588 The American Naturalist. [June, | 
gas, having previously lighted and extinguished it, leaving only a 
spark to start combustion. Simenchelys parasiticus, taken in a bow- 
net from 1674 meters’ depth in the neighborhood of Corogne, showed 
78 per cent. oxygen, that is to say, less than Serranus from 60 meters’ 
depth. The law stated by Biot, that the proportion of oxygen in- 
creases with the depth is in default. Some other influences must be 
taken into account. (Revue Scientifique, April, 1895). 
A New Locality for Abastor erythrogrammus.—I recently 
saw excavated from aclay bank on the Pamunkey River, Virginia, 
two specimens of the A bastor erythrogrammus. This is very far north 
of the most northern locality known in the east, which is South Caro- 
lina, although it has been found in the Austoriparian area in Southern 
Illinois. The locality mentioned is outside of that area and is in the 
Carolinian district. That the species is a burrower allied to Carpho- 
phiops is attested not only by its structure but by its habits. Accord- 
ing to Mr. A. E. Brown, it has been dug from mounds in Florida at a 
considerable distance below the surface by Mr. C. B. Moore. 
E. D. Cope. 
The Cold-Storage Warehouse Cat.—A story has been going 
the rounds of newspapers, both west and east, to the effect that a new 
breed of cats has been produced in the cold-storage warehouses of 
Pittsburg. In some of the papers, reference was made to a new species 
of rat with the bodies clothed with remarkably long thick fur, with 
even the tails covered with a thick growth of hair. The rats had 
adapted themselves to a low temperature, and the cats were the result 
of breeding from artificial selection in order to obtain a cat to prey on 
the new rat. According to the story, after several failures, a brood of 
seven kittens, the progeny of a mother possessing unusually thick fur, 
was raised in the rooms of the storage company, and developed into 
sturdy, thick-furred cats, with shortened tails, and “ feelers” five or six 
inches in length. This latter character was said to be probably due to 
their environment, since they must necessarily live in semi-darkness. 
Another peculiarity of the new cat is its inability to live in an ordinary 
temperature.. When removed from the warehouse to the open air, 
especially in summer time, it will die of convulsions in a few hours. 
This story was reprinted in England in some excellent scientific 
journals, which showed a great lack of caution in appropriating any- 
thing supposed to be new in science from a newspaper. It illustrates 
once more the English tendency to neglect the good and discover the 
