1886,] Zoology. "37 
It is generally stated that the last rattlesnake was killed in Rhode 
Island twenty years ago, but we are informed by Professor 
Battey that one was killed at Tiverton, R. I., within a period of 
four years, Its skin is now in the museum of the Friends’ School, 
at Providence. Mr. Henry H. Buxton, a member of this school, 
from Peabody, Mass., gives us the following statement regarding 
| its occurrence at that locality : 
“In South Peabody there is a rock called Rattlesnake rock, 
: surrounded by woods in which there are a great many snakes, 
including the rattlesnake. During the last year three or four 
have been killed by different persons. They confine themselves 
to the part of the town which is the most rocky and slightly ele- 
vated. In the winter they get under this rock and go to sleep. 
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ZOOLOGICAL News.—General—A Natural History Society 
has been founded at Yokohama. At the first meeting, in April = 
of the present year, Professor Milne spoke of the difference be- 
tween the fauna of Yezo and that of the other Japanese islands. 
In Japan they have the monkey, the sheep-faced antelope, the — 
bear and the pheasant, while on the other side of the straits there | 
1s neither monkey, pheasant nor antelope, and the bear is a diir 
ent species.—M. H. de Varign (Revue Scientifique, April 3d,) _ 
details the result of experimental researches upon the muscular 
contraction of invertebrates. The graphic method was employed, 
and Crustacea, mollusks and echinoderms were submitted to ex- _ 
amination. The variations observed in the latent period, whether — 
1 smooth or striated muscle, proved to be of the same kind and- 
to be subject to the same influences as those of vertebrate ay 
es 5 
