186 Animal Life 
Early in the year Prof. C. Ewart, of Edinburgh, announced his belief that the 
callosities on the limbs of the horse and its allies represented the vestiges of foot-pads, 
like those found on the soles of the feet of dogs and civets. This view was controverted 
by the present writer in a paper published in the “ Proceedings” of the Zoological 
Society, where it was suggested that the structures in question might prove to be 
vestiges of glands. ; 
Although it would be of little interest to allude to the numerous descriptions of new 
species and races of mammals which have appeared during the year, since the great 
majority of these are nearly allied to previously known forms, an exception must be made 
in the case of a small antelope from West Africa described by Mr. W. E. de Winton in 
the journal last cited under the name of Neotragus batesy. From pigmy antelopes to 
eiraffes is a sudden transition, but the writer cannot refrain from referring to the descrip- 
tion of the local forms of the latter which appeared in this journal. The variation im the 
form of the antlers in the Scandinavian elk-——in connection with the description last year 
of a new form of this animal from Eastern Siberia—has been discussed in the Zoological 
Society’s “ Proceedings.” A third exception with regard to not noticing descriptions of 
new species must be made in the case of a jerboa from the Nan Shan Mountains of 
China, which has been described by Mr. C. A. Satunin (“Ann. Mus. St. Petersbourg,” 
Vol. VII.) as the type of a new genus, under the name of Cardiocranus paradoxus. 
The study of the whales and dolphins captured or seen during the Belgian 
Antarctic Expedition has led Dr. E. G. Racovitza (nm the Report on the zoology of the 
voyage) to discuss the question whether whales sleep, and also the depths to which 
they are able to descend in the ocean. The former question he answers in the 
negative, while in regard to the latter he is of opinion that the depth to which these 
animals “sound” has been very greatly exaggerated. Certam Indian dolphins and 
porpoises, one of which is new to science, have been described by Mr. H. Ferguson 
and the present writer in the “Journal” of the Bombay Natural History Society. 
Although some naturalists will not admit that the study of domesticated animals 
has anything to do with zoology, I am not of this opinion, and therefore refer in this 
place to Miss F. Simpson’s beautiful “Book of the Cat,’ published by Cassell & Co. 
In regard to works on the mammals of particular areas, reference may be made, 
in the first place, to Mr. J. Li. Bonhote’s account of the mammals of the Malay 
Peninsula, which forms the first part of the work entitled “Fasciculi Malayenses.” 
Next on the lst comes Sir Harry Johnston’s work on British Mammals. 
From mammal faunas the transition is easy to faunas in general, under which 
heading special reference must be made to the “Natural History of Sokotra,” edited 
by Dr. H. O. Forbes, and published by the Liverpool Museums. The editor, together 
with Mr. W. R. Ogilvie-Grant, of the British Museum, spent some months on the 
islands of the Socotra group in the winter of 1898—99, during which time they made 
an extensive collection of its zoological and botanical products. ‘These are described by 
various specialists in this volume. Brief reference must suffice for the first volume 
of Dr. Guppy’s ‘‘ Observations of a Naturalist in the Pacific,’ which deals with the 
zoology of the Solomon gfoup. 
In this place may be conveniently noticed the “First Report on Hconomic Zoology,” 
published by order of the Trustees of the British Museum. This volume contains a 
perfect mine of information with regard to insect pests and the best means of checking 
their ravages. And it is satisfactory to learn that, in connection with the Board of 
Agriculture, reports on subjects of this nature are in future to form a recognised branch 
ef the work of the Museum. But insect ravages by no means form the sole subject 
of this particular volume. It also contains, as an introduction, a classification of animals 
from the point of view of economic zoology, written by Prof. EK. Ray Lankester. 
