5 2 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



CONTRIBUTED BY FLORA WINSTONE. 



Annaes de Sciencias Natoraes. (Oporto, 

 April, 1897.) The Editor, Signor Augusto Nobre, 

 continues a paper upon the " Marine Animal Life 

 of the Coasts of Portugal." Dr. Lopes Vieira con- 

 tributes a " Catalogue of the Fishes of Portugal." 

 There was, he states, noregistered list of the modern 

 collection of fishes of Portugal in the Museum of 

 Zoology of the University of Coimbra, and on 

 these he founds his paper. "Notes on the Birds of 

 Portugal" are continued by Mr. W. C. Tait, and 

 include, in this number, among others, the genera 

 Tringa, Totanus, Sterna, Larus and Pufinus. The 

 article on the "Molluscs and Brachiopods of 

 Portugal," by the Editor, is also continued, the 

 genera Clathurella , Raphitoma.Haedropleura and Halia 

 being noted, as are the native members of the 

 families Cancellaridae, Marginellidae, Volutidae, 

 Mitridae, Fasciolariidae, and Buccinidae. 



La Feuille des Jeunes Naturalistes. (Paris, 

 June, 1897.) M. Eugene Simon continues his 

 revision of the genera of Trochilides, or 

 humming-birds, dealing in this number with 

 Aphantoghroa, Talaphorus, Patagona, Leugippus, 

 Polyerrata, Uranomitra, and others. M. G. Budde- 

 Lund writes on the oldest civilization in the 

 world, being extracts from a lecture given before 

 the Students' Association at Copenhagen. He 

 says that one must look to bees, ants and termites 

 to find the first civilization of any animals on the 

 earth. They were living in communities with 

 regular systems and laws when man, if in 

 existence, was only a savage beast. "The most 

 subtle explanations," says M. G. Budde-Lund, 

 " have been put forth to maintain the supremacy 

 of the human reason above ' instinct,' but one 

 becomes more and more convinced that the only 

 difference is in degree." The article on the 

 French shores of the Channel is continued by 

 M. Adrien Dolfus, the subject in this number 

 being the molluscs found between Benerville and 

 Dives, including the genera Cultellus, Mactra, 

 Tellina, Limaea, Purpura, Natica, etc. M. G. de 

 Rocquigny Adanson has a note on the distribution 

 of the orange-splashed brimstone butterfly 

 (Rhodocera cleopatra). This form belongs chiefly 

 to the fauna of southern France, and is not seen 

 further north than the 46th parallel. 



Victorian Naturalist. (Melbourne, May, 1897.) 

 Among other communications is a paper read 

 before the Field Naturalists' Club of Victoria, in 

 March, 1897, by Mr. A. J. Campbell, describing 

 the nests and eggs of three rare birds, viz. : 

 Edoliisoma tenuirostre (Jardine's caterpillar-eater), 

 Ptilopus swainsoni (red-crowned fruit-pigeon), and 

 M egaloprepia magnified (purple-breasted fruit-pigeon). 

 Mr. E. Anderson and Mr. F. P. Spry give an 

 illustrated account of a new butterfly, Lyca-na, 

 cyrilus. This species was apparently first obtained 

 in Victoria some years ago by Mr. J. Kershaw, 

 who had in his collection a female specimen, taken 

 at Moe. Messrs. Anderson and Spry were 

 fortunate enough to obtain a series of this species, 



both male, and they were captured in December, 

 1896, near Cranbourne. Mr. Henry Tisdall writes 

 of " A Botanical Peep into the Rocky Pools of 

 Sorrento and Queenscliffe." The paper is devoted 

 to remarks on the algae to be found in these 

 pools, especial attention being given to the genus 

 Caulerpa and other low forms. 



Academy of Natural Sciences. (Philadelphia, 

 May, 1897 '• PP- 197-228.) The most important 

 Paper in this section of the Proceedings is by 

 Samuel N. Rhodes, being " A Contribution to the 

 Mammalogy of Central Pennsylvania." It is a 

 fortunate thing for posterity that records of the 

 wild animals of various sections of the northern 

 Continent of America are now from time to time 

 catalogued, with intelligent notes upon their 

 respective abundance or rarity. The march of 

 civilization is so steady and so relentless that the 

 feral mammal fauna is necessarily much altered in 

 the course of comparatively few years. The 

 district considered by Mr. Rhodes is of a moun- 

 tainous character, and includes hills upwards of 

 2,000 feet in altitude, with numerous valleys, rivers 

 and woodlands of the Alleghenies. Owing to 

 deforesting and burning of much of the timber of 

 the region, not only the animals but the flora has 

 changed to a great extent during the last century. 

 Most of the larger animals have consequently 

 disappeared. The last American bison was killed 

 in central Pennsylvania so long ago as the year 

 1800, by Colonel John Kelly, five miles from 

 Louisburg. The wapiti (Cervus canadensis) was 

 fairly abundant in the first decade of this century. 

 The last known wapiti or " elk " is stated to have 

 been killed in Elk County by a party of Indians in 

 1865, though one is said to have been seen a couple 

 of years later. Virginia deer have struggled on up 

 to the present time, though they have been almost 

 exterminated by pot-hunters, wandering dogs and 

 forest fires. In this part of the state, wandering 

 dogs, which have become practically wild, are " ten 

 times as destructive as the grey wolf ever was." 

 Other animals of interest which have disappeared 

 include the black rat (Mus rathis) which was once 

 the common rat, but has been replaced, as it has 

 in the British Islands, by the Norway rat (Mus 

 decumanus) . Of course both these species were in- 

 troduced, and are not native to America. The grey 

 wolf still remains, but is wary and rare. The total 

 list of species mentioned by Mr. Rhodes reaches 

 sixty-one wild animals. The last number being 

 appropriated to the North American Indian (Homo 

 sapiens-americanus) , of whom there were in iSgo, on 

 various reservations in the district, in more or less 

 civilized condition, some 8,000 of various tribes ; 

 two-thirds of these being of Iriquois descent, the 

 remainder being chiefly Senecas and Cherokees. 



The Canadian Entomologist. (London, Ont., 

 June, 1S97.) As was pointed out recently by one 

 of our contemporaries, the Canadian fauna is being 

 studied and described chiefly by naturalists hailing 

 from the U.S. side of the border-line. Our 

 Canadian friends should bestir themselves for the 

 credit of the Dominion. In the number before us 

 there are eight communications all written from 

 the United States, and apparently there is not a 

 single Canadian writer in this number. Of course 

 the political boundary does not make any difference 

 in the native fauna and flora of North America. 

 Still it would be more satisfactory to see the 

 Dominion naturalists more active. The Canadian 

 geologists, botanists, and economic entomologists, 

 have done well ; but there are few exceptions to 

 the lack of energy in other branches. 



