Septembeb 4, 1908] 



SCIENCE 



315 



may be assigned to a Sonoran origin. Nor is 

 there one having keeled scales, except 

 PityopMs, which appears to have inherited 

 them from Coluher, and exhibits them now in 

 weakness and instability indicating that they 

 are being got rid of. I have shown elsewhere 

 that hypapophyses and keeled scales are prob- 

 ably useful in swimming, to aquatic species. 

 In both of these respects ThamnopMs would 

 be an anomaly among indigenous Sonoran 

 genera, and its possession of both structures 

 appears to be an argument of much weight on 

 the side of its Austroriparian origin. 



In matters of detailed taxonomy little need 

 be said, especially when one admits the sway 

 of the personal equation among specific char- 

 acters. The author does present objections of 

 some importance to the phylogenetic schemes 

 devised by Professor Cope and the present re- 

 viewer, but it is to be remembered that the 

 last of these, at least, was put forward as no 

 more than a tentative hypothesis — a 'ballon 

 d'essai as it were — and its author has no 

 present inclination to make defense of all its 

 details. But it must be said that parts of Dr. 

 Euthven's gi-ouping are equally inadmissible. 

 For instance, he combines with a long known 

 Washington and Oregon form, leptocephalus 

 {ordinoides in his nomenclature), garter 

 snakes from the coast region of central Cali- 

 fornia, usually recognized as elegans, which he 

 excludes altogether from that portion of its 

 range. This is not a happy conclusion, in 

 view of the fact already recorded by me (Proc. 

 Academy of Nat. Sctences of PMla., 1903, p. 

 290), that I removed from the oviducts of a 

 female from Santa Cruz Co., California, 

 which would be, and indeed is assigned by 

 Dr. Euthven to leptocephalus {ordinoides) , 

 thirteen young, fully developed, twelve of 

 which in color and scutellation are typical 

 elegans, as defined by Baird and Girard. 

 The snake to which Ruthven applies the name 

 elegans is a species of the mountains and high 

 plains properly known as vagrans. 



Again, certain specimens of elegans from 

 Santa Cruz Co. and neighboring portions of 

 California, occur that are distinguishable with 

 difficulty from parietalis, which Dr. Ruthven 

 places on a quite different line of descent. 



But I cheerfully turn away from fault- 

 finding. The paper is admirably conceived, 

 carefully executed, is original and fearless 

 throughout, and systematic zoology would 

 make large measure of gain if there were hope 

 that it might serve as a finger-post to better 

 methods in the study of variation. Here it 

 deserves all praise. 



Arthur Erwin Brown 



The Zoological Gaedens, 

 Philadelphia 



SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS AND ARTICLES 

 The American Naturalist for July contains 

 the following articles " A New Mendelian 

 Ratio and Several Types of Latency," by 

 George H. Shull ; " The Leg Tendons of In- 

 sects," by C. W. Woodworth, in which the 

 author notes that the fact that the leg tendons 

 are cuticular invaginations, and therefore sub- 

 ject to replacement at each molt, has not, so 

 far as he is aware, been published. A case of 

 " Abnormal Incisors of Marmota monax " is 

 described by Charles A. Shull, and "A Note 

 on the Coloration of Pleihodon cinereus " is 

 given by Hugh D. Reed, who describes two 

 unusually red individuals. Marian E. Hub- 

 bard gives the results of " Some Experiments 

 on the Order of Succession of the Somites of 

 the Chick," which show that not more than 

 two somites can arise in front of the one first 

 formed. Hervey W. Shimer discusses " Dwarf 

 Faunas," concluding that the chief agency in 

 their production is an abnormal habitat. This 

 might come about by change in a normal 

 habitat or by the extension of an animal's 

 range into an unfavorable location. In 

 " Notes and Literature " Charles A. Kof oid 

 gives a clear and interesting resume of " The 

 Life History of the Eel." 



The Zoological Society Bulletin for July 

 notes the birth of a mountain goat in the 

 Park, the first born in captivity. The par- 

 ents were two of a herd of five secured by 

 Director Hornaday in 1905, and bom in May 

 of that year. There is an account of the 

 present status of the park showing that it 

 ranks fitrst in number of individuals repre- 

 sented in the collections, there being 4,034 

 animals living in the park. Under the head 



