NOVBMBEE 16, 1900.] 



SCIENCE. 



767 



corresponding to the carbids. They are formed 

 in the electric furnace from mixtures of the 

 carbonates with sand, and sufficient carbon to 

 effect a reduction, or silicates of the alkaline 

 earths and carbon may be used. When treated 

 with water, hydrogen is evolved ; with dilute 

 acids the calcium compound evolves silicon 

 acetylene, SijHj. They are powerful reducing 

 agents, and may find use in the dye-stuff indus- 

 tries. They have also been found to be effec- 

 tive in removing phosphorus and sulfur from 

 molten steel. 



A RECENT issue of the Chemical Netvs gives a 

 description of the electrolytic refining plant of 

 Boston and Montana Copper and Silver Mining 

 Company of Great Falls, Montana, and of the 

 Anaconda Copper Mining Company. It is an 

 excellent instance of the revolution which is 

 being worked in many industries by the use of 

 electricity. In these plants the ore is ground 

 and concentrated, and the rough metal is then 

 cast in pigs two feet square and two inches 

 thick. These are used as the anodes in the 

 bath, the kathodes being thin sheets of copper. 

 The refined copper is deposited upon these thin 

 sheets, while the refuse from the pigs falls to 

 the bottom of the bath. This refuse consists 

 chiefly of lead, silver and gold, and is said to be 

 worth about $2,600 a ton. This refuse is suffi- 

 cient to pay for the whole electrolytic process. 

 The process is carried on without intermission 

 and the effective result is seen in the dividends 

 of these companies. 



J. L. H. 



RECENT ZOO-PALEONTOLOGY. 

 A HHINOCBEOS WITH A COMPLETE SET OF CUT- 

 TING TEETH. 



The chronometer of evolution never errs. It 

 is well known that modern rhinoceroses are 

 distinguished by the loss of most, if not all, of 

 their cutting teeth. On evolution principles it 

 has been predicted that they sprang from an- 

 cestors with four cutting teeth. 



A few years ago the American Museum party 

 found a maxilla containing the ancestral upper 

 canines, and now F. A. Lucas {Proc. U. 8. 

 NatH, Mus., No. 1207) has described a still older 

 type, Trigonias oshorni, with a full set of upper 

 cutting teeth, that is, canines and three incisors. 



the most anterior of which is enlarged, Fig. 1. 

 In the lower jaw there is some evidence that 

 the enlarged teeth, which have been usually 

 described as canines, are really incisors, because 



Fig. 1. — Trigonias osbonii. A. Jaw showing aL 

 veoli of supposed canines. B. Anterior portion of 

 cranium, showing three incisors and small canine. 

 After Lucas. 



vestiges of small teeth are present just behind 

 them. This is a most interesting discovery 

 from the Lower Oligocene beds of South Da- 

 kota and carries the line of the Rhinoceroses 

 one step further back. The animal is almost 

 as large as the classic Aceratherium occidenfale 

 of Leidy. 



EXTINCT LEMURS FROM MADAGASCAR. 



Dr. C. J. Forsyth Major has described from 

 time to time the remarkable lemurs of ancient 

 Madagascar, a zoological region otherwise 

 known as 'Lemuria'; they are of Pleistocene 

 age and show a high degree of specialization 

 or adaptive radiation. Megaladapis (see Phil. 

 Trans., Vol. 193, pp. 47-50, 1900) is by far the 

 largest monkey hitherto described ; as the name 

 implies, it imitates on a large scale the well- 

 known Adapis of the Oligocene of France. 

 Another type, Nesopithecua {Proc. Zool. Soc. , Dec. 

 19, 1899), is remarkable in its adaptive resem- 

 blance to the Hypsiprimnid marsupials of Aus- 

 tralia, proving that the lemurs are a group 



