 

 being characterised by the subterminal mouth and short 

 ventral fins. 



The mutual aftinities of the species of cray-fishes of the 

 genus Cambarus forms the title of the only biological 

 paper in No. 180 of the Proceedings of the American Philo- 

 sophical Society. The author. Dr. A. E. Ortmann, finds 

 that the commonly accepted division of the genus into five 

 groups is not based on natural affinities, which has led to 

 some erroneous conclusions with regard to geographical 

 NO. 1875, VOL. J 2] 



distribution. Observations on columbium and tantalum, 

 by Mr. E. F. Smith, and an inquiry into the pressure and 

 rainfall conditions of the trades monsoon area, by Mr. 

 W. L. Dallas, are the titles of other articles. 



The entomological collection of the natural history 

 branch of the British Museum will shortly be augmented 

 by the collection of beetles bequeathed by the late Mr. 

 Alexander Fry, which has been already deposited in the 

 building. It is reported to be the finest collection of its 

 kind in the country, and although not especially rich in 

 types, contains an unrivalled series of weevils and longi- 

 corns. The total number of species in the collection is 

 reported to be about 72,000, represented by some 200,000 

 specimens, many of these species being new to the museum. 

 The cabinet includes the collections made by the late 

 Mr. John Whitehead in Borneo and by Mr. W. Doherlv 

 in the Malay ."Archipelago generally. The bequest also 

 includes a number of valuable entomological books. It 

 may be mentioned that the collection of domesticated 

 animals in the north hall of the museum has been recently 

 enriched by the gift of statuettes of two famous race- 

 horses, namely, " Persimmon," the property of His 

 Majesty the King, and his son " Zinfandel," owned by 

 Lord Howard de Walden ; H.R.H. the Prince of WaUs 

 being the donor of the one and Lord Howard de Walden of 

 the other. 



The fourth part of the thirty-third and the first part 

 of the thirty-fourth volume of Gegenbaur's }{orpholo- 

 gisches Jahrbuch contain an exceedingly interesting and 

 important article on the papillary ridges and grooves ork 



Fig. I.— Two examples of the plantar surface of the right hintl-foot of the 

 chimpanzee to exhibit, in a diagrammatic manner, the " triradius " (^?). 

 After Schlaginfaaufen. 



the sole of the foot in the Primates (inclusive of man), with 

 especial reference to their serial correspondence with those 

 of the palm of the hand, which have already been fully 

 worked out by Hepburn and others. The article, which is 

 by Dr. O. Schlaginhaufen, is far too long to permit of 

 even a precis of its contents being given in this place, 

 but it may be mentioned that the general arrangement 

 of the papillary tuberosities is the same on the sole as 

 on the palm. The most generally interesting fact 

 brought out by the author's investigations is that while 

 in all the Old World Primates (inclusive of man) the 

 ridges and grooves on the sole in the neighbourhood of 

 the great toe, or pollex, are so arranged as to form a 

 triradiate system, termed the triradius, this feature is 

 totally wanting in the monkeys of the New World. We 

 have thus a new and deep-seated distinction between 

 " Catarhini " and " Platvrhini." 



