4896]. Scientific News. 611 
are important. For Paleontology they mark in the bone breccia of 
Zirkel’s Cave, a distinct stage in the Plistocene series, while for Anthro- 
pology they represent data which account for the presence of Man 
together with the bones of the extinct Megalonyx. They explain the 
relics of savages and the remains of Plistocene mammals at two caves 
situated in the Eastern Valley of Tennessee at a height of about 600 
to 700 feet above the sea and within earlier reach of an overwhelming 
-ocean in Champlain time, and again at a third cave, which, 300 feet 
higher on the continental floor and looking westward from the slopes 
of the Cumberland table-land, stands for that part of the Appalachian 
region whither animals and Man (if he existed) might have found con- 
venient refuge when lower areas sunk, as is alleged, beneath the level 
-f the invading waters.—HENRY C. MERCER. 
Aldie, June 4, 1896. 
SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 
The proposed general synopsis of the Animal Kingdom (Das Thier- 
reich) to be issued by the German Zoological Society, is one of the 
greatest undertakings ever planned in the line of bookmaking. It is 
proposed to give a short general account of each group, and following 
this is a synopsis of all existing forms, including those which have re- 
cently become extinct. The general editor of the whole series is Prof. 
Franz Eilhard Schulze of the University of Berlin, and he is assisted 
by the following department editors: Prof. O. Biitschli, Protozoa; 
Prof. C. Chun, Coelenterata; Prof. M. Braun, Plathelminthes ; Prof. 
J. W. Spengel, Vermes; Dr. W. Kobelt, Mollusca; Dr. W. Giesbrecht, 
Crustacea; Prof. R. Latzel, Myriapoda; Prof. F. Dahl, Arachnida ; 
Dr. H. oa Orthoptera ; Mr. A. Handlirsch, Neuroptera, Hemip- 
tera; Dr. H. J. Kolbe, Coleoptera ; Prof. C. W. Della Torre, Hymen- 
optera; Dr, A. Seitz, Lepidoptera; Prof. J. Mik, Diptera; Prof. F. 
Blochmann, Brachiopoda ; Prof. E. Ehlers, Polyzoa; Prof. J. W. Spen- 
gel, Tunicata; Dr. G. Pfeffer, Fishes; Dr. O. Boettger, Batrachia and 
Reptila; Prof. A. Reichenow, Birds, and Prof. L. Döderlein, Mam- 
mals. These will be assisted by a host of collaborators for special 
groups, and the names of these, as far as announced, assures us of the 
