June 4. 1908] 



NA TURE 



109 



The second part of vol. xx. of the Proceedings of the 

 Royal Society of Victoria contains two papers on the 

 geology and palaeontology of that colony, Prof. E. W. 

 Skeats discussing the Palaeozoic strata of Mooroodue, in 

 the Mornington peninsula, while Mr. F. Chapman 

 describes a number of new or little-known Victorian 

 fossils. The same issue contains the first part of a paper 

 by Miss Georgina Sweet on the anatomy of certain 

 Australian amphibians, of which we have been favoured by 

 the author with a separate copy. 



To the May number of the Zoologist Mr. Charles Old- 

 ham contributes a paper on the birds frequenting the well- 

 known " gullery " at Ravenglass, on the Cumberland 

 coast. The most notable species nesting there are the 

 black-headed gull and the common and the Sandwich tern, 

 of which the last-named is more numerously represented 

 than in any other of its few English breeding-places. The 

 Sandwich terns breed in colonies of from five or six to 

 lifty or more pairs. These colonies, often at some distance 

 from one Jttiother, are chiefly in the southern part of the 

 guHery, and most frequently on the dunes next the sea 

 or the estuary. There the nests are grouped within a few 

 inches of one another, sometimes hard by those of the 

 common terns and the black-headed gulls. Unlike those 

 of the latter, the nests are never in thick herbage, but take 

 the form of mere shallow depressions, with or without a 

 lining of bents, amid the sparse marram-grass. 



The first part of the third volume of the Journal of the 

 Federated Malay States Museum is devoted to an account 

 of the exploring expedition to Gunong Tahan, the great 

 mountain to the northw.^rd of Pahang, undertaken in 1905 

 by Messrs. Wray and Robinson, followed by descriptions 

 of the zoological collections. The narrative, which is 

 illustrated by reproductions of photographs of the general 

 scenery and the vegetation, shows that the explorers had 

 to undergo some rough experiences, although the admirable 

 arrangements made by the authorities in the matters of 

 supply and carriage prevented the occurrence of any 

 difficulties. The collections, so far at any rate as verte- 

 brates are concerned, proved, perhaps, a little disappoint- 

 ing. The new mammals, for example, comprised only a 

 couple of squirrels, one of which is merely a subspecies, 

 and a bat, albeit of a rather rarely represented genus, 

 while of new birds there were seven, among which a 

 woodpecker (Gecinus), an owl (Heteroscops), and a Cissa 

 are, like one of the squirrels, illustrated in coloured 

 plates. 



The sensory reactions of the lancelet are discussed by 

 Mr. G. H. Parker in vol. .xliii.. No. 16, of the Proceedings 

 of the .American Academy of Arts and Sciences. The 

 creature, it seems, is but very slightly receptive to light, 

 responding, indeed, to a rapid increase of illumination, but 

 taking scarcely any notice of a corresponding decrease ; 

 the only known light-receiving organs are the eye-cups in 

 the wall of the nerve-tube. Temperatures below 5° C. and 

 above 39° C. are fatal to its existence. Mechanical 

 stimulants affect the skin, more especially the tentacles 

 and oral hood, and sound-vibrations likewise produce an 

 effect on the organism. Tactile organs exist in the skin, 

 but there are no derived structures corresponding to ears 

 and the lateral line of fishes. To locomotion-inducing 

 stimulants the lancelet responds by forward movements 

 when these are applied to the tail, and by backward move- 

 ments when they touch the middle or fore-part of the body. 

 The creature generally buries itself tail-first in the sand, 

 and probably swims in a similar manner, although in both 

 cases the movement may be reversed. 



NO. 2014, VOL. 78] 



To the May number of the American Journal of Science 

 Mr. R. S. Lull contributes an interesting paper on the 

 head-muscles of dinosaurs, with special relation to the 

 origin of the neck-shield in the horned group (Ceratopsia). 

 Such evidence as can be obtained with regard to the cranial 

 musculature can, of course, be gleaned only from the form 

 and proportions of the skull, coupled with, in some cases, 

 the marks of the attachments of the muscles themselves. 

 From the analogy of chama:leons, which, although 

 insectivorous, masticate their food, it is inferred that 

 horned dinosaurs had powerful temporal and feeble ptery- 

 goid muscles, thereby differing markedly from crocodiles, 

 in which, owing to the absence of mastication, the con- 

 ditions in these respects are reversed. It is also pointed 

 out that the neck-shield or frill of the Ceratopsia presents 

 a remarkable analogy or parallelism to the so-called 

 casque of the chamajleon's skull, both structures being 

 essentially a backward extension of the parietal segment 

 designed to afford «xtra space for the origin of the great 

 temporal muscles. It is added that Owen's chamaeleon 

 from the Cameroons presents a curious " mimicry " of 

 the Triceratops type in carrying three horns situated very 

 much as in the dinosaur, although these horns are entirely 

 dermal structures, devoid of bony cores. "In the 

 chamaeleon they seem to be the result of sexual selection, 

 and are certainly not for aggressive warfare in a creature 

 which moves with the utmost caution ; while in Triceratops 

 the presence of efficient weapons in both sexes was an 

 imperative factor in the struggle for existence." 



In the Travaux dc la Sociiti Iinpirialc dcs Naturalistes 

 de St. Petersbourg (vol. xxxviii., part i.) there appear two 

 contributions to the " Flora Caucasica Critica." Mr. N. 

 Kusnezow contributes addenda and a summary of various 

 cohorts allied to the Ericales, and Mr. A. Fomin is 

 responsible for a fascicle on the Campanulata-. 



The first number of the Proceedings of the Field Club 

 and Natural History Society of University College, Exeter, 

 has been received, in which the inception of the Field Club 

 and records for previous years are chronicled. A list of 

 plant formations on Dawlish Warren is contributed by Mr. 

 J. L. Sager. Mr. J. Stevens supplies a catalogue of 

 Rotifera collected in the Exeter district, among them a new 

 species, Brachionus scricus, taken on Hell Tor. 



A PAMPHLET dealing with the red-rot of the sugar-cane 

 stem is issued as Bulletin No. 8 from the experiment 

 station of the Hawaiian Sugar Planters' Association. Up 

 to the present this disease, that is ascribed with a toler- 

 able degree of certainty, although not quite definitely, to 

 CoUctotrichtim falcafiiiii, has not been credited with 

 causing much damage in the Hawaiian Islands, so that 

 the account is in the nature of a premonitory warning. 

 Being a wound parasite, the fungus enters readily where 

 the canes have been penetrated by borers, and is liable to 

 be perpetuated by planting of diseased canes. A resistant 

 variety appears to have been found in the yellow Caledonia. 



The short list of new diagnoses, " Decades Kewenses, 

 xxiii.," published in the current number of the Kew 

 Btdletin (No. 4), contains Chinese species of Sterculia, 

 Euonymus, and Rheum, also a new Rheum from Tibet. 

 Mr. J. Burtt-Davy communicates some notes on Transvaal 

 trees and shrubs. The group of Acacias is very numerous, 

 and includes the species cafjra. Catechu, Giraffae, horrida, 

 and sjJtrocarpoides, the last-named being a common species 

 of the " umbrella " type in the Waterberg district. 

 Evidence is adduced in favour of referring the Pretoria 



