EDITORIAL GLEANINGS. 197 



summer from September to March, after which date they are seen no 

 longer, but are supposed to retreat northwards, to somewhere in Central 

 Africa, for the southern winter. 



We are glad to see that Mr. Herbert Goss has published a second 

 edition, revised, of his ' Geological Antiquity of Insects.' Mr. Goss is thus 

 doing in Britain a similar work to Scudder in America, and entomology, 

 like other branches of zoology, is falling into line in the rejection of the 

 idea that animal life is, or can be, only studied under present appearances. 

 Zittel's ' Grundziige der Palaeontologie,' which can now be consulted in an 

 English translation, has the Insecta instalment naturally abridged. Mr. 

 Goss has provided a much fuller essay on the subject, which is published at a 

 small cost by Gurney and Jackson. Twenty years have elapsed between the 

 appearance of these two editions, and the author, having put his hand to 

 the plough, should not draw back, but give us a still fuller and more com- 

 prehensive work on the subject which he seems to have really made his 

 own in this country. 



On the Wheatears (SaxicoJa) occurring in North America — this question 

 is discussed by Leouhard Stejneger in the 'Proceedings' of the United 

 States National Museum (vol. xxiii. pp. 473-81). The common European 

 Wheatear [Saxicola cenanlhe) is a regular breeder in the United States, and 

 Mr. Stejueger, following Degland (1849), Baird(1864), Gould (' Birds of 

 Great Britain '), and more especially Lord Clifton (' Ibis,' 1879), not only 

 recognizes two forms — a larger and smaller — both in Europe and America, 

 but also applies a distinctive name, Saxicola cenanthe leucorhoa, Gmel., to 

 the larger form of the species, which he thus diagnoses : — " Larger than 

 Saccicola cenanthe, the length of wing varying between 100 and 108 milli- 

 metres ; colour similar, but the rufous tints more bright on the average." 



The artificial incubation of Alligator eggs is described by Albert M 

 Reese in the March number of ' The American Naturalist ' (p. 193). The 

 Florida Alligator lays her eggs, about thirty in number, in a so-called nest, 

 which she constructs of sticks, leaves, earth, &c., on the banks of the pond 

 or stream in which she lives. The eggs are laid in the cavity of the nest, 

 and are carefully covered, and allowed to incubate by the heat of the sun. 

 When the young Alligators are about ready to hatch they make a curious 

 squeaking noise, which attracts the mother's attention, and she uncovers 

 the eggs so that the young Alligators may not be smothered in the nest 

 after they escape from the eggs. This fact was confirmed by the artificial 

 batching of a few eggs in an incubator at a temperature of 37° C. On 



