July i i, 1907] 



NA TURE 



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change of ownership has made it likely that the process 

 of destruction will be greatly extended. In these circum- 

 stances representations have been made to Mr. Alec Taylor, 

 the present owner, by the National Trust and the Wilt- 

 shire Archaeological Society, who has stated that he 

 intends to preserve the dolmen known as the Devil's Den, 

 and has given the National Trust an option to purchase 

 for 500/. about eleven acres in Pickle Dean and about 

 nine acres in Lockcridge Dean, both of which areas are 

 rich in "grey wethers." We trust the sum required will 

 be forthcoming, so that examples of a unique geological 

 phenomenon may be preserved to the nation. It is not 

 too much to say that if British statesmen understood 

 more fullv the value and full significance of nature's 

 "monuments," these and similar natural objects of scien- 

 tific and educational importance would have been secured 

 for the nation long ago. Donations to the fund which is 

 being raised may be sent to Mr. Henry E. Medlicott, 

 Potterne, Devizes; the Rev. E. H. Goddard, Clyffe 

 Vicarage, Swindon ; Mr. E. Meyrick, Thornhanger, Marl- 

 borough ; or to Mr. Nigel Bond, 25 Victoria Street, 

 Westminster. 



The thirty-sixth annu.il meeting of I'Association 

 fran^aise pour I'Avancement des Sciences will be held at 

 the lycee in Rheims on August 1-6. The president for 

 the year is Dr. Henrot, honorary director of l,Ecole de 

 M^decine at Rheims. Tlie work of the meeting will be 

 divided among nineteen sections. The presidents in each 

 case are as follows : — Sections i and 2 (Mathematics, 

 .Astronomy, Geodesy and Mechanics), Prof. C. Bourlet ; 

 Sections 3 and 4 (Navigation and Civil and Military 

 Engineering), M. Bourguin ; Section 5 (Physics), Prof. 

 Blondin ; Section 6 (Chemistry), Prof. Hugounenq ; 

 Section 7 (Meteorology), M. Luizet ; Section 8 (Geology 

 and Mineralogy), M. Pcron ; Section 9 (Botany), Prof. 

 I.ecomte ; Section 10 (Zoology, Anatomy and Physiology), 

 Prof. Caullery ; Section 11 (.Anthropology), Dr. Guelliot ; 

 Section 12 (Medical Science), Prof. Landouzy ; Section 13 

 (Medical Electricity), Prof. Guilloz; Section 14 (Odont- 

 ology), M. Francis Jean ; Section 15 (.Agronomy), M. 

 Armand Walfard ; Section 16 (Geography), M. Richard ; 

 .Section 17 (Political Economy and Statistics), Dr. 

 Papillon ; Section 18 (Pedagogy), Dr. B^rillon ; Section it) 

 (Hygiene), Dr. Calmette. M. Jadart is the president of 

 the subsection dealing with archaeology. On August 5 

 an evening lecture will be delivered by Dr. S. Leduc, his 

 subject being " Diffusion and Osmosis." A very full pro- 

 gramme has been arranged, and it is possible here to refer 

 to a few of the subjects only. In the physics section the 

 properties of the electric arc will be dealt with, and their 

 application to the production of (a) luminous rays, (fa) 

 •electric waves for use in ordinary and in wireless tele- 

 graphy, (c) nitric acid and nitrates from the oxygen and 

 n'trogen of the air. In the chemistry section the progress 

 made in the study of sugars and the action of soluble 

 ferments on gums will be discussed. In the geology 

 section the classification of the Tertiary beds in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Rheims will be considered. Visits to j)laces 

 of interest have been arranged, and these include Verzenay, 

 Epcrnay, Laon, Coucy, Charleville, Dinant, and (he Han 

 grottoes. Full particul.-irs of the meeting can be obtained 

 from the secretarv to the council, 28 rue Serpente, Paris. 



.AccoRnixG to a paper by Mr. H. Elias, published in 

 Gcgcnhaur's Morphoiogisches Jahrbuch, vol. xx.xvii., 

 part i., the shrill cries of bats are, as might be expected, 

 intimately connected- with the structure of the larynx in 

 those animals. Special features are the powerful muscula- 

 NO. 1967, VOL. 76] 



ture and the shortness of the glottis, the latter being the 

 main cause of the shrillness of the cry. Details of the 

 variation in structure of the laryn.x in different groups of 

 insectivorous bats are given. In the same issue Dr. O. 

 Brian gives an illustrated account of the so-called horny 

 teeth on the tongue of the porcupine. These teeth form 

 two isolated oval patches near the tip of the tongue, and 

 although their existence has been long known, the author 

 of the paper claims that he is the first to describe their 

 histology. 



From a natural history point of view, the National 

 Geographic Magazine for June is an unusually interesting 

 number. Among its contents is an article by Prof. A. 

 Heilprin on the Guiana wilderness, in the course of which 

 reference is made to the statement that the tropical 

 American forest is characterised by the absence of flowers. 

 ■' The picture," observes the author, " does not seem to 

 apply to the forest of the river-banks of the Guianas. . . . 

 The streamers of purple, red, and white which hang down 

 over the forest-curtain easily recall in profusion and wealth 

 of colour the flowers of the north. . . . Indeed, it would be 

 difficult to recall in forests of the north, even as rare 

 instances, that display of flowers which so frequently re- 

 peats itself here." Another article to which attention may 

 be directed is one by Mr. H. M. Smith, Deputy Com- 

 missioner of U.S. Fisheries, on fish immigrants. It 

 deals largely with the objects and results of fish- 

 acclimatisation in the United States. 



" Selection and Cross-breeding in Relation to the 

 Inheritance of Coat-pigments and Coat-patterns in Rats and 

 Guinea-pigs " is the title of a paper by Messrs. H. 

 MacCurdy and W. E. Castle recently published by the 

 Carnegie Institution of Washington. After a general dis- 

 cussion on continuous and discontinuous variation as 

 factors in evolution, the authors point out that partial 

 albinism displays itself in rats in a fashion quite distinct 

 from that obtaining in guinea-pigs. In the one group the 

 dark areas tend to become restricted to certain definite 

 parts of the body, while in the other they become 

 irregularly distributed everywhere. In rats pigment- 

 reduction produces a regular series of coat-patterns, each 

 of which breeds true within certain limits. In the case of 

 guinea-pigs regression appears to be indicated by a re- 

 duction in the number of pigmented areas ; but its occur- 

 rence could not be definitely determined in rats. If 

 regression does occur in both groups, the main ques- 

 tion is whether we can " with propriety consider the 

 efi'ects of selection permanent. . . . We consider the selec- 

 tion question still an open one." 



Among several articles in the Zeitschrift fiir wissen- 

 schaftliche Zoologie, vol. Ixxxvi., part iv., reference may 

 be made to one by Mr. Hermann Jost, of Gbttingen, on 

 the developmental history of the larva of the ox-warble 

 fly, Hypoderma hovis. From the absence of any reference 

 to it in his list of literature, the author appears to be 

 unacquainted with the paper on the same subject by Mr. 

 A. D. Imms in vol. i., part ii., of the Journal of Economic 

 Biology, of which a brief notice appeared in our columns 

 some months ago. Mr. Imms was unable to obtain satis- 

 factory evidence as to the manner in which the larv^ 

 efl'ect entrance into the bodies of the host, that is to say, 

 whether they do so by perforating the skin or by way 

 of the mouth. Dr. Cooper Curtice in an earlier paper 

 came, however, to the conclusion that the young larvae 

 are licked up bv the cattle, and thus conveyed to the 

 alimentary canal. .According to Mr. Jost, this is not quite 



