158 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



EDITORIAL GLEANINGS. 



The Bishop of Carpentaria has contributed to ' Nature Notes ' some 

 interesting narrative of a journey through Central Australia. We 

 are told that " one of the great enemies of the overland telegraph line 

 is the common Green Frog (probably Hyla ewingii). In order to save 

 the insulators from being broken by the lightning, they are provided 

 with wire ' droppers ' leading round them at a little distance to conduct 

 on to the iron pole in case of need. The Frogs climb the poles, and 

 find the insulars cool and pleasant to their bodies, and fancy that the 

 ' dropper ' is put there to furnish them with a back seat. After a nap 

 they yawn, and stretch out a leg until it touches the pole — result, 

 sudden death of the Frog ; and, as the body continues to conduct the 

 current to earth, we have a paragraph in the papers to the effect ' that 

 in consequence of an interruption to the lines, probably caused by a 

 cyclonic disturbance in the interior, we are unable to present our 

 readers with the usual cables from England' ! " 



At the Meeting of the Zoological Society, on March 18th, Dr. 

 H. Gadow, F.E.S., F.Z.S., read a paper " On the Evolution of 

 Horns and Antlers." He stated that three main types could be dis- 

 tinguished in the evolution of the ornamental weapons on the heads of 

 Ruminants, and that all these types were referable to an ancient con- 

 dition in which the beginning weapon, be it one of offence or defence, 

 appeared as a mere exostosis with a thickened skin-pad. This stage 

 resembled that of Dinoceras of the Eocene. Secondly, there was found 

 exostosis of the frontal bone producing a pedicle, surmounted by a 

 cartilaginous mass of apical growth, which by subsequent basal ossi- 

 fication became an antler. Skin originally unaltered and hairy ; this, 

 and the chondrostoma or cartilaginous later osseous growth, was shed 

 periodically, and constituted the Cervine type. 



A side issue of Type II. was that of pro- Giraffe-like animals. Carti- 

 laginous growth preponderant, with multiple and broadened bases. 

 Ossification delayed, but still proceeding from the base, e.g. the 

 Samotherium of the topmost Miocene. A further development of this 

 type (Il.a) was shown by the Giraffe, in which the outgrowth pro- 



