198 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



EDITORIAL GLEANINGS. 



Me. A. Smith Woodward, in this month's issue of the ' Annals and 

 Magazine of Natural History,' has announced the discovery of an extinct 

 Eel (Urenchelys anglicus) in the English Chalk. The writer observes: — 

 " There is thus no doubt that the Apodal fishes date back to the Cretaceous 



period A well-preserved skull of a typical Eel from the Lower Chalk 



of Clayton, Sussex, is to be recognized in the Willett Collection in the 

 Brighton Museum." 



At a meeting of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, held at Calcutta in 

 January last, Major Alcock exhibited some enlarged drawings of the 

 well-known caterpillar of the Notodoutid moth, Stauropus alternus, and 

 remarked : — " These caterpillars, which can be found in Calcutta and its 

 vicinity in the rainy season, are as extraordinary in look as they are 

 in behaviour. When touched they turn the hinder end of the body over 

 on to the back, in the manner of an enraged Scorpion, and then begin to 

 tremble as if agitated by the most uncontrollable emotion. There are 

 certain particularly irascible Ants that behave somewhat in the same way, 

 and there can be little doubt that the suggestion which has been made that 

 the attitude of the alarmed Stauropus caterpillar may be mistaken by its 

 enemies for the offensive posture of an Ant of enormous dimensions is 

 somewhere near the truth. The insects that accompany these drawings 

 are common enough during the monsoon in Calcutta, and I recommend 

 them to your further notice. No observer can watch their behaviour with- 

 out admiration. Of their power to terrify creatures like birds, whose high 

 aesthetic and emotional development cannot but be accompanied by at least 

 the germs of superstition, there can be no uncertainty." 



Mr. de Niceville, in criticising these remarks, considered that, although 

 perhaps the " scares " might frighten birds, their most important function 

 was to terrify ichneumon-flies and parasitic Diptera, which were far the 

 most active enemies that caterpillars had to contend against. For this 

 reason he thought that the more commonly received idea that the Stauropus 

 caterpillar, when irritated, resembled a Spider was nearer to the truth. 



We have received the Report for the year 1899 relating to the Ghizeh 

 Zoological Gardens, near Cairo, by tne Director, Stanley S. Flower, F.Z.S. 



