Notes and Comments. 



83 



HEDGEHOG WITHOUT SPINES. 



This reminds us that some years ago, in Natural Science, 

 appeared an illustration of a Hedgehog without spines,* which 

 is also reproduced herewith. The specimen was in the Royal 

 Bohemian Museum, and was originally figured in the official 

 Bericht of that Museum for 1897. ' In this specimen there 

 are none of the characteristic spines, the whole body being 

 clothed instead with normal hair. Spines, of course, are 

 only highly modified hairs, and this individual is doubtless to be 



regarded as an example of atavism, one in which the dermal 

 appendages have reverted to their original condition. 



SANDS AND ROCKS USED IN GLASS MANUFACTURE. 



Messrs. Longman, Green and Co. have recently issued ' A 

 Supplementary Memoir on British Resources of Sands and 

 Rocks used in Glass Manufacture, with certain Refractory 

 Materials,' by P. G. H. Boswell* which, besides the general 

 remarks on the methods of examination, includes descriptions 

 of sands from the various counties in England, notes on their 

 suitability for glass-making, etc. In addition there are three 

 maps, and a number of plates showing samples of sand. 



authors' reprints. 



The Library of the late F. W. Rudler, consisting of two 

 thousand volumes and four thousand pamphlets will, in future, 

 be available to students at the University College of Wales, 

 Aberystwyth. It is much to be desired that such life-long 

 collections of specialists should be preserved in this way, as it 



* Nat. Set., Sept., 1898, plate II. 

 * 92 pages, price 3/- 



1918 Mar. 1. 



