1124 General Notes. 
nia (Ironweed) seem in similar positions. Four of the species are 
exclusively trans-Mississippi. One oversteps the boundary into 
west Tennessee. Two others, on the contrary, are eastern and cen- 
tral species which overlap the others by extending into Iowa and 
Kansas. It is further interesting to find certain hybrids between 
the eastern and the western forms, which, if they came from the 
debatable ground of Iowa, Missouri and Kansas, would furnish 
additional interest to the problem. 
Another paper read at the same meeting was by Prof. Riley, 
upon the English sparrow. Examination of the stomachs of more 
than five hundred specimens showed that only from fifteen to 
seventeen per cent of the whole number contained any insect remains 
atall. The rest contained grains or seeds of various sorts, straw 
and gravel. The insects found belonged to all orders, and were 
generally such as are either harmless to the agriculturalist or even 
actually beneficial. The stomach of a single specimen of a truly 
insectivorous bird contained wo hundred and fifty web worms. 
Such a bird would do more good in ridding trees of various insects 
than all of the eighty-two sparrows in whose stomachs insect re- 
mains were found. Investigations of a similar nature carried on 
by Mr. Charles Dury, of Cincinnati, lead to a similar conclusion, 
that the value of the English sparrow as an insect destroyer 1s 
nothing compared to that of a truly insectivorous bird, and that it 
is injurious rather than beneficial—Jos. P. James. 
Brocas CONVOLUTION IN THE ApES.—Dr. Hervé in the Bul- 
letin de la Société d’ Anthrpologie de France (April, 1888), discusses 
the disputed question as to the development of the third (Bro- 
- eas) frontal convolution in the monkeys. After an examination 0 
the homologies of the fissures presented by that region of the brain, 
he finds that it is wanting or extremely rudimental in the Quadru- — 
mana, while it is present in the Anthropomorpha, though smaller 
in the apes (Simiide) than in man. This is interesting, as it con- 
firms the evidence from the osteology, that the apes and man form a 
natural group, distinct from the monkeys and lemurs. It also 
points to the possibility of teaching some of the apes to speak, and 
also to the probable gradual acquisition of this important charac- 
teristic of man.—E. D. Cope. 
ZooLogicaL News: Prorozoa.—-In the Zoologischer Anzeiger 
(No. 286), G. Cattaneo called attention to the existence of a para- 
sitic ciliate infusorian (Anophrys maggi) in the blood of the crab, 
arcinus menas. In the same Journal (No. 292) Géza Entz de- 
~ Scribes the occurrence of another Ciliate (Nyctotherus cardiformis) 
in the blood of Apus cancriformis. * 
