October i, 190S] 



NA TURE 



545 



published papers on the Ceratopsia, he provided a 

 fund of information in the shape of finished and un- 

 finished drawings." 



Mr. Hatcher considered the horned dinosaurs to be 

 probabh' an exclusively .-Vmerican group, none of the 

 European dinosaurs tentatively placed therein having 

 anv definite claim to such a position. In the case of 

 a Wealden bone, described as a ceratopsian horn, the 

 opinion is expressed that it is really a much weathered 

 ungual phalange of a member of the sauropod group. 



Leaving Mr. Hatcher's osteological section, the 

 remainder of this notice may be devoted to brief men- 

 tion of some of the interesting facts and speculations 

 brought together in Mr. Lull's supplement. 



The earliest known Ceratopsia occur in the Judith 

 River beds, but of the ancestors of these latter we 

 have no knowledge, possibly for the reason that they 

 were inhabitants of dry land, instead of, like their 

 successors, frequenters of swamps. The members of 

 the group living at the Laramie epoch exhibit advance 

 over their predecessors in the matter of bodily size, 

 the preponderance of the supraorbital pair of horns 

 over the single nasal one, the fuller development of the 

 wonderful flange-like neck-shield of the skull, and the 

 perfection of a jjeculiar type of dentition. Several 

 attempts have been made to reproduce the external 

 form of the horned dinosaurs, the most successful, in 

 the opinion of Mr. Lull, being a painting and a 

 statuette by Mr. C. K. Knight of Triceratops, the 

 former of which is copied as a frontispiece to the 

 volume before us, and is herewith reproduced. 



That the horned dinosaurs were herbivorous is per- 

 fectly manifest; and it is suggested that while the 

 edentulous, and doubtless horny, beak served for 

 cropping succulent leaves and shoots, the teeth in the 

 sides of the jaws chopped the food into short frag- 

 ments, as they were not adapted for mastication. 

 Swamps seem to have been the home of these rhino- 

 ceros-like dinosaurs ; and this, it is suggested, may 

 negative the idea that they were exterminated bv the 

 attacks of small predaceous mammals, since it has 

 been considered that the latter were arboreal. If, 

 however, mammals are derived from the theriodont 

 reptiles, the theory that all the early forms were 

 arboreal seems to require reconsideration. 



Be this as it may, a more probable factor leading 

 to the wane of the Ceratopsia was " changing climatic 

 conditions and a contracting and draining of the 

 swamp and delta regions caused by the orographic up- 

 heavals which occurred towards the close of the Cre- 

 taceous. The Ceratopsidae and their nearest allies, 

 the Trachodontida, both highly specialised plant- 

 feeders, were unable to adapt themselves to a pro- 

 foundlv changed environment because of this very 

 specialisation, and, as a consequence, perished." 



The volume reflects the highest credit on all con- 

 cerned in its production, and is an admirable example 

 of the modern style of palaeontological investigation, 

 so intrinsicallv different in its picturesque speculation 

 from the long series of dry details which alone formed 

 the contents of works of this nature published a 

 quarter of a century ago. R. L. 



NOTES. 



The death is announced of M. D. Clos, director of the 

 Jardin des Plantes at Toulouse, and correspondant of the 

 section of botany of the Paris Academy of Sciences. 



Prof. L. H. Bailey, of Cornell University, has accepted 

 the chairmanship of the commission appointed by President 

 Roosevelt to report upon the social and economic conditions 

 of agricultural life. 



XO. 2031, VOL. 78] 



A Reuter message from Berlin announces that the 

 Academy of Sciences there has received a legacy of 

 30,000,000 marks (1,500,000/.), being the entire fortune of 

 a millionaire named Samson, who recently died childless 

 at Brussels. 



.^T Le Mans on Monday, Mr. Wilbur \\'right travelled 

 in his flying machine a distance of 48-12 kilometres in 

 ih. 7m. 11-45. He afterwards performed a flight lasting 

 inn. 35-45., with a passenger, at a speed of nearly one 

 kilometre a minute. 



The Graham medal of the Royal Philosophical Society 

 of Glasgow (awarded for original research in any branch 

 of chemical science) is now open to competition. All 

 information respecting the conditions of the award may 

 be obtained from the secretary of tlie society. 



The quinquennial Riberi prize, of the value of 800/., 

 according to the AihencEum, has been awarded by the 

 Academy of Turin to Prof. Bosco, of Turin, for his dis- 

 covery of biological reaction, i.e. of a peculiar growth 

 of mould on substances containing arsenic, tellurium, or 

 selenium. 



The eighth International Congress of Hydrology, Cli- 

 matology, Geology, and Physical Therapeutics is to be 

 held at Algiers on .April 4 to 10 next. All papers to 

 be read at the meeting should be sent by, at latest, 

 January 31. Full particulars of the congress can be ob- 

 tained from M. Raynaud, 7 Place de la R^publique, 

 Algiers. 



Dr. Svex Hedin, in delivering a private lecture at Simla 

 on his discoveries in Tibet, stated that although little is 

 left in that country in the way of geographical discovery, 

 in geology much remains to be done. Dr. Hedin is of 

 opinion that from two to three years will be required to 

 work up the mass of information collected by him relating 

 to tracts hitherto unknown to Europeans. 



The Dove Marine Laboratory at Cullerroats was opened 

 on Tuesday by the Duke of Northumberland. A polished 

 granite tablet near the entrance bears the inscription : — 

 " Erected a.d. 1908 by Wilfred H. Hudleston, M.A., 

 F.R.S., for the furtherance of Marine Biology and as a 

 Memorial of his Ancestress Eleanor Dove." The new 

 building, which stands on the site of the old baths, con- 

 tains an aquarium 30 feet by 23 feet, and there are eleven 

 fish tanks. There is also a private aquarium, and pro- 

 vision is made in thirty-six tanks for the storing of 

 materials for experimental work. A concrete tank holding 

 15,000 gallons of salt water will give a continual flow 

 through the various tanks. The laboratory is in connec- 

 tion with .Armstrong College, Newcastle-on-Tyne. 



A RETURN issued by the Government of India shows that 

 the total mortality amongst human beings reported to be 

 due to snake-bite was 21,419 in 1907. The treatment of 

 snake-bite by incision and application of permanganate of 

 potash, as recommended, by Sir Lauder Brunton (see 

 N.ATL-RE, June 9, 1904, p. 141), continues, and lancets are 

 distributed for this purpose, but the value of the results 

 is discounted by the absence of identification of the snake 

 that inflicted the bite. In Burmah nearly all the deaths 

 occurred in paddy tracts where Russell's viper is par- 

 ticularly prevalent. Steps are being taken in that province 

 to ensure a wide distribution of the Brunton lancets. It 

 is reported that in the Pegu district six men and one 

 buffalo bitten by Russell's vipers were operated on by 

 headmen to whom lancets had been issued, and that all 

 recovered but one man, who was unconscious before being 



