198 . THE ZOOLOGIST. 



EDITORIAL GLEANINGS. 



Mr. W. L. Sclater is returning to Cape Town to resume his duties 

 as Director of the South African Museum. He will be heartily wel- 

 comed back, as the reform and energy he has expended in the cause of 

 South African zoology has not been unrecognized. In the course of a 

 few years he has guided and superintended the rearrangement of the 

 collection in the new museum building at Cape Town. A series of 

 volumes devoted to the fauna of South Africa has been commenced ; 

 four volumes have appeared, two of which are entirely and one largely 

 dependent on his pen. The " Annals of the South African Museum " 

 has also been founded, and two volumes completed. This is a worthy 

 record. The position of Director of the premier Museum of South 

 Africa is a responsible one, and is virtually at the head of zoological 

 science in South Africa. A great feature of our colonial communities 

 is their ever-increasing scientific independence, and this is becoming 

 more pronounced every year. No longer is the greater part of the 

 zoological work of South Africa published in London ; the Museum at 

 Grahamstown, now under Dr. Schonland, also inaugurates its own 

 annals. The same thing is true as regards Zoological Gardens. 

 Those at Pretoria are best suited for Ethiopian animals, in both 

 climate and soil, and fewer South African rarities will probably reach 

 Regent's Park in future years. The work of our London societies is 

 likely to become of a more philosophical nature, while the real 

 faunistic work will become more and more to be found in colonial 

 publications. 



It is quite a pleasurable surprise to find biology once more a 

 subject matter for the ' Quarterly Review,' and in the January issue — 

 a number very far removed from a weak one — not the least important 

 contribution is devoted to the question of " South American Animals 

 and their Origin," and bears the signature of R. Lydekker. The dis- 

 cussion is confined to the mammalian fauna, and is conducted on both 

 zoological and palreontological principles, and clearly demonstrates the 

 peculiarity of the South American mammalian fauna as a whole, and 

 its divergence from that of any other part of the world. The theory 



