AlanP.Ternes Editor 



Ellen Goldensohn Managing Editor 



Thomas Page Designer 



Board of Editors 



Robert B. Anperson, Florence G. Edelstein, 

 Rebecca B. Finnell, Jenny Lawrence, 

 ViTTORio Maestro, Richard Milner. Judy Rice, 

 Kay Zakariasen (Pictures) 



Contributitlg Editors 



Les Line, Samuel M. Wilson 



Lisa Stillman Copy Editor 



Peggy Conversano Asst. Designer 



Ellen Louise Smith Editorial Asst. 



David Ortiz Picture Asst. 



Carol Barnette Text Processor 



John Jeffers 



L. Thomas Kelly Publisher 

 Bari S. Edwards General Manager 

 Ernestine Weindorf Asst. to the Publisher 

 Edward R. Buller Bu.iiness Manager 

 Gary Castle Gradation Director 

 Ramon E. Alvarez Direct Mail Mamiger 

 Judy Lee Asst. Circulation Manager 

 Brunilda Ortiz Asst. Fulfillment Manager 

 Mark Abraham Production Director 

 Marie Mundaca Assl. Production Manager 

 John Matthew Ravida Advg. Prod. Coordinator 



Advertising Sales (212) 599-5555 



310 Madison Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10017 



John Moncltse Advertising Sales Director 



Edgar L. Harrison New York Sales Manager 



Theodore Dolan Travel Mamiger 



Accoimt Managers 



Inge C. Polak, Lee Jackson 



Thomas J. Nolan Research and Marketing Mgr 



Regional Advertising OtTliES 



Globe M,idia Inc. in Af/uflra {400 33 1-3 1 55. DoUm (214) 98(I-885S. 

 Oaroil (3131 642-IT73, HonoMli(g08) 7.35-9188, tu.t Aeries (2131850- 

 8339. .Mcoco CiK (525) 536-5690, Mii™/ (305) 461-0800. and Son Frtm- 

 ri'jcn (4 15) 362-8339; Jeiry Gnito&A.ssuc. in C/iit-ofio (312) 263-4100; 

 and American PublL'^horj RcpitsL-nlivcs Ltd in Toronto (4 16) 363.1388 



William T. Golden 

 Chuinnan, Board ofTi-ustees 



Ellen V. Putter 



President and Chief Executive 



Nalnral History (ISSN 0028-07 1 2) is published monlhly by 

 the American Mu.scum ofNatural History. Ccntrtil Park West 

 at 79lh Sneet. New "lork, N.Y. 10024. Subscriptions: $28.00 

 a year. In Canatfa and all other countries: $37.00 a year. Scc- 

 ond-cla.ss postage p;iid at New Yoit, N.Y. and at additiotiat 

 mailing offices. Copyright O I W4 by American iMuseum of 

 Natural History. All rights resen'ed. No part of tllis periodical 

 may be reproduced without written consent o^ Nalnral History. 

 Send subscription ordeni and undeliverablc copies to the ,ad- 

 dress below. Membership and subsciiption inlomiation: Write 

 to address below or call (SOO) 234-5252 if urgent. Po.sunaster: 

 Send addre-ss changes lo Natural Hluoiy. Post Ofliee Box 

 5000, Harlan lA 51537-5000. 



Printed on recycled paper in the USA 



The Bats of Winter 



Thanks for Bemd Heinrich's fine article 

 and accompanying photographs on winter 

 moths ("Some Liice It Cold," February 

 1994). Being active in winter certainly 

 helps moths avoid bats in cold cUmates 

 such as that of Vermont. In southern New 

 Jersey where I study winter moths, how- 

 ever, temperatures are often well above 

 freezing on winter evenings at dusk, and 

 big brown bats are virtually always forag- 

 ing when these moths are flying. Since 

 very few insects besides smaU flies are ac- 

 tive here between December and Febru- 

 ary, the calorie-rich winter moths may be 

 at even greater risk from bats in January 

 than they are in July. 



Another note: the critical need to have 

 larval hatching timed to coincide with 

 budbreak, rather than avoidance of birds, 

 probably affected the evolution of early- 

 spring egg-laying in these and many other 

 moth species. 



Dale Schweitzer 

 Port Norris, New Jersey 



Still Looking 



Regarding the article "Bagging the Lit- 

 tle Green Men" ("Celestial Events," Feb- 

 ruary 1994), I am happy to report that 

 SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelli- 

 gence) is very much alive and weU. While 

 it is true that Congress has directed NASA 

 to abandon its attempts to detect radio 

 transmissions from other solar systems, 

 the SETI Institute's efforts to raise private 

 money to keep the search alive have met 

 with success — we are more than halfway 

 to our goal of $7.3 million. These funds 

 will enable us first to modify and improve 

 the digital receivers lent to us by NASA 

 and then to deploy this equipment at the 

 Parkes radio observatory in New South 

 Wales, Australia, for Southern Hemi- 

 sphere observations in 1995. We then plan 

 to move the receiving equipment to the 

 Northern Hemisphere, beginning with the 

 1,000-foot-diameter radiotelescope at 

 Arecibo, Puerto Rico. We expect observa- 



tions to continue into the next millennium. 

 I look forward to a day, perhaps not far off, 

 when we hear the first evidence that we 

 are not alone in the universe. 



Frank D. Drake 



President, SETI Institute 



Mountain View, California 



Convergent Chenocal Evolution? 



In "Stinking Birds and Burning Books" 

 ("Nature's Infinite Book," January 1994), 

 Jared Diamond discusses the recent recog- 

 nition that certain jay-sized New Guinea 

 birds called pitohuis share a potent defen- 

 sive toxin (homobatrachotoxin) with 

 Colombian poison-dart frogs. He goes on 

 to suggest diat this is a remarkable case of 

 "convergent evolution at the molecular 

 level." 



An analogous case suggests that the 

 convergent evolution may rather be the 

 ability of both organisms to safely culture 

 toxin-producing bacteria. The infamous 

 tetrodotoxin, which almost dispatched 

 James Bond in From Russia with Love, is 

 an example of this latter convergence. 

 Tetrodotoxin got its name from the puffer- 

 fish (of the family Tetradontidae), which is 

 used in fugu, die Japanese culinary deU- 

 cacy. But it has subsequently been found 

 in many other animals, including unre- 

 lated fishes, frogs and salamanders, gas- 

 tropods, crabs, starfish, and the beautiful 

 blue-ringed octopuses of southern oceans. 

 These animals can harbor bacteria that 

 produce the toxin, and indeed one can rear 

 toxin-free pufferfish with appropriate pre- 

 cautions. The pitohuis and the poison-dart 

 frogs may well share an ability to culture 

 toxin-producing bacteria on their skins, 

 and the presence or absence of such bacte- 

 ria would explain the range of toxicities 

 noted by Diamond in different parts of the 

 birds' range. 



An important corollary of such sym- 

 bioses is that the hosts must be immune to 

 the bacterial poisons. Both homobatra- 

 chotoxin and tetrodotoxin bind to sodium 

 channels in the membranes of susceptible 



4 Natural History 5/94 



