450 The American Naturalist. [May, 
The following Spring I noted evidently the same bird in the 
same locality, and at about the same time in the season. It 
remained in the neighborhood during the Summer, again nest- 
ing. In neither season did there appear any signs of transmis- 
sion of the peculiarity to the offspring. 
A robin similarly marked was noted by Mr. Amos. W. But- 
ler, and reported by him through the Journal of the Cincinnati 
Society of Natural History. Altogether, the cases seem rather 
anomalous and outside the usual causes involved in such vari- 
Another case of similar character came under my observa- 
tion later. In the Spring of 1888 I captured two moles, Scalops 
aquaticus (?) on my lawn, both of which had markings of pure 
white on the neck and belly. In another specimen, only the 
skin of which I saw, but which was taken in the neighborhood, 
the white extended on one side to the back in irregular 
blotches, giving to the skin a strangely variegated appearance. 
As is well known, the color of this mammal is quite constant, 
and of a dark plumbeous or slaty hue, slightly lighter below. I 
have seen no record of a tendency to vary in the manner noted 
above, or indeed in any way in particular. The usual color is, 
of course, quite in keeping with its habits and environment, 
and in so far might be assumed as the result of natural selec- 
tion. But how are we to account for these peculiar varia- 
tions ? Are they the expression of a tendency to revert to a 
primitive or to an ancestral type, or are they not rather in 
keeping with what is so often seen in plants as well as in ani- 
mals under changed conditions, due to causes obscure in their 
nature and as yet very imperfectly understood ? The recent 
discussions of these matters by Agassiz, Riley, and others, and 
the reference of Mr. Adam Sedgwick in a recent number of 
Nature, to the remarkable coloration in Peripatus, when its 
habits are taken into account, seem to lend great plausibility to 
the principle of " Saltation," or sudden and obscure variation. 
Altogether, there seems reason for moderation in reference 
to any theory as yet proposed. Evidently, the evidence is not 
yet all in.— C. W. Hargitt, Miami University, Mar. 25, 1889. 
The Bald Chimpanzee.— Dr. P. L. Sclater describes in 
Natiire (1889, p. 254), a couple of female apes from tropical 
West Africa, which resemble the chimpanzee, and yet differ in 
marked features. The ear is much larger, and the hair is gen- 
erally sparse, so much so on the head as to permit the appli- 
cation of the term bald. The color of the face is blackish. In 
