BeoiiMIJEr 16, 1004.] 



SCIENCE. 



H4.7 



the whole plantigrade sole on the ground, the hind 

 feet especially, the Dinomys has a waddling gait, 

 and reminds one of an immense rat well advanced 

 in development towards a bear. 



The predominant feature of the character of 

 Dinomys is a combination of leisurely movements 

 and supreme good nature. It knows absolutely 

 nothing of haste. Spending the greater part of 

 the day sleeping in a corner— the mother often 

 lying upon the young one, or standing over it, 

 as if to protect and to keep it warm— opening its 

 half-closed eyes only when it hears the approach- 

 ing steps of the keeper, it forms the resolution to 

 move with ,slow gait, expecting some food, evi- 

 dently governing its movements as much by hear- 

 ing and smell as by sight. It is not easily irri- 

 tated, and permits one to stroke and to scratch 

 its head and back, and only occasionally manifests 

 its displeasure by a low guttural growl. I have 

 never yet observed a manifest intention to bite. 

 When let ovit of the cage it makes no attempt to 

 escape, and limits its .excursions to an explora- 

 tion of the immediate neighborhood in search of 

 something to eat. It occasionally scratches itself 

 rapidly with its long claws, which is the only oc- 

 casion on which it manifests a capacity for rapid 

 movements when required. One thing not yet 

 definitely verified by us is its proclivity for dig- 

 ging, the development of the claws at least leading 

 to the supposition that the animal is well fitted 

 for that purpose. Tlie amiable relations always 

 existing between mother and son prepossesses one 

 most favorably as to the natural disposition of 

 the animals. 



As matters now stand, it would be justifiable to 

 suppose that the true home of Dinomys is not 

 properly in the Peruvian Andes, and that the first 

 .specimen found there was merely a stray individ- 

 ual and that its actual habitat may rather be 

 located in the almost unexplored regions of the 

 eastern slopes and tablelands of the Bolivian and 

 Pf-'uvian foot-hills bordering on Brazil, including 

 geographically the head-waters of the rivers Acre, 

 Purus and Jurua. F. A. LuCAS. 



CURRENT NOTES ON METEOROLOGY. 



MONTHLY WEATHER REVIEW. _ 



The two latest issues of the Monthly 

 Weather Review (July and August, 1904, 

 dated September 19 and October 21 respect- 

 ively) contain the following papers of gen- 

 eral interest : ' The Movements of the High 

 Clouds in the West Indies,' by J. T. Quinn; 

 ' Attempts at Methodical Forecasting of the 



Weather,' by L. Besson (translated from the 

 French) ; ' Air Eadiation,'- by C. C. Hutchins 

 and J. C. Pearson, of Bowdoin College; and 

 notes on ' Meteorology at Montpellier, France,' 

 ' Early American Weather Records,' ' Weather 

 and Crops in Arizona,' ' The Climate of Ma- 

 nila,' ' Secular Changes in Climate,' ' The 

 Capacity of the Air for Aqueous Vapor,' 

 ' Temperature of the Upper Atmosphere,' 

 ' Precipitation in Wisconsin,' ' Meteorology in 

 Chile ' and ' Cannonading against Hail.' 

 Further, ' The Annual and Geographical Dis- 

 tribution of Cyclones of High Velocity in the 

 United States, 1893-1902,' by Stanislav Hanz- 

 lik; 'Dust in the Atmosphere during 1902-03,' 

 by Andrew Noble ; ' The Origin of the Cuba 

 Cyclones of June 13-14, 1904,' by Maxwell 

 Hall ; and the following notes : ' The Primary 

 and Secondary Rainbows,' ' Formation and 

 Movement of Hurricanes,' ' A Legal Decision 

 as to Damage by Lightning and Wind,' ' Are 

 the Movements of Thunderstorms deflected by 

 the Tide ? ' and ' The Diurnal Variation of 

 the Barometer at Milwaukee.' 



CHANGES IN BLOOD AT HIGH ALTITUDES. 



Dr. K. Burker, of the Physiological Insti- 

 tute of Tiibingen, has been making an experi- 

 mental study of the physiological effects of 

 high altitudes at the Schatzalp Sanatorium, 

 6,119 feet above sea-level. In the case of rab- 

 bits brought from a lower level, and kept for 

 different lengths of time at 6,000 feet, an 

 increase of 25 per cent, in the amount of iron 

 in the blood was noted. The liver showed 

 first an increase of iron; then, after a longer 

 time at the greater altitude, a decrease, and in 

 the case of rabbits kept still longer, there ap- 

 peared to be less iron than in the livers of 

 rabbits at Tiibingen. In a similar line are 

 the studies of the blood of human beings made 

 by Dr. Gaule during two balloon trips. The 

 effect of the balloon trips was to increase the 

 number of red corpuscles of each of the per- 

 sons examined. Similar results have previ- 

 ously been obtained by Viault, Miintz and 

 others. 



AN INSTRUMENT FOR DETERMINING WIND AT SEA. 



In the Quarterly Journal of the Royal 



