204 



NATURE 



f JUI Y 2, 1908 



The contents of the May number of the \iciorian 

 Naturalist include several papers on the local bird-fauna, 

 one of these being illustrated with an excellent reproduc- 

 tion of a photograph of a black-winged gannet colony. 

 In the course of the same paper it is mentioned that the 

 eggs of the short-tailed petrel, or " mutton-bird " 

 (Pujfinus tenuirostris), are extensively used as an article of 

 diet by the islanders in Bass Strait, and are of excellent 

 flavour. 



The second fasciculus of vol. xxxvii. of Travaiix dc la 

 Soc. Imp. des Naturalistes de St. Petcrsbourg is devoted 

 to the (mainly invertebrate) fauna of Turkestan, sections 

 of which are described by specialists. An amphlpod from 

 the Issik Kul is made the type of a genus under the some- 

 what barbarous title of Issykogamarus. Of more general 

 interest is an illustrated account, by Mr. V. A. Faussek, 

 on the minatory attitude assumed by the Russian tarantula 

 (Trochosa singoriensis), forming part of a paper on 

 threatening postures in animals generally. The spider in 

 question, which has a dark-coloured body with limbs 

 marked by bold bands of black and yellow, is represented 

 in a coloured plate both in its normal posture and in the 

 threatening attitude, when the body is raised nearly 

 vertically with the limbs extended in a radiating manner. 



Four out of the five articles forming the combined first 

 and second parts of vol. xxxviii. of the Morphologisches 

 Jahrbuch are devoted to the anatomy of mammals, and ol 

 these four three relate to the hind-limb. The longest, and 

 perhaps most important, is a paper by Mr. E. Loth, ol 

 Warsaw, on the morphology of the plantar aponeurosis 

 in the Primates, in the course of which it is shown thai 

 the different types displayed by this structure accord well 

 in the matter of their inter-relationships with the generally 

 accepted classification of the order. In the second papei 

 Mr. E. Glaesmer discusses the flexor muscles of the lower 

 part of the leg and foot, while in the third Mr. G. P. 

 Frets records the variations observable in the peroneal 

 muscles. The sulci in the brain of the cat, and their 

 individual variation, form the subject of the fourth paper, 

 by Mr. E. Landau, of Dorpat, a large number of 

 examples of the brain being figured. 



.\monc. several papers published in various .Argentine 

 journals, of which we have received separate copies from 

 the author, Prof, .'\ngel Gallardo, special attention may 

 be directed to one published in vol. xvi. of the .4nales of 

 the National Museum of Buenos Aires on a remarkable 

 case of mimicry in a caterpillar. The caterpillar, which 

 is rather more than 4 inches in length, is the larva of 

 Dilophonota lassaiixi, and feeds on Araujia sericifera, to 

 the stem and leaves of which it presents a most striking 

 resemblance, both as regards form and colouring, as 

 is shown by a coloured illustration. Pale blue in colour, 

 with three longitudinal stripes of fawn, this caterpillar 

 has two of the anterior segments of the thorax transversely 

 enlarged in such a manner that they closely simulate the 

 nodes of the food-plant. The most remarkable feature in 

 the resemblance is, however, the development of a pair of 

 white knobs on the second of these enlarged rings exactly 

 matching the white knobs on the nodes of the plant, which 

 mark the points of attachment of fallen leaves. The 

 mimicry is one of the most remarkable that has ever 

 come under our notice. 



An important contribution to embryology is made by 

 Mr. B. M. Davis in his account of the early life-history of 

 Dolichoglo.'isus pusillus (a relative of Balanoglossus, and 

 therefore a representative of the Entcropneusta), issued as 



NO. 2018, VOL. 7SJ 



vol. iv.. No. 3, of the Zoological Publications of California 

 University. The creature, which is of a brilliant orange 

 colour, burrows in the mud on various parts of the Cali- 

 fornian coasts, and deposits its eggs on one side of the 

 burrow, as is shown in a coloured plate accompanying the 

 memoir. Its breeding-places at San Pedro were recently 

 destroyed, but the author of the paper was fortunate 

 enough to obtain specimens of the eggs at San Diego 

 Bay. The acquisition of these was of the greatest import- 

 ance, since the only accounts — by Dr. W. Bateson — of the 

 development of the Entcropneusta previously published are 

 incomplete so far as the early stages are concerned. It 

 will be remembered that certain points of resemblance 

 between Balanoglossus and the lancelet were indicated by 

 Dr. Bateson, and from these resemblances it has been ■ 



argued that the body-cavities of these two organisms have 

 a similar origin. Certain difficulties have, however, been , 

 expressed with regard to the acceptance of this view, and 

 the author of the present paper points out that, if his own 

 interpretations be correct, these difficulties are now con- 

 verted into impossibilities. 



According to a note in the Journal of the Royal Society 

 of Arts, the people of Baltimore seem to have been 

 successful in their warfare with the mosquito. In 

 December, igo5, an ordinance was passed by the City 

 Council, and the sum of 2000Z. appropriated by it, for the 

 purpose of taking measures to exterminate the insect. 

 The first step taken was a distribution by the police to 

 householders of a notice setting forth the provisions of the 

 law requiring all the cisterns, tanks, and wells to be 

 covered with wire gauze ; all pools, ponds, fountains, or 

 other water receptacles not ctintaining fish to be screened 

 or covered with crude petroleum ; forbidding any water to 

 remain in any receptacle whatsoever ; requiring all privy 

 walls to be covered thoroughly with kerosene evei'y fifteen 

 days ; and that water be turned off, and water receptacles 

 emptied, should a house be unoccupied for more than five 

 days. Dr. C. M. Hill, who had charge of the work, 

 brought the matter forcibly before the public by delivering 

 lectures explaining the mode of mosquito extermination, 

 and cards were displayed in the tramcars directing the 

 attention of householders to the importance of their co- 

 operation in the work. Reporting upon the experiment, 

 Mr. Consul Fraser says the result of it is satisfactory, 

 and the City Council has appropriated another 1000!. for 

 continuance of the work in 1908. The mosquito has 

 hitherto been the cause of much illness and death in 

 Baltimore. 



Information regarding another new rubber plant is 

 collated by Dr. O. Stapf in the Kew Bulletin (No. 5). 

 The plant, discovered in Portuguese West .'\frica, receives 

 the name of Raphionacme utilis — Raphionacme being a 

 genus of the order Asclepiadacesc — and is known in the 

 country of origin as " ecanda " or " marianga." It is 

 peculiar in producing a short herbaceous stem, while the 

 latex is obtained from the tuberous root, that may attain 

 a diameter of 5 inches. There is at present no prospect 

 of extracting the rubber wjth profit. 



Although there has been a notable introduction of new 

 species of Primula within recent years from western China, 

 an additional list, remarkable not only for the number of 

 species, but also for the striking characters of certain of 

 the plants, is chronicled by Mr. Forrest in the Notes from 

 the Royal Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh (April). The 

 species of Primulaceas there described were collected in 

 western Yunnan and eastern Tibet; they include fifteen new 

 species of the genus, also a few species of .Androsace and 



