ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 
523 
variations or anomalies which occur. These are of interest in them- 
selves, but particularly in relation to the similar variations in man. 
Inheritance of Acquired Characters in Camels.* — Prof. G. Cattanco 
does not lack courage in his Lamarckian convictions. He regards the 
camel’s hump as a morbid growth — “ a professional tumour ” in Lom- 
broso’s phrase — induced during the domestication period by the pressure 
and irritation of the saddle, &c. He seeks to show that it is not an 
ancient character ; that it is not the result of selection ; that it is a 
pathological character become almost stable in species, though still in- 
creasing with use, and decreasing with disuse. “ If we do not admit 
the inheritance of acquired characters, it is difficult to explain the case 
of the camel according to the theory of evolution.” The author interprets 
the callosities in the same way. 
Origin of European Fauna.f — Dr. R. F. Scliarff discusses this ques- 
tion in an essay, partly inductive and partly speculative, and dealing 
especially with the fauna of Ireland. A few of his conclusions may be 
summarised. The fauna and flora of Ireland consist mainly of two ele- 
ments, from the north and from the south ; in Great Britain an eastern 
Siberian element is added. Certainly the bulk of the migrants came by 
land. Unlike most authorities, the author maintains that the Irish fauna 
is partly pre-glacial. The Siberian fauna probably began to pour into 
Europe immediately after the deposition of the lower Continental boulder 
clay (a Pliocene marine formation). The migration took place along the 
tract of “ black earth ” ; it was arrested in France by the Garonne ; it 
reached Great Britain, but not Ireland nor Scandinavia. The northern 
or Arctic element in the Irish flora and terrestrial fauna came direct 
from the north by a land connection between Scandinavia and the British 
Islands ; and the migration took place chiefly during the deposition of 
the newer English Crags and of the Continental lower boulder clay ; that 
is to say, before the Siberian mammals arrived in Britain. The southern 
migration began before either the Arctic or the Siberian. This southern 
fauna is composed of species of south-western and of southern and central 
European, as well as of Asiatic origin. Ireland was separated from 
England at the time during which the migration from southern and 
central Europe was in progress. The British Pleistocene fauna does 
not indicate the prevalence of Arctic conditions ; neither does the flora. 
Temperatures of Reptiles, Monotremes, and Marsupials.}:— Mr. A. 
Sutherland has experimented with specimens of Cyclodus gigas placed in 
water, which was slowly heated. The lizards followed the temperature 
of the water very closely. For a time they are able to maintain them- 
selves a few degrees above surrounding temperature ; but even then they 
vary with it, their temperature rising and falling so as to keep always 
the same number of degrees in excess. When at rest andln good temper, 
the animals have a temperature almost the same as that of the air, but 
just a little less. 
The average temperature for many specimens of Echidna was 29°*4; 
but one cold morning one was measured as low as 22°, while another in 
* Rend. R. 1st. Lombardo, xxix. (1896) pp. 851-61. 
f Proc. Roy. Irish Acad., iv. (1897) pp. 427-514. 
% Proc. Roy. Soc. Victoria, ix. (1897) pp. 57-67 (1 pi.). 
