7 ” o> ane gc nr, a ay be * i: me ie « oe’: ps. tiie ea , PoE ZOOLOGIST?: A MONTHLY JOURNAL OF NATURAL HISTORY. FOURTH SERIES.—VOL. II. EDITED BY Wee ta yrs FANT. LONDON: WEST, NEWMAN, & CO., 54, HATTON GARDEN. SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, & CO., Lip. 1898, BO} Ww intial Es 1Z0 a> ad} PREFACE. A Prerace to the yearly volume of ‘ The Zoologist’ pertains to an annual stock-taking, for it must be judged largely by our contributors’ additions to zoological knowledge. The Mammalia have received special attention. The paper by Prof. J. C. Ewart on ‘‘ Zebra-Horse Hybrids” may prove to be of an epoch-making nature both in Africa and India. The Indian fauna has again asserted its interest, while Mr. Oldfield Thomas has proposed a canon of nomenclature for British mammals. On the species of our own fauna many valuable notes have appeared. The class Aves still remains the favourite study of very many of our contributors, and our pages have again contained new facts in British Ornithology. Mr. Ernst Hartert has called attention to an ‘‘ hitherto overlooked British bird”’ in a Marsh Tit, Parus salicarius, Bream. The presence of the White Wag- tail (Motacilla alba) in Ireland, the Pectoral Sandpiper (Tringa maculata) in Norfolk and Kent, the Barred Warbler (Sylvia misoria) in Lincolnshire, the continued visitation of the Melo- dious Warbler (Hypolais polyglotta) in South Devon, and the nesting of the Nightingale so far west as Wells in Somerset, are among some of the many avian records we have received and published. Reptilia and Pisces have not been neglected, and we are glad to see the Crustacea more prominent on our literary menu. The Stalk-eyed Crustacea of Great Yarmouth, and the Malacostracous Crustacea of a section of Australia have been detailed ; while a note on “The Struggle for Existence among Hermit Crabs” shows the vast interest attaching to observations on the lives of _ these creatures. The same remark applies to the Arachnida, on iV PREFACE. which, as found in South Africa, more than one contribution has appeared. When we turn to the many classes of animals still practically ignored in our pages, we are reminded of the yet unexplored areas in animal bionomics which it is the self-constituted pro- vince of ‘The Zoologist’ to explore. This Journal has always, and will always, seek to understand the economy of animal life, and endeavour to reveal the polity and life-secrets of our fellow- creatures—using that term in its wider and zoological sense. We may on this point quote the words of Emerson :—‘‘ I hold an actual knowledge very cheap. Hear the rats in the wall, see the lizard on the fence, the fungus under foot, the lichen on the log. What do I know sympathetically, morally, of either of these worlds of life?” The Editor, in his annual acknowledgment to his contribu- tors, trusts to their renewed acquaintance during the succeeding year—the jin de siecle—with all best wishes to them, belief in the future of the science we study, and hope in a renewed value and usefulness of our next volume. CONTENTS. SS ed ALPHABETICAL LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS. ALEXANDER, BoypD Little Gull in Kent, 216 Apuin, O. V., F.L.§8., M.B.O.U. ‘* Horse-match’”’ a name for the Red-backed Shrike, 188; Stoats turning white in winter, 193 ARCHIBALD, CHARLES F. Spotted Crake in Furness, 479 ARMISTEAD, J. J. Wagtails eating Trout, 82; Hobby nesting in Hants, 83; Scoters in summer, 414; Ivory Gull on the Solway, 414 BackHouss, J., F.L.S. Occurrence of Natterer’s Bat in North Wales, 493 Bauston, R. J. Breeding of the Gannet, 319 BankEs, A. Crossbills in Hants, 505 Barine, A. H. Albinic example of Rat, 261 BaRRETT-HAmILton, G. HK. H. Stoats turning white in winter, 122 Benson, Rev. CHartes W., LL.D. The song of the Chaffinch, 269 ; The Whinchat in Co. Dublin, Long-tailed 506 BuatHwayt, FE’. L. Ornithological notes from Sark, 274; Bird notes from the North- ern Cairngorms, 362 Botam, GEORGE Popular fallacies concerning the Cuckoo, 85 Borrer, Wiuuiam, M.A., F.L.S. Conduct of a Rabbit when pursued by a Dog, 418 BovuLsover, WILLIAM Pale-coloured Dipper, 23 BRADSHAW, GEORGE W. Common Roller in Sussex, 24; 356; The birds of the Riffelalp, Canada Goose near Dungeness, 216; Woodchat Shrike in Sussex, 267 BUCKNILL, JOHN A. ‘‘ Horse-match ’? a name for the Red-backed Shrike, 266 Burimry Ay Gr PhD, Was. EZ.S. On Sexual differences in the fea- thering of the wing of the Sky Lark, 104; On the first primary in certain Passerine birds, 241 ButTLeER, ARTHUR GEO., M.B. Lond. On the first primary in certain Passerine birds, 241 Butter, Lieut.-Col. BE. A. Little Bustard in Norfolk, 125 ; Stoats turning white in winter, 187 BUTTERFIELD, W. C. J. RUSKIN Note on the Petrel, Oceanodroma castro (Harcourt), 320 CAMBRIDGE, Rev. O. PickarD Immigration of the Song Thrush, 264 CAMPBELL, BrucE List of birds observed in the Dis- trict of Moffat, Dumfriesshire, from October, 1896, to February, 1897, 507 CarTER, THOMAS The Sanderling in Australia, 83 CLARKE, W. G. The Wretham Meres, 145 CLARKE, W. J. Notes from Scarborough, 28; Stoats turning white in winter, 187 ; Yarrell’s Blenny and the Two- Spotted Goby at Scarborough, 191; Badgers near Scarborough, 213 ; Ornithological notes from Scarborough, 219; Notes on the habits of Python molurus in con- finement, 4386; Short Sunfish near Scarborough, 439 vi CONTENTS. Copury, F. Brood of young Starlings in mid- November, 24; Brent Goose in Warwickshire, 24; Ferruginous Duck in Ireland, 25; Corncrake in December, 25; Stoats turn- ing white in winter, 213 ; Mea- dow Pipits perching on trees, 214 CocKERELL, T. D. A. The insect visitors of flowers in New Mexico, 78, 311 CoLuett, R., Prof. On the reported summer appear- ance of two species of birds in Lapland, 25 ComMBER, ALFRED T. Hawfinch near Reigate Railway Station, 188 CorsBin, G. B. Brambling in Hants, 123; Rough- legged Buzzard near Ringwood, 124; Nesting of the Hobby in Hants, 125; Stoats turning white in winter, 261; Otters in South- western Hampshire, 262; Cross- bills in South-western Hamp- shire in 1898, 482 CoRDEAUX, JOHN, F.R.G.S., M.B.0.U. Food of the Barn Owl, 215; Dis- appearance of the Lapwing in North Lincolnshire, 272; Mji- gration at the Spurn Lighthouse in 1897-98, 345; Occurrence of the Fork-tailed Petrel on the Yorkshire coast, 862 CorRiE, ADAM J. Adder swallowing its young, 485 CRAWSHAY, WILLIAM T. Rooks feeding on Elvers, 270 CrossMAN, ALAN FAIRFAX Scaup in Bedfordshire, 319; Al- leged Kentish Plover in Bedford- shire, 320; Birds of Hertford- shire, 506 Davenport, H. 8. Popular ornithological fallacies, 27; Cuckoos sucking eggs, 87; Breeding sites of Chaffinch and Willow Warbler, 214; The pro- tection of wild birds and their eggs, 3822; Spotless eggs of the Spotted Flycatcher, 359 ; The so- called St. Kilda Wren, 413; A Cuckoo’s economy in question, 430; Dr. Saxby and the breeding of the Turnstone, 435; Irregular nesting sites, 480 Davies, BAsIL Varying fecundity in birds, 495 Distant, W. L. Notes on the Nestor notabilis, or Kea Parrot, of New Zealand, 217 ; Zoological rambles in the Trans- vaal, 249; Cicada attacked by Mantis, 275; Southerly extension of the East African butterfly fauna, 276; Toad attacked by a Frog, 323; Biological suggestions —assimilative colouration, 377, 451; “The Leathery Turtle ” (Dermochelys coriacea), 500; In- voluntary migration, 508 Dresser, H. E., F.L.S., F.Z.8. Rare Partridges in Leadenhall Market, 215 Duneoay, A. Mode of progression among Milli- pedes, 365 D’Urzsan, W.S. M. Date of arrival of House Martin, 433 Evuiort, J. STEELE On the nesting of the Spotted Fly- catcher, 358 Ewakt, J. C., Prof., F.R.S. On Zebra-Horse hybrids, 49 Farman, Last C. Winter notes from Haddiscoe, 26 Fow.Ler, W. WARDE Tree Pipit in January, 122; Rooks and buttercup bulbs, 124; On the date of arrival of the House Martin, 267; The Marsh War- bler in Oxfordshire, 356 FReEston, Henry W. Asagena phalerata at Grasmere, 440 ; Epeira diadema courtship, 440 FRIEND, Rev. HILDERIC Notes on British Annelids, 119 GopFrREY, F’. R. Some notes on the Nestor notabilis, or Kea Parrot, of New Zealand, 216 GoupsmiTH, H. S. B. Early nesting of the House Spar- row, 123 GrRAaBHAM, OxuEy, M.A., M.B.O.U. Rough nesting notes from York- shire, 349’; Large Bank Vole in Kent, 477; Economy of the Cuckoo, 478; Late nesting of the Corn Bunting, 485; Food of the Redwing, 504; Phasianus col- chicus in Yorkshire, 505 CONTENTS. vil Gueney, J. H.,; F.L.S., F:Z.8. Ornithological notes from Norfolk for 1897, 106 Hateu, G. H. Caton Water Pipitin Carnarvonshire, 187 ; Meadow Pipit perching on trees, 266; Barred Warbler in Lincoln- shire, 504 HamMonp, W. OxENDEN Jumping beans, 441 Hartert, Ernst, Dir. Z. Mus. Tring A hitherto overlooked British bird, 116 Hewett, WILLIAM Nesting habits of the Moorhen, 505 HorRsBRUGH, CHARLES BETHUNE Nesting of the Hobby in Hants, 24; Nesting of the Greater Spotted Woodpecker near Bath, 318; Birds singing during thun- derstorm, 822; Preservation of zoological specimens, 366; Late stay of Swift, 436 KELSALL, Rev. J. E. The Mammalia of Hampshire, 429 Kripner, H. Ratcuirr Birds which nest in London, 278 Kine, C. MEADE Birds which nest in London, 189 LANGDALE, Rev. H. MARMADUKE Late stay of Swift, 485 Lewis, STANLEY Nightingale nesting at Wells, Som- erset, 317; Nesting of the Greater Spotted Woodpecker at Wells, Somerset, 319; Swallow versus Flycatcher’s peculiar nesting site, 429; Notes on the nesting of the Nuthatch, 480 Macpuerson, A. Hours Hybrid Finches at the Crystal Palace Show, 188; Birds which nest in London, 272 MacrHerson, Rev. H. A., M.A. Varieties of the Red Grouse, 125; William Turner, the father of British Zoology, 337; Maillard and Pintail interbreeding in cap- tivity, 861; Sea Lamprey in Cumberland, 365 MarsnHatu, Guy A. K., F.E.S. Spider versus Wasp, 29; Notes on the South African Social Spiders, A417 Matuew, Rev. Murray A., M.A. Melodious Warblers in South-east Devon, 265 Meyrick, H., B.A., F.Z.S., F.E.S. Moths and their classification, 289 Mortey, JoHN Variety of the Common Guillemot, 25 Newnan, J. L. Pectoral Sandpiper in Norfolk, 25; Parasites in birds, 415 OLDHAM, CHARLES Daubenton’s Bat in the Conway Valley, 317, 868 Paes, W..T:. Notes on the Chaffinch, 270; Birds in London, 273 PATTERSON, ARTHUR Malformed Codfish, 180; Some notes on the Stalk-eyed Crustacea of Great Yarmouth, 178; Notes from Great Yarmouth, 219, 364, 508; Meristic variation in the Edible Crab, 220; The Mammalia of Great Yarmouth and its im- mediate neighbourhood, 299 ; Porpoises at Great Yarmouth, 504 Payne, J. W. At what hour of the day do birds mostly lay their eggs ? 84; Breed- ing range of the Scaup-Duck, 3861 PERCIVAL- WESTELL, W. Scoters in Hants and Isle of Wight, 505 PLAYNE, HERBERT C. On the reported summer appear- ance of two species of birds in Lapland, 84; Ornithological notes from Corsica—correction, 275 Pocock, R. I. Stridulation in some African Spi- ders, 14 Pouuok, Colonel F. T. Indian Wild Cattle—the Tsine and the Gaur (miscalled Bison), 1; The Indian Hispid Hare (Lepus hispidus), 22; A Chat about In- dian wild beasts, 154 Porrrr, Hi. 'G. Kegs of the Roseate Tern, 83 Power, F. D. When does the House Martin ar- rive ? 317 Rare, P. Notes from the Isle of Man (1897), 321 Ramsspotuam, R. H. Abundance of Crossbills Severn Valley, 124 in the 62 Vili ReaD, Ropert H. Birdsnesting in August, 415 RENSHAW, GRAHAM Experiments on the colours of the Nonpareil Finch, 23; Existing specimens of Equus quagga, 213; Notes on Batrachians—Frog at- tacking Toad, 865; Abnormal eyes of Hyla arborea and Bom- binator igneus, 486 RIVIERE, BERNARD B. Ornithological notes at Alum Bay, Isle of Wight, 218 Roserts, T. VAUGHAN Kites in Wales, 271 Rope, G. T. Chickens reared by Partridges, 189; Notes on the Bank Vole, 503 Rout, W. BarReEtTr Coition of birds in the air, 415 RuFFORD, P. The struggle for existence among Hermit Crabs, 181; Abnormal scalariformity in shells, 191 RussELL, HAROLD The Kingfisher in Surrey, 82; The so-called St. Kilda Wren, 482 DALTER, J. H. Ornithological notes from Mid- Wales, 198 SAUNDERS, Howarb, F.L.S., F.Z.S. The Cirl Bunting in Wales, 505 SciatTer, P. L., M.A., Ph.D., F.B.S. The Birds of the Riffelalp, Canton Valais, Switzerland, 474 Sim, GEORGE Fishes of Great Yarmouth, 88 SmituH, G. W. Ornithological notes from Mid- Hants (1897), 126 Souerr, D. Lz, Ass. Di. Z. Gard. Melb. Sagacity among birds, 217 SouTHWELL, THomas, F.Z.S. Notes on the Seal and Whale Fishery (1897), 69; Centrolophus pomphilus on Norfolk coast, 364 SrEeaD, Davin G. Notes on the habits of some of the CONTENTS. Australian Malacostracous Crus- tacea, 202 STEBBING, Rev. THomas'R. R., M.A., FERS. 2.8. 2 Z.0: Zoological Nomenclature, remarks on the proposed international code, 423 Swainson, Capt. E. A. Cirl Bunting in Breconshire, 478 TEESDALE, JOHN H. Montagu’s Harrier breeding in Ire- land—correction, 24; The In- sectivora and Rodentia of Nor- thumberland, 264 THomAS, OLDFIELD, F.Z.8. The technical names of British Mammals, 97; The scientific names of the Badger and the Common Vole, 263 TickEHURST, N. F. Pectoral Sandpiper in Kent, 480 Tuck, Rev. JuLIAN G., M.A. Polecat in Suffolk, 22, 122, 503 ; Bank Vole in Suffolk, 122; Kco- nomy of the Cuckoo, 477; Owls and Kestrels, 505 WARREN, ROBERT White Wagtail in Ireland, 245 ; Iceland Gull in Co. Sligo in summer, 820 WHITAKER, J. Varieties of Green ‘Plover, &c., 482 ; Scoters in Notts, 482; Heron nest of wire, 484; Great Skua in Notts, 485 : WILSon, WILLIAM Cuckoo questions, 270; Appearance of migrants in Aberdeenshire in 1898, 275; Cuckoos recently ob- served in Aberdeenshire, 359; Cuckoos in 1898, 431 WINTON, WILLIAM E. DE Birds which nest in London, 216 WITCHELL, CHARLES A. The Voice-registers of birds, 11 ; Notes on the breeding of the Chaffinch, 195; The autumn song of birds, 410 CONTENTS. 1X ALPHABETICAL LIST OF SUBJECTS. Abraxas grossulariata, 380 Acacia giraffe, 461 Accentor alpinus, 475; modularis, 190, 507 Accipiter nisus, 508 Acidalidz, 290 Acipenser sturio, 144 Acrea viole, 283 Acredula rosea, 507 Acridium ccerulescens, 458; german- —_ ieum, 457, 458; purpuriferum, 419 Acrocephalus palustris, 356; phrag- mitis, 190, 272; streperus, 190 Adder swallowing its young, 485 Aegeriadz, 293 AXgialitis cantiana, 320; hiaticula, 364 Agonus cataphractus, 28 Agrotis lucernea, 456 Alauda arborea, 275; arvensis, 104, 278, 508 Alcedo ispida, 82, 508 Alcelaphus cokei, 460 Alligator in Florida, 286 Alope palpalis, 211 Alopecias vulpes, 508 Alpheus edwardsii, 210 Amauris dominicanus, 254 Ampelis garrulus, 219 Amphidasys betularia, 456 Anas boseas, 190, 361, 364, 508 Animals, noxious, of New South Wales, 140; Wild, price of, 234 ‘Annals and Magazine of Natural History,’ new Editor, 39 Annelids, British, notes on, 119 Annomanes regulus, 458 Anser erythropus, 26, 91; ruficollis, 91; segetum, 91 Antarctic Expedition, British, 492 - Anthodizta collaris, nest, 418 Anthus pratensis, 214, 266, 480; spi- noletta, 475; spipoletta, 187; tri- vialis, 122 Aquaria and Vivaria, 40 Aquaria at Odessa, 41 Ardea cinerea, 508 Argiope, 30 Asagena phalerata at Grasmere, 440 Asia, Central, scientific expedition to, 235 Assimilative colouration, 377, 453 Astacopsis serratus, 209 Astacid, 236 Asturinula monogrammica, 257 Auk, Great, census of remains, to Aug. 1898, 518 Australia, Sanderling in, 83; Western, journey across the great deserts, 94; Malacostracous Crustacea, 202 Avicola agrestis, 264; amphibius, 264; glareolus, 264 Aviculariide, 14 Badger, scientific name, 263 Badgers near Scarborough, 213 Balena biscayensis, 308 Balenoptera musculus, 308; rostrata, 309 Barbastella barbastellus, 100 Bat, Daubenton’s, in Conway Valley, 317, 868 ; Long-eared, albinic, 261 ; Natterer’s, in North Wales (Plate IV.), 493 Batrachians, notes on, 865 Beans, jumping, 441 Beasts, Indian Wild, 154 Belone vulgaris, 28 Bernicla brenta, 24, 25, 84; canaden- sis, 216 Bidens cernua, 406 Biological suggestions —assimilative colouration, 377, 453 Bird, British, hitherto overlooked, 116; notes from Cairngorms, 362 Birds, voice-registers of, 11; of De- vonshire, 39; sale of, belonging to the late Mr. R. Ashby, 45; usual time of egg-laying? 84; of Lon- don, 91, 189, 216, 272, 273; British, Catalogue of Connop collection, 96 ; osteology of, 188; sagacity among, 217; Passerine, first primary in certain, 241; destruction of, and destructive insects, in France, 285 ; singing during thunderstorm, 322 ; Wild, and their eggs, protection of, 322, 449; of Bowdoin Bay, 374; au- tumn song, 410; coition in the air, 415; parasites in, 415; of Riffelalp, Valais, Switzerland, 474, 506; of Hertfordshire, 506; of Moffat, Dumfriesshire, 507 xX Birds’ feathers, trade in, 233 Birdsnesting in August, 415 Blenny, Yarrell’s, at Scarborough, 191 Boa Constrictors of British Guiana, 232 Booxs NoriceD :— With Nature and a Camera, by Richard Kearton and Cherry Kearton, 82 Observations on the Colouration of. Insects, by Brunner von Watten- wyl, 34 The life of Sir Stamford Raffles, by Demetrius Charles Boulger, 35 All about Animals, 37 Wild Traitsin Tame Animals, being some Familiar Studies in Evolu- tion, by Louis Robinson, 89 A Text-Book of Zoology, by T. Jeffery Parker and William A. Haswell, 132 A History of Fowling, being an Ac- count of the many curious devices by which Wild Birds are or have been captured in different parts of the World, by Rev. H. A. Mac- pherson, 134 Elephant-Hunting in East Equa- torial Africa, by Arthur H. Neu- mann, 137 Audubon and his Journals, by Maria R. Audubon, with zoolo- gical and other Notes by Elliott Coues, 221 Life and Letters of Alexander Good- | man More, with selections from his Zoological and. Botanical Writ'ngs, edited by B. Moffat, with a Preface by Francis M. More, 223 A Sketch of the Natural History (Vertebrates) of the British Is- lands, by F. G. Aflalo, 225 The Mammals, Reptiles, and Fishes of Essex, by Henry Laver, 227 Hints on the Management of Hawks, to whicli is added Prac- tical Falconry, byJames Edmund Harting, 228 Essays on Museums and other sub- jects connected with Natural His- tory, by Sir William H. Flower, 277 A Student’s Text-Book of Zoology, by Adam Sedgwick, 279 Birds in London, by W. H. Hudson, 281 The Angora Goat, and a Paper on | | | CONTENTS. the Ostrich, by 8. C. Cronwright Schreiner, 324 Elementary Practical Zoology, by Frank E. Beddard, 326 Ackworth Birds, being a List of Birds of the District of Ackworth, Yorkshire, by Major Walter B. Arundel, 327 A Pictorial and Descriptive Guide to the Lake District, 328 The Fauna of British India, in- cluding Ceylon and Burma— Birds, by W. T. Blanford, 369 Bird Neighbours, by Neltje Blan- chan, 370 The Birds of Montreal, 372 A Classification of Vertebrata, Re- cent and Extinct, by Hans Ga- dow, 448 The Trout, by the Marquess of Granby, Col. F. H. Custance, and Alexander Innes Shand, 444 The Structure and Classification of Birds, by Frank E. Beddard, 510 Text-Book of Zoology, by H. G. Wells and A. M. Davies, 511 The Wonderful Trout, by J. A. Har- vie-Brown, 513 Faune de France, contenant la de- scription des espéces indigenes disposées en tableaux analy- tiques et illustrée de figures re- présentant les types caractéris- tiques des genres, par A. Acloque, 514 Bombinator igneus, abnormal eyes of, 486 Bos gaurus, 1, 2; sondaicus, 1 Brambling in Hants, 123 Branchiura sowerbii, 120 Breeding of Garganey in Hants, 126; sites of Chiffchaff, 214, 270,—Wil- low Warbler, 214; of Dragonet, 231; of Gannet, 319; range of Scaup-Duck, 361; of Turnstone, Dr. Saxby on, 435 Brood of young Starlings in mid-No- vember, 24 ‘‘Brusher Mills,’”’ snake-charmer, 492 Bubalis caama, 461; lichtensteini, 461 Buceros bicornis, 379 Buchanga assimilis, 256 Buckland, Frank, collection, 520 Buffalo, the last, in Manitoba, 373 Bufo vulgaris, 323, 365 Bunting, Cirl, in Breconshire, 748,— in Wales, 505; Corn, late nesting, 485 CONTENTS. Bustard, Little, in Norfolk, 125 Buteo lagopus, 124 Buzzard as foster-parent, 491; Rough- legged, near Ringwood, 124 Caccabis magna, 215 Celopa frigida, 457 Cairngorms, Northern, bird notes: from, 362 Calidris arenaria, 83 Callianassa sp. ?, 208 Callionymus lyra, 231 Caltha minor, 406; palustris, 406 Cambarus diogenes, 237 Cancer pagurus, 181, 220 Canis egypticus, 470; latrans, 470; mesomelas, 470 Capreolus capreolus, 101 Caradrinina, 297 Carassius auratus, 140 Carcharias glaucus, 508 Carcinus menas, 182 Carduelis elegans, 507 ‘Carelophus ascanii, 191 Cariacus, 407 Catalogue of Birds, British Museum, completion of, 516 Cattle, Indian Wild, 1 Centipede, South European, at Col- chester, 489 Centrolophus pomphilus on Norfolk coast, 364 Centropus senegalensis, 258 Ceratothoa trigonocephola, 211 Certhia familiaris, 507 Cervulus, 407 Cervus, 407; dama, 101; elaphus, 101,— gigantic antlers, 229 Ceryle rudis, 258 Chasmagnathus levis, 206 Chetogaster limnei, 192 Chaffinch, notes on breeding of, 195, 270; song, 195, 270, 269 Charadrius pluvialis, 508 Charaxes varanes, 254 Charybdis cruciatus, 204 Chelidon urbica, 190, 267, 317, 321, 433 Cheraps bicarinatus, 236 Chicken reared by Partridges, 189 Chiffchaff, breeding sites, 214 Chlamydoselachus anguineus, 41 Christmas Island, zoological explora- tion, 519 Chrysomitris citrinella, 275, 506; spinus, 507 Cicada attacked by Mantis, 275 Cinclus aquaticus, 23, 507 X1 Cinnyris chalybeus, nest, 418; gut- turalis, nest, 418 Circus cinerescens, 24 Classification of Moths, 289 Coccinella bipunctata, 468; decem- punctata (variabilis), 468; septem- punctata, 468 Coccothraustes coccothraustes, 188 Coccystes jacobinus, 258; serratus, 258 Codfish, malformed, 1380,—figured, 130 Coition of birds in the air, 415 Collett, Prof., on a remarkable Shark, 441 Colouration, assimilative, 377, 453 Colours of Nonpareil Finch, experi- ments on, 23 Columba palumbus, 190, 275, 508 Coracias garrulus, 24 Coregonus, 463 Corncrake in December, 25 Corsica, ornithological notes from, 275 Corvus corone, 190, 508; frugilegus, 124, 190, 508; monecula, 190, 508 Corystes cassivelaunus, 183 Cotile rupestris, 275 Cotinga cayana, 392; cerulea, 392 Cottus groenlandicus, 220 County R&EcoRDs :— . Bedfordshire — Scaup Duck, 319 ; Kentish Plover, 320 Cambridgeshire — Birdsnesting in August, 415 Cumberland—Mallard and Pintail interbreeding in captivity, 361 ; Sea Lamprey, 365 Derbyshire—Dipper, 23 Devonshire — Birds of, 39; Melo- dious Warbler, 265; Gannet, 319; House Martin, 433 Dorsetshire—Song Thrush, 264 Gloucestershire — Coition of birds in the air, 415 Hampshire—Hobby, 24, 83, 125 ; Brambling, 123; Rough-legged Buzzard, 124; ornithological notes, 126,218 ; Long-eared Bat, 261; Stoats, 261; Otters, 262; Mammalia, 429; Crossbill, 482, 505; Swift, 485; Scoter, 505 Hertfordshire—Birds of, 506 Kent—-Little Gull, 216; Bank Vole, 477; Pectoral Sandpiper, 480 Lancashire—Frog attacking Toad, 365 ; Epeira diadema, 440; Spot- ted Crake, 479 Xii CONTENTS. Leicestershire — Spotted Fly- catcher, 359; irregular nesting sites, 480 Lincolnshire — Barn Owl, 215; Lapwing, 272; Barred Warbler, 504 Middlesex—Birds of London, 189, 216, 272, 273; Chaffinch, 270 ; parasites in birds, 415 Norfolk—Pectoral Sandpiper, 25 ; notes from Haddiscoe, 26; Fishes of Great Yarmouth, 88; notes, 106; Little Bustard, 125; mal- formed Codfish, 180; Wretham Meres, 145; Stalk-eyed Crustacea of Great Yarmouth, 178; notes from Great Yarmouth, 219, 364, 508; Edible Crab, 220; Mam- malia of Great Yarmouth, 299 ; Centrolophus pomphilus, 364; Porpoisesat Great Yarmouth, 504 Northumberland—Insectivora and Rodentia, 264 Nottingham—Varieties of Plover, Starling, and House Sparrow, 482; Scoters, 482; Heron, 484 ; Great Skua, 485 Oxfordshire— Tree Pipit, 122; Rooks, 124; Stoats, 198; House Martin, 267; Marsh Warbler, 356 Somersetshire — House Sparrow, 123; Nightingale, 317; Greater Spotted Woodpecker, 318, 319; Birds singing during thunder- storm, 322; House Martin, 415; Swallow v. Flycatcher’s peculiar nesting site, 429; Swift, 436; Nuthatch, 480 Suffolk — Polecat, 22, 122, 5038; Black Water Vole, 122; Stoats, 187; Chickens reared by Par- tridge, 189; Cuckoo, 477; Bank Vole, 503; Owls and Kestrels, 505 Surrey — Kingfisher, 82; Haw- finch, 188; hybrid Finches, 188 Sussexc—Common Roller, 24; Her- mit Crabs, 181; Canada Goose, 216; abnormal scalariformity in shells, 191; Woodchat Shrike, 267; conduct of Rabbit when pursued by Dog, 413 Warwickshire — Starlings, 24; Brent Goose, 24; Meadow Pipit, 214 Westmorland — Asagena phale- rata, 440 Worcestershire — Spotted Fly- catcher, 358 Yorkshire — Common Guillemot, 25; notes from Scarborough, 28, 219; Roseate Tern, 88; Scar- borough Field Naturalists’ So- ciety, 140; Stoats, 187; Yar- rell’s Blenny, 191; Two-spotted Goby, 191; Badger, 218; Mi- gration at Spurn Lighthouse, 845; Nesting notes, 349; Fork- tailed Petrel, 362; Python mo- lurus, 486; Short Sunfish, 439 ; Cuckoo, 478; Corn Bunting, 485 ; Redwing, 504; Phasianus col- chicus, 505 ; Moorhen, 506 Crab Edible, meristic variation in, 220; Hermit, struggle for existence among, 131 Crake, Spotted, in Furness, 479 Crangon fasciatus, 185; trispinosus, 185; vulgaris, 184, — varietal colouration, figured, 184 Crateropus bicolor, 256 Crenis rosa, 276 Crex pratensis, 25 Crinum, 255; ammocharoides, 255 Crossbill, in Severn Valley, 124; in Hants, 482, 505 Crossopus fodiens, 303 Crustacea, Stalk-eyed, of Great Yar- mouth, 178; Australian Malaco- stracous, habits of some, 202 Cuckoo, popular fallacies concerning, 85; sucking eggs, 87; questions, 270; in Aberdeen, 359; economy, 480, 477, 478; in 1898, 481 Cuculus canorus, 85, 87, 110, 111, 190, 270, 359, 480, 481, 477, 478; clamosus, 258 Cyanospiza ciris, 23 Cyclograpsus lavauxi, 206 Cymochorea leucorrhoa, 362 Cymodocea pubescens, 211 Cyneelurus jubatus, 163, 462 Cypselus apus, 485 Cystophora cristata, 100 Dafila acuta, 361 Danaine, 283 Darwin, Charles, home of, 235 Daulias luscinia, 317 Delias eucharis, 283 Delphinus albirostris, 310 ; delphis, 310 Dendrocopus major, 318, 319 Dermochelys coriacea, 500 Diplognatna hebrea, 256 CONTENTS. Dipper, pale-coloured, 23 Disa erubescens, 380 Dragonet, breeding of, 231 Dryopithecus, 404 Duck, Ferruginous, in Ireland, 25; Scaup, in Bedfordshire, 319, 361 Eel in stomach of Cachalot, 489 Eggs of Roseate Tern, 83; of birds, at what hour usually laid?, 84; of wild birds, protection of, 322; spotless, of Spotted Flycatcher, 359 Elanus ceruleus, 257, 259 Elephant, merciful execution of, 287 ; proposed preservation of, in Central Africa, 517 Elephas indicus, 166 Emberiza cirlus, 478; citrinella, 508 ; schoeniclus, 508 Enchytreids, British, 121 Enchytreus parvulus, 121 Entermorphas, 396 Epeira diadema courtship, 440 Epunda lichenea, 456 Equus burchelli var. chapmani, 49 ; quagga, existing specimens, 213; zebra, 213 Erinaceus europzus, 100, 302 Erithacus rubecula, 190 Eubolia bipunctaria, 455 Eupagurus sinuatus, 207 Eurynome aspera, 181 Evotomys glareolus, 101 Expedition to Patchora River and Siberia, 43 Eyes, abnormal, of Hyla arborea and Bombinator igneus, 486 Falco subbuteo, 24, 88, 125; tinnun- culus, 508 Fallacies, popular ornithological, 27 ; concerning Cuckoo, 85 Fauna, East African Butterfly, sou- therly extension, 276 Faunal areas, minor, 96 Fecundity, varying, in birds, 495 Feeding of Rooks on Elvers, 270 Felis catus, 100; pardus, 160; tigris, 154 Finch, Citril, in Corsica, 275; Non- pareil, experiments in colours of, 23 Finches, hybrid, at Crystal Palace Show, 188 Fish culture, 93; strange error re- garding, 48; acclimatization in South Africa, 148 xii Fishery, Seal and Whale, 69 Fishes, of Great Yarmouth, 88; me- mory in, 92; in vicinity of New York, 140; of Trent, as recorded in 1622, 141; structure and mor- phology, 230; Sea, resources of the sea, 376 Floridx, 396 Flycatcher, Spotted, nesting of, 358 ; spotless eggs, 359 Flycatcher v. Swallow’s peculiar nest- ing site, 429 Food of Barn Owl, 215; of Redwing, 504 Fratercula arctica, 321 Fridericia striata, 121 Fregilus graculus, 321 Fringilla celebs, 190, 195, 269, 270, 507; montifringilla, 123 Frog attacking Toad, 823, 365 Fulica atra, 508 Fuligula marila, 319, 361, nyroca, 25 362 ; Gadus morrhua, 130 Galathea squamifera, 183 Gallinago celestis, 127, 508 Gallinula chloropus, 190, 506, 508 Gannet, breeding of, 319 Garganey breeding in Hants, 126 Gasteracantha, 30 Gaur, miscalled Bison, 2 Geese on fresco, Ghizeh Museum, 91 ‘ Geological Magazine,’ longevity, 230 Glyceria fluitans, 406 Gnophos obscuraria, 456 Gobius ruthensparri, 191 Boy Two-spotted, at Scarborough, Godartia wakefieldii, 276 Goose, Brent, in Warwickshire, 24; Canada, near Dungeness, 216 Grapsus variegatus, 205 Grouse, Red, varieties, 125 Guillemot, Common, variety, 25 Gull, Iceland, in Co. Sligo in sum- mer, 320; Ivory, on Solway, 414; Little, in Kent, 216 Habits, of Rattlesnakes, 93 ; of some Australian Malacostracous Crusta- cea, 202; of Python molurus in confinement, 436; nesting habits of Moorhen, 506 Haddiscoe, winter notes from, 26 Hematopus ostralegus, 363 Halcyon albiventris, 258 ; cyano- leuca, 258 X1V Halicherus gryphus, 308 Halimus tumidus, 202 Hants, Mid-, ornithological notes from, 126 Hare, Brown, in Ireland, 239; Indian Hispid, 22 Harpactira, 16; chrysogaster, stridu- lating organ, figured, 17; gigas, 251; tigrina, 17 Harrier, Montagu’s, alleged breeding in Ireland, an error, 24 Hawfinch near Reigate railway sta- tion, 188 Helezcius cordiformis, 205 Helix cantiana, 468; cartusiana, 463 Helotarsus ecaudatus, 258 Hemitubifex benedii, 120 Hepialide, 291 Heron nest of wire, 484 Hesperiade, 295 Hippoglossoides limandoides, 220 Hippolyte cranchii, 185; varians, 185 Hirundo rustica, 190, 821, 429, 507 Hobby nesting in Hants, 24, 83, 125 Homarus vulgaris, 183 Hoplostomus fuliginosus, 419 Horn of Rhinoceros, artificial re- moval of, 142 ‘‘ Horse-match”’ a name for the Red- backed Shrike, 188, 266 Hyas araneus, 181; coarctatus, 151 Hybrid, supposed, between Fieldfare and Redwing, 95; Finches at Crystal Palace Show, 188; between Linnet and Greenfinch, 109; be- tween White-eyed Duck and Po- chard, 108; Zebra-Horse, 49 Hydrochelidon leucoptera, 129 Hyena arvennensis, 465; brunnea, 465; crocuta, 465; exima, 465; spelwa, 465; striata, 465 Hyla arborea, abnormal eyes, 486 Hymenosoma varium, 207 Hyodrilus, 120 Hyperoodon rostratum, 309 Hypolais icterina, 266; polyglotta, 266 Hypolimnas misippus, 283 Hysterocrates, 18 Hystrix afra-australis, 250 Ibacus peronii, 208 Idotea annulata, 455 Immigration of Song Thrush, 264 Insect pests of British Columbia, 46; strength, 92; visitors of flowers in New Mexico, 78, 811 Insectivora of Northumberland, 264 Insects, destructive, in France, 285 CONTENTS. Interbreeding of Pintail and Mallard in captivity, 361 International code of zoological no- menclature, 423 IrELAND. — Montagu’s Harrier, 24; Ferruginous Duck, 25; White Wagtail, 245; Chaffinch, 269 ; Rooks, 270; Iceland Gull in Co. Sligo, 8320; Whinchat in Co. Dub- lin, 856 Isle of Wight, ornithological notes, 218 Ityrea nigrocincta, 256 Java, scientific expedition to, 451 Julus pulchellus, 121 Kestrel, abnormal nesting sites, 110 Kestrels and Owls, plea for, 449, 505 ‘‘ Killers”? in New South Wales, &c., 447 Kingfisher in Surrey, 82 Kites in Wales, 199, 271 Labrus auritus, 454 Lacnanthes, 881 Lagopus mutus, 364; scoticus, 125, 508 Lakeland, Guide to, 40 Lamna cornubica, 509 Lamprey, Sea, in Cumberland, 365 Laniarius atrococcineus, 258 Lanius collurio, 188, 266; pomera- nus, 267 Lapland, reported summer appear- ance of Bernicla brenta and Phala- ropus fulicarius, 25, 84 Lapwing, disappearance, in North Lincolnshire, 272 Larentide, 290 Lark, Sky, sexual differences in wing- feathering, 104 Larus argentatus, 508; canus, 126, 127, 508; fuscus, 508; leucopterus, 320; minutus, 216; ridibundus, 321, 363 Lasiocampina, 296 Leander intermedius, 210 Lepidosteus sp., 379 Leptodius exaratus, 203 Lepus cuniculus, 101, 8307; europeus, 101; hispidus, 22; timidus, 101, 307 Ligurinus chloris, 190, 507 Limacodide, 294 Limnea stagnalis, 147 Limnodrilus udekemianus, wordsworthianus, 120 Linnet, Mountain, 431 120 ; CONTENTS. Linota cannabina, 507; flavirostris, 360, 481; rufescens, 507 . L’Intermédiaire des Biologistes, 40 Lithodes maia, 181 Lizard, Tuatara, development of, 488 Lobster, Common Spiny, limit of northern distribution, 142 Locustella nevia, 351 London, birds of, 91, 189, 216, 272, 273 Lophius piscatorius, 365 Loss, 398 Loxia curvirostra, 124, 863, 505 Lumbricus terrestris, 119 Lusciniola schwarzi, 520 Lutra lutra, 100; vulgaris, 262, 304 Lyczna adonis, 455; corydon, 455 Macrophthalmus setosus, 205 Macrotoma palmata, 259 Mallard and Pintail interbreeding in captivity, 361 Mammalia of Great Yarmouth and immediate neighbourhood, 299; of Hampshire, 429 Mammals, British, technical names of, 97 Man, Isle of, notes from (1897), 321 Mantis attacking Cicada, 275 Marine Biological Stations— Liver- pool, 838; Port Erin, Isle of Man, 333; Millport, 3384; St. Andrews, 335; Jersey, 335 Marlborough College Nat. Hist. Soc., 375 Martin, House, date of arrival, 267, 317, 433 Megascops asio, 402 Melanippe procellata, 456 ‘Melanargia galatea, 455 Melelonthide, 31 Meles meles, 268; taxus, 213, 268, 304 Melierax niger, 259 Meregus merganser, 364; serrator, 364 Meristic variation in Edible Crab, 220 Mexico, New, insect visitors of flowers, 78, 311 Microtus agrestis, 101, 264, 306; amphibius, 100, 122, 306; glareolus, 477, 503; gregarius, 264 Migrants in Aberdeenshire (1898), 275 Migration at Spurn Lighthouse (1897-98), 345 Micropterygidz, 291 Millipedes, mode of progression, 365 Mimicry, 283 Miomantis fenestrata, 275 Molua molva, 463 XV Monkeys, decrease, on Gold Coast, 45 Montifringilla nivalis, 475 Moor-hen, nesting habits, 506 Motacilla alba, 245; lugubris, 82, 216; rail, 82; yarrellii, 245 Moths and their classification, 289 Mullus surmulatus, 365 Mus agrestis, 264; alexandrinus, 306; decumanus, 100, 306; gregarius, 264; minutus, 100, 305; musculus, 100, 264, 805; rattus, 100, 805; sylvaticus, 100, 264, 305 Muscardinus avellanarius, 100, 304 Muscicapa grisola, 190, 275, 358, 359, 429 MusEum ReEports :— Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard College, 95 Field Columbian Museum, Chi- cago, 138 Newcastle Museum, 240 Taxidermy for Museums, 330 Appointment of new Director for Nat. Hist. Dep., 8. Kensington, 373 South African Museum, Report for 1897, 446 Mus. Compar. Zool., Cambr., Mass., resignation of Prof. Alec Agassiz, 451 British Museum, recent acquisi- tions, 487; Ocean exploration . off the coasts of Cork and Kerry, 518 Temporary Museums, 490 Australian Museum, 1897, 516 Mustela erminea, 122, 187, 213, 261, 304; martes, 100, 303; putorius, 22, 122, 304, 503; vulgaris, 303 Mycteris longicarpus, 207; platy- cheles, 207 Mygale, 14, 16, 29, 251; avicularia, 251 Mygalide, 14 Mylabride, 31 Myotis bechsteini, 100; daubentoni, 100, 817, 368; mystacinus, 100; nattereri, 100 Myoxus nanus, 421 Mysis chameleon, 186; vulgaris, 186 Mythology, ornithological, 46 Natica, 131 Natural History literature of Great Britain and Ireland, 519 Nectocarcinus integrifrons, 204 Neomys fodiens, 100 Nephile, 30 XVi Nephrops norvegicus, 184 Neptunus pelagicus, 203; sanguino- lentus, 204 Nerocila sp. ?, 211 Nest of Common Sandpiper with four egos, 110; of Social Spider, figured, 253; of Anthodizta collaris, 418 ; of Cinnyris gutturalis and C. chalybeus, 418; of Heron made of wire, 484 Nesting of Hobby in Hants, 24, 83, 125; site, abnormal, of Kestrel, 110; early, of House Sparrow, 123; of Nightingale at Wells, Somerset, 317; of Greater Spotted Woodpecker near Bath, 318,—at Wells, Somerset, 319; notes from Yorkshire, 349; of Spotted Fly- . catcher, 358; site, peculiar, of Swallow v. Flycatcher, 429; of Nuthatch, 480; sites, irregular, 480; late, of Corn Bunting, 485; habits of Moor-hen, 506 Nestor notabilis of New Zealand, 216 Nightjar nesting at Wells, Somerset, d17 Nika couchii, 185; edulis, 185 Noctua glareosa, 456 Nomenclature, zoological, remarks on proposed international code, 423 Norfolk, ornithological notes from (1897), 106 Notodontina, 296 Notornis mantelli, 492 Nucifraga caryocatactes, 474 Numenius phexopus, 321 Nuthatch, nesting of, 480 OBITUARY :— Allman, Prof. George J., M.D., F.R.S., 519 Dennis, George Christopher, 240 Frenzel, Dr. Johannes, 47 Horn, Dr. George H., 47 Hurst, C. Herbert, 287 T’Anson, James, 240 Kleinenberg, Dr. Nicolaus, 144 Marks, Henry Stacy, R.A., 48 Salvin, Osbert, 815 Van Voorst, John, 452 Oceanodroma castro, 320; leucura, 320 Ocypoda cordimana, 205 Odobcenus rosmarus, 100 Cidemia nigra, 505 (idipodea germanica, 457 Oncorhynchus tschawytscha, 140 Orca gladiator, 309, 447 crypto- CONTENTS. Ornithological millinery, 286 Orthagoriscus mola, 509 Otis tetrax, 125 Otters in S.W. Hampshire, 262 Owl, Barn, food of, 215 Owls, morphology of, 231 Owls and Kestrels, a plea for, 449, 505 Oxalis stricta, 406 Oysters, food of, 238 Ozius truncatus, 202 Pachygrapsus transversus, 206 Paguride, 131 Paguristes barbatus, 208 Pagurus bernhardus, 188 Palemon serratus, 186; squilla, 186; varians, 186 Palinurus hiigeli, 208; vulgaris, 142, 188 Pandalus annulicornis, 185 Pandion haliaétus, 362 Papilio aristolochie, 283; ophidi- cephalus, 254 ; polites, 283 Papilionina, 297 ; Parasites in birds, 415 Parastacus, Dr. E. Loonberg on, 373 Parrot, Kea, of New Zealand, 216 Partridge, variety, 114 Partridges rearing chickens, 189; rare, in Leadenhall Market, 215 Parus ater, 190, 507; borealis, 116; ceruleus, 190, 507; cristatus, 363; major, 190, 507; palustris, 507; palustris dresseri, 117; salicarius, a British bird, 116 Passer domesticus, 123, 190, 507 Peneus canaliculatus, 209; esculen- tus, 209 Perdix barbata, 215; cinerea, 508; daurica, 215; montana, 114; sibi- rica, 215 Petrel, Fork-tailed, coast, 362 Petromyzon marinus, 3865 Phalaropus fulicarius, 26, 84; hyper- boreus, 26, 84 Phasianus colchicus, 505, 508 Philippine Islands, ornithology of, 236 Phoca grcenlandica, 100; hispida, 100; vitulina, 100, 307 Phocena communis, 310; phocena, 504 Phoneyusa, sp. stridulating organ, figured, 18 Phylloscopus rufus, 214; trochilus, 214 on Yorkshire : : CONTENTS. Physeter macrocephalus, 309 Pica rustica, 216, 508 Pilumnopeus serratifrons, 203 Pilumnus fissifrons, 203; hirtellus, 181 - Pinnotheres veterum, 183 Pintail and Mallard interbreeding in captivity, 361 ' Pipistrellus leisleri, 100; 100; pipistrellus, 100 Pipit, Meadow, perching on trees, 214, 266,—and Cuckoo, 430; Tree, in January, 122; Water, in Car- narvonshire, 187 Pirimela denticulata, 181 Plagusia chabrus, 206; glabra, 207 Planorbis complanatus, 191; vortex var. compressa, 191 Platyonychus bipunctulatus, 204 Plecotus auritus, 100, 261, 302 Plectrophenax nivalis, 508 Pleuronectes flesus, 454 Plocepasser mahali, 258 noctula, Plover, Green, variety, 482; Kentish, | alleged, in Bedfordshire, 320 Plutellida, 292 Podicipes fluviatilis, 191 Pogonorhynchus leucomelas, 256 Polecat in Suffolk, 22, 122, 503 Polycanthus sp., ABS Porcellana dispar, 208 ; longicornis, 183 Porpoises at Great Yarmouth, 504 Portumnus. depurator, 182; varie- gatus, 182 Porzana maruetta, 479 Pratincola rubetra, 356 Preservation of zoological specimens, 366 Protogoniomorpha anacardil, 254 Protopterus annectans, 379 Psammoryctes, 120 Pseudocarcinus gigas, 203 Psychina, 294 Purpura, 131 Putorius ermineus, 100; hibernicus, 100; nivalis, 100; putorius, 100 Pyralidina, 294 Pyrrhocorax alpinus, 474 Pyrrhula europxa, 507 Python molurus, habits in confine- ment, 436 Querquedula crecca, 508 Rabbit, conduct of a, when pursued by a Dog, 413 Raia miraletus, 220; pastinaca, 364 XV1l Rail, flightless, of New Zealand, 492 Rambles, zoological, in the Trans- vaal, 249 Rana adspersa, 823; temporaria, 365 Raniceps trifurcus, 28 Ranunculus calthefolia, 406; ficaria, 406 Raoulia, 217 Rattlesnakes, habits, 93 Redwing, food of, 504 Regulus cristatus, 507 Rhinoceros, artificial removal ofhorn, 142; indicus, 172; lasiotis, 142, 175; sondaicus, 174; sumatrensis, 174; unicornis, 171 Bhinolophus ferrum.- equinum, 100 ; hipposideros, 100 Rhombus maximus, 365 Rhynchocinetes typus, 209 Riffelalp, Canton Valais, Switzerland, birds of, 474, 506 Rinderpest among wild animals at the Cape, 47,—South African game, 148 Rodentia of Northumberland, 264 Roller, Common, in Sussex, 24 Rooks and buttercup bulbs, 124; feeding on Elvers, 270 Ruticilla tythis, 475 Sale of birds belonging to the late Mr. R. Ashby, 45 ; of Moa skeleton, 45; of Lepidoptera belonging to the late Rey. A. Matthews, “AD Salix jacquiniana, 886; retusa, 386; retusoides, 386 Salmo, 463; fario, 140; salar, 364 Salmon in Natal, 285; life-history, 284 Sanderling in Australia, 83 Sandpiper, Common, nest and four eggs, in Norfolk, 110; in St. James’s Park, 240; Pectoral, in Norfolk, 25,—in Kent, 480 Sark, ornithological notes from, 274 Saxby, Dr., and the breeding of the Tyrnstone) 435 Saxicola cenanthe, 321 Sonoma abnormal, in shells, - Scarborough, notes from, 28, 219 Schizeerhis concolor, 258 Sciurus vulgaris, 100, 264, 304 Scolopax rusticula, 508 Scomber scomber, 364; 864 Scorpeena dactyloptera, 88 Scoter in Notts, 482 scriptus, XVill Scoters in summer, 414; in Hants and Isle of Wight, 505 ScotLtanpD—Corncrake, 25; Wagtails eating Trout, 82; Cuckoo, 270; Migrants in Aberdeenshire, 275; Cuckoos in Aberdeen, 359, 481; Scaup-Duck, 361; Bird-notes from Northern Cairngorms, 362; Sco- ters, 414; Ivory Gull on Solway, 414; Birds of Moffat, 507 Scutigera coleoptrata, 489 Scylla serrata, 204 Seal and Whale Fishery (1897), 69 Seleucides nigricans, 379 Sesamopteris pentaphylla, 256 Sesarma erythrodactyla, 206 Shark, remarkable, 41 Sharks on the Cornish coast, 451 Shells, abnormal scalariformity in, 191 Shrike, Red-backed, ‘‘ Horse-match”’ a name for, 188, 266; Woodchat, in Sussex, 267 Singing of birds during thunderstorm, 322 Sitta czesia, 480 Skua, Great, in Notts, 485 Smelts in the Upper Thames, 449 Societies, Natural History — Sear- borough Field Naturalists’ Society, 140; Marlborough College Natural History Society, 375 Socotra, scientific expedition to, 491 Solea vulgaris, 219 Song of Chaffinch, 195, 269, 270; autumn, of birds, 410 Sorex araneus, 100; minutus, 100; pygmeus, 264 ; vulgaris, 264, 303. Sparrow, House, early nesting, 128 ; wing, figured, 243 ; variety, 482 Spatula clypeata, 219 Spharageomon, 457 Sphenodon punctatus, 488 Spider versus Wasp, 29, 44 Spiders, African, stridulation in some, 14; South African Social, notes on, 417; Social, nest figured, 253 Spiders’ webs manufactured into bal- loon net, 45 Sprats, extraordinary catch at Shore- ham, 517 Spurn lighthouse, eee at (1897- 98), 345 Squilla levis, 211 Starling, variety, 482 Starlings, brood of young, in mid- November, 24; breeding in Buck- ingham Palace, 287 CONTENTS. | Stegodyphus, 417; gregarius, 251, 252, 258, 417 Stegostoma tigrinum, 467 Stenorhynchus rostratus, 181; tenui- rostris, 181 Sterna dougalli, 83 Stoats turning white in winter, 122, 187, 198, 213, 261 Strepsilas interpres, 321, 435 Stridulation in some African Spiders, Strix flammea, 215 Sturgeon, Royal, in Ireland, 144 Sturnus vulgaris, 24, 190, 508 Sula bassana, 319 Sunfish, Short, near Scarborough, 439 Sus africanus, 250; salvanius, 176 - Swallow versus Flycatcher’s peculiar nesting site, 429 Swift, late stay, 436, 485 Swordfish, monster, 45 Sylvia cinerea, 190; nisoria, 504 Syrnium aluco, 508 Tadorna cornuta, 321 Talorchestia quadrimana, 212 Talpa europa, 100, 264, 303 Tapirus bairdi, 463; indicus, 176 Taraxacum dens leonis, 406; palus- tre, 407 Taxidermy for museums, 330; cor- rect attitudes for birds, 331 Technical names of British mam- mals, 97 Teracolus, 259; achine, 259 ; agoye, 259; auxo, 259; celimene, 255; eris, 259; evenina, 259; phlege- tonia, 259; subfasciatus, 259 Tern, Roseate, eggs of, 83 Tetrao tetrix, 508 Thalamita admete, 204; sima, 204 Theraphoside, 14 Thrush, Song, immigration of, 264 Thymallus, 463 Tibicen carinatus, 275 Tineide, 292 Toad attacked by Frog, 328, 365 Tortoise, giant, 44 Tortricina, 292 Totanus calidris, 821; canescens, 863 ; hypoleucus, 321, 363 Trachyphonus caffer, 256 Transvaal, zoological rambles in, 249 Trichechus rosmarus, 808 Trigla lineata, 219 Trimerorhinus triteniatus, 259 Tringa alpina, 321; maculata, 25, 480 - CONTENTS. Troglodytes hirtensis, 482; parvulus, 190, 507 Trout in Natal, 235 Trypanide, 293 Tsine, 1 Tubifex, distribution, 119; rivulorum, 119 Turdus iliacus, 95, 504, 507; merula, 507; musicus, 190, 264, 507; pi- laris, 95, 507; viscivorus, 507 Turner, William, father of British Zoology, 337 Turnstone, Dr. Saxby and the breed- ing of, 435 Turtle, Leathery (Plate V.), 500 Ulvacee, 396 Ureginthus cyanogaster, 258 Uria troile, 25 Urolestes melanoleucus, 256 Ursus euryspilus, 166; labiatus, 163, 164; malayanus, 165; meles, 263; tibetanus, 162 Vanellus vulgaris, 272, 508 Varieties of Red Grouse, 125 Variety of Common Guillemot, 25 ; Partridge, 114; Water Vole, 122; Green Plover, 482; Starling, 482; House Sparrow, 482 Vespertilio murinus, 100; nattereri, 493; serotinus, 100 Vespertilionide of North America, 45,46 | Vesperugo noctula, 302; pipistrellus, 302 Vivaria and aquaria, 40 Voice-rezisters of birds, 11 Vole, Bank, large, in Kent, 477,— notes on, 508; Black Water, in Suffolk, 122; Common, scientific name of, 263 Vulpes vulgaris, 303; vulpes, 100 Wagetail, White, in Ireland, 245 Wagtails eating Trout, 82 _Wates.—Water Pipit in Carnarvon- shire, 187; ornithological notes, 198 ; Meadow Pipit, 266; Kite, 271; Daubenton’s Bat in the Conway Valley, 317; Cuckoo, 480; Cirl Bunting in Breconshire 478, 505; Natterer’s Bat, 493 X1X Warbler, Barred, in Lincolnshire: 504; Marsh, in Oxfordshire, 356; Melodious, in South-east Devon» 265 ; Willow, breeding sites, 214; new to Britain, 520 Wasp versus Spider, 29, 44 Water supply, chemical and vegetable life in, 489 Waterton, Charles, reminiscences of, 144 Whale and Seal Fishery, 69 Whales attacking vessels, 42 Whinchat in Co. Dublin, 356 White, Gilbert, ‘Garden Kalendar,’ 235 Wild animals, price of, 234; beasts, Indian, a chat about, 154; birds and their eggs, protection of, 322, 449; Cattle, Indian, 1 Wing of Sky Lark, sexual differences in feathering, 104; of Sparrow, figured, 243 Wolf, American, versus Irish Wolf- hounds, 94 Wood, Rev. J. G., and his publica- tions, 42 Woodpecker, Greater Spotted, nest- ing near Bath, 3818; at Wells, Somerset, 319 Wren, St. Kilda, the so-called, 418, 482 Wretham Meres, 145 Xipholena pompadora, 892 Yarmouth, Great, Fishes of, 88; some notes on the Stalk-eyed Crustacea of, 178; notes from, 219, 364, 508; Mammalia of, 299 Yorkshire, rough notes from, 349 Zebra-Horse Hybrids (Plates I., II., III.), 49 | *‘ Zoological Record’ for 1896, 39 Zoological Park, New York, 189 ; Gardens, how animals are provided, 141,—in Edinburgh, 449, 518,— proposed, in Australia, 518; Society of London, 237,—of Ireland, 331; rambles in Transvaal, 249; speci- mens, preservation of, 366 Zoology, International Congress of, 42, NEw SPEcIES oF British ANIMALS DESCRIBED IN THIS VOLUME. VermMes.—Limnodrilus wordsworthianus, Friend (Cumberland), p. 120. XX CONTENTS. ILLUSTRATIONS. Plates I., II., III. Zebra-Horse Hybrids «Plate IV. Natterer’s Bat (Vespertilio natterert) », WV. Leathery Turtle (Dermochelys coriacea) Stridulating organ of Harpactira chrysogaster iy + Phoneyusa sp. Malformed Codfish (Gadus morrhua) Varietal coloration in Sand Shrimp (Crangon vulgaris) Wing of Sparrow (Passer domesticus) . Nest of Social Spider (Stegodyphus gregarwus) PAGE 49 ‘498 500 | 18 130 184 2438 2538 Pah ALOOLOGIST No. 679.—January, 1898. INDIAN WILD CATTLE: THE TSINE AND THE GAUR (MISCALLED BISON). By Cononet Pook. I was very glad to see the article in ‘The Zoologist’ (1897, p. 489), by Surgeon-Captain Henry 8. Wood, on the Tsine (Bos sondaicus). Very littleis known of that animal, and any detailed account of it must be interesting to all zoologists. The account given by naturalists of the Indian wild cattle is very meagre, for very few of them have been personally acquainted with these beasts in their wild state. I have no pretensions to be considered a scientific naturalist, for I know nothing of anatomy, and very little on the subject of species, genera, &c. But I have observed to the best of my opportunities, and having been a fairly successful sportsman, I trust I may be excused for offering the following observations. T'sine are certainly kittle cattle. During thirteen years’ wanderings in Burma I only succeeded in killing three bulls and two cows, and four of them only just before I left India. I’agree with Dr. Wood’s description and remarks, with the _exce vtion that I never saw the warts he mentions, and that those killed by me had the whitish rings round the eyes. Can there be two v:.ieties ? Mine were shot at the foot of the Yomahs, on the Sittang side. The bulls also were of a deep red, but I have seen them in the distance almost as dark as a middle-aged Gaur (Bos gaurus), that is, coffee-coloured, but never could get at them ; nor did I notice the “ thickened portion of skin devoid of hair, Zool. 4th ser. vol. II., January, 1898. B 2 THE ZOOLOGIST. and of a greyish black colour, the general surface smooth, but in patches very warty, like the skin of a Rhinoceros.” Could this have been caused by the animal rubbing his forehead to get rid of parasites ? as all Sambur have in May a bare spot about the size of a shilling on the neck, caused, the Burmese said, by their rubbing it on fallen trunks to rid themselves of parasitic pests. There is a dorsal ridge, of course, like in the other wild cattle, but not nearly so pronounced as in the Gaur or Gayal, and not more than in the Wild Buffalo. Mr. Carter, a well-known naturalist and sportsman (“‘ Smoothbore,” of ‘The Field’), wrote as follows :— “Colonel Pollok, when referring to the Tsine, says that it has a slight dewlap, which is not always apparent,’ whilst Jerdon, writing of the same animal, says it resembles the Gaur more than the Gayal, and it wants the dewlap.” I do not think Jerdon had ever seen a Tsine. I can see no resemblance between a Tsine and a Gaur, but a very great one, especially at a distance, between the Gaur and the Gayal. I am glad to see that the doctor says the bull he shot had a slight dewlap, about three inches in its greatest breadth. But whilst his bulls were wanting in the white patches on the buttocks, mine had them very distinctly. The bulls are certainly savage, and attack most pluckily after being wounded,—at least mine did. The first and only one I shot for years was in company with Capt. Hill (now Governor of H.M.’s Jail, Manchester), and he came at us with a will, but had no chance, as Hill used a breech-loading rifle of mine, and I had two heavy two-grooved No. 10-bore rifles by Joseph Lang. THe Gaur (Bos gaurus). This Wild Bull is found, not only in Southern India and the Trans-Gangetic provinces, but it has been shot at the foot of the Himalaya Mountains, usually called the Terai. I have seen splendid heads brought down from the Mishmee Hills. There are thirteen pairs of ribs. The chest is broad, the shoulder deep and muscular and the fore legs short, with the joints very short and strong, the arm exceedingly large and muscular. The skin on the neck, shoulders, and thighs is very thick—about two inches—and is very valuable for the soles of shooting-boots. Many old bulls have so little hair that they appear as if they had been shaved. When the bull arrives at maturity, which is at INDIAN WILD CATTLE. 3 about six or seven years, rings begin to form at the base of the horns, and it is said one is added each year; if so, I must have shot bulls thirty-five or forty years ofage. They prefer hilly ranges with flat table-land at top, at an altitude of about 2500 ft.; but they have been killed up to 5000 ft., and traced up even higher. It is a wonderfully active animal for its size and bulk. They browse on young bamboo shoots, and are also fond of grazing on the young grass which springs up after the annual fires. They retire during the heat of the day, either to forests, or force their way into heavy patches of long elephant-grass, and lie there to escape the gadflies, which otherwise torment them dreadfully. As a rule they are inoffensive, but a solitary bull has been known to charge without provocation; if closely followed, all Gaur are apt to prove pugnacious. They are not difficult to kill; a bullet well placed behind the shoulder, in the middle of the shoulder, or behind the ear, or a raking shot forward, will account for one— I have known one paralyzed by a shot through the dorsal ridge, When alarmed their enormous strength and weight enable them to¢érash through tree and bamboo jungle as if they were but reeds. J have known them when alarmed to snort, and stamp with their feet before retiring. The tongue and marrow-bones are unexceptionable; the only portion of the beast fit to eat by Europeans is the middle layer on either side of the dorsal side, just below the hump; the tail makes very good ox-tail soup. Mr. Sanderson shot a Gaur in Assam, and as its name and that of the Gayal is “ Mithin,” he came to the conclusion that there were no wild Gayal; but although ‘‘ Mithin” is usually applied to both the Gaur and Gayal, yet, if pressed, the people will own to an “‘ Asseel Mithin”’ or true Gaur, and a “ Mithin” (or bastard Gaur) the Gayal. In a Natural History lately published* it has been asserted that the Gaur has been tamed, and that they are kept in captivity by natives on our North-Eastern Frontier, but this is altogether erroneous. ‘The very old bulls are either driven away from the herds, or retire and become solitaires, and are the best worth shooting, but they are wary, and difficult to * ‘The Royal Natural History,’ evidently misled by Mr. Sanderson. Although a Gayal at a distance looks very like a Gaur, the heads are totally dissimilar; the Gaur’s has a semi-cylindrical crest and a concave forehead ; the Gayal possesses neither. B2 4 THK ZOOLOGIST. get at. Other conditions being favourable, wherever there are salt-licks, that is, depressions. where a whitish clay impregnated with natron is found, these wild cattle, Deer, and even the Felide, will abound. It is the Gayal that are in captivity, and not the Gaur. When I first went to Burma I wrote to Mr. Blyth, the curator of the museum in Calcutta, that the Burmese Gaur appeared to me to be larger, and to differ somewhat from the Indian, but he wrote back I must be mistaken, as the Gayal took its place in that country, the true Gaur being absent. However, I was soon able to correct him by sending him heads, and as he shortly after visited the province, he convinced himself that I was right, and wrote that not only were there the true Gaur in the country, but that the skulls and horns were superior to those from Southern India. I pointed out to “‘Smoothbore,” many years ago, that there were two distinct varieties of this Wild Bull, but he was incredulous until he visited Calcutta and spoke to Dr. Anderson, who said, “ Pollok is quite right; here are skulls of both.” The discrepancies may be due to climatic influences and abundance of food; undoubtedly the Gaur of Burma and of our North-Eastern Frontier are larger than the Indian. I have shot a bull within an ace of 21 hands at the shoulder, and General Blake, an old sportsman, shot a cow 19 hands, whereas the largest bull killed by him in India was of the same size, and the largest he ever saw killed in the Wynand but two inches higher. Even in India Gaur vary; those of the Western Ghats being larger, and with a profile like a Ram, in that respect resembling their Burmese brethren. Not only does the Burmese Gaur stand higher, but the dorsal ridge extends further back, to within a span of the croup, the dent in the forehead is deeper, the cylindric crest higher, the horns larger, heavier and more truncated, and but seldom worn at the tips asin the Indian. I fancy food is so plentiful they have no need to grub up roots. The heads of the females are, if anything, longer than those of the males, and the nose is more arched. | | Those in the Northern Circars of the Madras Presidency, where I shot a great many, have, comparatively speaking, shorter heads, and less of the Ram look; the dorsal ridge terminating about the middle of the back. Then, too, there is the dewlap—has the Gaur one or not? Up to a few years ago the opinion was—not. But INDIAN WILD CATTLE. 5 the question cropped up about two years ago. Mr. Bartlett, the late superintendent of the ‘‘ Zoo,” wrote that the one that lived in the Gardens had a well-developed one. Hiliot, Jerdon, Campbell, Sterndale, all said he had none, and I too was of that opinion ; but ‘“‘Smoothbore”’ writes: “‘ A planter of many years’ experience in Tranvancore, and a keen observant sportsman, states that in some examples the Gaur have scarcely any dewlap, and that in others it is strongly developed. So marked is this difference, that the natives divide them into two castes, calling one ‘ Katu Madoo’ or Jungle Cow, and the other ‘ Kat-erimy’ or Jungle Buffalo. He has shot old bulls with at least six inches of skin hanging clear of the chest and throat. This seems extra- ordinary, when naturalists have mostly described the Gaur as having little or no dewlap. Dewlap originally meant the loose fold descending from the chest, which when the animal was grazing swept the dew: thus, in ‘Midsummer Night’s Dream,’ hounds.are described as ‘ dew-lapped, like Thessalian bulls’; but in the humped Indian cattle the fold extends from the throat downwards, and in the Mysore draught bullocks and in the Brahmini bulls is enormous, whilst in the ordinary village cattle the development is small.” The following notes on the Gaur will be interesting to most readers. Mr. A. F. Martin, of Travancore, writes :— “When the Kaunan Devan Hills in North Travancore were opened out for tea and cinchona, some years ago, the felling of the forest restricted the wild beasts, particularly the Elephants | and Bison, when passing across the estate, to one or two pathways. One particular track was, however, left to them for about ten years, when further cultivation led at last to the blocking up of even this right of way. The animals were at first much puzzled, and both Elephants and Gaur took to wandering about the cultivation. The Elephants accommodated themselves to the altered conditions and used the estate paths. The Gaur, more suspicious, took a straight line for their grazing grounds over the rotten felled timber and through the older cinchona plantations, but were often brought up by the sight of white- — washed walls surmounted by a corrugated iron roof. * At last they settled down to a pathway between the old cinchona and a natural belt left between it and the new clearing. 6 THE ZOOLOGIST. A pit 10 ft. long, 8 ft. wide, and 8 ft. deep, was dug on the boundary, covered with a mat made of reeds and bamboos, over which earth and dry leaves were scattered. ‘The smell of the fresh earth, however, turned them off. Once a Gaur got his fore feet down the side of the pit, but madea bold jump and cleared it. ** After some months the tracks of a large herd were found making for the pit, and it turned out that a Gaur had fallen in, but managed to jump clean out again. It was evident that 8 ft. was not deep enough, and rock in the bottom prevented its being sunk deeper. Another pit was therefore dug some distance away on the same boundary. ‘The ground was on the side of a steep hill, so that whilst the lower wall was 10 ft., the upper was 14t ft. deep.” After a while a cow Gaur fell in, but whilst Mr. Martin was watching her, and waiting for coolies to help in putting logs across the pit, she managed to scramble out; and although she followed the path to the old pit, she avoided it and escaped. Two days afterwards a bull fell in and was secured. Mr. Martin describes the trouble they had with this huge animal :—Getting logs across the top of the pit, with the Gaur charging madly about, was exciting work, and the feat was successfully accom- plished only after the utmost difficulty and danger. “The appearance of any one near the pit always caused a furious demonstration on the part of the Gaur, who dug big caves in the side of the pit with his horns, and thus an approach to the edge was rendered dangerous. In ten days’ time he had become somewhat tame. He tossed about the grass thrown in to him, and trampled it into the mud, eating but a small quantity. His only drink was water poured into the pit, and which collected in the holes he had made in the mud with his feet. Matters were very little improved by having bundles of grass lowered by a long piece of cane fastened round, for he charged them furiously, and got a lot of the grass on the ground only to trample it into the mud. ‘By degrees he began to eat more and to throw less about. Water was a great difficulty, any attempt, too, at lowering a bucket to him was futile, and only ended in the bucket being flattened out. | _ “Tt became imperative, therefore, to get him out of the pit. INDIAN WILD CATTLE. 7 To attain this end, a stockade about thirty feet square was made round the pit, consisting of stout poles, fifteen feet high at the lower, and ten feet high on the higher part of the ground. They were each sunk about three feet in the ground, eighteen inches | apart, and lashed together with cross sticks and fibre, and formed 'an almost solid wall. A sheet-iron trough was fixed in one _corner. When complete, large quantities of brushwood, ferns, |and grass were thrown into the pit, until by degrees it became | half full and the Gaur was enabled to jump out. His first act | was to charge the corner whence he was being watched, but the | only harm done was to himself, his frontal ridge being slightly |cut. His attention was then attracted by the water-trough, which he knocked about considerably, but finding the water, he took one | good long drink before finally knocking it to pieces. During his | examination of his new quarters he once more fell into the pit, and this enabled us to repair damages; but before they were quite /completed he jumped out again and caused a general stampede. | Having twice hurt his head against the stockade, he never again ‘made any attempt to test its strength. The sheet-iron trough /seemed to annoy him more than anything else, and was soon | rendered useless. A three-cornered wooden trough was then }inserted in a corner and protected by stout poles across the ‘corner of the stockade, and this having been satisfactorily }arranged, the Gaur soon became comparatively tame. He | allowed the measurements of his horns to be accurately taken, | through a window left in the stockade, and very fine horns they were, | too, measuring 344 in. across, from outside to outside of sweep. | Although the pit was filled up level with the ground, his previous /experience led him to conclude that it was dangerous, and he never crossed it. The result was that the narrow space between the pit and the stockade became ploughed up, and he was up to | his hocks in mud. It therefore became necessary to enlarge the ‘enclosure for about a hundred yards in length, taking a bit of jungle in for shelter, and a small ravine which would hold |water. A small shed was erected, with sliding bars on the outside and inside, with a view of introducing a domestic Cow as | | the stockade. | “He took to his new quarters very kindly, and soon got to 8 THE ZOOLOGIST. know that grass was left for him at the inner gate of the shed. In a short time it was found that he liked having his nose and head rubbed, and licked the clothes of the person who rubbed him. He took salt from the hand, but did not at first seem to care about it, probably because it was not mixed with earth as in salt licks, which he was accustomed to, spitting it out if he got too much in his mouth at one time. After two months he became quite tame, and permitted his captor to come into the enclosure, not even moving if he happened to be lying down. After the third month he began to shed his hair, and liked it rubbed off with a wisp of grass, allowing the operator to sit on him whilst cleaning him, but he did not like his hind legs or tail to be touched, kicking out as if he were tickled when this was done. ‘‘ After four months a domestic Cow was put into the shed, and the two ate from the same bundle of grass, one on the outside, and the other from the inside of the shed. When the Cow was let into the stockade neither of the animals took any notice of the other, so the Cow was taken out. Although so tame with a Huropean, the Gaur would never allow a native to come near him; and it was unsafe to be in the enclosure if a native came anywhere near, as the bull would jump up, snort, and rush about the place in a very excited manner. The cost of bringing grass for him (of which he ate 2 cwt. per diem) was so considerable that it was thought advisable to put a ring through his nose and have him led out to graze with the domestic cattle. A rope was tied round his horns and his head securely fastened between two bars of the stockade; it would then have been easy to ring his nose from the outside, and it is a thousand pities that this was not done. His terror was, however, so great, that the attempt was given up for that day, and it was settled to postpone the operation until he had become accustomed to have his head tied up. Alas! as will be seen, the glorious golden opportunity was lost in this wise :— “Tt will be remembered that there was a shed in one corner of the stockade, built with a view of introducing a domestic Cow to bear the Gaur company. In this shed was kept Guinea-grass, to be given to him in the mornings. One night, however, he thought he would prefer having this grass, of which he was inordinately fond, without waiting for daybreak. He managed to INDIAN WILD CATTLE. i) push aside one of the sliding bars of the gate, break a lower one down, and raise the top bar sufficiently for himself to get through, he ate the bundle of Guinea-grass, and when this was finished he repeated the performance with the outer bars of the shed and walked out to freedom. Weare all wise after the event, but it was great carelessness in not pinning the bars, as is done in all well-managed stables in India. If this plan had been adopted, this magnificent animal, 16 hands 14 in. fair vertical height, might by this time be enriching the ‘Zoo,’ where nothing but a miserable two-year-old calf has ever been exhibited.” From one cause or other, no two observers agree as to the colour of a Gaur. Mr. Martin’s notes on this adult bull are therefore interesting and instructive :— ** Slaty grey on the dorsal ridge, ae to intense black on the sides and shoulders; coffee-brown on the hind quarters, turning to black on the flanks; hoofs white; legs white to two inches above the knees and hocks on the outside, and to one inch above the knee and hocks on the inside; hair, inside the thighs and armpits, bright chestnut; neck black, with a large dewlap covered with coarse black hair, hanging down to a little below the level of the knees; head, frontal ridge, slaty grey, black down the front and sides of the face; the muzzle bare and dark slate. Colour of the iris of the eye mottled ight brown; pupil slaty blue. But these differ in colour in accordance with age, the very old being black, with the exception of the stockings and forehead, which are dirty white.” In another instance a large bull Gaur was caught in an elephant-pit on the Annemullie Hills, and this animal took water freely from a bamboo spout. The gentleman who caught it, not being in a position to keep and tame the bull, released it ; but it was ungrateful, and resented its capture by charging down on its captor whilst the latter was taking its photograph as it emerged from the pit, and he had to fly ignominiously, but not before he succeeded in photographing the animal. Whether the Gaur would interbreed with tame cows like the Gayal remains to be proved, but I see no reason why it should not. I believe that there are hybrids on the continent between _ the Java variety of T'sine and tame cattle, but I no not think a Tsine has ever been on show in our Zoological Gardens. 10 THE ZOOLOGIST. MEASUREMENTS OF AN INDIAN Butt anp A BurmEsE BULL AND Cow Gaur. INDIAN. BURMESE. 1 2 3 BULL. BULL. COW. PoianT Ae WMOWION 2.2%... saciepercr soins Ss 19 04 | 20 84/19 O Height at enoup sche anes see 18: 0 ~) 19 Eo yers-0F Ft. in Ft. in. Ft. in. Girth behind:showlder, .s.2cccicucsoes avers 7.10 8 6 7 6 Maal enn! Bialite sc. tsis sncghswac’> ooed se es ontneasitny 3 383) 38 44] 3 38 Snout to crown of forehead ............... 2 O02; 2 3E)] 2 4 Tien gt. OF VGRES. Se. acie sun sheen sreseeeeeeee Orrg 1 ie | 1 04 53 forodhool? Senwawiakseldaur O 8+} 0 84 | O 7 Horns (outside curve) each .............. 2 03| 38 1 Oo Terminal between the tips................5 pas 3.4 1 9 Girth OF HOLM ai DAG... cove seduced scree: 1.6 1M a ae 9 Nape to root of tail, straight............ .. TY 642) > F200 6 104 Girth of fore leg near chest ............... 2 84); 8 OF] 2 4 Total length from upper lip over fore- head to tip of tail, following eve 14 0 |14 0 | 18 38 of hump and dorsal ridge ............ The ears of No. 1 were much torn and split, and the tips of the horns had disappeared altogether. Those of Nos. 2 and 3 were perfect, as were their horns also. Ce) THE VOICE-REGISTERS OF BIRDS. By Cuarutes A. WITCHELL. Musicians have distinguished several ranges of tone in human voices, and, with the object of rendering vocalization even and harmonious, teachers of singing have always laboured to smooth out these breaks or cracks in the voice. Although some teachers deny that these breaks are natural, and contend that they are due to a vitiated style of singing, the breaks are very noticeable in the passionate crying of a baby, and therefore must be considered as quite natural. The most distinct breaks in adult voices are to be found in basses and contraltos, whose deep song notes are widely different from their alto and soprano notes. The jodelling with which iads in the street sometimes amuse themselves very clearly illustrates this subject. My present purpose is to draw attention to a seemingly analogous break in the voices of many birds. ‘The subject is difficult to discuss, but not, I believe, devoid of scientific value. Perhaps the most obvious break in a bird-voice occurs in the Goose, whose discordant cries strongly suggest the first attempt of a person to play a clarionet. In man the upper register is merely the survival of the child’s voice, but it is very difficult to determine whether the same survival of the infantile voice occurs in birds’ songs, for half-grown birds rarely sing. It must at the same time be observed that the first songs of young Blackbirds and Thrushes are much like the high squeaky notes to which the voices of the adults often change abruptly from the full song. In some birds we hear what may be termed the ‘‘ chest voice” (corresponding, say, to our contralto and bass), and a “‘head voice” (analogous to our alto and soprano). The Blackbird affords the commonest instance. Its song consists of a few full - whistled notes (the number increases as the season advances), _ never slurred from one to the other; and these, in every succes- _ sive phrase, are immediately succeeded by some harsh squealing 12 THE ZOOLOGIST. toneless notes, to which the voice breaks from the song. It is suggestive of what would be heard if one of our rich basses con- cluded every phrase by jodelling hysterically, like a Swiss. The same incident is very noticeable in the Mistle Thrush, whose very brief snatches of full-toned song (consisting of from two to four or five notes) are followed by a few high discordant sounds. In the Common Thrush this break hardly ever occurs as distinctly as in the Blackbird; but, whereas in the Blackbird the sounds are never given except after the full notes, in the Thrush they may constitute the entirety of several successive phrases; and this is especially the case when two Thrushes are about to fight. In the Nightingale the terminal break in the voice is reduced to an occasional very brief high note. Bechstein observed this, and has carefully rendered it in a very good syllabification of the bird’s song, from which the following is an extract :— ** Tro, tro, tio tin. Tzu, tzu, teu tzt. Dzorre, dzorre, hi.” This little final note is never repeated or prolonged. The Blackcap has distinct ‘falsetto’ notes, which precede . the full notes and never follow them. I have heard the Blackcap in September uttering a little song of the false notes, without any of the usual full notes. | The Lesser Whitethroat, like the Blackcap, commences its song with harsh notes; and the succeeding full tones, lacking the variety of the Blackcap’s warble, are given at one pitch, and form a strain like that of the Cirl Bunting, but more musical. In the Willow Wren there is a rapid succession of high notes at the beginning of the song, quite distinct from the immediately succeeding sweet full tones. The initial notes are given at about the same pitch. There is never one of these false or harsh notes at the end of the song. The Robin and Starling seem not to revert to infantile cries in song, except that the former, in August and September, makes great use of the call-note and of the “ distress-note,” and some- times forms brief phrases of these cries only. In September the young Thrushes twitter a good deal, but even at this season they sometimes utter full notes. In mid-September last I heard three Thrushes, near EKltham, singing a few very full notes. Similarly, THE VOICE-REGISTERS OF BIRDS. 13 early in October, near Stroud, a Blackbird was singing softly, but in a full deep voice; and in the middle of the month a Mistle Thrush near Eltham was singing very loud phrases of two notes each. In the Finches the song generally follows a definite course in which several breaks of tone may occur, as in the Greenfinch and Linnet. In the Yellow Bunting there are two high final notes quite distinct from the other part of the song, and never uttered except at the end of the song. Are they a survival or an acquisition ? I have no evidence that among wild birds the songs of the females have most resemblance to the immature warblings of the young. The female Starling, which I have often heard, sings in much the manner of her mate, but less loudly. In most races the infantile cries are abandoned as the birds approach maturity, as in the Columbide, whose squeaky notes are not heard from the adults. In the common Shellduck is a survival of the peeting, whistling cry of the young; while in other common Ducks this cry of infancy is lost when the birds attain their full size. 14 THE ZOOLOGIST. STRIDULATION IN SOME AFRICAN SPIDERS. By R. I. Pocock, of the British Museum. To most readers of ‘ The Zoologist’ the Spiders which form the subject-matter of the following pages are probably best known by the comprehensive title ‘‘ Mygale,” a term which was applied to the group of which they are members in the first decade of this century, and has been almost up to the present time universally adopted for them by the compilers of text-books, and the writers of articles on popular natural history. They are also sometimes called Crab-Spiders, presumably from the great size to which most of the species attain; sometimes Bird-eating Spiders, from their alleged propensity for capturing and devouring small birds, a propensity which suggested to Lamarck the generic term Avicularia, still in use for one of the South American genera. But during the last fifty years our knowledge of this group has increased by leaps and bounds; the genus has expanded into a family, represented by numbers of genera which are rapidly becoming more and more accurately defined and classified. Apart from their large size and usually heavy build, these Spiders, referred to a family variously termed Mygalide, Thera- phoside, and Aviculariide, may be recognized from the vast majority of other Spiders by possessing two pairs of lung-sacs, and by the circumstance that the mandibles or jaws project horizontally forwards; while the fang closes almost longitudinally backwards. } So far as habits are concerned, it may be added that none of the species spread nets for the capture of prey. Most of them live on the ground beneath stones, or in deep burrows which they excavate in the soil, and line with a layer of tough silk to prevent the infall of loose particles of earth or sand. At nightfall the Spiders may be seen watching at the entrance of their burrows for passing insects, and during the breeding season the females STRIDULATION IN SOME AFRICAN SPIDERS. 15 are to be found at its further extremity mounting guard over their egg-cocoon. Other species again live in trees, and spin a silken domicile either between forked branches or in the hollow trunk, or in large leaves rolled up for the purpose. There is no doubt that their food consists almost wholly of insects of various kinds. Nevertheless cases are on record of the destruction of small reptiles, mammals, and birds by these monstrous Spiders. The discovery of stridulatory organs in the members of this family dates back to the year 1876, when Prof. Wood-Mason came across one in an Assamese species now known as Musagetes stridulans. Since that year organs like that which he described have been found, not merely in the solitary species as he and most of his successors appear to have thought would be the case, but in a great number of genera ranging from India to Queensland. For the proper comprehension, however, of the mechanism of this and the other organs of like nature described in this paper, it is necessary to add a few words in explanation of a spider’s external anatomy. ‘The fore part of the body, the part namely that lies in front of the waist, and is termed the cephalo-thorax, is furnished with six pairs of appendages arranged radially round its margin. The first appendage on each side, known as the mandible, consists of a short stout basal segment, covered above with hair and furnished below with a thick fringe of bristles, called, from its proximity to the mouth, the oral fringe (Fig. 1, c). Articulated to the tip of this basal segment is the second seg- ment, modified to form a long stout pointed fang (Fig. 1, a). Behind the mandible on each side comes a short leg-like appendage called the palp, and consisting of six segments, of which the basal is usually termed the maxilla, from its function as a chewing organ. Its inner surface is furnished above with a suture, and below with an oral fringe (Fig. 2, B). Following the palp are the four walking legs, each of which is composed of seven segments, the basal being known as the coxa, and the second, like the second segment of the palp, as the trochanter. Now these appendages are so arranged that their coxe, and to a lesser extent their trochanters, are in contact with the corresponding segments of the appendange in front or behind ; so that when a limb is raised upwards the adjacent surfaces of the segments in question slide over one another. These surfaces 16 THE ZOOLOGIST. therefore are areas favourable for the development of stridulating organs; for in the great majority of cases—the Cicada, by the way, being a notable exception—-stridulation in the articulated animals results from the friction of two mutually roughened adjacent chitinous areas. Strictly speaking, however, this is not the case with the stridulating organs that have been found in the Spiders now under discussion; for in all cases these organs consist of modified bristles. In the Oriental members of the family two such organs exist, namely, the one discovered by Wood-Mason, and another discovered by myself in several more genera.* In both cases the organ lies between the outer surface of the mandible and the inner surface of the maxilla—the basal seg- ment of the palp; and each consists of a set of vibratile bristles, which are set a-twanging by a series of spines. But whereas in Wood-Mason’s instrument the vibratile bristles or notes are placed on the maxilla, and the spines or scraper on the mandible, exactly the opposite obtains in the other instrument, the notes being on the mandible and the scraper on the maxilla. In some of the African T'heraphoside I have also had the good fortune to discover two stridulating organs, which are not only quite different from each other, but also quite different from those possessed by the genera inhabiting Tropical Asia. One of these organs occurs in the genus Harpactira, the common “Mygale” of Cape Colony. It occupies the same position as the analogous organs existing in the Oriental species, being situated between the mandible and the maxilla. A glance at Fig. 1 will show the construction of the organ. The outer surface of the mandible (A) is furnished with a large pad of feathery hairs (0d), and on the area between this pad and the oral fringe (c) are two sets of bristles, both of which, judging from their colour and structure, originally formed part of the oral fringe, and have been derived from it Those of the upper series are long, and have their free ends bent over and more or less interlacing with each other. Those of the lower series are less regularly arranged. In the species figured they are short and spiniform; but in some allied forms they are much less distinctly differentiated from the * For descriptions and figures of these instruments, see ‘ Natural Science,’ vi. pp. 44-50, 1895. STRIDULATION IN SOME AFRICAN SPIDERS. 17 adjacent hairs of the oral fringe, being longer and more bristle- like, as, for example, in H. tigrina. These two rows of bristles are evidently designed to catch against and shake the tips of the long feathery bristles which rise up amongst the hairs clothing the area upon the maxilla between the suture (Fig. 1, B, d) and the oral fringe (B, e). us A j FE NV | OW! men m NY ye hit Mt [AES cre © ieee iy Weil H| “a Whe Le. c \ “S 3 = Nin e Fie. 1.—Stridulating organ of Harpactura chrysogaster. A. Outer surface of mandible, showing a, fang; b, pad of feathery hairs ; c, oral fringe and two rows of modified bristles between the pad and the fringe. B. Inner surface of maxilla, showing the cluster of plumose bristles between the suture d and the oral fringe e. | Structurally, this organ, characteristic of Harpactira, calls to mind the organ possessed by the Oriental genera Citharognathus, Phormingochilus, &c. In these, too, the outer surface of the mandible is furnished with a pad of feathery hairs, and the notes or vibrating bristles are also plumose; they are not, however, situated on the maxilla, as in Harpactira, but upon the mandible, and result merely from the enlargement of a few of the hairs of the feathery pad. The next organ to be described, though resembling the others in principle, differs entirely in position. Instead of being lodged 4ool. 4th ser. vol. II., January, 1898. c 18 THE ZOOLOGIST. between the mandible and maxilla, it is lodged between the palp and the first leg. It has been found in several genera (Hystero- crates, Phoneyusa, &c.), ranging all over Central Africa, from Old Calabar and the Congo on the west, to Masailand on the east; and also in genera met with in Socotra and Madagascar. If a leg of the first pair in any of these genera be detached, it may be noticed that there is a fringe of hairs bordering the front edge of the upper surface of the first and second segments (coxa and trochanter). On the coxa immediately beneath this fringe, and partially buried in it, there are one or two long stout clavate spines, and some smaller ones as well (Fig. 2, A, a). On the N B ft - S&S aH’ Bee PU ey LEB ty My a A a ALE Se - = Ge me Z SERIES = ee Su = SSS — PRIS ae Fic. 2.—Stridulating organ of Phoneyusa sp. A. Anterior surface of first and second segments of leg of first pair, with club-shaped bristles a on coxa and row of erect spines 6 on trochanter. B. Posterior surface of first and second segments of palp, with rows of short spines c on maxilla and rigid brush-like bristles J on trochanter. trochanter there is beneath the fringe a series of upstanding long curved spines (Fig. 2, A, b). When the limb is at rest in its normal position the front surface of these two segments are closely in contact with the posterior surface of the corresponding segments of the palp. It is here therefore that the remainder of the organ is found. It consists of a couple of irregular rows of spines on the basal segment (Fig. 2, B, c), and of a thick brush of very fine but stiff bristles upon the trochanter (Fig. 2, B, d). When the Spider is allowed to dry after removal from alcohol a STRIDULATION IN SOME AFRICAN SPIDERS. 19 distinct stridulation may be easily produced artificially by rubbing | the leg and palp together, the long “notes” on the coxa of the first leg giving rise to a distinct “click, click” when scraped | against the spines on the maxilla; while the spines on the trochanter of the first leg, when rubbed against the stiff brush of _ hairs on the trochanter of the palp, gives out a sound resembling _ the rustling of a silk dress. But what is to be said respecting the function of these | organs, and what evidence, it may be asked, can be adduced in | support of the view that they subserve stridulation? To this | question the answer must be that so far as the African species | are concerned there is no direct evidence based upon observation | of the living animal to show what part they play in the Spider’s | economy. But that their true and probably sole function is the | emission of sound, as has been claimed in the preceding pages, |is so strongly supported as to reach practical certainty from what 'is known of the function of the analogous organ detected by | Wood-Mason in the Assamese genus Musagetes. | Mr. Peal, it appears, was the first to notice the phenomenon. | His gardener, while engaged in digging up a field, unearthed one ‘of these great Spiders, and, not being a collector, naturally | enough proceeded to strike at it with his hoe, with the object of ridding the world of such vermin. Thereupon the Spider raised | itself upon its two pairs of hind legs, brandished the two | remaining pairs in the air, opened its jaws, and waved its palpi up and down, scraping the basal segment to and fro against the | outer surface of the mandible, and emitting a sound subsequently described by Wood-Mason as resembling that produced by rapidly dropping shot on a china plate. Fortunately Mr. Peal rescued this historic Spider from the gardener, and afterwards | had the satisfaction of seeing it repeat the performance when attacked by a cat. In confirmation of this story, it may be jadded that Mr. EK. W. Pickard-Cambridge told me recently, in course of conversation, that one day, when leaving his bungalow | at Coremia in Assam, he met one of these Spiders coming up the steps, and on his approach the beast reared itself up, waved its | legs, and hissed at him. And lastly, Prof. Baldwin-Spencer has |made similar observations upon an allied genus Phlogius, observed by him in Australia, his account being accompanied by a beauti- | c2 20 THE ZOOLOGIST. fully executed illustration of the organ by which the sound is produced.* From the knowledge thus supplied touching the function of the instrument in the Spiders just mentioned, one is perfectly justified in concluding that organs constructed upon the same principle, and occupying the same or similar positions, will in all probability be found to perform the same office; and no further basis need be sought for the belief that the African Spiders, Harpactira and Phoneyusa, and their allies, can stridu- late as well as their Oriental relations. Two other little points connected with the organs may here be mentioned. These are the fringes of hair surmounting the “notes” or vibrating bristles on the leg in Phoneyusa, and the pad of hair above the two series of bristles on the mandible of Harpactira. From the position of these hair-tufts it may be inferred that they serve to keep the bristles below them free from dirt, which would of course seriously interfere with the per- formance of their function. What now is the use to the Spider of the sounds that these organs give forth? It has been suggested that, like the call of the Cicada and the chirrup of the Cricket, they have a sexual significance, and serve to inform one sex of the whereabouts of the other. This belief, however, has no foundation in fact; for, in the first place, there is not a particle of evidence that these Spiders possess an auditory sense; and, in the second place, these stridulatory organs are equally well developed in the males and females, and are not, like the sexual stridulating organs known in other groups, confined to the male, or at all events better developed in that sex than in the female. Moreover, they appear in the young at an early age, and become functionally perfected long before the attainment of sexual maturity. So the supposition that they act as a sexual signal may be regarded as unsupported by evidence. As a matter of fact, the true key to their function is supplied by the behaviour of the living Spiders. From the accounts above quoted from Mr. Peal and Mr. Cambridge, it is evident that the Spiders emit the sound when on their defence and acting * Rep. Horn Exped. pt. ii. Zoology, pp. 412-414, pl. xxviii. STRIDULATION IN SOME AFRICAN SPIDERS. 21 under the stimulus of fear or anger, in exactly the same way as the Rattlesnake makes use of its rattle. So far as I am aware, the only explanation that has been suggested touching the function of the snake’s rattle is that it serves as an advertisement of the whereabouts of the poisonous reptile, so that it may be avoided by enemies which might otherwise inadvertently injure it. Similarly poisonous and noxious insects are decked with 'warning colours, so that they may be readily recognized and ‘not slain in mistake for harmless or edible species. If this | be the true explanation of the so-called warning coloration of _ the insects in question, and of the whirring noise made by the | Rattlesnake, there seems to be no reason to doubt that the same | significance is to be attached to the stridulation emitted by the | peculiar organs recently discovered in the great African Spiders _and described in the preceding pages. ty bo THE ZOOLOGIST. NOTES AND QUERIES. MAMMALIA. CARNIVORA. Polecat in Suffolk.—On Dec. 21st I received as a present a fine speci- men of Mustela putorius, kiiled a day or two previously in or near Milden- hall Fen, which is in the north-western corner of this county. The fur was in beautiful order, and when skinning and setting up the animal I was sur- prised at the almost entire absence of any unpleasant smell. In our neighbourhood these animals are now very rare, but they still exist in some numbers in the fen country, where the voles, frogs, and eels provide them with an abundance of prey. ‘The Zoologist ’ for 1888 (pp. 183, 221) con- tains some interesting information on the subject of Suffolk Polecats.— Juttan G. Tuck (Tostock Rectory, Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk). RODENTIA. The Indian Hispid Hare (Lepus hispidus).—This somewhat rare and but little known rodent is fairly plentiful in the Dooars, along the base of the Bhootan Hills, and I have seen them near the banks of the Brahmapootra river below Dhoobri. Its general colour is dark or iron grey, with an un- browned ruddy tinge. Limbs and body shaded externally with black, the tail rubescent both above and below; the inner fur short, soft, downy, of an ashy hue; the outer longer, hispid, harsh, and bristly, some of the hairs annulated, black and yellow-brown, others pure black and longer, the wholly black hairs more abundant than the lighter ones. The ears are very short and broad. Length: head and body, 194 in.; tail, 23 in.; ear, 22 in. This curious Hare is of a very dark hue, of a heavy make, and Rabbit-like appearance, with small eyes, short and stout limbs, and short whiskers. It is often called the Black Rabbit at Dacca, and the shikaries declare that at times it burrows like the ordinary “ bunny.” It frequents jungly places, long grass, bamboos, &c., shunning observation, and, from its retired habits is very difficult to observe and obtain. The flesh is white. I generally shot one or two each trip that I made into the Dooars, and occasionally they were for sale in the bazaar in Dacca, having been trapped by native shikaries. The natives assert that it brings forth as many as six at birth. Like the Rabbit, when this Hare is shot its bladder should be emptied at NOTES AND QUERIES. 23 once, or the flesh is apt to get tainted.—F. T. Potzox (Eversal, Luton Road, Harpenden). AVES. Pale-coloured Dipper.—On Dec. 12th, 1897, I saw a Dipper (Cinclus _ aquaticus) with the white coloration extending from the breast right np over | the eyes and down the back of the neck as far as the shoulders. I was within twelve feet of the bird for upwards of three minutes, so that I had | every opportunity of making quite sure of the extent of the pale coloration. | Is not this a very rare variety Wm. Boutsover (Ferndale, Bakewell). | [It may have been a young bird, which has more white than the adult.— Ep. ] Experiments on the Colours of the Nonpareil Finch.—My Nonpareil | Finch (Cyanospiza ciris), mentioned in ‘ The Zoologist’ (1897, p. 273), | continuing in good health, I endeavoured last autumn, by special diet, to restore the scarlet colour of the breast, which had only been lost a few months before. Stage of moult on commencing experiment, Sept. 6th: | feathers of head partly moulted, a few new feathers still in their sheaths | over eyes, on the cheeks, and nape of neck; upper tail-coverts all shed, | except a single feather ; rectrices all gone; moult of breast and under tail- coverts commencing. The chief point of the new diet was the increase of animal food. On reference to my diary I find that in addition to seed the bird had fresh food, comprising cockroaches, bluebottles, house-flies, spiders, and “harvestmen”; also plenty of dried ants’ eggs. Perhaps the food was too abundant, as the bird, which often fed from the hand, on one occasion refused some flies offered to it. When the experiment had been carried on for about three weeks new feathers began to appear on the breast, but un- fortunately these were yellow. ‘Ihe yellow feathers rapidly increased in number, but I noted that, though the colours of my bird were again partly | abnormal, there was no fading in the brightness of these colours, as is often | said to occur in captive Nonpareils. When visiting the Liverpool Museum, on students’ day, I carefully examined a wild specimen preserved there. . I | have also examined a normal live Nonpareil in the aviary of the Manchester | Zoological Gardens. As compared with these, my bird differs in having | the under parts yellow, with a distinct green tinge; circumorbital feathers pale yellow; upper part of breast yellow with orange tinge. Research on | the original scarlet feathers of this bird, carefully put aside last year for | the purpose, has thrown little light on the nature of the pigment ; I do not | think, however, it is the coloured fatty oil zoonerythrin, as it is insoluble | on boiling with absolute alcohol. In conclusion, I must express my thanks | to Dr. Butler for his kind suggestions regarding food, &c., and regret that | 1 was unable to keep the bird in an open-air aviary during the experiment. |}—Grauam RensHaw (Sale Bridge House, Sale, Manchester). | 24 THE ZOOLOGIST. Brood of Young Starlings in mid-November.—We have had many instances recorded of the unusual mildness of the last autumn. It will perhaps be interesting to state that during a walk on Nov. 14th I saw a fimily party of Starlings (Sturnus vulgaris), the young in the slate-coloured plumage of the nestling stage, in a meadow at King’s Heath_—F. Copurn (Holloway Head, Birmingham). Common Roller in Sussex.—A second specimen of Coracias garrulus was shot at Catsfield, near Battle, on Oct. 12th. It is a male, and a much brighter bird than the one I recorded in the last volume of ‘ The Zoologist’ (p. 469). The man who secured the hen bird says that he believes that there is still another one in the neighbonrhood. Mr. Bristow, taxidermist, of St. Leonards, has had the two birds through his hands for preservation.— Grorcz W. BrapsHaw (Hastings). Montagu’s Harrier breeding in Ireland. Correction.—I am sorry to have to correct the statement I made in ‘The Zoologist’ (1897, p. 467). The specimen of the supposed Circus cinerascens shot in Co. Kerry has again been examined by Dr. Sharpe, and he has after all pronounced it to be only a young cock Hen Harrier—Joun H. TErspate (St. Margaret’s, West Dulwich). Nesting of the Hobby in Hants.—I have much pleasure in recording the fact. of Falco subbuteo having nested last year in Hampshire, although I do not suppose that this is the first instance of its having bred in that particular county. A farmer’s lad took three young birds from a Crow's nest near Basingstoke, some time during the nesting season, and sold them to my friend Mr. Blaine. Only one of the birds was a male. My friend purchased the Hawks with the object of training them for falconry. They arrived at his home in Bath safely enough, but after he had kept them for a short time one of the females escaped. I believe it had the “ jesses ” on when it got away. ‘The other two birds he kept in a large room with a female Merlin, which is trained to fly at Larks. One sad day the Merlin and the remaining female Hobby set upon and devoured the little male Hobby, which was by far the tamest of the lot. I saw two of these Hobbies soon after my friend received them, and was much struck with the beauty of their plumage and graceful pose.—C. B. Horsprues (Richmond Hill, Bath). Brent Goose in Warwickshire.—On Nov. 6th, 1897, an adult male example of Bernicla brenta was shot at Karlswood, Warwickshire, and for- warded to me. ‘This is the first record I have of this bird for Warwick- shire, although each of the neighbouring counties has recorded it. — F, Copurn (Holloway Head, Birmingham). NOTES AND QUERIES. 25 Ferruginous Duck in Ireland.—On Nov. 27th, 1897, I purchased, in our Market Hall, a young male example of Fuligula nyroca, which I was assured—and I have no reason to doubt the accuracy of the statement— was received with Mallard and other produce from the South of Ireland. But | the dealer could not say which county it came from, as consignments were | constantly received both from Limerick and Dublin, and these teing in- ‘discriminately mixed, it was impossible to distinguish this bird from the other small Ducks they had. It was fortunate I detected it, among a bundle of other Ducks, when I did, as it would certainly have been plucked | the same night.— I’. Copurn (7, Holloway Head, Birmingham). | Corncrake in December.—It may be worth mentioning that I have received a specimen of Crex pratensis, shot last Dec. 2nd in Scotland.—F. Cosurn (7, Holloway Head, Birmingham). } Pectoral Sandpiper in Norfolk.—-While punting on Breydon, Norfolk, | on Aug. 18th, 1897, with my brother, we procured a female Pectoral Sand- | piper (Zringa maculata). It was near the mouth of the large dyke known fas the “Ship Run,” and was in company with some Ring Plovers and ;Dunlins. The whole flock rose, and we killed several. The Sandpiper } remained on the flats alone, and on being flushed flew very fast and low, | making no noise whatever, and was secured by my brother. It is an adult female, and shows the arrow pencillings on the breast. In measurement it ‘is slightly less than the Caister specimen in the Norwich Museum. | Through the kindness of Prof. Newton I have been able to compare it with a set of skins, both of 7’. maculata and T. acuminata, and am convinced |that my bird belongs to the American race.—J. L. Newman (62, Jesus | Lane, Cambridge). Variety of the Common Guillemot.—A beautiful variety of Uria troile was caught on Dec. 4th in Scarborough Harbour. Its entire under parts | and head are white, whilst its back and wings are of a whity-brown colour, and its bill, feet, and legs yellowish white. A bird of this description is extremely rare. A similar one was obtained a few years ago at Filey. The writer has visited Speeton Cliffs for many years during the breeding season, and amongst the vast numbers of birds which annually resort there for _ breeding purposes has never seen but one creamy-coloured Guillemot. The bird in question was placed in my hands for preservation.—J. Mor Ley (King Street, Scarborough). On the reported Summer Appearance of two Species of Birds in Lapland.—In ‘The Zoologist’ (1897, p. 498) is a narrative of a walk across Finmarken by Messrs. Playne and Wollaston. The authors state that on a small lake not far from Alten they saw a specimen of Bernicla 26 THE ZOOLOGIST. brenta with five young birds; and on a small pool of shallow water at Kautokeino found three Phalaropus fulicarius. Are they sure that the identification should not be Anser erythropus and Phalaropus hyperboreus, as neither of the first-named species are known to occur on the European continent as summer breeders? The question is one of considerable interest both to me and to ornithologists generally. If no mistake has been made these observations are of great value. All the other species which they saw are known as Finmark birds. It may be that the three Phalaropes were really fulicarius, either young (not breeding) or already on migration.—R. CoLuert (Zoologisk Museum, Christiania). Winter Notes from Haddiscoe.—A Swallow, and we suppose it to be the last, was busy hawking for flies in the village on November 28th. Rather more Snipe than usual have appeared with us this season on the marshes, besides some thousands of Lapwings, but Golden Plovers have been scarce. Snow Buntings are numerous, and can be seen in very large flocks. ~ The loud whistle of a few straggling Curlews have indicated their presence. Two Whooper Swaus crossed the marshes on November 29th, and a specimen of the Eider Duck was shot on Breydon mud-flats. Whilst out on the bicycle on December 5th, I noticed the fir-trees at Herringfleet literally swarming with Gold-crested Wrens; I also heard the note of the Little Spotted Woodpecker, and observed Jays to be fairly common in woods ; several Tree Creepers likewise attracted my attention. At AshbyI rode up close to a fine specimen of a White House Sparrow. I have seen three White Sparrows during the last six months, and have also an account of two residing at the railway-station at Great Yarmouth. This variety seems to be locally on the increase at the east end of Fritton Lake, near the decoyman’s house. I found a large number of Mallards, Wigeons, Teal, Coots, and Moorhens, resting on the water, seemingly enjoying themselves within a few paces of the deadly decoy-pipes. Whilst crossing St. Olave’s Bridge I heard the scream of a Kingfisher; the bird crossed the river and perched upon a yacht. I have seen three Kingfishers lately on the marshes. Fieldfares are scarce, and Redwings less in evidence. Owing to the open weather, Herons, Moorhens, Rails, &c., are having a good time, and few wildfowl have been shot in the district. The game stalls in the market- place of Great Yarmouth exhibit some Mallards, Golden Eyes, and Tufted Ducks. Woodcocks are conspicuous by their absence. We have had a con- siderable number of Partridges and Pheasants, whilst Hares have also been found in plenty. The company of Pied Wagtails have been noticed daily, and a Common Redshank came quite close to me on December 15th. The Snipe have now gone further afield, as have also the majority of Lapwings. On December 22nd eight Bean Geese appeared at rather a long range, but with small shot from my small-bore gun I succeeded NOTES AND QUERIES. 27 in securing one which weighed 7 lb.— Last C. Farman (Haddiscoe, Norfolk). Popular Ornithological Fallacies.—Mr. W. Storrs Fox (‘ The Zoolo- gist,’ 1897, p. 514), writes like an honest lover of truth and an enemy to hasty deductions. But has he not tumbled headlong into the identical trap against which he warns others ? Methinks so. It is a grievous blunder to generalise from a single instance. Mr. Fox says he would be “ glad to know whether experienced field-naturalists consider it a ‘ preposterous notion ’ to suppose that a Lapwing may attempt to draw the attention of man or dog from her nest.” It matters nothing to me, nor should I be in the slightest degree influenced by, what opinion experienced field-naturalists in general may hold on the subject ; it is sufficient that I never said what is so specifically attri- buted to me—was a preposterous notion. Mr. Fox continues :—‘ Ten years ago last May Icame suddenly upon a sitting Lapwing. Sherosehurriedly from her nest, and tumbled along the ground, as if she could neither fly nor run.” Then follows a little literary platsanterte, in which Mr. Fox invokes a very remote and far-fetched contingency, but which is obviously clearly intended to embody his own incredulity. It would be affectation on my part to take this seriously. Now I, too, have had similar experiences as the one recorded by Mr. Fox, but they are unquestionably the exception. What I wrote in the October issue of ‘ The Zoologist ’ was, that it was a preposterous notion to suppose, that “sitting Lapwings (that is, females)’”—note the use of the plural number, please—“ decoy intruders from their nests by their devices.” And so I say again. I had in my mind the usual habits of the species when disturbed from their nests under ordinary circumstances; not the unusual mode of procedure induced by the fact of a sitting bird having been come upon “suddenly ” and unawares. My tpsisstma verba, “sitting Lapwings,” surely imply that eggs were in my thoughts, not young birds. When the eggs are hatched, vastly different tactics prevail; both parents are then assiduous in their clamorous endeavours to draw intruders away from where the young are ambushed. It is notorious that in olden days the great majority of writers on Ornithology were wholly at fault in the conclusions they had formed on the point at issue. Even Seebohm, whose loss we all so deeply deplore, was prompted to write that the old bird, having glided stealthily off the nest, rose in the air, “to flutter recklessly above the intruder’s head.” Only a few years ago, through my initiation, the nesting habits of the Lap- wing were made the subject of an interesting correspondence in the ‘ Field.’ Mr. F’. Boyes, of Beverley, amongst others, entirely agreed with me that Selby alone, of the various authorities then referred to, had hit the true nail on the head. Let us hear Selby :—‘ The female birds invariably, upon 28 } THE ZOOLOGIST. being disturbed, run from the eggs, and then fly near to the ground for a short distance, without uttering any alarm-cry. The males, on the contrary are very clamorous, and fly round the intruder, endeavouring by various instinctive arts to divert his attention.” Quite true. The solitary flaw, to my thinking, in the paragraph I have reproduced, is the introduction of he word ‘‘ invariably.” There is no rule without an exception, it is said. Still, it is manifest to me that Selby took his description from the birds themselves in their nesting haunts. The question of Ducks quitting their young and flapping along the water in front of an intruder has no bearing whatsoever on the points involved. Eggs are one thing; young birds another. In the case of the latter, the maternal affection is infinitely stronger. I have stroked a Partridge sitting on her nest; she seemed not at all disconcerted. I have also walked suddenly on to the top of a brood of “ cheepers,” and been furiously attacked, after a fashion, by the old bird—the female. It is frequently only when cunning is at a discount that birds and animals have recourse to strategy of another kind. I, too, have picked up Swifts and tossed them into the air—so long ago, alas! as the summer of 1865; but this in nowise affects or discredits my ori- ginal contention—that tens of thousands of people are under the impression that Swifts can not rise from the ground,—any more than does the fact of Mr. Fox having ten years ago found an individual Lapwing doing only what I should have expected it to do under somewhat novel circumstances, invalidate what I said on the subject of that species being the medium of a popular fallacy.—H. 8S. Davenrort (Ormandyne, Melton Mowbray). PISCES. Notes from Scarborough.—Whilst Codling fishing off Filey Brig on October 10th, 1897, I found in the stomach of one of my captures a Pogge, or Armed Bullhead (Agonus cataphractus). This is, I believe, a common fish in many places, but is only the second time it has come under my notice in the Scarborough district.* During the heavy sea which prevailed during November 6th and 7th, a Garfish (Belone vulgaris) was picked up on the North Sands, and a living example of the Lesser Forkbeard or Tadpole-fish (Raniceps trifurcus) was also stranded. It was unfortunately mutilated by some lads before I obtained possession of it. —W. J. CLARKE (44, Huntriss Row, Scarborough). * Abundant off Great Yarmouth (‘ Zoologist,’ 1897, p. 546). NOTES AND QUERIES. 29 INSECTA. Spider versus Wasp.—lIn ‘The Zoologist’ (1897, p. 476), just to hand, I find an interesting note by the Editor on the above subject, and it may therefore be useful to submit a little further evidence. So far as my experience in South Africa goes the balance is undoubtedly in favour of the Wasp. On three occasions I have been fortunate enough to observe a very large black Pompilid stocking its burrow with the body of a huge Mygaloid Spider. In two instances the Spider had already been vanquished _ by its powerful and active foe, and was being dragged off in a comatose condition for interment. Its weight must have been at least three times that of the Wasp, which was unable to lift it more than half an inch from the ground, progressing thus in short flying leaps, though more frequently the Spider was dragged along, the Wasp running backwards, and buzzing loudly and triumphantly all the while. An interesting feature of the per- formance was the manner in which the Pompilid managed to find its burrow. In one of the instances I measured the distance traversed, which amounted to no less than thirty yards. When first observed the Wasp was in a narrow footpath, but it shortly left this and entered the grass, which was then some six or eight inches high—a veritable forest in pro- portion to the insect ; through all the denser parts it travelled backwards, dragging its prey over or around innumerable obstacles without any hesita- tion right to its hole, for which it did not have to search in any way. When the method of progression, the distance travelled, and the impediments encountered be taken into consideration, the directness of the course it took after leaving the path seemed little short of marvellous. The third case referred to was perhaps more interesting in that the contest had not concluded when I came upon the scene. The arena was an open roadway, and my attention was attracted at some distance by the movements and angry buzzing of the Wasp. On reaching the spot I found a monster Spider at bay in the middle of the road, with cephalo-thorax erect and the two anterior pairs of thick hairy legs uplifted, ready to strike at a moment’s notice; he looked the very embodiment of envenomed rage. Round him circled his implacable enemy, stooping now and then hawk-like in its endeavours to sting his unprotected abdomen, but swerving off again as, quick as thought, the “‘Mygale” faced round in self-protection. This feinting and parrying would continue for a few moments, when the Wasp would settle on the ground a little way off, running backwards and forwards with its quick jerky gait, and rapidly flirting its black glossy wings, after the manner of its kind—all typical marauders. During these intervals the Spider sat crouched, up, apparently in terror, awaiting the next on- slaught, though once he made an attempt to gain the shelter of a neigh- bouring plant; the insect, however, drove him back towards the open by 30 THE ZOOLOGIST. feigned attacks from that direction. ‘The general attitude of the ‘“‘ Mygale”’ was clearly one of defence, for only twice did he attempt any determined attack on his sable foe, and then in vain, for quick though he was the Wasp was quicker. At last the latter, in one of its circling flights, made the fatal swoop. Then for the space of asecond all I could see was a whirling jumble of Spider and Wasp, which ended by the latter shooting several feet up into the air, and then flying off to a little distance, where it sat cleaning its legs and antenne and smoothing its ruffled wings. A glance at the Spider was sufficient to show who had come off best in the tussle, for it stood there dejected and quivering ; the powerful sting had evidently had its effect. A few minutes later the Wasp made a second attack, and was resisted much more feebly by the Spider, which soon afterwards became sufficiently lethargic to enable the Wasp to seize him with impunity and insert the requisite amount of poison. Here I intervened, and, under protest from the Wasp, took possession of the Spider, which is now in the British Museum Collection. That the conflicts between these two creatures always end in this manner I strongly doubt, but that they do so in the majority of cases seems evident, for otherwise these giant Pompilide would cease to use such powerful Spiders as food for their young through the all-compelling agency of Natural Selection. There are several species of Mason-Wasps in South- East Africa which stock their cells with Spiders, but one in particular is thoroughly familiar to all residents from its predilection for building its mud-cells in human dwellings. It is an elegant insect, with its black thorax and abdomen and very long thin yellow waist, but it is an un- mitigated nuisance at times, as, for instance, in the case of a friend of mine, who was continually having his American organ deranged by the persistent efforts of one of these insects to use its interior as a nursery. It is perhaps worth noting that this species does not always build external mud-cells, but sometimes bores holes in mud-walls, &c., instead, as I have observed on several occasions, and particularly when living in an “adobe ” house in Natal, the walls of which were riddled by these Wasps; and it was an unpleasantly frequent occurrence to have a stupified Spider dropped into one’s plate or cup whilst at meals by a startled insect. The Mason- Wasps content themselves with much smaller fry than their relatives men- tioned above, and I have frequently noticed that the species which they specially patronize are all dully or else protectively coloured, and for the most part retiring creatures, which hide themselves away in nooks and crannies of foliage, &c. The complete absence of any of the brightly coloured Spiders which sit conspicuously in their webs during the day, such as Nephile, Argiope, Gasteracantha, &c., leads me to believe that these latter are protected by the possession of some distasteful or unwhole- NOTES AND QUERIES. 31 some qualities. Particular Wasps seem to prefer particular Spiders, and in nearly all the nests I have examined there has been a marked pre- ponderance of one species. The favourite species varies of course in different districts, but there seems further to be a certain amount of in- dividual preference. With regard to the other side of the picture, I have seen much fewer cases. ‘The most daring Spiders that have come under my notice are the protectively coloured crab-like species which frequent flower-heads, and I have not unfrequently seen them engaged in sucking various small species of stinging Hymenoptera, which they seem almost always to seize by the neck between the head and thorax ; but these Spiders themselves frequently fall a prey to the larger Mason-Wasps. Among the web-Spiders, I have seen Hymenoptera roost often eaten by the curious little Sociable Spider, which lives in societies, forming a thickly felted nest varying in size from that of a cricket-ball to a man’s head, and traversed throughout by inter- secting galleries, being surrounded on all sides by an irregular and some- times far-reaching snare. In this case, however, the Wasp is caught in the highly glutinous web during the day, and struggles on till sundown, when at last the Spiders emerge; three or four of them set on him, and with a quick bite here and a bite there soon despatch him in his tired state, and the body is then dragged off to the nest to be discussed; for these Spiders do not enshroud their victims. The Sociable Spiders feed principally on crepuscular beetles (Melelonthide for the most part), but I have found many different and unlooked-for insects in their webs, such as large Mylabride, migratory locusts, &c., all of which had been eaten. In experiments I have made in putting Wasps into the webs of a species of Nephile, the Spider has either beat a hasty retreat to its lair or else promptly cut the intruder loose. Indeed, so far as my small experience goes, it certainly seems the exception for a web-Spider to attempt to make a meal off anything in the shape of a Wasp-—Guy A. K. Marsan (Salisbury, Mashunaland). 32 THE ZOOLOGIST. NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS. With Nature and a Camera. By Ricuarp Kearron, F.Z.S. Illustrated by 180 Pictures from Photographs by Carry Kearton. Cassell & Company Limited. Tuts is one of those delightful books which, though on the border land of science, can be read by the naturalist with pleasure and instruction, and will arouse the jaded appetite of the general reader. It is the record by two naturalists—for we car scarcely choose between the one who writes so well, and the brother who photographs so fearlessly—of “adventures and observations whilst wandering up and down the British Isles in search of subjects for our camera and note-book.”’ Photography is now becoming a valuable adjunct to zoology, and a new weapon for the collector and field naturalist. To obtain an exact reflection of a bird in its natural pose or in some little known attitude, to portray the nest in its natural surround- ings and with the incubator in position, is surely more to be desired than the effigies which can so often be truly described as “stuffed specimens.” Whilst on the other hand such photo- graphs will render possible the highest results in artistic taxidermy. But even more original work can now be done with the aid of a magnesium flash-light. We find on p. 233 the photo- graph of a Thrush at roost in a hedgerow, taken at nine o’clock on a January night, for which the authors claim, as far as they know, that it is ‘‘ the first photographic study of a wild bird on its natural roost ever made.” The portrait of a Barn Owl achieved by the same means in an old barn in Hssex, and a view of a red underwing moth in the act of sampling an entomologist’s “sugar” from the trunk of a tree, also afford suggestion as well as interest. The volume commences with the narrative of an expedition made to that “‘ paradise of British ornithologists,” the island of St. Kilda. The brave and kindly inhabitants of this isolated region, so near our own shores, have an anthropological interest NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS. 33 of their own. ‘One of the civilities demanded by the etiquette of the place is that you shall shake hands with everybody you come in contact with night and morning.” This practice of excessive hand-shaking seems common to simple folk who live much alone or by themselves, and recalls the same awful ordeal with the Transvaal Boers.* ‘‘ The married women are dis- tinguished from the unmarried ones by a white frill which is worn in front of the head-shawl or handkerchief, and serves the part of a wedding-ring, which is unknown in St. Kilda.” To judge from the illustration. this emblem of matrimony is not unlike the badge which widows adopt among ourselves. These St. Kilda ladies have other more universal traits, as when the minister’s servant-maid ‘“‘ asked permission to take the hearth- rug to church by way of a shawl.” The ornithological fauna of the island may well attract both ornithologist and oologist. The claims of the St. Kilda Wren to be considered specifically distinct from the mainland bird are well set out, and photographs given of the eggs and fledglings of both birds. It would, however, be unwise to accept the ornitho- logical lore of the natives, as Mr. Kearton was told, “in all good faith and sincerity, that Great Northern Divers make no nest at all, but hatch their single egg under their wings,” in which position his informant “had himself seen a bird carrying one.” Chapter V., on “ Nests, Eggs, and Young,” is one of the most interesting in the book, both by its illustrations and subject-matter. Mr. Kearton is of opinion “ that birds, like human beings, possess individually varying degrees of intelli- gence, skill, and energy, and that differences in any of these qualities are to the close observer plainly marked in the con- structive character of their work.” There are many illustrations of strange nesting sites; of old birds on, and young birds in, their nests; while the chapter closes with a charming vignette of a spider’s web covered with hoar frost. We have read this book with pleasure, and closed it with regret. ** Other similar traits belonging to these widely separated and isolated peoples are their tastes for sweets, in St. Kilda ‘“ especially ‘ bull’s-eyes’ and peppermint lozenges”; while nothing delights these islanders more ‘‘ (men and women alike) than to hear that the enemy is being smitten hip and thigh.”” The Transvaal Boer should spend a sea-side holiday at St. Kilda. Zool. 4th Ser. vol. I1., January, 1898. D 34 THE ZOOLOGIST. Observations on the Coloration of Insects. By BRUNNER VoN Warrenwyt. ‘Translated by Epwarp J. Buss, B.Sc. Leipsic: Wilhelm Engelmann. TH1s sumptuous folio production, with nine magnificently coloured plates, is a distinct challenge to the theory of Natural Selection, and being based alone on the coloration of insects, to which the author has devoted twenty ‘years of study, the argument is much narrowed, and the area of discussion curtailed into reasonable dimension and clearly defined. As well observed in the Introduction, the consideration of the question is no longer as formulated by the old school of naturalists—‘* How is man benefited by this phenomenon? The new query which takes its place is: What benefit does the particular species derive from the phenomena observed in connection with it? Teleology has become democratic.” The philosophical conception which permeates most biological teaching of to-day is that all peculiarities of structure and markings are the results of the process of natural selection, by which the living creature has survived as the fittest in the struggle for existence, and that where the result cannot be justified or demonstrated by our theory, the failure is caused by our present ignorance of all the reactions of the phenomena concerned. Brunner von Wattenwyl is quite outside this plane of thought, and considers that there are ‘‘a large number of phenomena devoid of benefit, and often, indeed, burdensome, to the animals and plants concerned’’; and, further, that ‘‘ this fact alone is sufficient to demonstrate that the plan of creation does not strive exclusively towards perfecting a species for its own sake.” The markings and coloration of insects are distinguished under nineteen sectional plans, many of which are considered as purposeless for the benefit of the species, while contrary evidence is not discarded. Thus, section 15 is devoted to “ Changes of pattern due to Adaptation,” and section 18 to ‘‘ Coloring in relation to Position.” From this brief summary it will not be unexpected that the author decides that: “‘If one, therefore, calls modification through natural selection ‘Darwinism,’ a new name must be introduced for the undoubtedly demonstrable occurrence of phenomena in the NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS. 35 whole living world which have no relation to their owners or are occasionally harmful to them, and hence are certainly not the result of selection.’ In fact, in the coloration of insects, ‘‘ we meet with an arbitrariness striving to produce attributes without regard for their possessors, and, therefore, obviously to be looked upon as the emanation of a Will existing above the Universe.” Probably no greater service can be rendered to evolutionary speculation than by thus clearly marshalling every objection. We become nauseated by simple advocacy, which is often little more than an advertised assent. Brunner von Wattenwyl has here detailed a number of observations which he considers unexplainable by the theory of Natural Selection, and to support his own views on the subject. These are tersely detailed and well illustrated, and though not likely to destroy the Darwinian doctrine, are well calculated to modify dogmatic and hasty generalizations. We can well imagine the hearty welcome Darwin would have given these alleged contradictions to his theory, and the candid manner in which he would have discussed and probably re-explained them. The Lafe of Sir Stamford Raffles. By Dermerrius CHARLES Bovuueer. Horace Marshal] & Son. Sir STAMFORD RaFFLES, whose name is interwoven with that of our Hastern possessions as the founder of Singapore, has a more peculiar claim on the memory of our readers as the founder of the Zoological Society, and as one whose name is frequently used in the specific designation of many species of Hastern animals; and though the details of his life belong principally to the administration of Kastern islands, the time he thus passed was also fruitful in the study of, and assistance rendered to, Zoology. Raffles commenced his career without the flotation acquired by what—if we recollect aright—Huxley once called ‘“‘social corks”’ ; and though he may well be spared the indignity of that vague term, so much in vogue, “a self-made man,” it cannot be disputed that he early formed lofty aims and achieved a very large measure of success. He was born at sea, on board a merchant-ship commanded by his father, left school at the age D2 36 THE ZOOLOGIST. of fourteen and entered the secretary’s office of the Hast India Company, rapidly rose in preferment, sailed for the East, and became enrolled as one of Britain’s great administrators. With this part of his career ‘The Zoologist’ is necessarily out of touch, but we cannot forbear to mention that in governmental duties he took as his motto Lord Minto’s observation: ‘‘ While we are here, let us do all the good we can.” During his sojourn in the East it is only by side lights that we are able to observe the naturalist and forget the Proconsul. He met Horsfield on his first visit to Suracarta, and ‘“‘ from that time forward, both in Java and Sumatra, Dr. Horsfield served with Raffles in a scientific capacity, and, after the death of his chief, the doctor bore testimony to “the zeal, ardour, and liberality, with which Sir Stamford both pursued and patronized science.” He received little encouragement in the formation of zoological collections. When, in 1820, he forwarded home the first half of a collection illustrating the natural history of Sumatra, ‘“‘he received in reply a coldly worded despatch, remonstrating with him on his extravagance, and forbidding him to expend any of the Company’s funds in such directions.” But fortune was still to deal a heavier blow. On his final return, in 1824, with the remainder of his collections—both manuscripts and specimens—the ship that bore him was destroyed by fire and the whole of this precious cargo was consumed. The loss may be estimated in his own words. Besides the literary treasures, “all my collections of natural history; all my splendid collec- tions of drawings, upwards of two thousand in number, with all the valuable papers and notes of my friends Arnold and Jack; and, to conclude, I will merely notice that there was scarce an unknown animal, bird, beast, or fish, or an interesting plant, which we had not on board; a living Tapir, a new species of Tiger, splendid Pheasants, &c., domesticated for the voyage ; we were, in short, in this respect, a perfect Noah’s Ark.” During his stay in London, in 1817, he had discussed with Sir Joseph Banks a plan “for establishing in London a zoological collection and museum, which should interest and instruct the public.” This may be taken as the inception of an idea matured in 1825, when the prospectus of the new Zoological Society was drawn up and issued on the 20th of May. Sir Stamford Raffles NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS. 37 was the first President of a Society vastly developed since then, and now one of our famous scientific institutions. To have done this is alone sufficient to enshrine Raffles in the annals of the vast zoological enterprise which has been achieved by our own countrymen. The last years of Raffles were clouded by many worries and ill-health. The success of his career had ensured envy, hatred, malice, and all uncharitableness. He died suddenly, in his forty-fifth year, was buried in Hendon Parish Church, ‘“ but, owing to differences with the vicar, a member of a slave-owning family, no monument was erected at the time, and the actual site of the grave has not been ascertained.”’ This is a book that may well be studied by Colonial poli- ticlans, imperialistic or otherwise, and the naturalist will read the life-history of the founder of our Zoological Society. All about Animals. George Newnes, Limited. Tuts book may be described as a Zoological Photographic Album, in which each portrait is supplied with a basal paragraph affording characteristic details of the animal represented. It thus fulfils the promise contained on its title-page: ‘“‘ For Old and Young. Popular, interesting, amusing.” Most of the animals have been photographed while in captivity, though a few have been portrayed with their natural surroundings, of which “ In the Jungle”— Elephants with a back-ground of palm trees—is particularly pleasing. The first idea on turning over these pages, is, that here is another excellent zoological incentive for young people, and certainly no more attractive volume can reach the hands of juveniles with a taste for natural history, as from personal experience we can bear witness. But the zoologist has still much to learn of the natural attitudes and physiognomy of many living creatures, which on more than one occasion artists have created from “ stuffed specimens,” and which photography applied to living animals is now beginning to reveal. It is difficult to appraise the suggestive and modifying influences which photo- graphy has brought, and will bring, to bear on many zoological 38 THE ZOOLOGIST. conceptions. To the cabinet naturalist in particular it is almost an instruction in field observation, and, having proved the charm in many recent works, will in time be demanded when animated nature is illustrated. As the writer of the text well observes, in reference to a fine photograph of the head of ‘‘ The Prairie King”: “ This portrait of the head of the Great Bison will be a valuable document if ever the living animal disappears from the New World. No one could reconstruct from the thousands of skulls and bones which lie bleaching on the prairie the exact features and lineaments of the extinct Prairie King.” Already of many animals now extinct we know as little of their natural appearance as we do of the features of most of the ancient philosophers. Of the many illustrations we may mention the open mouth of the Hippopotamus, which is a fine study; the Secretary Bird is good, but its attitude is modified by confinement, and this bird particularly requires to be seen in its natural condition; the Common Seal rising above the water is a living picture; the Serval’s Leap is probably not taken from life; the angry Cobra is a demonstration in ophidian attitude; the Mute Swans with their surroundings and shadows form a very happy production; while a Rhea sleeping, and the “final shower of an Elephant’s bath” are revelations. The work is produced at a very reasonable price, and we trust that it may achieve a success sufficient to encourage the production of a further series. Ee ee eee ( 39 ) EDITORIAL GLEANINGS. THE welcome appearance of the ‘ Zoological Record’ for 1896 took place last November. The only missing contribution is that on the Hchinodermata, which is promised in combination with that of 1897, in the next volume. We may form some estimate of the zoological activity displayed in the year 1896 by an enumeration of the “ titles” of separate communications, papers, or memoirs dealing with the different branches of Zoology. DNGOMAATIA Sc oc0seccesccccesecs 291 CTUBUACED a cdsaseisaciee doe vsasis 206 ERUMEEERE Teo nsiicecercocscesse GOD ATAGHIVGG: co lacscossenceseedsax 114 Reptilia and Batrachia ...... 307 | Myriopoda & Prototracheata 56 BME oes bssidile coe'secees QAO 4): Msettay ethedeGueretlecens seas 1264 UGCA) os. cca cceccscsscecass 30 VeriMed) sivsteeewkse varsareeedes 251 PROC W aoe nncc.csceneccecse's 39] Coplenteratia. ..:.05.s2reeceesee 122 PACMOPOOA, 5.2000... 2.000008 ZO 1 POU BIS: . ccs aac vew sven avewss 57 ME VIGO go, uiidieeecccaesleeeces Q1 PerotoZoaiy; ae.sice saadiegetaees 190 As usual the Insecta have attracted the largest number of workers, and it appears by a computation made by Dr. Sharp, the Editor, that no fewer than 8907 species and 1040 genera and subgenera have been described as new by entomologists. The above enumeration provokes one other reflection, and that is—what a number of different groups of living creatures are at present neglected in these pages. Wiru the December number of the ‘ Annals and Magazine of Natural History,’ Dr. William Francis resigns the responsible editorship to his son. For sixty years from the time of its inception Dr. Francis has been con- nected with this well-known and valued Natural History Magazine, of which 120 volumes have now appeared. Since 1859 he has acted in an editorial capacity. This is an unique record, and thanks for the past and best wishes for the future, from many sources, will follow both Dr. Francis in his retire- ment and his son in the editorial chair. | Mr. H. M. Evans has written, and Messrs. W. Brendon & Son, of Plymouth, published, a ‘ Comparative Status of Birds found in the British Isles and in the County of Devonshire, with the Habitat and Range of each 40 THE ZOOLOGIST. Species.” The method pursued is in alternate columns—Status of British Isles, and Status Devonshire,—to denote whether the species is Resident, Summer Visitor, Winter Visitor, or Straggler. Recent additions to the British List are appended. As to Devonshire, Mr. Evans reports that the ‘county, as might be expected from its great extent and varied physical characteristics, is visited by an extraordinary numberof species. It canclaim, approximately, three-fourths of the resident nesting-birds of our islands, two-thirds of the summer resi- dents, forty-two out of forty-three winter residents, and seven-eighths of the stragglers. There are, in fact, eighty-four residents, thirty-four summer residents, forty-two winter residents, and one hundred and twenty accidental visitors —all together, four-fifths of the birds ever found in the whole kingdom.”’ ———_——_ Mr. G. W. Murgpocg, the well-known editor of the Science and Natural History Department of the ‘ Yorkshire Weekly Post,’ is engaged in the production of a new Guide to Lakeland, in which special chapters will be given on “ Natural History,” ‘“ Angling,” ‘‘ Scandinavian Klements in Lakeland Places, Names,” &c. ‘L’InTERMEDIATRE des Biologistes ; organe international de Zoologie, Botanique, Physiologie et Psychologique’ has recently appeared, and the second number (20th November, 1897) is now before us. Itis published in Paris, under the direction of Dr. Alfred Binet and Dr. Victor Henri, issued by C. Reinwald, with Schleicher Fréres as ‘“ éditeurs.” It is largely a means of communication between naturalists and others by questions and answers, in fact, on the principle of our well-known literary weekly, ‘ Notes and Queries.’ It also professes to give a ‘Sommaire de Périodiques’ on General Biology, but this seems confined to a list of contents only. ‘ LertraDEN fiir Aquarien- und Terrarienfreunde,’ von Dr. E.. Zeruecke, published at Berlin by Gustav Schmidt, is the latest addition to the literature on the successful management of Aquaria and Vivaria. Plants suitable for the aquarium are not only well described and illustrated, but their growth and management also dealt with. Amongst the suitable inhabitants of the fresh-water aquarium, several fish are enumerated and figured which are somewhat seldom seen in aquaria in this country, such as members of the tropical and subtropical American genera Pimelodus and Callichthys, as well as the “ Paradise” and “ Telescope” fishes (Polyacanthus), the Gurami (Osphromenus), and the “ Kletterfisch” or, as known to ourselves, «Climbing Perch” (Anabas scandens), from the Oriental region. The HDITORIAL GLEANINGS. 4] Marine (das Seewasser) Aquarium is treated with much greater brevity, though more space is afforded to the Vivarium (das Terrarium), and some suitable plants for the same detailed. Altogether the last section has been more fully treated by the Rev. G. C. Bateman (vide ‘ Zoologist,’ 1897, p. 478); but Dr. Zernecke’s volume is well illustrated, and will prove a useful handbook on a subject as yet none too well known. GunERAL Nicolas de Depp, who is evidently an enthusiastic pisciculturist, has contributed to the ‘ Bull. Soc. Nat. d’Acclimatation de France’ (October, 1897), under the title ‘ L’Aquarium-Serre,’ a description, with plans and views, of aquaria and necessary buildings which he has constructed on his residential property at Odessa. Many useful hints as to structure and appliances are given, while the combination of plant-conservatory and aquarium is not only to be highly commended, but is also a sequence which in its infrequency creates surprise. ‘On Chlamydoselachus anguineus, Garm., a remarkable Shark found in Norway, 1896,’ is the title of a memoir recently published at Christiania, by Prof. R. Collett. This Shark which was only described in 1884, and of which there are at least fifteen specimens preserved in the different museums of Kurope and America, is one of the most remarkable of living fish. It is not ‘closely related to any present variety of Shark, or to any that have become extinct in later periods of the earth’s existence,” but its ‘ancestors belonged to the older paleeozoic formation—the Devonian—when there lived forms of Sharks whose teeth were comparatively of the same nature as those of the present specimen. No known vertebrate has thus its nearest kindred so far back towards the dawn of organic existence. In other words—Chlamydoselachus is the oldest of all living types of verte- brates.” The fish under notice was caught in a net at Buggnes, in the Varanger Fjord (69° 45’ N. lat.), on the 4th August, 1896, which had been set at a depth of about 100 to 150 fathoms for catching Ooal-fish (Gadus virens). Prof. Collett remarks :—‘‘ When one regards the eel-like construction of its body, the almost serpentine head, its deeply cleft mouth, the frilled and protruding gill coverings, and its formidable array of teeth, which call to mind the python’s, one’s thoughts turn to that mythical creature which, with more or less regularity, is annually described, or even depicted, in the columns of newspapers, whose existence, however, has never been confirmed, but which, as a rule, is believed in by all (except by naturalists), namely, ‘the Sea Serpent’; and the Chlamydoselachus, in fact, appears to satisfy most demands of an ideal sea serpent.” 42 THE ZOOLOGIST. Some interesting figures concerning the sums paid to the late Rev. J- G. Wood, the naturalist, for his popular books, are given by Mr. Newton Crosland in his autobiography, ‘ Rambles Round My Life,’ recently issued. “Tf I recollect rightly,” says Mr. Crosland, “he got £30 for each of his books ‘ The Common Objects of the Country’ and ‘The Common Objects of the Seashore.’” Mr. Crosland remonstrated with Mr. Wood on his humble opinion of himself, so when he undertook his great publication, the ‘ Natural History,’ in three volumes, he asked £2000 for the work, and he got it. | Tu International Congress of Zoology meets on Aug. 23rd at Cam- bridge. The following executive Committee has been formed :— President: The Right Hon. Sir John Lubbock. Vice-Presidents : The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge, Dr. W. T. Blanford, Sir W. H. Flower, The President of the Linnean Society (Dr. A. Giinther), Prof. E. Ray Lankester, Prof. A. Newton, Dr. P. L. Sclater, The President of the Entomological Society (Mr. R. Trimen), Sir William Turner, and Lord Walsingham. Treasurers: Prof. S. J. Hickson and Dr. P. L. Sclater. Secretaries: Prof. F. Jeffrey Bell, Mr. G. C. Bourne, and Mr. A. Sedgwick. Ordinary Members: Dr. Gadow, Mr. F. D. Godman, Lieut.- Col. Godwiu-Austen, Sir George F. Hampson, Mr. S. F. Harmer, Prof. Howes, the Hon. W. Rothschild, Mr. H. Saunders, Prof. Seeley, Dr. D. Sharp, Mr. A. E. Shipley, Prof. C. Stewart, and Dr. H. Woodward. Mr. Louis Becks, in the ‘ Pall Mall Gazette,’ has recently contributed some particulars of vessels attacked by infuriated Whales :— “Only three years ago the writer saw in Sydney Harbour the barquen- tine ‘ Handa Isle,’ which, on the passage from New Zealand, had been so attacked. She was a fine vessel of three hundred tons, and was sailing over a smooth sea with a light breeze when two large Sperm Whales were sighted. They were both travelling fast, and, suddenly altering their course, made direct for the ship. Then one sounded, but the other con- tinued his furious way, and deliberately charged the barquentine. He struck her with terrific force just abaft the mainmast and below the water- line. Fortunately the barquentine was laden with a cargo of timber, other- wise she would have foundered instantly. The blow was fatal to the cetacean, for in a few minutes the water around the ship was seen to be crimson with blood, and presently the mighty creature rose to the surface again, beat the ensanguined water feebly with his monstrous tail, and then slowly sank. “Some of these onslaughts upon ships were doubtless involuntary; as EDITORIAL GLEANINGS. 43 where a Whale, attracted by the sight of a ship, had proceeded to examine her, misjudged his distance, and came into collision with disastrous effect to both. But there are many instances where the Whale has deliberately charged a ship, either out of pure ‘ devilment,’ or when maddened with the agony of a wound inflicted by a harpoon. Some years ago a small school or ‘ pod’ of Sperm Whales was sightea off Stroug’s Island, in the Caroline Archipelago, by a New Bedford barque and a Hawaiian brig. Both ships lowered their boats at once, and in a very short time Captain Wicks, of the Hawaiian brig, got fast to a large bull who was cruising by himself about half a mile away from the rest of the ‘pod.’ As is not uncommon among Sperm and Hump-backed Whales, the rest of the school, almost the instant their companion was struck, showed their consciousness of what had occurred, and at once crowded closely together in the greatest alarm, ‘ lying motion- less on the surface of the water as if listening, and sweeping their huge flukes slowly to and fro as a cat sweeps its tail when watching an expected spring from one of its own kind. So terrified were they with the know- ledge that some unknown and invisible danger beset them, that they per- mitted the loose boats—five in number—to pull right on top of them.’ Four of the boats at once got fast without difficulty, leaving three or four of the Whales huddled together in the greatest fear and agitation.” One of the largest bull Whales which had been wounded, after de- stroying one of the boats, suddenly appeared twenty minutes later close to the Hawaiian brig. He was holding his head high up out of the water, and swimming at a furious speed straight towards the ship, which he struck a ‘‘slanting blow just for’ard of the forechains.” Hveryone on board | was thrown down by the force of the concussion, and the ship began to make water fast. Scarcely had the crew manned the pumps when a cry was raised, ‘“‘ He’s coming back.” Looking over the side, the Whale was seen some thirty feet below the surface, swimming round and round the ship with incredible speed, and evidently not injured by his impact. In a few moments he rose to the surface about a cable length away, and then, for the second time, came at the ship, swimming well up out of the water, and apparently meaning to strike her fairly amidships. This time, however, he failed, for a bomb was fired into him tee another boat which occasioned almost immediate death. In last year’s ‘ Zoologist’ (p. 287) we drew attention to the projected expedition of Lieut.-Col. H. W. Fielden and Mr. H. J. Pearson to the Petchora River and the coasts of Siberia. The expedition has been success- fully accomplished, and the naturalists have returned. ‘The zoological results have been communicated in abstract to a meeting of the Royal Geographical Society. Col. Fielden and Mr. Pearson started in the ‘ Laura’ from Skaars 44 THE ZOOLOGIST. on June 17th, and sighted Kolguev on the 25th, whence they set their course for the island of Dolgoi. Soon after they came upon the pack ice, which prevented their advance. It was extremely dirty, covered with gravel and silt, and with branches and logs scattered over it. Finally they forced their way into Dolga Bay, on Waigatz Island. Eventually they continued their voyage to Novaya Zemlya, and anchored in Cairn Bay on June 26th, where there is a Samoyede settlement. With regard to the scientific results of the voyage, the ornithology of Waigatz, Novaya Zemlya, and the North Island has been practically worked out, and the results of their observations will soon be published. The botanical collections were satisfactory, and several interesting plants had been added. But by far the most important discovery was the finding of what had hitherto been con- sidered the rarest and most inaccessible of flowering plants, the Pleuropogon sabinti, growing in the greatest profusion both in Novaya Zemlya and Lutke Land. Collections of rocks and fossils, insects, and marine invertebrates have also been made. A propos to the subject of ‘‘ Wasp v. Spider,” discussed in ‘The Zoolo- gist’ (1897, pp. 475-76, and ante, p. 29), Mr. Richard M. Barrington has contributed to the ‘ Irish Naturalist’ (1897, p. 325) an account of a combat between a large Spider and a Wasp which he one day placed in its web. In this encounter victory remained with the Spider, but the writer adds :— “IT don’t think this would have been quite possible save for the apparent power possessed by the Spider of lassoing a dangerous enemy by shooting out its glutinous threads by a sort of centrifugal jerk when sweeping past its victim.” In ‘ Knowledge’ (vol. xx. 1897, p. 301), Mr. Knock describes — an experiment of “ presenting a large Bumble-bee tail first to the side of the silken tube of a British Trap-door Spider. The Spider seized it, but was wonderfully careful in so manipulating it that without seeing the Bee (the aerial part being quite opaque), she managed to turn it completely round until she had firm hold of the head; then she promptly pulled the Bumble-bee through and down.” Mr. Witiiam THorPE has presented to the British Museum the shell of a giant Tortoise which lived for upwards of two hundred years in the grounds of Plantation House, in the island of St. Helena. It was frequently the object of much curiosity on the part of the great Napoleon during his enforced stay on the island. | —_—— Wira the gradual extinction, as evidenced by a recently-issued return of the Cape Agricultural Department, of the various species of big game: EDITORIAL GLEANINGS. 45 in South Africa, it is not surprising to learn from a report just made to the Colonial Office that Monkey-skins are scarcer than formerly on the Gold | Coast, the increasing warfare which is carried on against these unfortunate /animals having resulted in a total extermination of the species in the less | distant provinces. In 1894 no fewer than 168,405 skins were exported, ) valued at £41,001, whereas last year the number fell to 67,660. AccorpineG to the ‘Temps’ correspondent at Antananarivo, a special } fine net made entirely of Spiders’ webs is being manufactured in the } professional school at Antananarivo. The process is a very simple one. |The thread of several dozen Spiders is wound on winders, the quantity | produced by each Spider ranging from fifteen to forty yards. The covering | of the web is removed by repeated washing, and the web made into a thread of eight strands. When the thread is spun it is easily woven into a } gauze, which is very fine but very strong. It is to be used for an experi- | mental covering of a navigable balloon by M. Renard, the head of the | French military balloon school at Chalais, near Paris, who has been | engaged for many years in experimenting in aerial navigation. It is | believed that the difference in the weight of an ordinary covering and the Spiders’ web-net will make a great improvement.— Dalziel. A MonsTER Swordfish was brought to the market at Taiping recently. | It was 30 ft. long, and its flesh and bones weighed 900 catties, or 1,200 Ib., | fat 230 catties, entrails 400, and the sword 30 catties. Total weight, 2,070 lb.— Penang Gazette. At Stevens’s well-known Sale Rooms, on the 6th December last, there | was sold the collection of stuffed birds formed by the late Mr. Richard | Ashby, of Egham. This collection was interesting as containing many birds that were acquired at the Henry Doubleday sale. There was also _ sold at the same time a skeleton of the Moa, at the price of forty-eight | guineas, which was really made up of “ the bones of one species,” and had | been set up by Capt. F. W. Hutton from the Enfield deposit, who wrote: “ After rejecting bones of young birds and others too imperfect for measure- ment, I had 1,031 leg-bones left.” The Enfield deposit was described by Mr. H. O. Forbes in ‘ Nature,’ March, 1892. Since then other collections | have been sold in mournful sequence, such as the Lepidoptera formed by | the late Rev. A. Matthews, of Gumley. ANOTHER of the monographs devoted to the ‘ North American F'auna,”’ and published by the United States Department of Agriculture, has reached 46 THE ZOOLOGIST. our hands. This is No. 18, and is a “ Revision of the North American Bats of the Family Vespertilionide,” by Gerrit 8. Miller, Jun. This pub- lication has the good fortune to be founded on ample material. The collec- tion of Bats, which consists of more than 8000 specimens, chiefly in alcohol, has been brought together during the past few years by the field naturalists of the Survey. In addition the writer has examined the Bats in the United States National Museum, the American Museum of Natural History, and several private collections, making a total of about 2,700 specimens of American Vespertilionide. With these animals, however, alcoholic preserved specimens are not the only thing needful, and Mr. Miller regrets that so few well-preserved skins are available for comparison. ‘Without good series of dry specimens it is impossible to determine the limits of individual variation in colour, as conclusions of the most general kind only can be based on specimeus that have been subjected to the action of alcohol.” Forty-six species and subspecies of Vespertilionide are recognized as occurring in America north of Panama and in the West Indies. Ws have received from the “‘ Department of Agriculture” of the Pro- vince of British Columbia an excellent publication on “Insect Pests and Plant Diseases, containing remedies and suggestions recommended for adoption by farmers, fruit-growers, and gardeners of the Province.” Mr. R. M. Palmer, Inspector of Fruit Pests, in his Report for the year ending 1896, speaking with reference to his work in visiting and inspecting orchards in the different section of the Province, says:—‘‘ The necessity of this work has been emphasized by the discovery of the most dangerous scale-insect enemy of fruit-trees known—the San Jose Scale (Aspidiotus perniciosus)—in two orchards on Vancouver Island, and although, so far — as known, this pest has not spread, it is hardly possible that the infesta- tion is limited to these cases. . .. It has cost the fruit-growers of Cali- fornia and Oregon hundreds of thousands of dollars to fight the San Jose Scale, and the war against it still continues. . . . The appearance of San Jose Scale in orchards and gardens in Ontario, and some of the Eastern and Southern States, has created widespread consternation amongst fruit- growers there, and a demand for legislative assistance from the respective governments in dealing with the pest, similar to that enacted in the Pacific Coast States and British Columbia, has sprung up.” ORNITHOLOGISTS who care for the by-paths of their Science will find a paper on ‘“ The Mythology of Wise Birds,” by H. Colley March, in the ‘Journal of the Anthropological Institute,’ just published (vol. xxvii. EDITORIAL GLEANINGS. 47 p. 209). ‘Literature abounds in poetical allusions to the wisdom of birds, to the warnings they desire to deliver, to the tidings they are ever ready to carry. ‘ We bear our civil swords and native fire,’ says Prince John (2 Hen. IV. v. 5), ‘as far as France, I heard a bird so sing. ‘ Curse not the king,’ says the Preacher, ‘ for a bird of the air will carry the matter’ (Keel. x. 20). Such allusions are poetical only; but the voices that primeval man heard, primeval whether in time or only in civilization, were as real to him as the visions he saw. The history of demonology con- clusively declares them to have been neither romance nor make-believe.” As the author further remarks, ‘“‘ It was natural that in different countries men should have been attracted by different orders of birds. Ths Gralla- tores, or Waders, whilst they were esteemed throughout the Old World, were chiefly venerated in Egypt; and the same may be said of the Accipitres, such as Kagles, Hawks, and Vultures. The Columb were much admired in the East; and of the Passeres, the suborder Conirostres found most favour in Europe.” The subject is a most interesting one; we all recall the Bennu (Ardea bubulcus), sacred among the ancient Egyptians to Osiris, and the use of the Dove in early Christian art. er ‘ SclENcE’ announces the death of the eminent entomologist, Dr. George H. Horn, at Philadelphia, on Nov. 25th last, at the age of fifty-eight. He has bequeathed his valuable entomological collections and books and an endowmert of 200 dols. per annum to the American Entomological Society. From the residuary estate, after the death of his sister, further bequests will accrue to the Entomological and other scientific societies. Dr. Horn was a renowned coleopterist, and was a contributor to Godman and Salvin's ‘ Biologia Centrali-A mericana.’ JOHANNES F'RENZEL, formerly Professor of Zoology at Cordoba Uni- versity, in the Argentine Republic, and of late years director of the biolo- gical and fishery station on the Miiggelsee, near Berlin, died on Oct. 21st, owing to an accident on the lake. Dr. Frenzel was only thirty-nine years old at the time of his death —Natural Science. Since the advent of the rinderpest at Groote Schuur, Mr. Rhodes’s weil-known residence at the Cape, the following animals have died of the disease: —One Eland Bull, one Koodoo, one Hartebeeste, one Klipspringer, one Steinbuck, and one Antelope. One Eland Cow, which took rinderpest and was inoculated, has since recovered. 48 THE ZOOLOGIST. A new fish has come to light. In the ‘ Kast London Dispatch’ the menu of the St. Andrew’s dinner, is thus reproduced :— Soup—Cockie Leekie and Clear. Fish—Scotch Haggis. WE regret to announce the death of Mr. Henry Stacy Marks, R.A., which occurred at his house near Regent’s Park on Sunday, Jan. 9th. He was born in London on Sept. 13th, 1829. His diploma picture, ‘“ Science is Measurement,” is one of his most characteristic paintings. It shows an old naturalist, himself almost a skeleton, measuring the skeleton of a huge ‘bird, and combines the artist’s dry humour with his knowledge of bird anatomy. Every visitor to the Duke of Westminster's fine home at Katon Hall will remember the twelve panels of birds—gorgeous in colouring, accurate in drawing—which adorn that palatial residence. It was as a painter of curious and humorous bird-life that Mr. Stacy Marks was supreme. He studied the quarter of the birds at the “Zoo” with untiring — patience, and the result was to be seen in several Academy canvases and in more than one private exhibition of water-colour studies, remarkable for — dexterity of handling, colour, and humour. Mr. Marks’s favourite bird- sitter probably was the Adjutant Stork, but Flamingoes always found in him a congenial painter, and his Parrots, Cockatoos, and Macaws are very highly prized possessions of those collectors lucky enough to secure them. ‘ - : t —— zi “ ‘ < j \ f is - { } . ie C8 \™ * » , eo ' é *, a t ¢ \ ‘ Pe P Raat Pa 4 } i { i ‘ eel i. . { 1 wt ! j | a i ' . ~ . <2 id a Plate I. anni Epio. Zoologist, 1898. Mine Mahe aaa pa MLPA LALLA AA My nS ihbiap pts, : tson a r . by Swan VW Photo ( —Matopo. (Photo. by Reid.) f=) Qa ° ~~ rs = pe a >. Ras — ae Ee Zoologist, 1898. Plate II. Fig. 1.--Romulus: Twenty-seven days old. (Photo. by Reid.) Fig. 2.—Brenda: Two months old. (Photo. by Swan |Vatson.) \ i ‘ St ad ar 7) : rer ' v : \ : x = i 3 cA “if rl . # * : ‘ } = > j ) P ¢ + E a } 4 , Es ~ 4 } > 4 ; = % € > im ee ESS pee s 2% ye , “se y , ee one wasinehae a ee er Sua Ree ts a a i . oe Aled ez me “ Z ean, S ; Le ee ee ee eee : | 1 ‘ ¢ a é - - 4 re nee iV Cer : a 5 J f . et cae a Re sank _ fi aa ae ier ie een ’ ‘y i eee a a erate Zoologist, 1898. Plate III. Fig. 2.—Romulus: One year old. (Photos. by Swan Watson.) THE ZOOLOGIST No. 680.—february, 1898. ON ZEBRA-HORSE HYBRIDS. By J. C. Ewart, F.R.S. Regius Professor of Natural History, University of Edinburgh. (Puatzes I., II., IIT.) THe ZEBRA SIRE OF THE HYBRIDS. ' Durine the last two years I have bred five hybrids by crossing mares with a Zebra (Hquus burchellt var. chapmani). The first hybrid was born on Aug. 12th, 1896; the others were born during the summer of 1897. ‘The dams of the respective hybrids are (1) an Island of Rum pony, (2) a Shetland pony, (3) an Iceland pony, (4) an Irish mare, (5) a cross-bred Clydes- dale mare. The sire (“ Matopo”’) of all the hybrids is a handsome 12.3 hands Burchell’s Zebra, probably from the Transvaal. As fig. 1 (Pl. I.) shows, Matopo is well formed, with powerful legs and, for a Zebra, a fine neck and fairly good shoulders. In his movements he is almost perfect. When trotting, the fore legs move grace- fully, without suggesting the hammering action of the hackney; and when galloping he seems to bound along as if without effort, and with but little expenditure of energy. If Zebras deserve the ill character they have hitherto borne, Matopo must be an exception to the rule. We are too apt to forget that until Zebras have been under domestication for some generations, it is unfair to judge them by the Horse standard, which after all is not so very high. I have known several Zool. 4th ser. vol. II., February, 1898, E 50 THE ZOOLOGIST. perfectly docile captured Zebras,; and I have had in my pos- session a filly (taken when quite young in the Transvaal) which from the first was as docile, tractable, and trustworthy as any pony that was ever foaled. I have refrained from handling Matopo for obvious reasons, yet there is never any difficulty in managing him, unless when he is herding mares, or unusually excited. When in a field with mares he is unapproachable, for, regardless of consequences, he attacks all who venture into his vicinity. Galloping up open-mouthed, uttering his characteristic call, he endeavours to seize intruders by the legs. On one occasion, in a small paddock, he guarded a dozen mares so well, . that it took four of us nearly two hours to drive them into their boxes. He is, however, easily upset by unusual noises, and there is nothing that drives him into a state of frenzy so readily as carpet-beating, or that cows him so effectually as a coil of rope. I have often wondered if the rhythmic beating of carpets reminds him of the day when in far-off Africa he lost his freedom; of the time when Boers entangled his limbs to music made by Zulus beating their shields with their assegais. The more characteristic stripes of Matopo are seen in figs. 1 and 2 (Pl. 1.). I have already described at some length* the plan of the striping in various Zebras, and hence only a short account of Matopo’s markings need here be given. Fig. 2 (Pl. I.) shows a series of pointed brow arches, some of which end in a frontal tuft nearly two inches in length. Continuous with the frontal stripes are a number of vertical stripes. These stripes extend to the muzzle, the dark skin of which is sparsely — covered with short light hairs, except above the nostrils where there are dark brown “nostril patches.” There is usually a distinet shoulder-stripe in Zebras, passing downwards from the withers to bifurcate about the level of the shoulder-joint. In fig. 2 (Pl. I.) the shoulder-stripe is double, while in fig. 1 it has blended with a humeral stripe. Between the shoulder-stripe and the occipital crest there are usually twelve cervical stripes, all of which run up into the mane to form, with a corresponding number of white bundles, a series of black and white tufts. Lying between the two upright rows of tufts, and continuous with the dorsal band, is the mane proper, consisting of more or * ‘Veterinarian,’ November, 1897. ON ZHBRA-HORLSH HYBRIDS. 51 less upright black hairs. The most anterior part of the mane, — instead of forming a forelock, extends beyond the level of the ears, and projects forwards at right angles to the long axis of the face. Behind the shoulder-stripe there are, on the left side, five broad, nearly vertical stripes, all but the last reaching the dorsal band above, while all but the first reach the ventral band below. Behind the fifth vertical stripe are a number of broad oblique stripes, with indistinct “‘ shadow” stripes between them. One of these oblique stripes, beginning at the root of the tail, runs forward to pass over the point of the ilium (hip) before bending sharply downwards to reach the ventral band. I have named this the great flank-stripe. Below this flank-stripe a Second, having a similar course, may be known as the inter- mediate flank-stripe. ‘The intermediate stripe is followed bya third, which, starting some distance below the root of the tail, runs obliquely across the quarters to bifurcate over the stifle, the anterior division proceeding towards, but not actually reaching, the ventral band. ‘This may be known as the lower or stifle flank-stripe. ‘These three flank-stripes are equally distinct on the right side, the bifurcation over the stifle being especially evident. In the space formed by the splitting of the shoulder-stripe are several indistinct arches, and below these arches are the transverse bars of the leg. In some cases this V-shaped space contains portions of seven arches, and the legs may be striped to the hoofs. Below the stifle-stripe there are first oblique and then nearly transverse stripes across the hind leg, with sometimes shadow-stripes between. In Matopo the stripes are indistinct on the lower part of the hind leg, but in many Zebras they become more distinct and relatively broader as the hoof is reached. It will be further observed from the figures (a) that the upper part of the tail is distinctly striped, and that, as in an Ox, only the lower part of the tail carries long hairs; (b) that though there is a large wart (chestnut) on the fore leg, there is no vestige of a wart on the hind leg, and (c) that there is no tuft of hair at the fetlock. It may be mentioned that in no two Zebras, or on the two sides (Plate I., figs. 1 and 2) of the same Zebra, is the striping alike, that in some cases there are nearly as many shadow as there are EQ 52 THR ZOOLOGIST. ordinary stripes on the neck and body; that even in some Bur- chell’s Zebras there are stripes across the croup and rump which suggest the “gridiron” of the Common Zebra (EH. zebra); and that while in summer the dark stripes are nearly black and the light stripes cream-coloured, in winter the dark stripes are occupied by fairly long brown hairs, while the light stripes are made up of equally long white hairs; the light tufts at the side of the mane, however, are white summer and winter. It may be added that Matopo, like the majority of the Burchell group of Zebras, being adapted for a life on the plains, has rounded hoofs and com- paratively short ears. He thus differs from the Mountain Zebra (H. zebra), and from his stable companion, a white Egyptian Donkey, in which the hoofs are long and narrow, while the ears measure 11} in., five inches more than in Matopo. Tue Hyprip “ Romuuvs.”’ The oldest hybrid (Romulus), as already noted, was born on the 12th of August, 1896, the period of gestation being three hundred and forty-two days,—in the mare it is usually from three hundred and forty to three hundred and fifty days. The dam of Romulus was a 13-hands, black Island of Rum pony, lent for the experiments by Lord Arthur Cecil, of Orchardmains, Kent. The well-bred black ponies of the Scottish Western Highlands and Islands, which have long been under observation, form a distinct breed, well adapted in many ways for crossing with Zebras. Their resemblance to Eastern Horses has been accounted for by saying they have descended from sires which escaped from the ships of the Spanish Armada.* Romulus, when a few days old, was the most attractive little creature I have ever seen (Plate III., fig. 1). He seemed to com- bine all the grace and beauty of an Antelope and a well-bred Arab foal. Instead of, like his sire, looking as if freshly painted for a Lord Mayor’s Show, he was faultless in colouring and in the dis- position of the stripes, spots, and bands. The body colour was chiefly of a bright golden yellow, while the stripes and spots were of a rich dark brown; but what was especially remarkable was the indescribable sheen of his coat, the dark bands being especially ** Further particulars as to Mulatto, the dam of Romulus, will be found in the ‘ Veterinarian’ for November, 1896. ON ZHBRA-HORSE HYBRIDS. 58 lustrous. A casual glance showed that in the plan of his striping Romulus was utterly unlike his sire, and, when a careful ex- amination was made, it became evident that in the number and arrangement of the markings he was not unlike a Somali Zebra. As fig. 1 (Pl. II.) shows, the brow has been tattooed as if to represent a huge finger print. Instead of the four or five acutely-pointed frontal arches of his sire, there are fourteen rounded arches, that remind one of the face of the Somali Zebra. Instead of twelve cervical stripes, as in Matopo, there are in Romulus twenty-four cervical stripes, all of which can be traced into the mane. In having so many cervical stripes, he seems to be more primitive than even the Somali Zebra (in which I have never seen more than fourteen cervical stripes), but closely agrees with one of my Zebra mares when the shadow stripes are included. The shoulder stripe bifurcates higher up than in Matopo, and there are seven indistinct arches in the triangular space below the point of bifurcation. Behind the shoulder stripe there are nine (Plate III., fig. 1) fairly distinct vertical stripes instead of five, as in his sire (Plate I., fig. 1). Apparently corresponding to the three flank stripes so often seen in Burchell Zebras, there are in the hybrid three stripes in front of the stifle, which first run upwards and then arch backwards to end below the root of the tail (Plate III., fig. 1). In the triangular space between the first flank stripe and the ninth vertical body stripe are numerous narrow indistinct lines, some of which proceed towards the ventral band, while others join the first or great flank stripe. In line with these nearly transverse stripes there were at birth numerous spots arranged in nearly transverse rows over the loins and rump. Now that the hybrid is over a year old (Plate III., fig. 2) most of the spots have united to form some- what zigzag narrow bands, almost identical in their direction with the narrow stripes over the hind quarters of the Somali Zebra. On the left side the blending of the spots has advanced further than on the right. Counting from the shoulder stripe to the root of the tail there are forty-three stripes in the hybrid,—about the same number as in the Somali Zebra; in Matopo there are only five transverse stripes behind the shoulder stripe (Plate I., fig. 1). It seems to me the blending of the spots over the hind quarters of Romulus goes a long way towards proving that stripes are in 54 THE ZOOLOGIST. many cases first represented by spots or interrupted zigzag wavy lines. Between the stifle or third flank stripe and the point of the hock there are a number of dark bands (between some of which are shadow stripes), while below the hock there are first several distinct transverse bars, and then a number of less dis- tinct oblique lines, right down to the hoof. Similar bars and lines occur on the fore-limb. These leg bars were at birth more distinct than in the Zebra sire. Continuous with the mane is a well-defined dorsal band (with a narrow yellow band at each side) which extends some distance into the tail. The tail in the hybrid had, at birth, long hairs right up to the root, but, not- withstanding this, there were three distinct bars visible at each side; similar tail bars J have once seen in a Horse. Though the ears look long in some of the photographs, they are now relatively very little longer (though rounder at the apex) than in the majority of Horses. The nostrils, in their shape, position, &c., are Zebra-like, and the eyes and eyebrows may be said to be intermediate; but the eyelashes are long and curved, and quite unlike the short almost straight eyelashes of Zebras and Horses. The feet of Romulus suggest the Zebra more than the Horse. ‘'I'hey seem to be made of excellent stuff, and to stand a good deal of wear. In his movements, the hybrid takes more after his sire than his dam. A few minutes after birth he was rushing about his box, impatient apparently to join the parental troop. What has struck me from the first has been his alertness and the expedition with which he eseapes from suspicious or unfamiliar objects. When quite young, if caught napping in the paddock, the facility with which he, as it were, rolled on to his feet and darted off was wonderful. The principal enemy of the Zebra seems to be the Lion. To escape from the Lion, great and sustained speed is not so requisite as a decided and rapid bound when the Lion makes his spring, or when he is accidentally met with in the veld. This rapidity of getting out of the way has been strongly inherited by all the hybrids. Zebras, as far as my experience goes, are difficult to handle, not so much because they are vicious or intractable, as because they are afraid. At any moment they may be seized by panic,—when they imagine there is a Lion in the path,—and, regardless of consequences, rush, it may be, against a wall or a hedge, or into ON ZHBRA-HORSE HYBRIDS. 55 a ditch, reins and bits counting for little or nothing. In schooling the hybrids, this habit will require to be allowed for, and the tendency to bound or rush slowly combated. As it has been completely overcome by careful training in some Zebras, there should be comparatively little difficulty in breaking the hybrids. As a matter of fact, Romulus leads anywhere, is perfectly docile, allows his feet to be trimmed and his teeth to be examined, and, when little more than a year old, seemed quite willing to carry a small boy on his back. I mentioned Mulatto is just under 13 hands, while the Zebra sire is nearly 12.3 hands. At birth (August 12th, 1896) Romulus measured 344 in. (from the withers to the ground); at two months 382 in.; at six months 43 in.; and at twelve months 453 in. The rate of growth has been extremely inconstant,— e.g. from the 12th of February to the 12th of April he only increased half an inch,* and from the 12th of June, 1897, to the 12th of September, 1897, he only increased three-quarters of an inch}; but from the 12th of September, 1897, to the 12th of December, 1897, he increased one and a quarter inches. He now measures (January 12th) 473 in., nearly 12 hands, and the circumference of the fore-shank is 6% in., the knee being 10 in., and the girth 524 in. The foals of the black Island of Rum ponies are frequently of a mouse-dun colour, with at times an indistinct dorsal band, and a cloudy patch over the shoulder. Usually after the first coat is shed the pure-bred foals are dark brown, and later nearly black, with sometimes indistinct dappling over the flanks and hind quarters. As already mentioned, the body colour of Romulus at birth was chiefly of a yellow tint, the yellow approaching bright orange on the brow, while it approached a straw colour at the muzzle and below the knees and hocks. Under the neck and under the belly the prevailing body colour was dark brown, the ventral band being very indistinct. The ears were lined with fine bright orange-coloured hairs. When only a month old, the hybrid began to shed his foal’s coat. * He was weaned on the 14th of February, and fretted not a little for some time after. + During the greater part of this period he was shedding his old and growing a new coat. 56 THE ZOOLOGIST. The light-coloured hairs began to drop out from the face and neck about the middle of September, and by the end of September he looked considerably darker. The yellow and also the dark brown hairs continued to fall out, except over the back, all through October, and by the middle of November only the orange-coloured lining of the ears was left to remind one of the rich coat he wore during the earlier weeks of his life. By the end of November the new coat was established. The bright orange facial bands were replaced by much paler bands, the muzzle was nearly brown in colour, the neck and body inter- mediate spaces approached a mouse-dun colour, while the lower parts of the legs were of a dark brown tint. From the withers to near the root of the tail the hair was especially long and thick. For a time the hair over the croup and the greater part of the rump was so much longer than the hair around the root of the tail that it looked as if part of the hind quarters had been previously clipped. The new coat consisted of a thick layer of woolly hair, from half an inch to nearly two inches in length, and of a less complete coat of stronger hairs, many of which were nearly three inches in length. Near their roots all the body hairs were light in colour, which implies that had the hybrid been clipped, there would have been little or no indication of stripes left. In the Zebra, on the other hand, the dark pigment extends to the roots of the hair, and hence, however short the hair may be, the banding is quite evident. Recently the skin around the root of Matopo’s tail was injured, with the result that the hair, together with some of the epidermis, was shed; but even before the points of the new hair could be detected, the position of the dark bands was perfectly distinct. The skin of the Zebra has been described as uniformly black, even under the white bands; but it would be more accurate to say it is of a nearly uniform dark grey colour. About the middle of March the long hairs began to drop out, and by the end of March they came away in handfuls. As the long hairs were shed from the body, the long hairs were shed from the upper half of the tail, with the result that for a time the tail of the hybrid was little better covered than the tail of his sire. By the end of May all the long hairs—light and dark—had vanished, and early in June the dark and mouse-coloured woolly hairs ON ZHBRA-HORSE HYBRIDS. 57 were coming out. By the 6th of June the dark lustreless winter coat had sufficiently gone around the base of the ears and above the eyes to indicate the colour of the summer coat. All through June and July the process of shedding continued, but by the 12th of August—the hybrid’s first birthday—the summer coat was fully established. The dark stripes, which consisted chiefly of strong flattened hairs, looked very prominent. The inter- mediate bands were of a reddish brown colour over the brow, but elsewhere reminded one of the summer coat of a Stag. Taken as a whole Romulus was very decidedly darker as a yearling than during the early weeks of his existence. As the long hairs were shed from the body and the root of the tail, numerous hairs dropped from the mane. In an ordinary mule (the foal of a New Forest pony) which I have had for some time, all the long hairs of the mane were shed last summer; but in Romulus, either some of the long hairs were retained, or the new hairs came in before the old ones were lost. At any rate, though the mane was shorter and less bulky and consequently more upright during August, it always consisted of numerous long hairs. At present the mane, which consists of wavy hairs from seven to nine inches in length, tends to fall slightly to one side,—the mane falls slightly to one side in some Zebras. By the middle of September Romulus had again lost not a few of the brighter coloured hairs, and since then he has been getting again gradually darker. Probably because of the extreme mildness of the season the long hairs have already (January) begun to fall out in much the same way as they did last March. All the experts who have seen Romulus agree in considering him a decided improvement on his sire, and more attractive and shapely than his dam. Having been handled from the first, he is, as a rule, extremely quiet. Occasionally, however, he clearly indicates he has plenty of courage and no lack of speed. At present he is particularly attached to a small thoroughbred mare. When separated from this mare he is sometimes as restless as his sire when upset by some change in his surroundings. Last week a strange Horse was galloped in the paddock where Romulus happened to be for the day. The hybrid became excited, and gave an excellent demonstration of his trotting and galloping powers, and of how proudly he could carry himself, and this 58 THE ZOOLOGIST. continued for some time after the intruder left the field. Romulus was recently described by an excellent judge of Horses in the ‘Scottish Farmer’ as “a bonnie colt, with rare quality of bone, . and with the dainty step and dignity of the Zebra.” There is nothing about the hybrids, strange to say, that suggests the ordinary mule or hinny. Tur Hysrip “ Remus.” The dam of Remus is a three-parts bred, 14.1-hands Irish mare. ‘“ Biddy” has been in my possession since 1898, and is now nine years old. She is a bay, with black points, but no white hairs anywhere, and Remus is her first foal. She is a very gentle quiet creature, and has always been in excellent condition, winter and summer alike. Evidently the Zebra, before coming here, had not made the acquaintance of any of his equine relatives. When first intro- duced to Mulatto, he rushed into a corner with his tail between his legs, and uttered peculiar little sounds which strongly suggested abject fear. Some of the ponies rushed at him open- mouthed; others deliberately pelted him with their heels. On the other hand, a bay Arab stallion and various mares could not have been more alarmed had he been a Tiger, or, when he called ‘“* Quacha,” ‘‘ Quacha,” a troup of Lions. To give him a chance of discovering what sort of an animal a Horse is, I turned him loose one evening with a good-natured but very plucky bay Shetland pony. The pony proceeded to tease the Zebra, who very soon began to show fight. He was soon circling round the pony with the object of seizing her legs. For a time the pony was unprepared for this mode of attack, but ere long adopted similar tactics, with the result that the Zebra was several times brought to his knees.* After a couple of hours the duel came to an end,—the damage being very slight on either side,—and ever afterwards Matopo and ‘Sheila’ were excellent friends. But even during the spring of 1896 the Zebra was ridiculously timid, and even now a very small demonstration leads him to beat a * IT may mention that when his legs are touched with a rope or stick he almost invariably drops on to his knees, or lies down altogether. This is, think, the result of his having been periodically thrown before he came here that his hoofs might be looked to. ON ZHBRA-HORSE HYBRIDS. 59 hasty retreat. Biddy was the first fairly large animal he ventured to approach. One day I tied her up in a court about forty feet square, a cloth having been previously bound over her eyes. The Zebra in course of time ventured within a few yards; later he laid his head across her quarters, and then, for quite a long time, across her withers. He next licked her lips, and ended by gently nibbling at her ears. Lividently at length satisfied a big Horse was after all not so terrible an object, he retired to his box and finished his corn. Having once learned the peculiarities of a mare he never forgets them. Some of the mares he dislikes, while he is very fond of others, getting quite excited when they pass his own particular quarters. Donkeys, however, he com- pletely refuses to take the smallest notice of. Remus—born on the 18th of May, 1896--was, at birth, relatively smaller and far less active than Romulus; the period of gestation was three hundred and forty-six days. When a day old he measured 354 in., his girth being 28 in. On the 18th of June he had increased to 384 in., the girth being 36 in. When six months old he measured 44% in., the girth being 473 in., the circumference at the knee 9$ in., and below the knee 53 in. Romulus at six months was 42 in. From the first Remus has been extremely friendly, and yet in some respects he is more Zebra-like than Romulus. For some days he was little more than a machine,—an automaton capable of following a moving object and of sucking. All the special sense organs were apparently at work, but the brain seemed incapable of making much use of the information col- lected. If I moved away he followed me, and sucked at my fingers or anything else offered him. He heard his dam when she called, but he was unable to discover whence the sound came, and when he saw her at a few yards distance he failed to recognize her. He seemed to like aloes and water quite as much as sugar and milk, and did not mind either strong smelling-salts or freshly-made mustard. ‘Though he kicked aimlessly when pinched, he paid no heed to the application of either warm or very cold substances to his skin. When a dog was first intro- duced to Romulus, his excitement was intense. He rushed about at a furious rate, striking as opportunity offered with his fore-feet, and holding his head high and stepping high, as if 60 THE ZOOLOGIST. moving through long grass, where other enemies might lie con- cealed. Remus, on the other hand, when two days old, allowed a yellow collie to lie down within six inches of his muzzle, and only got up as a Dalmatian approached when a warning note was uttered by his watchful parent. When the four hybrids and two pure-bred foals were eventually weaned, Remus seemed to mind very little. While one of the hybrids and a half Arab foal were biting and kicking and rushing about as if demented, Remus simply stood looking over the fence. But by-and-by, when the others settled down, he set to walking backwards and forwards behind the wall of his court, exactly like his Zebra sire, and though he still keeps this up as if he were a caged Lion, none of the others have followed his example. When Romulus was weaned, he for some days rushed about, as much as a Zebra when highly excited, as his sire when upset by the beating of carpets. Recently it was necessary to give the hybrids milk containing thymol. The pure-bred foals offered but little re- © sistance, but all the hybrids fought till they were exhausted, and nothing would persuade Remus to swallow the first dose. As might have been expected, Biddy’s foal is much lighter in colour than Mulatto’s. With the exception of the muzzle and the lower part of the legs, the body colour is a rich light bay; the muzzle and legs were, at birth, more of a mealy colour, but are now of a bay colour. The bands are much lighter, and consequently less distinct than in Romulus. As a rule they are of a dark reddish brown hue, being especially evident on the brow, the forearms, and above and below the hocks. The plan of the striping is the same as in Romulus; but even at birth several of the rows of spots across the croup had already united to form narrow bands. The face, measured from the occipital crest to a line connecting the upper margins of the nostrils, was slightly longer than in Romulus; but the ears were the same length—six inches. Sometimes when a Horse utters a warning call all the members of the herd hurriedly collect together and rush about in an excited manner. It seems to be of the utmost importance for wild Equide to at once make out the direction of any given sound. Probably the longer the ears the quicker this is accom- plished. If the length of the ears, as is most probable, counts ON ZHBRA-HORSE HYBRIDS. 61 for much, one can understand why they almost reach their full size at birth. Foals are given to straying in all directions, and unless they hear and at once recognize the call of their respective dams, and the direction from which the sound comes, their chances of surviving in a wild state would be greatly reduced. At birth, the ears of Romulus were longer than in his dam, and only slightly shorter than in his sire. In the case of Remus they were the same length as in his dam, viz. six inches along the inner aspect. The eyes in Biddy’s foal are hazel-coloured and gazelle-like in their mildness, and the eyelashes are particularly long and curved. The mane was at first made up of soft hairs, which bent over to the right side. The mane, however, soon assumed an upright position, and now, when nearly eight months old, it consists of nearly erect but not very stiff hairs. It looks as if the mane will always be as upright and as short as in his sire. The tail contains fewer hairs than any of the other hybrids, and has three bars across the root. On the other hand, unlike ordinary Mules, there are chestnuts on the hind legs as well as on the fore. The front chestnuts are large, level with the skin, and Zebra-like; the hind chestnuts are raised above the level of the skin, and, though narrow and only half an inch in length, are Horse-like. That the Zebras and Asses have no chestnuts on the hind legs may perhaps be due to the absence of chestnuts in their remote ancestors; their absence points, I think, to Asses and Zebras having sprung from a different ancestor (perhaps Hipparion) than the Horses, which may have descended straight from Protohippus. If Remus survives, he may reach a height of nearly 14 hands, and be the most handsome and fleetest of all the present crop of hybrids. As in the case of Gebra foals, the hair over the back and hind quarters of Remus soon increased in length, and formed a thick woolly covering. The hair of the first coat usually falls off soonest from the face and neck, then from the legs, especially at the knees and above and below the hocks. Some of the hair was shed from the face by the end of the first month, but there was still some left on the muzzle and brow at the end of the third month, and the legs retained some of the foal’s coat at the end of the fourth month. The second coat, which was completed by 62 THE ZOOLOGIST. the end of the fifth month (?.e. about the middle of October), consists of a thick inner coat of bay and brown fine wavy hairs, averaging an inch and a half in length, and of an outer but much less abundant coat of stronger hairs, many of which are 22 in. in length. Neither the long nor short hairs nor the hairs of the mane have yet (January) begun to fall out. Tue Hysrip ‘“ Brenna.” The dam (“Lady Douglas”) of Brenda is a cross-bred Clydesdale mare, built on the lines of the “‘ Douglas” breed, once common in the Hamilton district. Like Biddy, she is a bay with black points, but, unlike the Irish mare, she has a large ‘blaze ’’ on the face, a heavy mane and tail, and a liberal amount of hair at the fetlock joints. Lady Douglas is 15 hands high, the circumference at the knee is 134 in., and below the knee 9 in. The face is longer than in Biddy by nearly an inch, and the ears by three-quarters of an inch. I expected Brenda (the Clydes- dale’s first foal) to closely resemble Remus in colour and markings, but in breeding, more especially in cross-breeding, the unex- pected often happens. We are too apt to forget that, even when the sire belongs to a different and very distinct species, the progeny may take after the cross-bred dam. It was evident soon after Brenda (Plate II., fig. 2) was foaled that she differed not a little both from Romulus and Remus. In the first place her ears looked extremely long; they were at birth 63 in., only a quarter of an inch shorter than the ears of her dam, and quite as long as the ears of her sire. The ears now measure seven and ahalf inches; on the other hand the head is relatively short—shorter than the head of a 12-hands Iceland pony’s hybrid. The height at the withers was,43 in., one inch more than in Remus, and four inches more than in the Iceland hybrid. At birth Brenda, apart from her ears, looked not unlike an ordinary bay foal, but soon faint stripes began to show themselves, and in a day or two the stripes, though indistinct, were seen to closely agree in their arrangement with those of the other hybrids. Now that the “‘ Clydesdale ” hybrid is nearly seven months old, she at a little distance might easily be mistaken for an ordinary foal. Compared with Remus the head is shorter and finer, while the joints are larger and the shanks thicker. At six months the circumference at the knee ON ZHBRA-HORSE HYBRIDS. 63 was 104 in., and below the knee 6} in.—almost exactly the same as in Romulus when seventeen months old. The mane, at first nearly upright, short and Zebra-like, is now made up of hairs from eight to ten inches in length (nearly as long as in an ordinary foal of the same age). Except near the withers and between the ears the mane arches freely to the right side, some of the hairs almost touching the neck. The hair between the ears already projects forwards to form a forelock. In Remus, as already mentioned, the mane is still upright, and shorter than in his sire. The tail in Brenda has also from the first been heavier than in any other of the hybrids, and fewer hairs have been shed from its base; further, almost from the first there have been a few hairs at the fetlock joints. The hairs around the small ergots are now over two inches in length. The chestnuts on the fore legs in the Zebra are large and smooth, and on a level with the skin; in Romulus and Remus they are also large, and hardly if at all above the level of the skin, but they occasionally give off thin scales. In Brenda the front chestnuts, though relatively nearly as large as in a Zebra, project as far above the level of the skin as in a pure Clydesdale foal. The left hind leg carries a small prominent chestnut about a quarter of an inch in diameter, but there is no rudiment of a chestnut on the right hind leg. The hoofs are the hoofs of a Yebra, and considerably smaller than would be the hoofs of a Clydesdale foal of the same age. ‘They are wide behind and rounded in front, but the bars are relatively short, 2. e. they do not extend as far back as the frog. I may add, the nostrils are in their shape a little less Zebra-like than in the other hybrids; that the muzzle suggests the dam more than the sire, the lower lip being, as in the dam, somewhat long; and that the rounded ears are tipped with white, as is occasionally the case in dun ponies as well as in Zebras. As might have been expected, the trunk and hind quarters are more massive than in Remus, while the shoulders are less upright, and perhaps as a consequence of this the action at all times is less Zebra-like than in any of the other hybrids. As fig. 2 (Pl. II.) indicates, there is a ‘‘ swirl” nearly three inches in length extending down the centre of the face between the eyes. The same figure also indicates fairly well the extent of the marking at the end of the second month. The 64 THE ZOOLOGIST. brow arches (hardly visible in the figure) are nearly as pointed as the frontal arches in a Norwegian pony in my possession, and as in the Amsterdam Quagga. ‘This is very remarkable, as in all the other hybrids the brow stripes form rounded arches. ‘The cervical, and in fact all the other stripes as far as they go, agree with the corresponding stripes of Romulus. In the region of the shoulder the markings are very faint, and over the hind quarters only a few indistinct spots and portions of bands can be detected. The lower parts of the legs are only faintly striped, and even the bars across the forearm and the hock are more obscure than usual. But although none of the stripes are very pronounced, there are, strange to say, faint lines between several of the cervical ‘and vertical body-stripes. These lines suggest ‘“‘shadow”’ stripes, and seem to correspond to.some of the numerous indistinct vertical stripes seen in Zebra-Ass hybrids. In having faint intermediate vertical stripes, this, on the whole, Horse-like hybrid may be said to be, in at least one respect, more primitive (to have reverted further) than either of the other hybrids already described. If this hybrid continues to thrive, she ought to grow into a powerful, active, shapely cob, about fourteen hands in height, hardier and with more staying power than an ordinary mule. THe Hysprip “ Norna.” The most attractive of last summer’s crop of hybrids has for its dam a good-looking 11-hands Shetland pony (“Nora’’). This pony, which will be six years old in the spring, had a foal in 1895 to a small black prize Shetland pony (“ Wallace’). Nora is in. many ways a small edition of Mulatto, and her foal Norna may be said to be a small edition of Romulus. When a few days old Norna, in her colouring, movements, and make, was more fasci- nating than Romulus at a similar age; and now that she has in- creased from thirty inches (her height when foaled on June 8th) to nearly forty-one inches she looks (notwithstanding her single hoofs) as if she belonged to some bygone age. Norna has been from the first more intelligent than any of her contemporaries, and always very much on the alert without being at all nervous or frightened. She followed her dam through a crowd of some thousands of people on Jubilee Day without any hesitation, or evincing any signs of fear, and she now leads quietly and allows herself to be ON ZHBRA-HORSH HYBRIDS. 65 measured without offering any resistance. At birth Norna generally resembled Romulus, both in colouring, markings, and shape; but her head was relatively smaller, and the ears rela- tively shorter. There was, however, a very important and interesting difference between Norna and the other hybrids. As already pointed out, the croup and rump of Romulus were at the outset marked by numerous rows of spots having on the whole a transverse direction. When his new coat was completed, in August last, I noticed that many of the spots had united to form somewhat zigzag bands that in their direction agreed closely with the stripes on the hind quarters of the Somali Zebra. In Norna, instead of spots over the hind quarters, there were from the first numerous narrow and hardly at all wavy stripes, which line for line almost agreed with the markings in the Somali Zebra, But, further, many of these all but transverse stripes reached, or all but reached, a stripe running obliquely across the hind quarters in almost the same position as the oblique stripe in the Somali Zebra which I have elsewhere referred to as the upper femoral stripe. The remarkable difference between the markings over the hind quarters of Norna and her sire Matopo, and the equally remarkable resemblance between these markings in Norna and the Somali Zebra, seem to me to throw a flood of light on the relationships of the stripes in the various species and varieties of Gebras, and at the same time strongly to support the view already advanced, that the difference between the stripes of the sire and his various hybrid offspring is in all probability due to atavism or reversion.* If this is the correct explanation, it follows as a matter of course that at least in the markings the Somali is the most primitive of all the known recent ZGebras. That the hybrids have reverted in at least their markings towards a somewhat remote ancestor—it may be a common ancestor of both the Horses and Zebras—is also indicated by the presence of faint ‘“‘shadow” stripes on the neck. From Matopo having twelve cervical stripes and some Zebras having in addition nine or ten “‘shadow”’ stripes, and from Romulus having twice as many stripes as Matopo, it may be inferred the typical number of cervical stripes in Zebras is twenty-four or thereabout. But in Norna, in addition to the twenty-four * See the ‘ Veterinarian,’ December, 1897. 4ool. 4th ser. vol. II., February, 1898, F 66 THE ZOOLOGIST. cervical stripes, there were at least five faint “‘shadow”’ stripes. In Zebra-Ass hybrids there are usually many indistinct stripes on the neck and body, and numerous spots over the hind quarters. I consider Zebra-Ass hybrids more primitive in their markings than Zebra-Horse hybrids. In having numerous cervical stripes Norna approaches Gebra-Ass hybrids, and the only explanation of this that occurs to me is that in Norna we have, in the striping of the neck, a further reversion than in any of the other hybrid offspring of Matopo. During the first three months the mane of Norna was quite upright, though thicker than in the other hybrids. During the last four months the mane has been increasing in length, and it is now no longer upright; the posterior half hangs over to the right side, the part between and in front of the ears forms a thick forelock, while the intermediate portion hangs to the left side. Norna with her short head, peculiarly tattooed face, and the heavy mane hanging partly to one side and partly to the other, looks very quaint, and seems to differ quite as much from her sire as she does from her dam the black Shetland pony. The coat is now very heavy, the long hairs over the body measuring over three inches, while many of the hairs over the brow are nearly two inches in length. If Norna develops after the fashion of Romulus, she will—a year hence—be a compact small striped pony from 11 to 11.2 hands in height. As is the case with Romulus, there is nothing about Norna that suggests either an ordinary mule or ahinny. She has excellent well-formed feet, only a few short hairs at the fetlock, and not a rudiment of warts on the hind legs. Tue Hyprip ‘ Hrcxra.” Heckla’s dam is a 12-hands skewbald Iceland pony. There is so much white in this pony (Tundra) and the yellow is so pale that I thought her hybrid foal would be nearly as light as a pure-bred Zebra. As it happens, Heckla is the darkest of all the hybrids, and the stripes are nearly as obscure as in the ‘‘ Clydesdale”? hybrid Brenda. As she lay by her dam shortly after birth, she looked like an overgrown Hare with an unusually long head and relatively long ears. From the first her coat has consisted of long coarse hairs, and the warts on the front legs are prominent, as in her dam. Measuring 823 in. at birth, she RPA ee ee ee ee eT Te ee Pe en ee ON ZHEBRA-HORSH HYBRIDS. 67 was 43 in. at six months, and is now (January 12th) 434 in.; the circumference of the knee being 94 in., and the fore-shank 54 in. Though Heckla has always carried a heavy coat, and is dark in colour with white tips to her ears, she generally agrees with Romuius in her build and markings; but her action is freer, and more like that of a hackney than a Zebra. She promises to be quite as large and as active as Romulus, and more able than Romulus to withstand cold and to flourish under adverse circumstances. The length of the head and the shortness of the neck suggest that the Iceland ponies belong to a different race than the black Oriental-looking West Highland ponies. They may be direct descendents of the Horses hunted by the men of the Reindeer Period. Their ancestors may have gradually worked their way northwards with the Tundra fauna which then as now lived near the edge of the ice. If Heckla owes her dark colour to reversion, it may be inferred her ancestors were of a mouse-dun colour. It is too soon to offer any opinion as to whether Romulus or any of the Zebra-mare hybrids will prove fertile or specially useful either at home or abroad, and it is equally impossible to say whether they will withstand the African Tsetse fly, or have better constitutions than either ordinary mules or Asses, but this much may be said, they all seem very hardy. Romulus has been in perfect health from the first, as indeed has been his Zebra sire, while nearly all my mares and Horses have had colds and other ailments. Quite recently the four hybrid foals and three ordinary foals have been suffering from the presence of Strongylus armata. One of the pure-bred foals (Mulatto’s second foal to an Arab Horse) died from the effects of the parasite on the 1st of January, and a thoroughbred foal has been reduced almost to a skeleton ; but the four young hybrids, though no longer so bright or in so good condition, are evidently rapidly recovering, and will, I trust, be soon all right again. The editor of the ‘Scottish Farmer’ believes Romulus “ will be invaluable for driving or riding on account of his hardiness,” and he has stated that all the hybrids ‘‘ have feet and legs like whalebone, with the kind of pasterns that Clydesdale men fancy.’’* * ¢ Scottish Farmer,’ Nov. 27, 1897. F2 68 THE ZOOLOGIST. It is well known that Captain Lugard and Major von Wissmann have advocated steps being taken to breed Zebra hybrids. Captain Lugard, in his work on ‘ Our Kast African Empire,’ writes :—‘‘ Some years ago I advocated experiments on taming the Zebra, and I especially suggested that an attempt should be made to obtain Zebra mules by Horse or Donkey mares. Such mules I believe would be found excessively hardy and impervious to the ‘fly’ and to climatic diseases. . . . . I would even go further and say that their export might prove one of the sources of wealth and revenue in the future; for, as every one knows, the paucity of mules both for mountain batteries and for transport purposes has long been one of the gravest difficulties in our other- wise almost perfect Indian Army Corps.” Since this was written much information has been gained as to the dreaded Tsetse fly, but apparently there is extremely little chance of Horses being made immune, being so treated by innoculation or otherwise that they will be able to survive if once infected by the peculiar minute organism so intimately associated with the all too fatal disease. Further, owing to the destruction of cattle by the rinderpest, the transport difficulties have been increased in Africa, while the Frontier wars have enormously increased the demand for mules in India. On the other hand, it has been proved that it is a com- paratively simple matter to cross various breeds of mares with a Burchell Zebra, and if experts are to be trusted the hybrids (Zebra-mules as some call them) promise to be as useful and hardy as they are shapely and attractive. The preliminary difficulties having been overcome, it remains for those in authority to take such steps as may be necessary to ascertain of what special use, if any, Zebra hybrids may be in the various parts of the Empire, but more especially in Africa and India. As I am anxious to obtain as much information as possible bearing on equine hybrids—on crosses between Zebras, Horses and Asses—and as to the fertility of the various kinds of hybrids (mules, hinnies, &c.), I shall be most grateful for accounts of any experiments hitherto made, more especially with Burchell and other kinds of Zebra. I have not yet heard of ordinary mares having been crossed with Burchell’s Zebra in South Africa; but doubtless some of the readers of ‘The Zoologist’ may be able to give me information on this subject. ( 69 ) NOTES ON THE SEAL AND WHALE FISHERY, 1897. By Tuomas SovurHweE.u, F.Z.S. Tue take of Seals by the Newfoundland steam sealers in the past season has been the smallest it has fallen to my lot to record in the seventeen years over which my notes have extended, and that notwithstanding the exceptional success of two of the vessels. The twenty ships, of the aggregate capacity of 6232 tons, and manned by 4572 seamen, captured only 126,628 Seals, of the net value of £32,564, as compared with 187,516 Seals, valued at £55,362, in the previous season, itself a very disastrous one. In addition to these about 22,000 were got by the schooners, but the catch is said to have been the worst for eighty years, with the exception of that of 1864. The ‘ Aurora’ heads the list with 27,941, followed by the ‘Iceland’ (23,014), and the ‘ Newfound- land’ (15,102). These are the only three vessels which exceeded 15,000 Seals. Two others—the ‘ Nimrod,’ with 14,042, and the ‘ Harlaw,’ with 11,614—exceeded 10,000 each; but the remaining fifteen vessels only averaged 2327 each. The ‘Mastaff’ had the misfortune to be jammed in the ice inside Cape Ray, and only secured 264 Seals. The ‘Iceland’ and the ‘Nimrod’ made second trips for 989 and 453 Seals respectively. The failure of the voyage appears to be due to a variety of causes, the chief of which perhaps was the prevalence of stormy weather, and the consequent unfavourable condition of the ice. It is also thought that the Seals are not so numerous as formerly, but with regard to this there is considerable divergence of opinion ; also that the young Harps took to the water earlier than usual this season, owing to the disruption of the ice. There is no doubt, however, that with two or three exceptions the steamers sought the Seals too far to the north. Formerly the sealing steamers all cleared from St. John’s, but of late years they have in increasing numbers been taking their departure from more northerly ports; the wisdom of this course appears to be open to 70 THE ZOOLOGIST. doubt, and some of the most experienced sealers still continue to make the port of St. John’s their point of departure. Should the vessel strike the ice to the north of the breeding Seals, there is nothing to form a guide to the position of the pack; but on the other hand, should it be too far south, there is nearly always some indication which points to that fact, such as the presence of birds or old Seals. There appears also to be a natural in- clination to work to the north in search of the Seals rather than to the south. It happened this year that the fierce gales from the N. and N.W., which prevailed from the 1st to the 20th of March, drove the ice on which the young Seals were then, well off the land, rapidly south to the neighbourhood of Cape Race, and thus they were missed by the majority of the vessels. As affording some indication of the severity of the season, and of the hardships endured by the crews, I will give a brief outline of the voyage of the ‘Aurora,’ as reported by Captain Arthur Jackman, one of the most experienced of the commanders. Leaving St. John’s on March 10th, the ‘ Aurora’ struck the Seals on the 15th, about 150 miles off Cabot Island, and on that day and the 16th the crew killed 24,000 Seals. On the 17th, while the men were on the ice, ‘‘a terrible swell began to heave among the ice, smashing it up, and leaving the men battling for their lives on the floating pans ; it was with the utmost difficulty they were got on board.” From March 17th to April 7th the crew were engaged in picking up Seals at the risk of their lives, the ship often rolling rail-under; the result was that out of some 60,000 Seals killed only 27,900, nearly all young Harps, were recovered. The ‘ Aurora’ then bore up for home, being at that time about 390 miles S.E. of Cape Race. Capt. Jackman never remembers Seals being taken so far south. Some conception of the terrible hardships and dangers of the voyage may be formed from the fact that four of the crew succumbed to cold and fatigue, and the report states that as many as one hundred men (out of a crew of 298) were laid up at one time with colds. The ‘ Terra Nova’ also lost one of her crew. The ‘Iceland,’ which went to the Gulf of St. Lawrence, is said to have made the quickest trip on record; she struck the Seals off Rose Blanche, and com- menced to kill on March 15th, reaching Harbour Grace, on her return, with 22,000 young Harps, on the 23rd. The SHAL AND WHALE FISHERY, 1897. (fa ‘Harlaw’ made her catch of 11,600 in the neighbourhood of Cape Ray. In a paper on “ Seals and the Seal Fishery,” printed in the ‘Transactions’ of the Norfolk and Norwich Nat. Soc. vol. 11. p. 482, as well asin my Notes for 1884, I explained the nature of the practice known as “ panning” or “ binging,” and pointed out its wasteful character; this was perhaps never more fully exemplified than in the past season. The ‘Nimrod’ lost nine pans of Seals through the ice, under stress of weather, suddenly breaking up; one lot of 250 she recovered eighteen miles distant from the flag which marked their original position. The ‘ Aurora,’ as already mentioned, is said to have killed 60,000 Seals for the 27,000 she brought home, having lost sixty-four flagged pans through the ice being ground up and turned over by the heavy swell. Surely some less wasteful method of securing a cargo could be devised; and in the interest of the future would it not be to the advantage of the sealers themselves that no more Seals should be killed than could at once be taken on board? This destructive practice of killing and panning all the young Seals within reach and leaving it to chance to recover them must before long lead to the most disastrous consequences, and it is not to be wondered at that the shore sealers, whose catch in the past season has been nil, should complain of this shocking waste. The large number of young Harps (see ‘ Aurora’ and ‘ Iceland’) taken so early in the season is unusual, and is probably owing to the disturbed state of the ice, the immense sheets on which they _ are whelped not usually breaking up so as to allow the Seals to be approached until the young ones are able to take to the water. 106,678 of the total catch were young Harps, an unusually large proportion; 2188 were young Hoods; 11,133 were “ Bedlamers,”’ or young Seals of the second or third season which had not yet bred; and only 6629 old Seals of both species. Some of the old sealing captains are men of great intelligence and wide experience, and their interest leads them to appreciate minute differences in the appearance and habits of the Seals which to a casual observer would pass unnoticed. One of these veterans, in conversation with Mr. Thorburn, after alluding to the two ‘‘spots”’ of Hooded Seals in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, stated that the Seals in the western patch whelp about a week 72 THE ZOOLOGIST. earlier than those in the eastern patch ; also that the females in the former are much larger than in the latter, and that the reverse is the case with regard to the males. The western patch is found in the neighbourhood of St. Paul’s Island, and the other considerably to the eastward. He also confirms the statement that there are two distinct patches of Harp Seals, one whelping inside St. Paul’s Island (see Notes for 1896, Zool. 1897, p. 57), and that a similar disparity in weight exists as is observed in the case of the Hoods, the old Saddlers in the one patch exceeding in weight those in the other by an average of about 25lb. Re- ferring to a summer which he once spent on the island of Anti- costi, he mentioned having met there with a large dark-coloured Seal, one of which he shot, “larger than a Hooded Seal, and with a head like a horse or cow,” and which, he said, frequents that island during the summer. None of the Dundee vessels were present at the Erie land young sealing, and the captures in Newfoundland by the ‘Esquimaux’ (1903) and ‘ Terra Nova’ (3501) represent all the Seals taken by the Scotch vessels, with the exception of a few old Seals, some 400 in all, taken in Greenland by the ‘ Active’ and ‘Polar Star.” The ‘ Alert’ brought home from the settlement in Cumberland Gulf, with other produce, 4700 Seal skins and seventy tons of Seal and Whale oil. I donot receive statistics of the Nor- wegian sealing in the Greenland Seas, but Prof. Collett has kindly informed me that in 1898 about 100,000 were killed, some 20,000 of which were old Seals, and the rest young Harps and Hooded Seals ; in 1894 the number was not quite 100,000, 9000 old and the rest young and Hooded; in 1895 rather less than 80,000, of which 9000 were old; and in 1896 between 90,000 and 100,000, 11,000 of which were old Seals. This branch of the sealing trade has quite reverted to the Scandinavians; the same may be said of the Bottle-nose fishery, no Scotch vessels having taken part in it for the last few years. It seems, however, to be successfully prose- cuted by the Norwegians, and Prof. Collett tells me that in 1893 they killed 2701; in 1894, 2905; in 1895, 2872; and in 1896, 3301. The figures for 1897 are not yet available. The Greenland whaling, for reasons which will be fully explained further on, was a complete failure; only one Whale was captured, and one other seen. The condition of the ice in } ‘iT ae Ph « a oe SHAL AND WHALE FISHERY, 1897. 73 the North Atlantic has been the most remarkable on record, and it happens that an unusual number of observers were present to report on its phenomenal absence which has characterized this very exceptional season. In my Notes for the year 1887, I mentioned that Capt. David Gray’s experience led him to the conclusion that there is a certain periodicity in the movements of the ice in the Greenland Seas, the eastern or western limit of its margin reaching its maximum about every five years alter- nately ; so that every tenth year may be expected to produce an *“‘ east-ice year,’ and vice versd. ‘The year 1881 was an “‘ east-ice year,” that is, the ice extended far to the eastward from the east coast of Greenland. Capt. Gray, in a communication published in the Proc. Roy. Geo. Soc. for 1881, p. 740, with map, recorded this remarkable eastward extension of the ice, and made some remarks with regard to its probable cause. The year 1886 was so far a “‘ west-ice year,” the ice being close packed on the east coast of Greenland (that is, on the west side of the Greenland Sea) that there was no hope of penetrating it in search of Whales ; Capt. Gray therefore, ever willing to add exploration to his legitimate business when possible, attempted unsuccessfully to visit Franz Josef Land, but met with very little obstruction until he reached 86° 44’ H. longitude, in the parallel of 75° (Dr. Robert Gray, Zool. 1887, p. 124). It was not till the next year (1887), however, that the ice receded to its farthest west. In 1891 there was again an enormous accumulation of ice off the east coast of Greenland, extending far away to the eastward. According to Capt. Gray’s theory, therefore, the year 1897 should be a maxi- mum “ west-ice year,’ and such has been the case to a remark- able extent; where in 1881 Capt. Gray forced his way three hundred miles through floe-ice into the Spitzbergen land water, in the past season the Greenland whalers encountered no ob- struction, and the ‘ Balena’ found no difficulty in passing round the south of Spitzbergen through the Barents Sea to Franz Josef Land, where she cruised amongst the islands of the archi- pelago, and hunted Walruses in lat. 81° N., accompanied by the ‘ Active’ and the ‘ Diana.’ | All the reports which we have from the eastern polar seas this season, and they have been unusually numerous, extending over a wide area—the Dundee whalers in the Greenland and 74 THE ZOOLOGIST. Barents Seas, and afterwards to the west of Franz Josef Land, where Mr. Jackson confirms their report that very little difficulty was experienced from ice up to the 80th parallel; Mr. Arnold Pike and the captain of the ‘ Balena’ to the east of Spitzbergen and Wyche’s Land; and Colonel Feilden to the eastward of Novaya Zemyla and the Kara Sea;—all bear testimony to the remarkable absence of ice. The causes which contribute to bring about these extensive variations in the limits of what may be regarded as the polar ice fringe are too complicated for me to attempt any explanation here, even were I at all com- petent to do so (Capt. Gray offers some very pertinent suggestions in the paper before quoted), but, confining my remarks to the Greenland Seas, there can be no doubt the chief cause of the recent packing of the ice on the east coast of Greenland was the long prevalence of EK. and N.E. gales. The ‘ Balena’ reports that she reached the N.E. fishing grounds about the end of April, and experienced there the worst weather on record. On May Ist, following a few days of mild foggy weather, there came a succession of N.H. gales, which lasted till the middle of the month, and forced the vessels to seek partial shelter in the pack-ice. This “ blizzard” was followed by strong easterly winds; gale succeeded gale until June 20th, and the severity of the weather is described as exceeding anything within the memory of the oldest man in the fleet. The result of this state of things was that the ice became “‘ hammered” against the east coast of Greenland, and was so compacted, that where in ordinary years a belt exists extending seaward from 150 to 200 miles, with open floes such as the Whales love to frequent, in the past season it did not reach more than fifty miles from the shore, and was packed so tight as to be perfectly impenetrable. This condition of the ice was of course fatal to the fishery, as the vessels were unable to search for the Whales in their favourite feeding grounds; and it was not till May 29th that a fish was found. This the ‘ Balena’ was fortunate enough to capture, and the only other Whale seen in the Greenland Seas during the entire season was sighted about the middle of June, but could not be approached. There being no prospect of success in the Greenland waters, the fleet, consisting of the ‘ Active,’ the ‘ Balena,’ and the ‘ Diana,’ SHAL AND WHALE FISHERY, 1897. 75 had to look elsewhere for a cargo; and the glowing reports of the great abundance of Walruses observed on the shores of Franz Josef Land by Mr. Leigh Smith, Dr. Nansen, and Mr. Jackson, as might be expected, attracted them in that direction, and they took their departure for this new hunting ground on June 25tb. The ‘ Balena’ was the first to arrive, sighting Cape Flora after a twelve days’ passage, and she made a clean sweep of the coast, killing 600 Walruses, and leaving little or nothing for those which followed, the ‘Active’ only securing seventy and the ‘Diana’ eighty-four. Great was their disappointment, as they expected to find something approaching the numbers seen by Mr. Lamont on the Thousand Islands in 1852, where a herd of three or four thousand was seen, and nine hundred killed by two small sloops, a sight which will probably never again be witnessed. T'o add to the disappointment, almost all those met with were females and young, and a few young bulls; it was evidently the nursery of the species. Where the old bulls were was not dis- covered, but the females and their young were exterminated. In the Greenland Seas the Walrus has already become a rare animal, in Davis Strait it is rapidly becoming scarce, and the enormous numbers which formerly inhabited Behring’s Strait are subject to such exhaustive demands that they cannot long survive.. When we take into consideration the ease with which these animals can be approached, and their slow rate of repro- duction, it is safe to predict that the time is not far distant when the species will become totally extinct. It is curious how a new industry may affect the very existence of an old species. - Iam told that the greater activity in the search for Walruses is due to the sudden demand which has arisen for their hides, which are extensively used by the makers of bicycles for forming buffers; their value has greatly increased in consequence, and good thick bull-hides weighing 350 lb. and upwards sell for as much as ls. 6d. per lb. The hides brought home this year from Franz Josef Land being those of females and young animals, therefore thin and of light weight, did not realize any- thing like this price, some being worth as little as 23d. per lb. The tusks, I am told, realize about 2s. 6d. per lb., and the oil £18 per ton. In marked contrast to the Greenland fishery, that of Davis 76 THE ZOOLOGIST. Strait has been a decided success, and the number of Whales seen was considerable. Three Scotch vessels, the ‘ Eclipse,’ the ‘ Ksquimaux,’ and the ‘Nova Zembla,’ were present. Capt. Milne, of the ‘ Eclipse,’ reports that from the middle of Septem- ber till the middle of October Whales were very plentiful, and that he never saw so many during all his experience. Leaving Dundee on March 30th, he experienced a long and stormy passage, arriving in Davis Strait too late for the north-west and east side fishery. Disco was reached on May 28th, and the passage through Melville Bay presented no difficulties. The west side of the Strait was reached on June 15th, on which day the first Whale was seen. On the following day a large number of fish were seen, and one struck but lost; and a second also broke away. On the 20th, however, a good fish was secured. In Lancaster Sound the three Dundee vessels were caught in a heavy gale and beset for a week. About Oct. 8th a great many Whales were sighted, twenty miles off Cape Kater, but owing to heavy seas and unsettled weather more than one was missed; and on the 13th so rough was the weather that a large fish which had been got alongside broke adrift and was lost. On the 16th, however, they were more fortunate, and secured a fine fish of 11 ft. 4 in. bone, but not till after an exciting experience—by a stroke of the Whale’s tail one of the boats was upset and her crew of six men thrown into the water. Fortunately all were rescued, but not till one of them was in a very exhausted condition. Many more Whales were seen by the * Kclipse’ near Hopper Island, and one taken; had she not had the misfortune to lose five Whales owing to stormy weather, doubtless the ‘Eclipse’ would have returned a full ship; as it was she had three good Whales and three Walrus. The ‘Nova Zembla’ succeeded in capturing four Whales; her experience was much the same as that of the ‘ Eclipse. Many Whales were seen in the longitude of Cape Warrander, Pond’s Inlet, Coutts Inlet, and in the vicinity of Clyde River. The ‘EKsquimaux,’ which had been to the Newfoundland sealing, sailed from Cape Breton on May 20th, and took her only fish in Pond’s Bay on June 16th. Although in her autumn passage down the west side of the Strait several other Whales were seen, the weather conditions rendered their pursuit impossible; in fact, it was the prevalence of SHAL AND WHALE FISHERY, 1897. 17 untoward weather, not the absence of Whales, which prevented their returning all ‘‘full ships.” All three vessels bore up for home about Oct. 27th. The total produce of the Whale fishery in the past season was 9 Right Whales and 772 Walruses, yielding 143 tons of Whale oil and 120 cwt. of bone. In addition to this the ‘ Alert ’ brought home from Cumberland Gulf station 3 cwt. of bone, the yield of a very small Whale of 4 foot bone, and 70 tons of oil, part of last season’s catch; and the ‘ Perseverance,’ which had wintered for three seasons at Rowe's Welcome, had the bone of three Whales (30 cwt.), and part of the oil (15 tons), the rest of the blubber having been lost. During her stay in Rowe’s Welcome the ‘ Perseverance’ got six Whales, the produce of the other three having been previously sent home by the Hudson Bay Company’s ship ‘ Erik.’ It is rather difficult to value this miscellaneous produce; but, taking the 228 tons of Whale oil at £18 per ton, or £4104, and the 153 cwt. of bone at £1600 per ton (‘size bone,’ I am told, has been sold at £1800 per ton) or £12,240; the 772 Walrus hides at, say, £5 each, or £3860; and the ivory, which was light and mostly female tusks, at, say, £200, the total produce would represent a sum of about £20,404, as compared with £16,207 in the previous season. The Norwegian Fin-Whale fishery, Prof. Collett tells me, is still flourishing, and several of the companies have also estab- lished themselves on one of the Faroes, where they are doing well. The Whales taken last year were for the most part Balenoptera borealis ; also several B. sibbaldi and B. megaptera ; but commonly B. musculus is the most numerous. The Cabot Whale-fishing Company, formed at St. John’s to prosecute the Fin- Whale fishery after the Norwegian fashion mentioned in my last year’s communication (p. 59), has not yet commenced opera- tions, but is expected to do so shortly. In my last notes on this subject (Zool. 1897), p. 58, fourteen lines from the bottom, for ‘ Arctic,’ read ‘ Active.’ As on so many previous occasions, I have to tender my best thanks to Mr. David Bruce and Mr. Kennes of Dundee, and to Mr. Michael Thorburn, of St. John’s, for their kind assistance. 78 THE ZO0O0OLOGIST. THE INSECT VISITORS OF FLOWERS IN NEW MEXICO.—I. By T.. D. A. CockERELE, Entomologist of the New Mexico Agricultural Experiment Station. Wuite much has been written on the relations between insects and flowers, it must be confessed that the information we possess on this fascinating subject is fragmentary indeed in comparison with what might be known; in other words, there is no locality where flowers grow and insects fly in which new and interesting observations may not be made, while there are whole regions from which we have practically no records. Hermann Muller, in his ‘ Fertilisation of Flowers,’ gives what might at first sight seem a very complete array of facts, but we find him strongly insisting on the incompleteness of his researches. In America the subject has only been seriously attacked by one observer, Mr. Charles Robertson, whose observations are con- fined to Illinois and Florida. The subject is more complicated than might at first be imagined. Repeated observation only confirms the validity of the following rules :— (1.) Observations made. in one year should be repeated in other years, as the results of different years may greatly differ. (2.) Observations made on a plant in one locality should be repeated in other localities throughout the range of the plant, as the insect visitors are often different in different parts of the plant’s range. (3.) Observations made on plants growing in cultivation, away from their natural habitat, prove little regarding the natural visitors of the plants. (4.) Observations on the Honey-bee prove little regarding the actions of wild bees; each species of bee must be observed separately, its habits cannot be certainly inferred from observa- tions on other species. INSHCT VISITORS OF FLOWERS IN NEW MEXICO. 19 (5.) Observations should be made at different dates during the period of blooming of the plant studied; the visitors at one period may be very different from those at another. (6.) In every case it is important to state the names of the insects observed. This is perhaps the chief stumbling-block to observers. Even H. Muller in Europe had to leave many of his captures unrecorded, because he could not find out their names. In other countries, where much less is known about the insect fauna, and many of the species are undescribed, the difficulty is much increased. The object of the present series of papers is to put on record a number of new observations made in New Mexico, adding such comments as the facts may suggest. It will be necessary to introduce more botanical matter than usually appears in the pages of ‘ The Zoologist’; in fact, similar papers have appeared in botanical journals, their botanical aspect being as important as the entomological. (1.) Ranunculus cymbalaria, Pursh.—A good patch in flower by the Rio Grande, Mesilla, April 19th, 1897. An ochreous Thrips was pretty com- mon on the flowers, but no other insects, except a single specimen of the small fly, Hugnoriste occidentalis, Coquillett. (2.) Argemone platyceras, L. & O.(Papaveracea).—At Santa Fe, Aug. 3rd, in the afternoon, found many plants with closed flowers, inside which were numbers of bees, all more or less sleepy, crawling but not flying when disturbed. A beetle, determined by Capt. Casey as Carpophilus palli- _ pennis, was also common in the flowers. The bees were as follows :— (a.) Podalirius occidentalis (Cresson). — Twenty-eight specimens. I have never taken this on any other flower. (b.) Diadasia enavata (Cresson).—Three. Visits other flowers. (c.) Melissodes menuacha, Cresson.—Seven. (d.) M. agilis var. aurigenia (Cresson).—Nine. (e.) Andrena argemonis, Ckll—Two. This species was described as new (1896) from these specimens, and no others are yet known. One specimen of an Otiorhynchid beetle, Peritaxia hispida, Lec., was also taken from the flowers. The consideration of the above case suggests that flowers which are not particularly attractive to bees when open may gain something by affording good sleeping places when closed in dull weather. The bees, when the flowers opened, would fly away, carrying more or less pollen with them, which they might transfer to other flowers. This idea did not occur to me when the observations were made, so I neglected to note the facts which might confirm it. 80 THE ZOOLOGIST. (3.) E’schscholizia mexicana, Greene (Papaveracee).— On April 21st, near Dripping Spring, Organ Mountains, the flowers were visited by Augochlora neglectula, Ckll., and Halictus lusorius, Cresson, var. These are short-tongued bees. (4.) Nasturtium sinwatum, Nuttall (Crucifere).—By the Rio Grande at Mesilla, April 19th, 1897. The following occurred on the flowers :— (a.) Diptera.—Several Hugnoriste occidentalis, Coq. ; also a Syrphid. (b.) Coleoptera.— Phyllotreta pusilla, Horn, and a Collops. (c.) A black Chalcidid. (d.) Bees.—Andrena salicinella, Ckll., one female; Prosavis mesille, Ckll., two males; Halictus subobscurus, Ckll., one ferale; and Halictus sp., four females. (5.) Streptanthus carinatus, Wright, var. (Crucifer@).— At Little Moun- tain, Mesilla Valley, March 26th, took the following on the flowers :— (a.) Bees.—Apis mellifera, L., 1758 (mellifica, L. 1761); Agapostemon melliventris, Cresson; A. tewanus, Cresson; Halictus bardus, Cresson ; HZ. sisymbrit, Ckll. (b.) Diptera.—Calliphora erythrocephala, Meig. (det. Coq.); Para- didyma magnicornis, Towns. = singularis, Towns. (det. Coq.). (6.) Dithyrea wislizent, Engelm. (Crucifere).—On April 9th, on the campus of the N. M. Agricultural College, Mesilla Valley, the flowers were visited by Prosapis mesille, Ckll. (male), Ammophila, and Halictus. At Mesilla, May 29th, the flowers were visited by Calliopsis australior, Ckll. (7.) Pyrus communis (cultivated pear)-——On the farm of the N. M. Ex- periment Station, Mesilla Park, April 12th, the following were seen at the flowers :—Apis mellifera, several ; Pyrameis cardut, many ; Diabrotica 12- punctata, one, eating the petals. I do not find pear-blossoms at all attrac- tive to native bees in New Mexico; in Europe, on the contrary, Miller observed seven different bees. (8.) Prunus (cultivated plum).—In Mesilla, April 18th, 1897, I found at the flowers three butterflies—Synchloe lacinia, Huvanessa antiopa, and Anosta archippus ; also a Tachinid fly, Archytas lateralis, Macq., and the bees Augochlora neglectula, Ckll. (quite numerous), and Halictus pec- toraloides, Ckll. (a few). The Tachinid was identified by Mr. Coquillett. (9.) Pyrus malus (cultivated apple)—In Mesilla, April 18th, 1897, there were plenty of honey-bees at the apple flowers, but practically no wild bees. I caught on a flower a single Augochlora neglectula. An ochreous Thrips was fairly common on the flowers at one place. One example of Hugnoriste occidentalis was taken. OTUNCD Mecsas apts. betes 4 ermineus. Trish BGOBG. nn vscin 0 0 tulens By hibernicus. WU GASGL sss. cen wcescreee Sh. UMLOUTIB phase neonate ss nivalis. Otter Weksrsteveebbatescae Ditetr ag CUlg aris sicc.ccdenessecseseee Lutra lutra. Common Seal............ PROC UUtanland isan cassotnegune toeee Phoca vitulina. Ringed Seal ............ Spa SUA) sc crcane cece Mnanecnile » hispida. Harp: Beat isis cance: 99. GTOONTANAICE 00.20. 000cenere » grenlandica. Hooded Seal ............ Cystophora Cristata.....scscceceee Cystophora cristata. Grey Seal i ci.cssnrescvaens Halicherus gryphus ..ccccceeeee Halicherus grypus. Walrus’ ee avis eek! Trichechus rosmarus ......000+0 Odobenus rosmarus. RODENTIA. SQUINEO 5 oaecma vers acs pes Scvwrus VULGATis ...scoccccescasnas Sciurus vulgaris. Dormousd: ty. .02570nress Muscardinus avellanarius ...... Muscardinus avellanarwes. Common Rat............ Mus AecwManus .rcscrrovesecesees Mus decumanus. Black Wat. ciscceeohecswas fy AACUUB casa se prarenusscete aaeed 99, VOUS: House Mouse.........0 by MUSCUUILE | iras canister sabons: » musculus. Long-tailed Field Mouse .. A dvnactceoteeses i: BYLVALICUB:F av aeate eee eras » sylvaticus. Harvest Mouse ......... of WUUTALUILB iavsnes taut tees 5 minutus. Water Vole..0.3 i350. 00i Arvicola AmMphidiUs....ccccorerees Microtus amphibius. _ * Mr. Miller, following Dr. H. Allen, recognizes under the name of Ptery- gistes, Kaup., a genus for noctula and leisleri distinct from Pipistrellus. But for the present it seems better that the distinction should remain in abey- ance until our knowledge of the exotic Pipistrelli is much further advanced. THCHNICAL NAMES OF BRITISH MAMMALS. 101 RopDENTIA—(continued). English Name. Current Name. Name Advocated. Common Field Vole... Arvicola agrestis ......... Microtus agrestis. PPR OW OIG: cicccecessesees Sp) ML AGLAMEOLUS. . 5. nn Evotomys glareolus. Sere Lee puys TUMAMus ..ncevcoeere Lepus ewropeus. Varying or ‘“ Blue” SO WUONUROUUS. aiccrctonsan » tumidus. PUREE Gieaeciie ove cie ce cc sese of COUNECULUS seorerecs » cuniculus. UNGULATA. PREM RI BOR ccc ccscpsssseces Cervus elaphus ........++.- Cervus elaphus. Pallow Deer ............ Bik AMD sa rvatccicleves » dama. PA OEMOGET Yon o's cise oson see Capreolus caprea ......... Capreolus capreolus, NorTes AND EXPLANATIONS To THE LIST. CHIROPTERA. With regard to the fundamental error about ‘“ Vespertilio murinus’’ referred to above, it may be explained that Linnezus, speaking in his ‘ Fauna Suecica’ solely of Swedish animals, con- sidered that there were two species of Vespertilio only—V. auritus with long ears, and V. murinus with short ears. The first is Plecotus auritus, and the second is certainly not the large conti- nental species commonly so called, which does not occur in Scandinavia, but is either the Bat hitherto called Vesperugo (Vesperus) discolor, or V. (Vesperus) nilssoni, and in all proba- bility the former, the doubt in no way affecting the generic changes involved. In the ‘Systema Nature’ the same names were used. It is clear therefore that Vespertilio must be adopted for the ‘‘ Vesperus” group of Vesperugo, and since it seems on the whole advisable that that group should stand as a genus distinct from true ‘“‘ Vesperugo,” only two of our British Bats—the Sero- tine and the Parti-coloured*—will fall into Vespertilio in its new sense. The other members of “‘ Vesperugo,” as a matter of priority, must bear the easily remembered name of Pipi- strellus. For those formerly called Vespertilio the proper name is Myotis. Full references are given in the paper by Mr. Miller quoted above, as also in the case of Barbastella (1825), which antedates Synotus (1839). * Kven this is doubtfully British, 102 THE ZOOLOGIST. INSECTIVORA. The nomenclature of the true Shrews has already been explained in ‘ The Zoologist.’* That of the Water Shrew un- fortunately involves a change, for the name Neomys was pro- posed as a generic title for it in 1829,+ while Crossopus only dates from 1832. CARNIVORA. The Scomber-scomber names in this group have already been referred to, and that of Putorius nivalis for the Weasel explained in ‘ The Zoologist.’ { Among the Pinnipedia, the vexed question of hispida versus fetida for the Ringed Seal has been settled by Mr. Sherborn’s researches on the dates of the plates of Schreber’s ‘ Saugethiere,’ which give hispida a year’s priority over its rival. T'richechus is now universally admitted (even by people who refuse to adopt the alteration involved) to have been based on the Manatee. It should not therefore be used for the Walrus. RODENTIA. The British Squirrel, Short-tailed Field Vole, and Common Hare have all lately been considered to be at least subspecifically different from the typical continental forms, as is also the Hebrides Field Mouse; while another form of Mus sylvaticus has been shown to be the same as the Danish “‘ Mus flavicollis.”’ These refinements, however, while of great interest to the technical student, do not directly affect the specific nomenclature, and need not therefore detain us here. Among the Voles, it seems time that the generic separation of the Bank Vole from the others, long universally recognized by technical writers, should be adopted in more popular works. The * 1895, p. 62. + Kaup. Entwick. Europ. Thierw. p. 117, 1829. Lewcorrhynchus, p. 118, and Hydrogale, p. 123, of the same work, become synonyms of Neomys. They would all antedate Crossopus. { 1895, p. 177. In his adverse note on this paper, Mr. Harting ignores the fact that, in Scandinavia at least, the Weasel does usually have some black hairs at the end of its tail. Shortly after the paper was published Dr. Collett was good enough to send to the British Museum a Weasel agreeing exactly with Linnzus’s diagnosis, and this specimen I should be delighted to show to anyone still doubtful about ‘‘ Mustela nivalis.” TECHNICAL NAMES OF BRITISH MAMMALS. 103 first-named, with the “Ruddy Vole” of Northern Europe, and the “‘ Red-backed Voles”’ of North America, may be distinguished by its semi-rooted teeth and more murine skull from the true Voles, of which our Water Vole and Short-tailed Vole are repre- sentative. The latter must of course be called Microtus, not Arvicola; while for the Bank Vole and its allies Dr. Coues’s term Hvotomys is available. Lastly, in the Hares we have a repetition of the ever-recurring Scandinavian muddle. Linnzus’s Lepus timidus was of course the northern, varying Hare, to which alone the name should be restricted ; the Common Hare should take Pallas’s name, Lepus europeus. 104 THE ZOOLOGIST. ON SEXUAL DIFFERENCES IN THE FEATHERING OF THE WING OF THE SKY LARK (ALAUDA ARVENSIS). By ArtHur G. Burier, Ph.D., &e. In Volume II. of ‘ British Birds with their Nests and Eggs’ (p. 174), I have noted the fact that bird-dealers recognise cock Sky Larks, by the greater length of the second primary of the wing in that sex. I had intended to illustrate the well-defined sexual differences in this species by a process-block (i. c.), as I did in the case of the Linnet, but unhappily when the wings were needed Mr. Frohawk was utterly unable to obtain examples for illustration, whilst at that time I possessed the male wing only. I now have before me eight wings, four of which (two right- hand wings of each sex) were secured, mounted, and kindly given to me by Mr. C. H. B. Grant, who shot these and other birds last December in Hampshire. The wing of the male Sky Lark, as I have already stated elsewhere, is especially adapted for powerful and sustained flight, whereas that of the female is altogether weaker in construction ; indeed, so greatly do the wings differ in old birds that a glance would enable the dullest observer to decide their sex; even in young birds the distinctions are well marked. As is well known, the first primary in the Sky Lark (as in many Passerine birds) is very small; so that by a superficial observer it might easily be confounded with the coverts. The second, third and fourth primaries are, however, the longest in the wing, and in the male Sky Lark these three feathers terminate almost at the same level; thus when superposed there is hardly any noticeable difference, though the third primary is very © slightly the longest. In the female the second primary is decidedly the shortest of the three and either the third or the fourth the longest, these three feathers in the female thus either forming an — SEXUAL DIFFERENCES IN WING OF SKY LARK. 105 angle of which the extremity of the third primary is the apex, or a regularly graded oblique line. It is therefore not strictly correct to say that the second to fourth primaries of the Sky Lark are almost of equal length, inasmuch as there is frequently (probably always) a considerable discrepancy in the length of those of the female. The secondaries of the male are distinctly longer than in the female and slightly less contracted towards the tips, which are bilobed (or, more strictly, bispatulate) in both sexes, the lobe or spatula terminating the outer web being longer in proportion to that of the inner web than in the female: this is especially noticeable in the larger and presumably older birds. There can be little doubt that the slightly greater width at the extremity of these feathers and their more even termination offer better resistance to the air, in flight, than those of the female, and, combined with the increase of length in these feathers, help materially in supporting the bird when soaring. A comparison of a series of Sky Larks in the flesh shows that the males are distinctly larger than the females, and, comparing the general outline of the expanded wings, it will be at once observed that those of the males are decidedly longer in pro- portion to their width than those of the females. When one critically examines the feathering, to see where the principal difference in measurement exists, it at once appears that the uncovered portion of the primaries in the male is dis- proportionately greater than in the female, and the emargination of the outer web in the third and fourth primaries commences considerably farther from their extremities, about half the edge of the outer web in the exposed portion being emarginate in the males, and about two-fifths in the females. Later on I hope to publish additional notes on sexual wing- structure in other birds. As arule, the male wing is specially modified to enable the bird to overtake its female; but some- times the development seems to serve the purpose of sustained rather than rapid flight; and it must be remembered that in certain birds (such as the Dunlin) in which the wings of both sexes agree in expanse and hardly differ in the structure of the feathering, the inferior size and weight of the body in the male give him a considerable advantage in flight. 106 THE ZOOLOGIST. ORNITHOLOGICAL NOTES FROM NORFOLK FOR 1897. By J. H. Gurney, F.L.S. Ir will be remembered that last year the autumn migration was very marked indeed, such exceptional visitors as the White- winged Tern, Greater Shearwater, Barred Warbler, Gull-billed Tern, Icterine Warbler, Bluethroat, Aquatic Warbler, Sabine’s Gull, Greater Spotted Cuckoo, Pallas’s Willow Warbler, Black- breasted Dipper, and Red-breasted Flycatcher followed each other in Norfolk in bewildering succession, to say nothing of what occurred further along the coast. The autumn of 1897 was a contrast to that of 1896; August produced a Pectoral Sand- piper and a Barred Warbler, and October one Tawny Pipit, while September and November were quite uneventful. The saltwort bushes at Blakeney were reported by visitors as being very destitute of birds, day after day “not a bird in them,” to quote from a letter. The only approach to a rush was on Oct. 22nd — (T. E. Gunn), and the next day Mr. Caton Haigh marked the - influx of birds at Humbermouth (‘ Naturalist,’ 1898, p. 26). The explanation of this dearth of migrants must be sought for in the unusual weather, and the wind. From the returns made by Mr. Arthur Preston, I’.R.Met.Soc., it appears that in 1896 the prevailing wind in September was 8.W. (mean estimated force 3.7) ; 11897 it was N.W. In November, 1896, it was N.E.; in November, 1897, S.W. From his notes the annexed table is abridged (Trans. Norf. and Nor. Nat. Soc. vi. p. 196 et seq.). 1895. 1896. 1897. AT RUG tS sok ads Wa N. W. September ...... 8.H. S.W. N.W. October 6 ciai58 W. S-0. 8. November _...... Sey N.E. S.W. Medium Strong Migration. Slight Migration, (Twelve rare birds). Migration. ORNITHOLOGICAL NOTES FROM NORFOLK. 107 But, as was pointed out last year, Norfolk naturalists have not yet altogether learnt how winds govern the visits of rare migratory birds. What we have learnt is that rain and wind and mist and unsettled weather bring birds to Cley and Yarmouth more than fine open weather. These conditions delay a great many Warblers, Bluethroats, &c., on their south-westerly journey, and blow Gull-billed Terns and Greater Spotted Cuckoos out of their proper course, so that Norfolk obtains them. When, on the other hand, the weather is fine, the autumnal migration proceeds on its regular normal east to west course, the travelling birds pass high over Norfolk and Suffolk without descending, and for the most part by night, and no one sees them. Now 1897 has had an autumn and winter of quite exceptionally mild and open weather, in Mr. Preston’s words, the ‘‘ persistence of anti- cyclonic conditions resulting in an almost entire absence of strong winds on our east coast.” To this fine weather we may fairly attribute the paucity of all kinds of migratory birds, without seeking for a further reason. J ANUARY. 1lst.—Two Common Gulls. 7th.—Shoveller at Hillington. 8th.—Green Sandpiper at Intwood. 9th.—Bean Goose at Yarmouth (A. Patterson). 11th.—Two Green Sandpipers at Haddiscoe (L. Farman). 13th.—Seventeen Shelducks on Breydon (A. Patterson). 23rd.—Snow-storm from the east. Partridges sheltering under hedges. Reports of Wild Geese and a supposed Polish Swan. 28th.—Good skating. A Little Auk brought alive to my brother at Northrepps, and about this time twenty others were notified in different places, one of which struck against a shed (Patterson), and another was picked up in a sheepfold, leading us for a few days to expect a repetition of 1895. Seventy Scoter Ducks were shot off Hunstanton; and seventy-eight Wood Pigeons were netted at Hempstead, which in some cases were voraciously filling themselves with the miserable remains of turnip-tops left by the farmers as too bad for pulling, 30th. My son saw a Great Crested Grebe at Cley, and 108 THE ZOOLOGIST. about this time Mr. H. Pashley—to whom these Notes are, as usual, very much indebted—announced a marked migration of Sclavonian, Red-necked, and Great Crested Grebes, all driven by the frost to the open water of the harbour. Local observers were reminded of the influx of Red-necked Grebes in 1865, and the same desire was observed on the part of everybody to kill them! I believe the migration extended to Boulogne, on the other side of the Channel. During January a drake hybrid between the White-eyed Duck and the Pochard was taken on Saham Toney mere, and was sub- sequently recognized by Mr. A. W. Partridge as the so-called Paget’s Pochard. It is now alive at Keswick, and agrees very well with my father’s specimens of 1845 and 1859, which, with others, are fully described in Suchetet’s ‘Oiseaux Hybrides, pp. 152, 711. It has a yellow eye, the breast, instead of being black like a Pochard’s, is a rich rufous, both head and neck the same, and a white bar on the wing not quite so distinct as in Mr. Wolf’s plate in ‘ The Birds of Norfolk.’ FEBRUARY. 2nd.—Quickly succeeding the Grebes, and from the same cause, flocks of Sky Larks were seen passing along our coast, escaping from the hard feeding-grounds inland, which after a fortnight’s continuous frost and snow threatened them with starvation. At Sheringham, Beeston (H. Fitch), and Cromer numerous flocks were to be seen, winging their way S.E., and against the wind, no doubt as far as Yarmouth, where Mr. Patterson saw them, together with Fieldfares and Redwings, and on to the Suffolk coast. 3rd.—Sky Larks still coming over Yarmouth (Patterson). 4th.— Larks passing Blakeney, Cley, and Salthouse in thousands (Pashley), just as in January, 1879, when the same phenomenon was seen. 5th.—-Larks still passing Cley. 8th.—Solitary Snipe shot near Cley (Pashley); an unusual date. 26th.—Wind strong. Egyptian Goose shot at Shadingfield (Daily Press). : | ORNITHOLOGICAL NOTHS FROM NORFOLK. 109 MarcuH. 9th— Chiffchaff and Wheatear at Cley (‘The Field’). 23rd.—Chifichaff at Karlham (T. Southwell) and Rollesby. 25th.—Norfolk Plovers already extremely plentiful at Thet- ford (W. G. Clarke, Zool. 1897, p. 248). 26th.—Swift at Lowestoft, seen by Professor and the late Sir EK. Newton; a remarkably early date. 29th.—Yellow Wagtail at Haddiscoe (L. Farman). 31st.—Several Martins at Hickling (M. Bird). APRIL. 1st.—A cock Serin Finch caught in a garden on the Caister road, Yarmouth, and another seen, the pair having been about some days, and being at first taken for Siskins (W. Lowne), would, if let alone, possibly have nested. This is in every way a brighter example than the female, also in my collection, caught in April, 1893. The Serin seems to be an easy prey to birdcatchers, but, though often imported to London as a cage-bird, it is believed these occurrences are reliable, and, unless the birdcatchers have duped us, it has now turned up at Yarmouth six times. It is a common spring migrant to Switzerland, where it may be seen on fruit trees in gardens, but not after the fruit. [As additional to those enumerated in Suchetet’s ‘Oiseaux Hybrides,’ three recently taken hybrids between the Linnet (Acanthis cannabina) and Greenfinch (Ligurinus chloris) may be here placed on record. On April 19th Mr. Connop obtained one of these anomalous birds, said to have been quite recently caught by a birdcatcher on Caister denes. On Oct. 26th another was taken at Rottingdean, in Sussex, and submitted to me by Messrs. Brazenor, of Brighton, who also received yet another, considered by its plumage to be a female, on Dec. 11th. Neither of these Sussex hybrids so much resembles a Greenfinch as the one my father had alive for some time. No. 10 of M. Suchetet’s list.] 2nd.—Ten Shoveller Ducks, probably just paired, and a Garganey Teal, doubtless a summer migrant, arrived on Hick- ling Broad (M. Bird). 8th.—Grey Shrike shot at Barton Bendish (R. Clarke). 20th.—A Spoonbill arrived at Breydon, and remained a few days. 110 THE ZOOLOGIST. A Dipper seen at Selbrigge Pond, Hempstead, this month by Mr. Upcher; the second time only that this species has occurred in April. May. Ist.—Mr. R. Gurney saw five pairs of Shelducks at Cley, and also washed-up bodies of a Sclavonian Grebe, a Little Auk, a Gannet, and several Puffins, Razorbills, and Guillemots. 2nd.—T'wo Spoonbills on Breydon (S. Chambers). 3rd.—Spoonbills still on Breydon, flying from there to Hickling (W. Lowne). 4th.—Thirty Great Crested Grebes on Ormesby Broad (W. Lowne). 6th.—Two Kestrel’s eggs in a hollow alder tree at Hemp- stead; from these, though exposed to the sky, the old bird must, owing to the depth of the hole, have had considerable difficulty in rising. This example is perhaps worthy of being added to Mr. W. G. Clarke’s abnormal nesting sites (Zool. 1897, p. 449). The eggs were only lying on chips. 12th.—A small flock of Curlew Sandpipers, some in very ruddy dress (H. Slater). 15th.— A youth of eighteen paddling his canoe on the Yare was attacked by a Mute Swan which had a nest: the craft was upset, and the canoeist had a narrow escape from drowning. 19th.—Five young Ray’s Wagtails thrown out of their nest by a Cuckoo at Sutton, and about this time some young Pied Wag- tails at Keswick were similarly ejected, but no Cuckoo was seen. 21st.—One Reeve, seen at a former well-known breeding place on our principal broad, by Mr. Lee. 23rd.—Spoonbill on Breydon (Chambers). 25th.—Perhaps the chief event of the year was the discovery this day of a nest of the Common Sandpiper (T'otanus hypoleucus) with its four unmistakable eggs. It was found by Mr. Oswin Lee under a gooseberry-bush in the garden of an inn by the side of one of our broads, where he was photographing. ‘The bird was plainly identified. ‘This is a discovery of more than local interest. Cf. J. E. Harting, ‘lhe Field,’ April 28th, 1877, though there can hardly be a doubt that the Sandpiper has nested in Lincolnshire (J. Cordeaux, Zool. 1893, p. 804); with this exception, these are the first authenticated eggs in the eastern counties south of the ORNITHOLOGICAL NOTES FROM NORFOLE. 111 ‘Humber, and the particulars have been communicated to Mr. Howard Saunders. Mr. Lee was too familiar with this nest in Scotland to require the eggs, which he therefore left to the old bird, but we never learnt if they hatched off. Mr. Lee had also the chance of watching « pair of Montagu’s Harriers which were breeding, and of seeing the grey male hover some seventy feet above the marsh where the female was sitting, and then drop prey —probably a mouse—which its mate quickly rising caught in the air. Another discovery was a Willow Warbler’s nest at Cringle- ford, almost five feet from the ground; Mr. Mitchell, however, refers to nests in Lancashire at heights of sixteen and fourteen feet. Here I ought to mention the abundance of Nightingales, which were also recognized by my son in April in Morocco, being then on their way to England. Also the finding of a Pied Wag- tail’s nest at Cringleford containing two young Cuckoos, and of a Spotted Flycatcher’s nest at Braconash, also tenanted by two young Cuckoos, one of which ejected the other. 27th.—The Jackdaws have been uncommonly troublesome, taking fourteen young Pheasants from one coop; like Rooks, they are always worse in dry weather. 28th.—Dotterel, female, ‘‘ telegraphed” at Holkam. 29th.—Spoonbill on Breydon (Patterson). JUNE. 11th.—Hooded Crow seen by Mr. H. M. Wallis. 14th.—A pair of Tufted Ducks on Wroxham Broad (Wallis). 23rd.—A Green-backed Porphyrio, male, shot at Martham Broad, about two miles from the sea; taken to Mr. E. C. Saunders (cf. ‘ The Field,’ 1897, July 8rd). Ee Eee eee eee eS SSS JULY. 2nd.—About one hundred Redshanks on a mud-ilat near Dut- fell’s Road, Breydon, considered by Mr. Patterson to be locally bred, the date being too early for migrants. 3rd.—Another Green-backed Porphyrio, male, shot at Martham Broad (Rev. M. Bird; cf. ‘ The Field,’ 1897, Aug. 7th). §th.—F ive Shoveller Ducks on Breydon (Chambers). 12th.—Wind E. At eleven a.m. a Spoonbill appeared on _ Breydon, where at four o’clock it was to all appearance asleep, 112 THE ZOOLOGIST. with a guard of about a hundred large Gulls on the uncovered mud, head to wind, the Gulls sitting, the Spoonbill standing with beak snugly tucked away into its scapular feathers. It permitted an approach to within seventy yards, and then flew, stretching its legs out behind with its long neck extended in front. The watcher says it remained on Breydon Broad until the 31st, when for security he drove it away, but in a few days, apparently liking its old quarters, it returned with two companions. On the north or Norfolk side of the broad the close time ends on Aug. Ist, but on the Suffolk side it lasts till the end of the month, so there a Spoonbill is, or ought to be, safe for some time. 20th.—A young Short-eared Owl shot at Horning, which had not quite lost the down (T. Southwell)—perhaps from the nest which was reported in May at Hickling. 21st.—A Green-backed Porphyrio, female, shot at Barton Broad (T. E. Gunn). 31st.—Spoonbill seen on Breydon (Patterson). AUGUST. 3rd.—Another Porphyrio at Barton, as I am informed by Mr. W. Lowne, who received it, and perceived signs of confinement, of which more presently. 13th.—A Great Skua seen at Cley by Mr. Pashley, who also reported some Manx Shearwaters, and two young Buffon’s Skuas. 18th.—Spoonbill seen at Cley by Mr. Barclay, and about this time one at Kessingland (T. Southwell). Pectoral Sandpiper shot on Breydon (Zool. ante, p. 25). 27th.—An adult female Barred Warbler shot by the Rev. Henry Slater as it dodged out of a bush on one of the sandhills on our coast (‘ Ibis,’ 1898, p. 148). There can be little doubt — that this is a species which is moving westward, and will become commoner. 30th.—A Richardson’s Skua with white carpal joints and edgings to the elbow of the wing, the chin and patch on the belly also white, brought to Mr. Pashley. Probably the first of this albinic variety which has been obtained in Norfolk—an in- teresting bird wherever killed. ORNITHOLOGICAL NOTES FROM NORFOLK. 118 SEPTEMBER. 11th.—Another Green-backed Porphyrio shot at Barton Broad, as I learnt from Mr. Southwell while absent in Scotland. This is the fifth of these unfortunates in the same locality; but it is impossible to claim them as genuine migrants, for, though with one exception in perfect condition and plumage, they are probably some turned out by the Duke of Bedford at Woburn Abbey, in Bedfordshire. Mr. H. Saunders and I make it only 120 miles on the map in a straight line from Woburn to Barton Broad; the instinct which led so many to the same place, and that place so suitable to their requirements, is very remarkable. Whether they began their journey together, or not, it is morally certain that they did not all arrive at the Broad district at the same time, being far too noisy and conspicuous to remain long hidden. The first, on June 23rd, had probably just escaped, but in August Mr. E. Meade Waldo,—who, together with the Duchess, have kindly given every information,—informs me there were about sixty of these splendid ‘‘ Pouwles sultanes’ at large, full- winged, and already quite wild in Woburn Park. None were reported anywhere but in Norfolk, so far as I could learn, but a Purple Porphyrio was killed in Yorkshire (J. Cordeaux). If any more are turned out it would be a good plan to put dated aluminium rings on their legs, and we could then be sure of their owners and trace their wanderings. We can only promise them the same inhospitable reception they met with before, so long as the reed-mowers are allowed guns, for they, like all the rest of the tribe of Norfolk gunners, are incapable of leaving any bird alone, and the persecution of Montagu’s Harriers aud Barn Owls is especially regretable. If these Porphyrios had been un- molested they might possibly have nested, as they did in a semi- wild state at Mr. Meade Waldo’s place in Kent. 21st.—A Shag, caught alive at Grimston Road by the side of the railway, is the only item in my diary calling for notice, a strange contrast to the list of rarities recorded for September, 1896, and to many of the same months in previous years. OcTOBER. 7th. — Wind 8.W. Grey Phalarope at Breydon Broad ~ (B. Dye). Zool. 4th Ser. vol. II., March, 1898. I 114 THE ZOOLOGIST. 9th.— Wind N.W. A female Tawny Pipit in somewhat faded plumage was netted on Yarmouth denes, and exhibited at the next meeting of the Norf. and Nor. Nat. Soc. by Mr. Southwell, who took the opportunity of giving a résumé of the present status of Norfolk ornithology. It has been added to Mr. Connop’s exten- sive collection, a catalogue of which Mr. Southwell has recently published (Zool. ante, p. 96). 12th.—An old Muscovy Drake attacked a Canada Goose with such ferocity that it completely disabled the latter, though three times its own size; the goose died from the wounds it had received. 19th.--Another of the chestnut Partridges—the variety named Perdix montana—shot by Mr. H. Galton at Sparham, about eight miles from where some were seen last year. The present specimen I am informed has the back and wings a uniform reddish brown colour without markings, breast bluish white, legs yellow, head normal. ‘Two of those obtained by Col. Vivian last year had the whole of the breast and belly a rich dark chestnut, almost chocolate-colour, reminding me of a Grouse (cf. ‘ Field,’ Jan. 15th, 1898). This is a more striking variety than the bluish or stone-grey variety, which is a pale bird with a cream-coloured chin, which also turned up this autumn in one or two places in Norfolk. 29th.— An Hider Duck watched on Breydon Broad by Mr. Patterson. NOVEMBER. Two Goosanders and four Mergansers are about the only things to be noted in this month; one Velvet Scoter, and an Eider Duck killed with a stone at Hemsby. Some hybrids — between Anas pecilorhyncha (the Indian Spot-billed Duck) and a Wild Duck on ponds at Keswick may be mentioned, though I do not think any of them are likely to escape and confuse county avifaunists. DECEMBER. 10th.—A Coot on the river at Keswick (very unusual) and some Siskins on the alders, a bird of which there have been an unusual number at Yarmouth (Lowne). Two Magpies at Northrepps about this time, and a Waxwing catapulted at Wells (Col. Feilden). ORNITHOLOGICAL NOTES FROM NORFOLK. 115 31st.—A flock of about ten Shore Larks at a certain favourite corner by the sea sheltered from the north-west. This spot for years has been very seldom without these winter visitants, which have never numbered more than nine or ten. Here they stand by choice on the hardest mud, which the Sky Lark never seems todo. I have kept two or three Shore Larks for some time, and had one which developed a partiality for orange mar- malade, being much annoyed by its stickiness, though liking its sweetness. This month an adult Long-tailed Duck was shot at Wisbeach (Bland), and a crippled Pink-footed Goose was picked up. 12 116 THE ZOOLOGIST. A HITHERTO OVERLOOKED BRITISH BIRD. By Ernst HArtrert. In a country so well explored and so well stocked with truth- seeking ornithologists as Great Britain, the addition of a bird “new to the British list”’ is always an event. Nevertheless several such additions have been made lately, but they were all stragglers from the far east or west; and it is, I believe, a long time ago that a resident breeding species has been added to the list. This, however, has occurred now with the discovery in England of Parus salicarius, Brehm. It is well known that the Marsh Tits, to which this species belongs, consist of a number of local forms, partly recognized as species, partly as subspecies, by modern ornithologists. Thus over the greatest part of Central Europe we find a common Marsh Tit with a glossy, somewhat bluish-black head, generally called Parus palustris. To it belongs the common English Marsh Tit, which has been called P. dresseri, but which hardly differs in colour from West German and French specimens, but is a little smaller, and has a shorter bill. It is no species, but should be recognized as a subspecies by exact workers. From it the Kast German bird differs much more, especially in colour; but, strange to say, this fact has only recently been recognized. Different from these subspecifically allied forms are the Northern Marsh Tits, known as P. borealis, and replaced by a very closely allied form in the Alps. These Tits are always admitted to be different from the common Central European Marsh Tits. They differ at a glance by the colour of the crown, which looks less glossy and more of a brownish black. ‘To this group also belongs Parus salicarius. This different colour is produced by a very different structure of these feathers. In the common Marsh Tits these feathers are deep black, rounded, and with strong glossy reflexes on the tips. In the Northern Marsh Tit and our P. salicarius they are brownish black, more A HITHERTO OVHRLOOKED BRITISH BIRD. 117 lengthened, without strong reflexes on the tips, less compact, and less strongly pigmented. The tail in the common Marsh Tits is almost straight, only the lateral pair being a little shorter. Lhe tail in P. salicarius and allies is strongly graduated, at least the two lateral pairs being much shortened. ‘There are also differences in colour, form, and size of bill, et cet.; but they are not so easy to see, and I will not dilate upon them at length. With regard to P. salicarius, it may be added that it differs froin P. borealis considerably in size, form of bill, colour of flanks, colour of edges of wings, and of the entire upper side. It is, however, as P. borealis is not known to occur in Great Britain, more important for British ornithologists to distinguish it from the ordinary British Marsh Tit generally called P. palustris dresseri, and I may therefore repeat that it differs from the latter chiefly in the colour and structure of the feathers of the crown, the form of the tail, and the more rufous flanks and more brownish edges of the secondaries, besides its call-note being very different. P. salicarwus, although described as long ago as 1831, has been lost sight of for a long time, and only quite recently our young friends on the Continent, Kleinschmidt and Prazak, have rediscovered it. I myself came across it long ago in the willow thickets of the Lower Rhine near Wesel, and was at once struck by the colour of its crown, which, however, I thought erroneously to be due to its being a young summer bird. No credit therefore is due to my observation, which was lost through my travelling far away into Africa and India, which ended for a time my studies of German birds. The specimen in question, which somehow lost its original exact label, was later given by me to the British Museum in exchange, and is therenow. P. salicarius evidently inhabits dark willow thickets and other swampy woods, so dense that the sun hardly ever reaches the ground in them. It is found on the Rhine between Worms and Bingen and near Wesel, and at Renthendorf in Saxony. When Mr. Kleinschmidt was in England last autumn he recognized two British skins, from Hampstead, in the British Museum, as P. salicarius, and as these birds were just then in fairly good plumage, I at once tried to procure some specimens, but only succeeded in getting three from Finchley. 118 THE ZOOLOGIST. Neither were we able to find them anywhere near Tring, doubtless from want of suitable localities ; nor could we procure any more from our correspondents. There can, however, be no doubt that there are many suitable localities in England where this bird is found, and I hope ornithologists will look out for it, and procure some specimens in autumn, as soon after the moult as possible, for it is a pity to shoot any when they are in abraded dirty spring plumage, which in Tits is rather poor, as everybody knows. More detailed accounts and figures of P. salicarius can be read in the ‘ Ornitholog. Jahrbuch,’ vol. viii. Heft 2, and in the ‘Journal fiir Ornithol.’ 1897, no. 2 (April). These articles show that the forms of the Marsh Tits by no means form a chaos out of which it is too difficult to find a way, but that with some study they become a very clear group. The British speci- mens of P. salicarius, it may be added, differ a little from conti- nental ones in being somewhat darker above, and having shorter wings; but more material will be necessary to decide about the constancy of these characters. In any case there is no doubt that another species, not a subspecies, must be added, as P. sali- carius, Brehm, to the British list. As this species is a resident bird, and as all Marsh Tits are resident birds, there can be no doubt that the Willow Tit, as this bird may appropriately be called, will be found all the year round in suitable localities in Great Britain and perhaps in Ireland. (goer) NOTES ON BRITISH ANNELIDS. By Rev. Hiwperic FRIEND. I. DisrripuTion oF TUBIFEX. In nearly all old lists in which records are found we meet the two entries, Lumbricus terrestris and Tubifex rivulorum. Under these two names were included respectively all the common species of Harthworm, and all the usual bloodworms of ponds, ditches, and streams. As the old Lumbricus group has been worked out, new genera and species have been differentiated, so that to-day it would be inadmissible to make an all-round entry under this heading; similarly with T'ubifex. Much has been done of late years by a few English specialists, and more by continental workers, to extend our knowledge and analyse results. The term Tubifex is now used not only in a generic sense, but has been raised to the rank of a family, under which nearly twenty well-defined genera are grouped. The difficulty at present is to know to what genus or species the old records are to be assigned. Evidently the only way to settle the matter is by making an accurate entry every time any one or other of the T'ubificide is found. Having examined a good many specimens from various parts of England and Ireland, I think it may be well to place on record here the localities and species about which no question can exist. Ido not profess to give a complete list of all the species _ I have myself examined, nor do I include habitats recorded by Benham and others; but simply put down a few indisputable items as a nucleus around which further records may gather as research extends. I have undoubted records from the following places of— 1. Tubifex rivulorum, Lam.—Gasworks, Idle, near Bradford, and banks of Aire around Apperley, Yorks; dykes at Pevensey and ditches at Dallington, Sussex; banks of Derwent and muddy backwaters around Cockermouth, Cumberland; Ocker Hill, Tipton, Staffs. 120 THE ZOOLOGIST. 2. Limnodrilus udekemianus, Clap.—Received from Ballintoy, Ireland, and reported in ‘ Irish Naturalist,’ 1897. : 3. L. wordsworthianus, Friend.— A species new to science found by myself in a pond at Old Carlisle, Wigton, Cumberland. It lives in mud at roots of plants, and when taken coils up as Tubifex does. When examined under the microscope the absence of capilliform sete at once shows it is not T’ubifex, while the fact that it has more than two sete in each anterior bundle differentiates it from Stylodrilus, a worm which is moreover readily distinguished by its appendant penis. ‘The worm is from two to three inches long, but owing to its habit of coiling up is very difficult to measure. Four to six forked sete are found in each of the front bundles. The blackish chloragogen cells begin in segment v. These cells often become detached and float in the ccelomic fluid. They are globular, and when injured burst and dissolve into a thousand tiny specks. ‘The first nephridium lies in segment vii. Dilated hearts in vili-ix. The tail, as in most Tubificids, lighter in colour than the rest of the body. A pair of trumpet-shaped penis-sheaths about four (or five) times as long as broad. In the living worm the brain appears almost circular, or like a square with the two hindmost angles rounded off. It changes in appearance, however, with every new move- ment of the worm. Eggs were found in as many as six segments or more. A remarkable feature is found in the delicate papille with which the peristomium and fore part of prostomium are covered. I have named it after the poet, because I had the honour to be President of the Wordsworth Institute (in his birth- place) when the worm was discovered. 4. Hemitubifex benedii (D’udekem).—Received from Malahide, Ireland. . 5. Branchiura sowerbu, Beddard.— Since Mr. Beddard re- ported this beautiful worm from the tank in Regent’s Park, I have received specimens from Mr. Nicholson, taken in tanks from Kew Gardens, March, 1897. I have also records for certain species of Psammoryctes and Hyodrilus, but as they are either new to science or still under investigation, the localities will for the present be held in reserve. As to habitats, it seems almost impossible to examine the wrong place if water and mud are present. ‘The worms, however, have | : NOTES .ON. BRITISH ANNELIDS. 121 a special liking for ooze, vegetable and animal remains in a state of decay, the foetid banks of streams in manufacturing districts, and similar spots. I should be glad if correspondents would supply me with gleanings from such like situations for further record. II. Brirish ENcHyrRzips. During a recent flying visit to Yorkshire I took occasion to visit a spot on the banks of the Aire at Apperley where I have often in former years found valuable material. The time of year was not favourable, as the worms had gone into winter quarters. I was fortunate, however, in finding along with a number of Tubificids one or two white worms, one of which is new to Great Britain. I have therefore to place on record F'ridericia striata (Levinsen). The spot where the worm was found is connected with a mill, and more than one curious find has been made in the same locality in days gone by. This remark is made lest it should be supposed that a worm hitherto known only in Denmark and Germany would be unlikely to appear in Great Britain. Ude has indeed given it, since Mr. Beddard’s monograph was pub- lished, as a native of Monte Video, whence it was brought by Dr. Michaelsen ; so that there is no reason why it should not be found with us. It has from six to eight sete in a bundle, but the peculiarity which struck me as most characteristic was the gizzard-like enlargement of the intestine in segment ix. My specimen has forty-five segments, the first five or six of which are striated, or marked by some irregular bands or vacuoles, usually three in each segment. Since I reported the destructive Hnchytreus parvulus, Friend, as an aster pest last year, I have found it by the score along with another species of Hnchytreus and the pretty Julus pul- chellus in my own garden, where between them they have almost entirely destroyed a row of celery originally containing about one hundred sticks. It is evident that there is still room for a good deal of research among our micro-annelid fauna. 122 THE ZOOLOGIST. NOTES AND QUERIES. MAMMALIA. CARNIVORA. Stoats turning White in Winter.—I should be very much obliged if any readers of ‘ The Zoologist’ could kindly give me any information as to whether the Stoats (Mustela erminea) in their respective districts have or have not turned white, either wholly or partially, during the present mild winter. Specimens of Stoats in the process of turning white wouid be gratefully received by me at the Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, South Kensington, London, 8S.W.—G. KE. H. Barrett-Hamitton. Polecats in Suffolk.—Since I received the Polecat (Mustela putorius), lately recorded (ante, p. 22), I have had the opportunity of examining two more Suffolk specimens in the flesh, by the courtesy of Mr. Travis, the taxidermist, at Bury St. Edmunds; the first obtained at Cavenham on Feb. 2nd, the second at Mildenhall on Feb. 16th. Both were splendid specimens.—JuLian G. Tuck (Tostock Rectory, Bury St. Edmunds). RODENTIA. Black Water Vole in Suffolk.—On Feb. 16th I received in the flesh a good specimen of the black variety of the Water Vole (Microtus amphibius), killed a few days previously in the stables of Hopton Rectory, which is about a mile from the Little Ouse, the Norfolk and Suffolk boundary. The cor- respondent who sent it to me for identification writes, ‘‘ No one about here seems to know anything about it.”—Juxian G. Tuck (Tostock Rectory, Bury St. Edmunds). AVES. Tree Pipit in January.— On the 28rd of last January, a very mild and sunny day, my attention was attracted by a Pipit perched on a low tree on Headington Hill, near Oxford. I had a good look at it with a binocular at the distance of a few yards, and another still better one when it flew across the road and perched on another taller tree. I have no hesitation in saying that it was a Tree Pipit (Anthus trivialis). Both this species and the Meadow Pipit are of course very familiar to me. The latter is common in winter on our low-lying alluvial meadows, but rarely occurs on the higher ground, and is certainly not at home in trees, as was the bird I saw NOTES AND QUERIES. 123 on Headington Hill. I think it not impossible that the Tree Pipit may _ occasionally winter with us; it has been observed in November and also in February (‘ Yarrell,’ ed. iii. vol. i. p. 570), and the extreme mildness of the _ past winter may well have helped to keep alive a stray individual who was hindered by some accident from joining his fellows in migration. — W. WaRDE F'owterR (Lincoln College, Oxford). Early nesting of the House Sparrow in the present mild Season.— In proof of the mildness of the season, I send you (Feb. 24th) a young Passer domesticus.* It was sent to me bya friend near here. His boy saw four together in the garden, and he made a snow-ball and threw it at them, knocking this one over. It must, I think, have been hatched in January.—H. 8. B. Gotpsmira (Huntworth House, near Bridgwater). The Brambling in Hants.—Very large flocks of this handsome Finch (Fringilla montifringilla) have visited the neighbourhood of the New Forest, and in smaller quantities the woods on the other side of the Avon. Some idea of the numbers frequenting certain spots in the forest may be gathered from the fact of a man killing twenty-nine, and wounding others, at a single shot. This reads very like “‘ murder,” and to a true lover of birds it is a sad record, yet the fact remains ; and I find that the numbers above quoted have in some instances been exceeded in other localities where the species has previously appeared, as in the case cited in ‘ Yarrell’ from the observa- tions of the late Mr. Stevenson, who records that forty-five birds were killed at a single shot near Slough, indicating how vast must be the flocks which sometimes visit us. In previous winters I have noticed the occurrence of this particular species only in very severe weather, when the birds frequented rick-yards and like situations in company with Sparrows, Yellow Buntings, &e.; but I am told that this season there is an unusually large crop of beech-mast in the forest, and this, notwithstanding the hitherto mild winter, may be the great attraction, for it appears to be a food of which the birds are very fond. Those I saw were literally ‘‘ crammed” with portions of the beech-nuts; some of them had the whole seed in their beaks, and the birds were very plump and fat. The man who shot them told me there was a conspicuously dark bird amongst the multitude he saw feeding on the ground beneath the trees, but it seemed to have fortunately escaped _ the fate of its fellows. Very little variation was observable in those I inspected, except that the tawny markings upon the breast and wing-coverts were redder, and the black bars in the wings more intense in some than in others, but not more than. would be expected in birds of a different age. In some previous records of this winter visitor I notice that a preponder- ance of males has been seen, thus resembling the winter flocks of its NS Duly received by the Editor. 124 THE ZOOLOGIST. relation the Chaffinch; but in the present instance the.sexes seem to have been pretty evenly balanced, although perhaps the males were slightly in excess—of the twenty-nine birds I saw twelve were females. About the — same time as the large flocks were in the forest, a flock of some fifty or sixty birds was seen in the fir-woods on the western side of the river, but so far as I know these escaped molestation, and, strange to say, at the present time (Feb. 2nd) they seem to have entirely disappeared from both localities, whether gone further south or west to seek ‘‘ new pastures ” and less persecution, or (deceived by the spring-like weather) back to their home in the far north, I cannot say. One thing is certain, they did not stay long © enough to consume all the beech-mast.—G. B. Corbin (Ringwood, Hants). Abundance of Crossbills in the Severn Valley.—I have noticed more I Crossbills (Lowia curvirostra) in the Severn Valley this winter than usual. — I have several times counted as many as a dozen feeding at the same time — on my lawn. It would be interesting to know whether observers in other parts of the country have noticed an abnormal increase.—R. H. Rams- BoTHAM (Monkmoor, Shrewsbury). Rooks and Buttercup Bulbs.— While walking in a large meadownear _ Kingham last January, Mr. H. C. Playne and myself noticed that the Rooks had been turning up the bulbs of Ranunculus bulbosus, which lay scattered in every direction over the field. ‘The same process had also been pursued 4 in other fields in the neighbourhood. In every case the bulb had been partially eaten by a grub, and it was this of course that the birds were : after. I have not been able to find the grub in the act so as to identify it. This performance of the Rooks is new to me, and also to Mr. O. V. Aplin, — who has studied the habits of Corvus frugilegus in relation to agriculture. | Were the birds in this case doing good or harm to the field? The grubs #) would seem to have been benefiting it by keeping down the growth of buttercups, which are acrid and unpalatable to cattle. On the other hand, A the Rooks were finishing the work of the grubs by pulling the damaged bulb clean out of the ground. — W. Warbr Fow ter (Lincoln College, Oxford). Rough-legged Buzzard near Ringwood.—In January, 1897, a speci- | men of Buteo lagopus was killed not far from the Avon in this neighbour- hood, and its occurrence in this locality being, so far as I know, “few and | far between,” I thought it worth noting—although rather a stale record— but illness prevented my doing so previously. The bird was a uoble specimen, although badly shot, and to a person not familiar with the — species its soft Owl-like plumage appeared peculiar, so unlike the compara- — tively stiff and close-set feathers of a Peregrine Falcon, or even the softer plumage of a Harrier. The specimen in question had been feeding upon fi} NOTHS AND QUERIES. 125 | a rat, portions of which were in the “crop,” whilst the tip of the long hair- _ less tail of the rodent protruded from the beak of the bird. I had seen the | species but twice before—first in 1884, again in 1894; but, if I recollect _ rightly, the present specimen had much more white about it than either of the former, and was, I imagine, an older bird.—G. B. Corsin (Ringwood, Hants). : Nesting of the Hobby in Hants.— From a note on the above subject | (ante, p. 24), it is gratifying to observe that this handsome little Falcon _ (Falco subbuteo) still holds its position as a breeding species in the county, certainly not the first occurrence of its kind. There was a time when the | species regularly visited the New Forest, and nested in the woods, coming about the same date as the Honey Buzzard (Pernis apivorus), in May, and on one occasion (as mentioned by Wise, I believe) appropriating an old nest of the Buzzard in which to rear its brood. Only a few years ago I knew of a pair nesting within two or three miles of Ringwood, but the _ senseless persecution to which all this class of birds is exposed points directly to its growing scarcity and eventual annihilation as a breeding species. It was formerly so well known in the forest as to have the local ' name of “ Van-winged Hawk ” applied to it, and though I have never been fortunate enough to find a nest with eggs, yet in former years I have seen both old and young birds, and more than once watched their graceful _ evolutions as they chased the dragonflies over the forest pond in the day- time, or dashed after the dor-beetle (Geotrupes vernalis) as it disappeared in the increasing dusk.—G. B. Corsin (Ringwood, Haunts). Little Bustard in Norfolk.—A Little Bustard (Otis tetrax) was shot by Mr. Goodwin at Feltwell, near Downham Market, Norfolk, on Jan. 25th last, and sent for preservation to Mr. Travis, Bury St. Edmunds, in whose shop I saw it in the flesh shortly after it arrived. It was in good condition and perfect plumage.—EH. A. BurLur(Brettenham Park, Ipswich). Varieties of the Red Grouse.—Although I have examined a great number of European birds in abnormal plumage at home and abroad, I have never yet come across an albino of the Red Grouse (Lagopus scoticus). | Numbers of this species come under my notice, and reports of so-called white Grouse reach me from time to time, but they always prove to be pale _ Yarieties, wearing, it is true, a bleached look, but far from possessing a really white garb. Such birds are usually females. Lord Lonsdale has ‘one, shot on his estate near Haweswater by Major Parkin, of Ravencragg, in September, 1893. i examined two similar birds in 1894, procured near Girvan and in Avondale. A farmer named Forrester, of Saughtrees, near Bewcastle, shot another—an old hen—at the beginning of October, 1895. But a handsomer bird than any.of the foregoing was shot last season on 126 THE ZOOLOGIST. Ellerside Moss, Lancashire, by Mr. R. Cavendish, M.P. The point about this bird—a male, which I examined in a fresh state—is, that while most of the upper and lower parts are either pure white or white faintly barred with pale cinnamon, the lores, sides of the head, and neck are rich chestnut- red, finely mottled with white. I forbear to supply a detailed description of this specimen because its owner, Mr. R. Cavendish, M.P., has generously consented to present his bird to the Carlisle Museum, in which it can be seen. ‘The case in which it is mounted contains also two of the hybrid Red and Black Grouse mentioned in my paper on the interbreeding of those two species (Ann. Scot. Nat. Hist. 1897, pp. 15-17). — H. A. Mac- PHERSON (Allonby Vicarage, Carlisle). Ornithological Notes from Mid-Hants: Autumn and Winter, 1897, —I forgot to mention in my last notes (Zool. 1897, p. 460) that two Hobbies came into Mr. Chalkley’s hands, one from Basingstoke on July 20th, and another from the immediate neighbourhood of Winchester on July 30th. A gentleman living in south-east Hants informs me of the breeding of the Garganey in his neighbourhood this year (I may not give the more precise locality). He first saw the birds—two ducks and two — drakes—in some marshy meadows on April 15th. After this he could — only see one pair until May 11th, and after this only one male, which ~ made a “‘jarring” noise when flushed. On July 7th he saw a hen bird © with three young ones nearly as big as herself, and able to fly. They were not seen after Aug. Ist. September was a very warm and rather rainy month toward the end. By the 23rd the water-meads some way down the river were swarming with © Pied Wagtails, mature and immature, the latter preponderating. I saw the first Grey Wagtail on the 24th. Pied and Grey Wagtails came into the near water-meads on the 30th; and throughout the winter Grey — Wagtails have been in great abundance. I saw the first inland flock of Larus canus on the 28th, some way down the river; and from this date the ploughed fields on the east of the valley have never been free from these — birds. It was not until Oct. 14th, however, that the first flock paid a visit | to the near water-meads; but from that date they have been more or less permanent there. On the 28th I saw a small flock of Peewits flying down the valley, as usual, in extended order; but I was surprised at the scarcity of these migratory flocks during this month. This autumn has been remarkable for the amount of Kingfishers in the neighbourhood. I myself have seen several in the water-meads, and Mr. Chalkley’s death-roll of this bird is larger than ever.* I may also mention here that Mr. Chalkley has — received a great many Goldfinches during September and October; I have not noticed the same abundance in the immediate neighbourhood. On * A circumstance much to be deplored.—Eb. NOTES AND QUERIES. 127 Sept. 24th T saw several on some tall thistles in the water-meads. Mr. S. Davies sends me the following notes from Langston Harbour :—“ Sept. 1st, several Turnstones and two Greenshanks seen. 16th, a good many Grey Plovers, Bar-tailed Godwits, and Knots about. Shot five Grey Plovers and two Knots. I saw four Little Stints near the harbour.” On the 7th a Wryneck was shot at Basingstoke. Mr. Kelsall reports an Osprey at Barton Cliff, on the coast, on the 10th of this month. Mr. Stares, -from Porchester, reports a flock of Pochard in a marsh on the coast on the 20th, and that he flushed a Quail on the 21st, while out Partridge-shooting. He also tells me that Mr. Carclers (the Portsmouth taxidermist) received a Black-tailed Godwit from Langston Harbour, and a pair of Ring Ouzels from Portsea Island. October was another warm month, with preponderating south wind. The beginning of this month was notable for the large flocks of mingled Gulls, Rooks, Peewits, and Starlings, in the ploughed fields on the east side of the Itchen valley. I have watched these flocks a great deal, and it has struck me that the Starlings are not good friends of the other birds, and usually end in being driven away. The similarity of the other three birds’ cries when together has also struck me. By the end of the month these flocks were quite broken up. The Gulls (Larus canus) that came inland at the beginning of the month had the brown on the wings reduced toa minimum, but those that arrived at the beginning of November had the brown well developed. This species, though very shy of human beings, follows the plough with the greatest confidence. On the 14th I traced the Itchen north of the town, There werea great many Dabchicks on the river, but I did not see a single Pied or Grey Wagtail, or any Gulls, except a few passing over. I saw six Snipe (Gallinago cwlestis) started from a bed of tall reeds on the river by some dogs, and two parties of Geese (sp. ?) flying high along the valley ; also more flights of Peewits, going in an extended line. On the 15th I noticed the first influx of Chaffinches (male) into the water- meads. On the 18th I saw the last Swallows at Winchester, and on this date I saw a Sedge Warbler, on the river about seven miles south of Win- chester. This is a late date, and Mr. Chalkley says that when fishing on the Itchen during the first week of this month, he saw a great many of these birds about. Mr. Kelsall reports the last Swallow at Milton, near the coast, on the 23rd; and Mr. S. Davies sends me the following notes from Langston Harbour :—* Oct. 2nd, shot two Knots. A flock of twenty Wigeon came in. One Grey Plover and a large bunch of Knots. Oct. 12th, last Swallow seen.” Mr. Chalkley received the following interesting birds during the month :—Kite, adult female from Shoeburyness; on the 2nd, a fine female Peregrine from Micheldever ; 4th, two Curlews from Longwood, two miles from the town; 18th, a Golden Plover from a flock passing over 128 THE ZOOLOGIST. Bishops Sutton; 14th, a Hawfinch from Basingstoke. With regard to the. Kite, a species which Mr. Chalkley has not seen for twenty years, I certainly incline to his view that it is a bond fide wild bird. Although part of the tail-feathers are shot away, the remaining tail- and wing-feathers are not at all rubbed. Mr. Stares tells me he saw about ten Hooded Crows along the coast at Browndown, the first he has seen this autumn (Oct. 10th). November was a very unsettled month, with a preponderating north- east wind. On the 8rd a good many Meadow Pipits came into the near water-meads, and I noticed a Carrion Crow among a great many Rooks, Jackaws, and Starlings. It moved off immediately. The Jackdaws are fond of perching on the Cows’ backs. On the 4th Mr. Lane Claypon reported a Herring Gull among the others in the water-meads. On the Sth a party of Dabchicks paid a visit to the near water-meads, but left the same day. On the 10th Peewits were still on the move, a party of four flying south down the valley; I saw another party on the 15th. I watched a Kestrel on this date playing in the most systematic manner. It pretended to be hunting for food, hovering for several minutes over nothing at all, and then swooping away to repeat the same operation at a distance. — I watched this going on for quite half an hour; then I went away, after having satisfied myself that there was no animal against which these manceuvres were directed. I left it still hovering. On the 22nd I noticed | an increase in the number of Larks and Chaffinches in the near water- meads. On the 23rd I paid a visit to Fisher’s Pond, and noticed that the Coots were still there. I also saw, in the wood bordering the pond, a great many Long-tailed and Blue Tits, and also a few Magpies. Mr. Stares sends me the following notes from Porchester :—‘ Nov. 3rd, saw a flock of Grey Plovers in Langston Harbour. 6th, shot a Quail on Portsdown Hill; it was a hen bird, and its crop contained plantain seeds. Whilst out waiting for Ducks at night on the mud-flats, I heard birds migrating over head, the calls of Fieldfares and Thrushes being especially distinct. 16th to 20th, good number of Wigeon about Portsmouth and Langston Harbours at night. 27th, very large flocks of Pigeons about the ~ woods, mainly composed of Stock Doves and a few Ringed Doves among, them.” Mr. Stares was also informed of a Fire-crested Wren caught on. board a steamer at Spithead, and a Spotted Crake killed by flying against telegraph wires in Portsmouth Dockyard. December. The weather was cold and still for the first part of the month, but subsequently very wet. Mr. Lane Claypon tells me that Pied and Grey Wagtails remained numerous in the water-meads, while the Gulls were fairly constant, with occasional very large flocks (6th, 7th, 13th, 19th). On ~ the 5th he reports an enormous flock of Starlings, on a ploughed field a mile south of the town; on the 9th a flock of Peewits going south, and a NOTES AND QUERIES. 129 Kingfisher and some Long-tailed Tits at St. Cross. On the 13th he writes :—‘ At about 5.15 p.m. a Pied Wagtail flew into a room where I was, no doubt attracted by the light. After flying about in a startled manner, it finally went out.” On the 15th Mr. L. Claypon saw the first Reed Buntings in the near water-meads, and on the 16th a large flock of Peewits, fully a hundred, heading south. On the 19th he reports a flock of 500 Common Gulls near the town. Mr. Stares reports the following birds :—Dec. 2nd, saw a Great-crested, Red-necked, and several Little Grebes, on the Hants side of Chichester Harbour; also a pair of Tufted Ducks. 27th, a small flock of Siskins, feeding on the seeds of alder near the Hamble river. 31st, a male Blackcap, feeding on some rotten apples that had been thrown out for the Blackbirds; it has been here (Porchester) for quite a fortnight, and comes and feeds daily within two yards of the windows. It is still here (Jan. 4th). I may mention that I saw two Blackcaps near Winchester, on Oct. 18th. During the last two months Mr. Chalkley has received the following birds:—Nov. 13th, Great Spotted Woodpecker, from the near neighbourhood ; 15th, Pin-tailed Duck, from Avington; 18th, Hen Harrier, male, from Andover; 23rd, Long-eared Owl, from Avington, and one on the 27th, from the neighbourhood; 24th, Saddle-back Crow, from Avington. Dec. 16th, Golden Oriole, from Avington. The following are some of Mr. Stare’s notes for the earlier part of the year, which I was not able to insert in my own notes then :—* April Ist, a - Tawny Owl, with eggs, sitting; 6th, a punt-gunner told me he had seen to-day, in Langston Harbour, a flock of about two dozen Red-breasted Mergansers (he called them “ Spear-wigeon”); 19th, large flocks of Swallows pitching in the reed beds, and numbers of Nightingales and Warblers about the hedges and fields; 24th, Redshank with egg, sitting. Saw several Swifts. Small flocks of Whimbrel (Nuwmenius pheopus) about Langston and Portsmouth Harbours, and several Bar-tailed Godwits just beginning to get the red plumage. F locks of Yellow Wagtails about the marshes. April 26th, Ringed Plover with young. 27th, on a piece of water not far from here(Porchester) I saw three White-winged Black Terns (Hydrochelidon lewcoptera), one of the Marsh Terns. ‘They only remained there one day. They are very elegant birds, flying about over the reed-beds and open water hawking after insects. Sometimes they would come and settle on some old posts that were standing in the water. May 19th, saw a Hoopoe (Upupa epops). I am told it had been about the spot where I saw it for more than a fortnight. 25th, Wood Wren with eggs. July 2nd, large flocks of Gulls in Langston Harbour, composed of Herring, Lesser Black- backed, and Kittiwake Gulls, one Great Black-backed Gull amongst them. 10th, saw a Hobby in the woods near Titchfield. 19th, pair of Pigmy Zool. 4th ser. vol. II., March, 1898. K 130 THE ZOOLOGIST. Curlew in Langston Harbour,among a flock of Dunlins. Aug. 2nd, saw a few Greenshauks in Portsmouth Harbour.”—G. W. Situ (College, Winchester). PISCES. Malformed Codfish.—In the course of my observations on the fishes of this district, variations in the forms, or-deviations from the normal shape in certain species, have come from time to time under my notice. The tendency to abnormality appears to be greater in the Cod (Gadus morrhua) than in any other species. Occasionally a Haddock or a Gurnard has presented itself as an example of the gro- tesque, but it is the Cod, whose numbers are certainly not in excess of any other common “ round” fish, which leads the way. The speci- mens in the illustration are amongst the number that have come under my notice, and are as follows :— A.—The normal shape. B.—A 154-inch Codling netted off Gorleston beach, Jan. 11th, 1898. The tip- end of the pectoral fins was exactly midway between the snout. The fish was only three-fourths the length it should have been for the size 4 of the “‘ head and shoulders.” Afalerso. ol /, C.—A deformed example, ——~ geen on a fish-stall of this town, Jan. 20th, 1890. It looked a veritable AXsop. Length guessed as about 20 in. D.—An example of the “ Bull-dog” variety, taken May 1st, 1894. Length, 16 in. E.—On Jan. 17th this strange-looking specimen was hooked by a sea- angler fishing from the jetty. Length, 16 in. It is a curious fact that most of the Gadus varieties I have examined measured this length. Ha — . shows the mouth closed.—A. Parrerson (Ibis House, Great Yarmouth). extreme ends of the tail and © NOTES AND QUERIES. 131 CRUSTACEA. The Struggle for Existence among Hermit Crabs.—It is well known that the Hermit Crabs (Pagurid@) have occasionally royal battles for the pos- session of some old empty shell which serves them fora temporary lodging, and the following account is of a proceeding which I one day witnessed on the Hastings beach. I had been hunting for Hydroids at low-tide, and just as I was leaving I noticed a mob of Hermit Crabs. In warm weather these are usually plentiful enough, but it struck me that on this Occasion they were collected together for some purpose. In fact, so preoccupied were they, that they did not pay any attention to me, though I was stooping over them. The Crabs were of different sizes and in various shells—Purpura, Natica, Whelk, &c. One which occupied a Purpura was rather a little fellow,, and ensconced behind the thickened mouth of the shell he looked very snug and secure. He was evidently the central figure of the group, and was endeavouring to edge away from those around him. At length up stalked a big burly fellow, and seized him by the front leg at the joint. Then commenced a series of smart tugs, perhaps half a dozen, and then a slight pause, after which the tugging commenced again. This kind of thing continued I suppose for ten minutes, and if only fair means had been used no doubt the assailant would have had to desist, but it seemed to strike the intelligence of one of the bystanders that in rendering assistance he might also serve his own ends; so, coming forward and going behind the Purpura shell, he seized hold of it. Then began again the tugging by the original offender. This con- tinued for some time, but even with this assistance no impression seemed to have been made upon the little fellow in the deadly grip of his antagonist, for he remained almost out of sight, and firm as a rock. Then another volunteer stepped out of his own accord and seized hold of the shell of No.1 assistant. There were thus two Hermit Crabs resisting the pull of the original assailant. No sooner had the second assailant lent a hand than the victim was instantly ‘ whipped out ” of his shell like a cork from a bottle! and directly the little fellow had been extracted from his shell No. 1 assistant slipped quickly out of his domicile and scrambled into the empty Purpura, thus ousting entirely the original aggressor, and made off with his ill-gotten property. It would appear, on considering the above, that the Hermit Crabs must have very decided preference for certain shells; for, considering that all the other parties concerned were properly domiciled, why should they have so coveted this particular shell? In this case, if I remember rightly, the shells of the aggressors were Naticas, that is to say, shells with wide open mouths, and not likely to afford anything like the protection that a Purpura would offer with its greatly thickened and dentated lip, and a stout shell into the bargain.—P. Rurrorp (The Croft, Hastings). K 2 132 THE ZOOLOGIST. NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS. A Text-Book of Zoology. By T. Jerrery Parker, D.Se., F.R.S.; and Wirtram A. Hasweti, M.A., D.Sc., F.R.S. Macmillan & Co., Limited. Two vols. Tuts notable publication appears under sad and unique circumstances. The death of Prof. Parker, which occurred just after the last sheets were passed for press, has been widely deplored. The two authors were respectively Professors of Biology at Otago and Sydney, were separated from each other during the greater part of their collaboration “‘ by a distance of 1200 miles, and the manuscript, proofs, and drawings have had to traverse half the circumference of the globe on their journeys between the authors on the one hand, and the publishers, printers, artist, and engravers on the other.”’ When we call to mind our school-day text-book, which was that of T. Rymer Jones, we can well appreciate the difference of the zoology of to-day and then, by an even cursory examination of these two portly volumes; and although ‘The Zoologist’ is largely representative of what is generally understood as Ethology or Bionomics, our readers must still frequently require a handy authority for the solution of many zoological pro- blems which depend on a knowledge of Morphology, Embryo- logy, Organic Evolution, Paleontology, Distribution, and Physio- logy. This text-book is certainly for the student. “In spite of its bulk, the present work is strictly adapted to the needs of the beginner”; but besides this purpose—and we all have not the youth and time to go through a new course—its value is to be estimated as a work of reference. Our authors divide the animal kingdom into twelve “ phyla” or primary subdivisions:— Protozoa, Porifera, Coelenterata, Platyhelminthes, Nemathelminthes, Trochelminthes, Molluscoida, Echinodermata, Annulata, Arthropoda, Mollusca, and Chordata. Each phylum where necessary is again reduced to classes. As © ee a a ee ee NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS. 133 an illustration the Arthropoda are subdivided into (1) Crustacea, (2) Onychophora—Peripatus only, (83) Myriapoda, (4) Insecta, (5) Arachnida. Each group is represented by an individual, of which a complete and exhaustive examination is made, so that a series of analytical types afford a clear insight into the real in- wardness of the classification. Thus Brachionus rubens is made a representative of the Rotifera, and a Cockroach (Periplaneta americana) is used to focus the structure of the Insecta; and in this way if the student is unable to obtain the identical species for examination, an allied form will easily be procurable, and will serve a similar purpose. In Aves, which form Class V.* of the phylum Chordata, the Common Pigeon (Columba livia var. domes- ticata), is chosen as the subject for demonstration. ‘The whole class is divided into two subclasses—ARCH@ORNITHES (Mesozoic birds) and Nrornirues. The last form two divisions: Ratite— flightless Neornithes, including Emus, Cassowaries, Rheas, Ostriches, &c.—and Carinate, in which, ‘‘ with the exception of some flightless species, the sternum has a keel,” &c. The classifi- cation thus runs from the Emus, Cassowaries, Moas, Ostriches, and allied forms now extinct and in the domain of paleontology, through the Divers, Petrels, Herons, Ducks, and Geese, when we reach the Accipitres. Then follow Galline, Gralle, Gavie, - Limicole, Pterocletes, Columbe, Psittaci, and we arrive at the Owls (Striges). After these Picariz, when the system ends with the Passeres. Whatever may be the opinion of ornithologists as to this arrangement, they will doubtless agree with the authors that—‘‘In respect of range of structural variations, the entire class of Birds is hardly the equivalent of a single order of Rep- tiles. Among existing Birds the Emu and the Raven, which may be said to stand at opposite ends of the series, present nothing like the anatomical differences to be found between a common Lizard and a Chameleon, or between a Turtle and a Tortoise.” The chapters at the close of the second volume are devoted to those topics which interest all zoologists, and prove a charm to mostreaders. On the subject of “‘ Distribution” excellent point is made by the comparison of the faunas of Great Britain and New Zealand. These two insular areas are not widely different in size, have each a temperate climate, a physiography of considerable ** In error styled Class VI. in text, vol. ii. p. 350. 134 THE ZOOLOGIST. resemblance, a humidity well marked, and yet possess totally dissimilar faunas. Moreover, Great Britain has a fauna almost common to the adjacent European continent; whilst that of New Zealand differs from the neighbouring Australian to a greater extent than obtains in the faunistic relationship of England and Japan. This may be trite information, but it cannot be too suffi- ciently emphasized. The “ Philosophy of Zoology” is treated in a temperate and judicial manner; whilst the true principles of Evolution and its methods as expressed by ‘‘ Natural Selection” with its handmaid Mimicry, &c., are clearly acknowledged. But it is well observed : ‘The generalisations forming the subject-matter of the philosophy of zoology may, in some instances, be so clearly and directly deducible from the data concerned, that it is scarcely possible for anyone conversant with the facts to refuse credence to the generalisation. But in other cases the conclusion is a matter of probability only, and one conclusion or another may be regarded as the more probable, according to the estimate formed of the relative importance to be attached to different sets of the facts or to different aspects of the facts.” The “ History of Zoology” is necessarily a compressed digest, but we are glad to see that our countryman John Ray is recognised as the first to grasp the specific generalisation, though his imper- fect efforts were afterwards developed and perfected by Linneus. We will conclude this notice with the last words of our authors. ‘‘Nothing is more certain than if the new ‘Natural History’” (the study of living animals under natural conditions) “is to be superior to the old—more scientific, more concerned with the solution of general problems—it can only be by utilising to the full all that has been learnt in the laboratory in the departments of anatomy, physiology, and embryology.” A History of Fowling: being an account of the many curious devices by which Wild Birds are or have been captured in different parts of the World. By the Rev. H. A. Mac- PHERSON, M.A. Edinburgh: David Douglas. THERE are certain subjects about which everyone knows a little, which possess local specialists, but which have never been treated in an universal manner. Historians are familiar “ oe — Ps _ Dem egeedt bd ahs Ba NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS. 135° with this phase of undigested information, and with this want of monographic treatment. Anthropology is a science which affords a special instance of how the accumulation, selection, and arrangement of facts can by competent and judicious authorities be made original contributions to the knowledge of our own species. The history of Fowling was a subject that could only be treated properly by an ornithologist, but was one that few ornithologists would consider came within their vocation. It was an opportu- nity for a ‘‘ book” in its real sense; and we are glad that Mr. Macpherson essayed the task, and nota light one. This collection of facts, with their orderly arrangement and subordination to the aim of the work, is more than equal to the collection of species and their subsequent taxonomic treatment; and our author in- forms us that his “plan has been to read through every ornitholo- gical work that I could find in the five or six languages which are all that I can possibly translate.’ Besides these, books of travel must and have been consulted, and we now possess a standard work which the reader can from time to time annotate himself with those stray records which do not come to all alike; for which purpose we are thankful for wide margins, good paper, and a book that will almost open flat—though perhaps this is too much to expect in modern binding. _ The introduction contains, under the title of “‘ The Literature of Fowling,” references to little-known works in English, Ger- man, French, Greek, Spanish, Italian, Norwegian, Russian, and Japanese literature; and also a dissertation on the principal im- plements used in the art of fowling. The systematic arrangement _ of the birds “‘is partly based upon that which my colleagues and I adopted in writing the Avian portion of the ‘Royal Natural History,’’’ commencing with the family Corvide. There seems a natural inclination on the part of most races of mankind to practise the snare of the fowler as a sport; and when commerce steps in and bribes the baser passions, the pursuit assumes a form of slaughter. Hven in India the White-breasted Kingfisher (Halcyon smyrnensis) is easily caught by the natives; at Vancouver Island the Indians successfully capture Brent Geese; in Australia the Black Swan (Cygnus atratus), when in moult, can be rowed down in a boat; the Japanese are expert decoyers ; Pheasants are snared all through- 136 THE ZOOLOGIST. out the Kast; while Willoughby writes that the Icelanders of his day were in the habit of snaring the Great Northern Diver. It may thus be seen that a history of fowling must embrace a wide area of observation, and might be treated ethnologically as well as ornithologically; in fact, should Mr. Macpherson issue a sup- plement to this very interesting work, or bring out a new edition of the same, he might with advantage peruse some ethnological literature, from which he would doubtless glean fresh facts. This publication is a standard one, and is of more than orni- thological interest ; it will be consulted and quoted by the ever- increasing number of anthropologists who study the evolution of human crafts and customs. Notre.—We have received the following communication from the author :— The History of Fowling.—I1 should be glad if you would kindly allow me to correct, through ‘The Zoologist,’ a slight misconception which is embodied in the above work. The description of taking the Bush Warbler (Cettia cantans) in Japan, supplied at page 129, should refer to the Chinese Great Reed Warbler (Acrocephalus orientalis) instead of to the former species. Both are favourite cage-birds in Japan.—H. A. MacPHERson. Elephant-Hunting in East Equatorial Africa. By Artuur H. NEuMANN. Rowland Ward, Limited. AuTHouGHs the principal details of this book are of an Elephant- or ivory-hunting description, its perusal will provide the zoologist with some facts and observations not only relating to the huge Proboscideans who were the principal aim of the expedition, but also as regards other animals with which the writer came in contact. There are also various conclusions scattered in its pages as to the restricted areas of Antelopes, &c., which will serve as material towards discussing some of the problems of specific separation. Mr. Neumann started from Mombasa, and his two expeditions were confined to Eastern Equatorial Africa, a region still teeming with big game. He gives a verbal picture of the profuse animal life he met with on one of his excursions from El Bogoi. A large patch of thorn forest, fairly open, was ‘‘simply filled with Hle- phants standing, mostly in clumps, here and there all through it.” “Such a sight I never beheld. It reminded me of pictures in _—-.. — © te. ee ae eee —en te Pe a NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS. 137 ancient books on South African hunting. In the foreground were some Grant’s Gazelles and a large Grevy’s Zebra; the bush seemed full of vulturine Guinea-fowls and Francolins; ‘paa’ (kirkit) were everywhere, and here and there one caught sight of a wallert or two making off, while small birds were in clouds. All the teeming life in this oasis was due to the life-giving moisture from the little stream.” It is to be hoped that this fauna may not as rapidly share the fate of that of the more southern region. The author considers that the neighbourhood of the small lake, called by the natives ‘“‘Kisima” and situated south of Lake Rudolph, is the extreme northern limit of Gazella thomsoni and Bubalis jacksoni, and that the Lorogi Mountains “here form a distinct line of demarcation in the geographical distribution of certain species.” Among the birds common to the shores of Lake Rudolph is the Large Crested Pauw (Hupodotis kort), in connection with which Mr. Neumann records an interesting observation. The Rosy Bee-eater (Merops nubicus) has the habit of riding on the back of the Pauw. “It sits far back, on the rump of its mount, as a boy rides a donkey. The Pauw does not seem to resent this liberty, but stalks majestically along, while its brilliantly-clad little jockey keeps a look-out, sitting sideways, and now and again flies up after an insect it has espied, returning again after the chase to ‘its camel’—as Juma not inaptly called it.” This Bee-eater was also seen sitting on the backs of Goats, Sheep, and Antelopes, but the Pauw seemed ‘“‘its favourite steed.” There are of course many habits of the EKlephant to be found scattered in the details of its destruction, but one becomes satiated by the recital which in the excitement of the field is “‘sport,’’ but ‘in the pages of a book reads “‘ slaughter.” A few more excursions in this region of sportsmen with the skill and pluck of Mr. Neu- mann, and the Klepnant must either ‘‘move on” or be practically exterminated. ‘The author is of opinion that,in the region he hunted, the Elephant “attains his greatest dimensions both as to bodily bulk and weight of ivory,’ and this estimate is largely based on the records made by Selous in South Africa. Lepidopterists will find in an appendix a list of the Rho- palocera collected during the expeditions. This has been compiled by Miss Sharpe, who describes three new species, which are amply illustrated in a coloured plate. 138 THE ZOOLOGIST. EDITORIAL GLEANINGS. At the meeting of the Zoological Society held on Feb. 15th, Mr. W. P. Pycraft read the first of a series of contributions to the Osteology of Birds. The present part (of which the following is an abstract) related to the Steganopodes:— ‘«« The fact that in the Tropic-birds, Cormorants, Gannets, and Frigate- birds all the toes are united by a common web, has led to the belief that these forms are closely related; they form the suborder Steganopodes or Totipalmate of authors. A comparison of the osteology of the group con- firms this opinion. Phalacrocorax may be taken as the type of the sub- order, which may be divided into three sections according to the form of the basitemporal plate. In Phalacrocorax and Plotus this is seen in its most generalised form, and agrees with that of the Ciconia. Sula is the nearest ally of the Cormorants, as is shown by the close resemblance in the form of the fused palatines, and of the pectoral and pelvic girdles and limbs. Sula, it is evident by the form of the basitemporal plate, leads to Fregata. The Pelicans resemble the Cormorants and Gannets in the form of the palatines—which are, however, more highly modified than in these families—as also of the sternum, lachrymal, and nasal hinge. Phaéthon is the most aberrant of the group, but agrees most nearly with the Pelicans in the form of the basitemporal plate, which differs from that of the pre- ceding families. Its sternum, though distinctly Steganopodous, differs in that the free end of the clavicle does not articulate with the coracoid by a flattened facet. Phalacrocorax, it is contended, must be regarded as the typical Steganopod. Sula and Fregata fall into places on the one side, Pelecanus and Phaéthon on the other side of this family. Phaéthon and Fregata represent the two extremes of the suborder ; they alone retain the vomer, and in them the modification of the palatines and of the maxillo- palatine processes is comparatively slight.” Tue Annual Report, 1896-7, of the Director of the Field Columbian Museum, Chicago, has reached this country. We read that very much — work—essential to a museum— has been done in identification, inventorying, cataloguing, and labelling; work that, as the Director remarks, “ is un- interesting, plodding, and tiresome, with nothing that appeals to the HDITORIAL GLEANINGS. 139 student and expert, or stimulates him to effort.” With reference to the recent expedition to Somali-land, under Mr. Klliot:—* The collection obtained is very valuable, probably the most important, certainly so as regards quadrupeds, ever brought out of any country by one expedition, and consists of about two hundred mammal skins, three hundred of birds, numerous reptiles, and about half a barrel of fish, obtained on the coast and at Aden. Skeletons of every species, in certain cases two or three of the same species, were preserved, and casts of heads and parts of bodies showing the muscles of the large animals were made. These will be beyond price when it is desired to mount the species, exhibiting as they will every muscle, artery, and, in the case of heads, the proper lay of the hair and contour of the face. Besides these we have over three hundred negatives of the people we met, the scenery of the country through which we passed, and the animals, living and dead, which we had obtained. These last will be of as great value to the taxidermists in their work as the casts, and they are both unique assistants, such materials never before having been secured.” We also learn that in the museum “the spirit formaline in which the specimens of fishes were preserved failed under the extreme low temperature which the exhibition halls reached at night during the winter, and alcohol has been or is to be substituted in all instances, and the specimens placed upon upright plaster slabs within the jars, thus showing them to better advantage.” *‘ THE final plans for the location of the buildings, ranges, dens, aviaries, and other enclosures for animals, and the ponds, walks, roadways, entrances, &e., for the Zoological Park in South Bronx Park, New York City, were lately submitted by the New York Zoological Society to the Department of Parks, and approved and adopted by the Park authorities. The Society has raised 65,000 dols. towards the 100,000 dols. necessary to receive from the city an appropriation of 125,000 dols. for laying out the grounds and providing drainage and water supply. The funds provided by the Society—namely, 250,000 dols. to be raised during the three years’ limit—are to be applied to the erection of buildings and the purchase of collections. Itis a work that may well interest people residing beyond the limits of New York City. The area allotted to the Zoological Park is four times larger than that of the largest zoological garden in Europe, and with the care that has been bestowed upon the plans, in order to secure the best results attainable, there is no reason why this country should not in due time be in possession of the best zoological garden in the world” (The ‘ Auk’). In last year’s volume (1897, p. 44) we drew attention to an enumeration of “ The Snakes found within fifty miles of New York City.” We have 140 THE ZOOLOGIST. now received from the same source—the ‘ Proceedings’ of the Linnean Society of New York—a paper on “ The Fishes of the Fresh and Brackish Waters in the Vicinity of New York City,” written by Mr.-Eugene Smith. The area included “ embraces most of the territory immediately tributary _ to New York Harbour taken in its largest sense.” The summary is as follows :—‘‘ Native fresh-water species known, 24; introduced species, 11; brackish water and anadromous species, 26. Total, 61. Adding thereto the probably occurring native species (12) gives a total of about 73, belonging to 54 genera and 24 families. This shows that while the number of species is not large, the families are well represented.” Of introduced species, the Carp (Cyprinus carpio), Gold-fish (Carassius auratus), and the Brown Trout (Salmo fario) are of Kurasian origin. The Quinnat Salmon (Oncorhynchus tschawytscha), from the Pacific coast, seems not to have become established. In the official ‘ Wealth and Progress of New South Wales,’ recently issued by the Agent-General, some interesting facts are available concerning the treatment of noxious animals in that colony. For the destruction of these, other than Rabbits, the amount paid by stock-owners in 1896 was £35,934. The numbers and animals for the year were :— KKAngar0es .....0casccn ene 80,639 | Native Dogs ........s080 /18,188 W allabie® : : . ca Me al ce ASCHAT ABOUL INDIAN WILD BEASTS. 159 a Tiger to take refuge in. Shaikh Boden proposed beating diagonally up the bed of the river, and that we should post ourselves half-way down the bank, behind some bushes on the _ upper extremity of the cover,—the disposition of the islands (on which was the only cover) being such that the chances were greatly in favour of the ‘Tiger being forced within easy range. This plan we agreed to pursue, and were walking along the northern bank on our way to our posts, when we were stopped by the cry, ‘Bagh hai,’ and on looking down to the bed of the river, saw what apparently was a very large Tiger stalking a herd of cattle that had come down to water. We crouched down, and had the luck to see the whole business. The Tigress, as she proved to be, when first seen, was stealthily stalking a white cow, which was some little way off from the main body of the herd, and, taking advantage of the slightly undulating bed of the river, had probably approached across an open space of perhaps five hundred yards before this cow had seen her; the rest of the herd were behind one of the islands, and could not yet see the enemy. The white cow allowed the Tigress to approach to within about eighty yards before she appeared to notice her danger, and at first seemed to be fascinated by the appearance of the brute creeping towards her, and it was only when the Tigress commenced to ‘increase her pace to a trot that the cow made off. The trot increased immediately to a lumbering gallop, as the Tigress had now got on to the firmer ground that surrounded the islands, and in a very short time she skirted over a small ridge into close proximity of the herd, which was then commencing to scatter on the news received from the white cow. The gallop turned into a charge, and in a few seconds the Tigress had picked out a fine young cow, on whose back she sprang, and they both rolled over together in a heap. When the two animals were still again, we could distinctly see the cow standing up with her neck embraced by the Tigress, who was evidently sucking her jugular; the poor cow made a few feeble efforts to release herself, which the Tigress resented by breaking her neck.” 7 What induces a Tiger to prey on human beings? Some _ affirm that it is only when age overtakes the animal and he finds himself unable to cope with his ordinary victims, Deer or cattle, that he falls upon man ; and it is stated in support of these views 160 THE ZOOLOGIST. that man-eaters are mangy and decrepit beasts, sans teeth, sans hair, and sans anything and everything that makes a Tiger the formidable creature he is in his prime. ‘This is occasionally true, but man-slayers have also constantly been found to be sleek, lusty, and in their full strength and vigour. It is not, therefore, entirely dependent on age and its concomitant weak- ness that the Tiger takes to this habit. I think the argument advanced by many observers and naturalists that the animal, either accidentally or by press of hunger, having once seized a man and found out what an easy captive he had made, and in addition that the flesh is palatable, takes advantage of this ac- quired knowledge, and thenceforth becomes that dreaded being, — a man-eater,—is equally reasonable with the former, and may be accepted perhaps as the more probable of the two. LroparpD (Felis pardus). Although there is but one species, there are two varieties of this beast. The larger is styled by sportsmen the “‘ Panther” ; the Snow Leopard is only found in the Himalaya range in alti- tudes ranging from 8000 to 10,000 ft. The Panthers grow up to nearly eight feet in length, and are more savage, active, and determined than many a Tiger. The colouration is orange yellow, passing into white below. It is spotted with deep or brownish black, sometimes distinct, sometimes composed of two, three, or even four points disposed in a circle and surrounding a space, always somewhat darker than the ground colour, and ~ shading into it below. Along the spine, on either side, the spots are arranged in parallel bands. On the head and legs the circular spots pass by degrees into mere points; the tail is ringed with annular spots. On the hinder part of the ears is a clear spot. In the true Panthers the rings are more regular than in the Leopards; but no two skins are exactly alike in marking. Panthers live more on cattle; Leopards principally on Dogs and any small game they can find,—consequently one is an inhabitant of the plains, and the other of hilly ground. Leopards are very plentiful in the Cossyah and Jynteah Hills, and when Shillong was first occupied, any Dog that ventured out of the house after dark was sure to be seized and carried away. Notably two large towns, Burpeltah and Hazoo, in Assam, were infested with A CHAT ABOUT INDIAN WILD BEASTS. 161 Panthers ; there were cane-brakes in their midst,—they were of course straggling places,—and out of these. almost impenetrable lairs Messrs. Mackenzie and Campbell shot several Panthers. I killed a couple in Hazoo. A Leopard is more difficult to cir- cumvent than a Tiger, as it approaches its kill in the most wary and cautious manner, examining every yard of the ground, and, being arboreal in its habits, it scans the surrounding trees, which a Tiger only does after it has been shot at once or twice from a coign of vantage. ‘They prowl about after sunset till dawn in search of prey. Another peculiarity of the Leopard tribe is that when an animal has been killed by one, it commences to feed upon the fore quarter and viscera, whilst the Tiger attacks the hind. A man- eating Tiger is bad enough, but when Panthers take to preying on the human kind they are ten thousand times worse, as they force their way into the frail huts of the natives and devour the people. In some places in the Nizam’s dominions, on the borders of the Nirmal Jungle, the average of deaths from Panthers was one man a day; whilst in others it rose to two! I have known whole districts deserted on account of these scourges, and it is almost impossible to exterminate a family, as the caves they generally inhabit have underground passages, and to smoke them out is impossible ; there are, too, so many entrances, that where to sit up is also an uncertainty. Yet native shikaries, by means of crossbows and poisoned arrows, kill a great many Leopards and Panthers a year for the sake of the reward offered by Government. Whilst a “ griff’’ at Secunderabad, three of us lived together. We had a Panther, then more than half grown, which had been captured when a baby and carefully brought up. We used to go up on to the flat-terraced roof and take the Panther with us. One of us would sit down at the further end with his back towards the beast, who was then let loose ; in fact, in those days he was seldom confined. Directly the beast thought he. could do so unperceived, he would stalk the sitter, who took care to stand up and face the brute before it got within springing distance, and it was amusing to see the innocent look it would put on, and gaze in any direction rather than to where the ottoman was placed; he would then be removed further off and Zool, 4th Ser. vol. II., April, 1898. M 162 THE ZOOLOGIST. again released, the sitter resuming his seat, and he would at once commence to restalk. At last he got too big and too dangerous, and we had to chain him at the foot of a tree, in which he spent the greater part of his time. I had bought two English Grey- hounds of some considerable value. They got loose one night and attacked the Panther, who, chained as he was, soon put both hors de combat, and they were so mauled that, though by timely interference we saved their lives, they were ever afterwards useless for coursing. We had a large Sambur, fully three years old. In passing under a branch of the tree, where the Panther was crouching, the beast sprang down upon it, and would have killed it, had not our servants been at hand to rescue the Deer. We eventually turned him and a Bear we had, loose on Mole Alley Race-course, and speared them. Shikaries sitting upon trees and machans have been carried off by them; and two Karens travelling through a forest in the Tenasserim District got benighted, and erected bamboo platforms on the branches of a large tree. During the night, the lower man was awakened by a Leopard climbing up the tree; he called out to his comrade, who was too sleepy to pay any attention, and was seized and carried off. It is uncertain the number of cubs a Leopardess brings forth at a birth; but achum of mine killed one with no fewer than seven young ones. Black Leopards are but a lusus nature. They are more abundant in moist climes overrun with sombre forests than in more open country, though they are occasionally found here and there in open as well as wooded lands. In the dense forests of Malaya and Lower Burma Leopards exist principally on the Gibbon Apes, as other game is scarce. Nature therefore adapts — their colouration to their surroundings. An ordinarily marked — Leopard would be too conspicuous, and would die of starvation. The fittest—the black—survive, as they are not so easily seen. A black Pantheress who mated with an ordinary Leopard had two or three litters which showed no signs of being melanoid. In Africa the ordinary Leopard, as distinguished from the Panther, is most plentiful, and great numbers are killed every year by the natives with poisoned arrows. Numbers are caught in traps, and Colonel Montagu, of the Commissariat, caught twelve Leopards and one small Tiger in a trap in his compound at Shillong. : A CHAT ABOUT INDIAN WILD BEASTS. 163 Tae Hontine Curran (Cynelurus jubatus). This is found here and there in India, but is unknown in Ceylon. Itis most common in Hastern Africa, more so than in India. They are more plentiful in Oude and Upper India than in Southern India; and I never saw but one, and that I was lucky enough to shoot, in the wild state. It is not found in Assam or Burma. I have seen many in captivity. We had a couple when I wasa child. They are largely used by native rajahs and other personages to pull down wild Antelope, but it 1s not an exciting sport. When slipped from the cart, in which he is carried as near to a herd of Antelope as possible without frighten- ing them off, he first cautiously walks towards his quarry, and with bristles erect. When the Antelopes perceive him, and he is within one hundred or even one hundred and fifty yards of them, he rushes at them with incredible speed, and if he overtakes one, as he generally does, within that distance, he fastens on its throat. If he fails to reach within that space, his wind being exhausted, he desists, and walks about in a towering rage, but soon allows his attendants to blindfold him, and to put him back on the cart. If he kills, the shikarie fills a saucer full of blood, and whilst the Leopard is lapping it up, he is hooded and led back. His call is a bleat-like mew. If taken as cubs, the natives assert they are useless for the chase. Only the adult ones who have been trained by their parents to hunt are of any use in a domesti- cated state. I never heard of their breeding in confinement in India; but I believe an instance or two has occurred in the large zoological establishments on the continent. None have bred in our “Zoo.”” The young, when born, are covered with soft brown hair, without spots, which is curious, as even the young of the Lion and Puma are distinctly marked with spots, which disappear in time. It is capable of domestication ; Dr. Jerdon, the naturalist, had one that followed him about lke a Dog, and was always sportive and frolicsome. Chitahs in a wild state, if wounded, will turn to bay and fight to the death. Bears (Ursus tibetanus and U. labiatus). Of the Bears of India, the Isabelline, or Brown Bear, of the Himalayas (Ursus tibetanus), which is allied to the Syrian Bears, is found in the Terai along the foot of the Bhootan M 2 164 THE ZOOLOGIST. range of mountains and in Assam. The Ursus labiatus is confined to the peninsula of India and Ceylon, although I did shoot one in Assam. How it got there was a puzzle to Jerdon, the naturalist, as he declared it was not to be found in that part of the country at all; but as I had the almost fresh skin with skull attached, seeing was believing. But I must own that out of a good many shot by myself and others in that and the adjacent countries it alone was labiatus, all the others were tibetanus.. Why this latter Bear should be so styled has been a puzzle, for it is not found in Thibet at all. 'The two Sun Bears are found in Burma and downwards in Malaya. The Sloth Bear is an un- gainly-looking beast. It has long shaggy hair, a prolonged and very flexible snout and lower lip. The fur is black, and the muzzle and the tips of the feet being of a dirty white or yellowish colour. Its breast is ornamented with a whitish V-shape; a ball placed therein being certain death to the beast. This Bear feeds on White Ants, fruit, and honey; but although such a great authority as Sir Samuel Baker asserts it is not carnivorous, yet I have come upon both the.lavdiatus and the tibetanus devouring the remains of dead animals which we had shot a day or two previously. There is just sufficient danger in Bear shooting to make it an exciting sport. Bear spearing off horseback is undoubtedly a grand sport, but the Urse are seldom met with on ridable ground; but the late Geoffrey Nightingale must have speared several hundreds of them. If a Bear is wounded when in com- pany with another, he invariably goes for his comrade under the idea, I suppose, that he has been the aggressor. They charge in a most determined manner; but when close by, they generally rise on their hind legs and claw at the sportsman’s face. I have seen some terrible wounds inflicted by them, principally on unoffending woodcutters. It is useful to carry a stout spear with a crossbar when following up a wounded Bear. My shikarie, Mogul Beg, was charged by an old he-Bear; he thrust the broad blade a little way into the chest, but, stumbling, failed to drive the weapon home. The Bear seized the cross- bar by the fore feet, and fairly drove the blade through his own body! They all have very long powerful claws, by means of which A CHAT ABOUT INDIAN WILD BEASTS. 165 they climb up trees without a branch to the height of sixty or seventy feet by simply digging their claws into the soft bark. The Karens, following their example, fill a haversack with bamboo pegs, and driving in one and standing on it, they insert others into the bark the whole way up; and I have seen them thus ascend the bole of a forest monster fully twenty-five feet in circumference, and without a branch for one hundred feet, after the huge honey-combs pendant on the lower lateral branches. A large Bear will be about six feet in length, and weigh close on eight hundred pounds; not that I ever weighed one myself, but I have been told so by those who had. They seldom have more than a couple or, at the most, three cubs at a birth, and the little ones often ride on their mother’s back. More people are killed annually in Assam by Bears than by Tigers. They are fond of rocky ground, and have their dens formed naturally by slabs of stone lying one on the top of the other; but in parts of Assam and Burma they lie on the open prairies in a dense patch of either long grass or in a thicket. Although Bears are very numerous in both countries, they seldom fall a prey to the sportsmen excepting in the hilly districts. When hunted on Elephants, they manage to evade the line, the noise made in forcing a way through the long grass gives them warning that their enemy man is nearing their lair, and they quietly shamble away. Why Bears should be so subject to cataract of the eyes I do not know, but it is a common disease amongst them. Hlephants dislike Bears, and fear them more than they do Tigers. The Burmese Bear, Ursus malayanus, has a glossy skin, with shortish hair, muzzle blackish, but face, mouth, and lower jaw a dirty white, throat black, dividing the white part just mentioned from a large heart-shaped white mark covering nearly the whole breast, with a large black spot in the centre, and a few minute black dots over the remaining portion; the lower part of this heart is continued by a white line between the fore legs, and widened out again on the belly into a large irregularly-shaped spot. The head is flattened and very short, with far more of a canine than an ursine expression. Ears very small, smooth, and round. It seldom exceeds four and a half feet in length. It is 166 THE ZOOLOGIST. probably more intelligent and lively than the Indian variety. The Ursus euryspilus is again smaller, and the horseshoe on its chest is orange or rufous-coloured; and in both varieties the the claws are exceedingly long. Nothing a Bear relishes more than the larve of the White Ants, and to get at them he will demolish nest after nest, a work of great labour and of consider- able time. Whilst sucking out the nests, which are at the very bottom of the Ant-hills, the forcible inhalations can be heard a long way off; and I have, on three or four occasions, guessed at their whereabouts by this noise, and slain them. They are great adepts at climbing. I had two Bears, both blind; they were quite harmless and almost tame, but if frightened and they struck a tree they were up it in a second. One of them used to get into the coolest corner he could find. Major Edgar of the 69th was living with me, and the Bear one night got into his bathroom, and rolled himself up amongst the watering-pots (earthenware chatties). The major, as usual, came home very late from mess, and in the dark went into the lavatory and stepped upon Bruin, who immediately stood up and clasped the field officer,—who had little clothes on, and was as hairy almost as the Bear,—round the chest! I was in the next room, and for a second or two I could not move for laughing, whilst he shouted to me to extricate him. This I at last effected without any damage having been done; but Edgar was so irate that I had to give Bruin away. Tue ExepHant (lephas indicus). This most useful and generally docile animal when domesti- cated is employed in many ways. It is essential for Tiger hunting in the vast prairies covered with long grass in Bengal, Assam, and Burma. There are two varieties in the Kast: one, the Goondas, have large tusks; and the other, the Muchnas, which have none, or only rudimentary ones. Some naturalists assert that having tusks, or the contrary, is a freak of nature, like whiskers in a man; but the peculiarities which distinguish one male from the other also extend to the females. The Goondas have a broader expanse across the forehead, the bump between the eyes and the root of the trunk is more prominent, but the hollow between the 4 A CHAT ABOUT INDIAN WILD BEASTS. 167 eye and ear—commonly called the temple—is less marked. The countenance is more pleasing, the eye brighter and kinder looking. The Muchnas—called by the Burmese “ Hines”—has the head much longer and narrower, the temple very much depressed. The trunk is longer and very ponderous, possessing immense strength, as if to compensate the animals for the want of the formidable tusks possessed by the Goondas. | If nature has not given intellect to these animals, it has given them an instinct next thing to it. One has only to hunt them in their wilds to learn how wonderfully Providence has taught them to choose the most favourable ground, whether for feeding or encamping, and to resort to jungles where their ponderous bodies so resemble rocks or the dark foliage that it is most difficult for the sportsman to distinguish them from surrounding objects; whilst their feet are so made that not only can they tramp over any kind of ground, hard or soft, thorny or smooth, but without emitting a sound. The Indian Elephants prefer forests by day and open ground by night, and feed on bamboos, wild cardamoms, plantains, null, branches (leaves) of trees, especially of the Ficus tribe, or long grass, which is abundant on all the plains. They are very fond of hiding in a wood in the vicinity of cultivation during the day, and sallying forth to plunder at night. They do a great deal of damage, not only in what they eat, but more in what they trample down and destroy. Elephants are at all times a wandering race; they consume so much and waste so much more, that no single forest could long support them, hence their roving propensities. Whilst the European sportsman in India oe only for the ‘brain of an Elephant, natives often kill them by firing at the point of the shoulder. Elephants have a very keen sense of smell and of hearing, and they must be approached up wind. In the dry season there are so many fallen twigs and dry leaves that it is almost impossible to come close enough to a herd to kill one; the slightest noise, and off they go! But after the jungles have been burnt and rain has fallen, especially when they are feeding on bamboos, they are easier to get at. Colonel McMaster, an excellent sportsman and naturalist, says of Elephants :— “Those who only think of Elephants as they have seen these 168 THE ZOOLOGIST. domestic giants working at any of the innumerable tasks on which these almost reasoning slaves may be employed, can hardly imagine how puzzling a matter it is to distinguish them amongst the dark shadows and irregular outlines that fill up any portion of a landscape in their forest haunts. I was for some moments— it seemed to me hours—waiting in long grass and reeds within a few feet—not yards—of the head of a fine tusker without being able to get a satisfactory shot at him, or even to see more than an indistinct dusky outline of form, or a dark shadow as his trunk was raised aloft when the mighty beast suspected that he scented mischief. Having at length made sure that there was something uncanny near him, he uttered a shrill cry and wheeled round on the very spot on which he stood, without exposing any more vulnerable target than his enormous hind quarters, at which it would have been wicked and wanton cruelty to fire, rushed down the hill, followed by his family (eight or ten unwieldly wives and sturdy children), whose progress, as they crashed through the dense underwood and undergrowth of long grass, caused a noise sufficient to startle anyone whose nerves were not tightly braced, and which my pen is certainly too weak to describe.” General Hamilton—“ Hawkeye ’’—wrote :— “On another occasion I was blown at by a wild Elephant, who threw her trunk out from behind the jungle lining the narrow path along which we were running to intercept the herd, and blew her nose so suddenly in the chest and face of the leading man, that he fell back right upon me. We had cut this Elephant off from its companions, and having a young calf to — take care of, she had loitered behind the herd. In this case we noticed the wonderful and extraordinarily quiet manner in which these gigantic animals noiselessly move through the forest when trying to avoid observation or danger.”’ Thick as is the skin of an Elephant, no beast is more tor- mented by Mosquitoes, Gadflies, and Leeches than he is. Hence his habit of covering his body over with earth, and squirting saliva about to drive off these pests. : I have never known an Elephant that could be invariably © depended upon for dangerous shooting. Elephants that would one trip be as staunch as possible, would, the very next, run ~ A CHAT ABOUT INDIAN WILD BEASTS. 169 from a Hare or small Deer; and a Pea-fowl or Partridge getting up with a whirr under their trunks would set them quaking with fear. Although in the wild state Elephants feed not far from Rhinoceroses, and there is no antagonism between them, yet when caught and trained, the very noise made by a Rhinoceros will send them to the rightabout. Tame Elephants are very subject to epidemics. It is to them what the rinderpest is to cattle,—they die off like rotten Sheep. The only hope of saving the stud is to scatter the animals as far apart as possible, and to let them loose to feed on aquatic plants, which grow in most of the large bheels of India. Elephants, like other animals, must die; yet during thirty years’ wanderings in India, and of over three in Africa, I never came across the remains of an Hlephant that had joined the majority through natural causes. What then becomes of their ponderous skeletons? Some say that the bones are consumed in the periodical fires; but what becomes of the massive skulls and tusks? I have seen every other wild animal of India dead, or rather have come across their remains; but though I had to wander over jungles in Burma and Assam for over twenty-one years, which were swarming with these pachyderms, I never came across the remains of a single one. Can the tales we read of in the ‘ Arabian Nights’ be true, that when an Elephant feels his last hours or days near at hand he retires to their Golgotha, and there dies? LEven if that were the case, how is it no such treasure trove has ever been found ? I never met anybody—European or native—who had ever seen the remains of a dead Hlephant unless it had previously been killed by human agency. Elephants utter peculiar sounds to denote peculiar meanings. A whistling noise produced by the trunk indicates satisfaction ; when they trumpet or utter a hoarse sharp scream, it is a sign of rage; a noise made by the mouth like “‘pr-rut-pr-rut”’ is a sign of alarm; so is the striking of the trunk on the ground accom- panied by a pitiful cry; whilst a noise like “urmp-urmp”’ denotes impatience or dissatisfaction. Elephants are caught in Keddahs, in pitfalls, and noosed off other Elephants specially trained for that purpose. They snore a good deal when asleep, and I have seen them 170 THE ZOOLOGIST. use a foot for a pillow on which to rest their heads. They are very human-like in many of their ways. They get a piece of wood and use it as a toothpick; they will plug a wound with clay > they scratch themselves with the tip of their trunk, or if they cannot reach the part they take up a small branch and use that. When thoroughly alarmed and seized with a panic,—by no means a rare occurrence,—scarcely anything will stop an Ele- phant. A sportsman incautiously took his steed up to a dead Bear, as he thought; but in putting her hind foot on Bruin, from whom no more sport was expected, she began to jump and trumpet, and set off at a fearful pace:—‘‘On looking round I saw that the Bear. had hold with his teeth of the right side of the — Elephant’s buttock. I instantly fired, and Bruin this time really fell dead; but the Elephant continued her mad career,—the howdah was broken amongst the sal trees, and it was only on arriving at a river where another Elephant was tethered that she pulled up.” There has been much controversy regarding the age to which ~ an Hlephant is supposed to live. The late Mr. Sanderson wrote — a charming book, ‘Thirteen Years Among the Wild Beasts of India.’ In it he stated he believed that these animals lived up to one hundred and fifty years; that is, that the ordinary duration of Behemoth’s life was one hundred and fifty compared — to that of a man’s seventy. In this I think he was altogether mistaken. The same sources of information—viz. the mahouts— were equally open to me. I had Elephants under me for over twenty-one years. My jemadar was a Keddah Havildar. I knew Mr. Nuttal, superintendent of Keddahs, for over thirty years, — and they ridiculed the idea of general longevity in these animals. Mr. H. D. Nuttal says :— “‘T have had an Hlephant trained in a fortnight, but it z generally takes two months and often longer. I have had ~ Elephants out Tiger shooting two and a half months after — capture; and five months after capture I have had them out — chasing wild Elephants in the jungles, and even lassoed others off their backs.” As to their duration of life, he makes the following remarks, and the reader must remember that this gentleman was a Keddah officer of very many years’ standing :— A CHAT ABOUT INDIAN WILD BEASTS. 171 “When the British captured Ceylon, a memorandum was found, left by Colonel Robertson, who was in command of the island in 1799, which stated that an Elephant attached to the establishment at Matura had served under the Dutch for upwards of one hundred and forty years—during the entire period of the occupation from the expulsion of the Portuguese in 1656, and found by them in the stables when they took possession of the island. The stories of Elephants living to an immense age in India I put no trust in, because with any favourite Elephants in former days (when the Jemadar had the naming of them) they had special names; and as their vocabulary of names was but limited, they used to give three or four Elephants the same name, as, for instance, ‘Pobun Peary No. I., Pobun Peary II., Pobun Peary III.’ Pobun means the wind, and an Elephant in the depét possessing swift and easy paces would go by the name of Pobun, and when Pobun I. died Pobun II. be- came No. I., and so on, and a new one christened No. III. These appeared in the office books, while the casualty rolls were kept merely on fly-sheets, and were after a while disposed of as waste paper, and therefore no check was possible to the true identifi- cation of an Elephant; and as no trace could be found except in the office books, which simply showed the same names of Elephants running on continuously year after year, it appeared as if they (the Elephants) reached an extraordinary age. But all this has now been altered, and better books kept. I consider an Hlephant to be at its prime about thirty-five or forty, and capable of working up to seventy or eighty years of age. An Hlephant’s life may extend rather longer than a human being’s, but not by much; but I do not believe in animals (except a very occasional one) living up to 150 years. There are mahouts whose fathers, grandfathers, and great-great-great-grandfathers were all mahouts, and my opinion is founded on theirs, supple- mented by my own observations of the past thirty years.” Rurnoceros (Rhinoceros unicornis). There are three well-known varieties of Rhinoceros found in India, and perhaps there are two other varieties. FR. indicus is the largest, the dimensions of one I killed being—extreme length 172 HE ZOOLOGIST. 123 ft., tail 2 ft., height 6 ft.2in., horn 14 in. As a rule all Rhinoceroses are inoffensive; they inhabit such remote localities that they can seldom do damage to cultivation; yet if some ryot cultivates a patch of ground, and the pachyderms get scent of it, they will soon devour it. They are nocturnal by habit, and retire to dense thickets in the midst of a swamp soon after sun- rise. It is naturally a timid animal, more anxious to escape than fight, and, notwithstanding their thick hides, far easier to kill than a Buffalo. It is an exploded idea that their skins are impenetrable. The outer cuticle offers no great resistance whilst on the living animal, but when removed and dried in the sun it will turn aside an ordinary bullet fired with a moderate charge of powder; yet heavy rifles with large bores and immense driving power behind are absolutely requisite, for the vital spots have between them and the skin such a mass of blubber, muscle, and ~ bone that only a hardened ball driven as above described can reach them. If shot behind the ear an ordinary smooth-bore will account for them. I have seen a shikar knife driven in to the hilt behind the shoulder of one just killed by an ordinary man. The best material to mix with lead to harden the bullets is quicksilver. It should not be allowed to remain long in the crucible, as it will then evaporate; one-twelfth of quicksilver is sufficient. If too much is used the bullet gets brittle and flies to pieces on impact. The R. indicus has only one horn, seldom 18 in. long, gener- ally a good deal less; this is liable to fall off through injury or disease, but another will grow in its place. It is formed bya coagulation of hair, and the Indian variety only uses it to dig up roots, and never as a weapon of attack, like the African pachy- derms. It has two formidable tusks in the lower jaw, and with one of them he can cut an Elephant’s leg to the bone; and in season they fight a good deal amongst themselves, for I have seen not only the males but the cows scored all over. The skin is exceedingly thick, with a deep fold at the setting-on of the head, another behind the shoulder, and another in front of the thighs; two large incisors in each jaw, with two smaller intermediate ones below, and two still smaller outside the upper incisors, not always present. General colour dusky black. They are very plentiful along the Terai, and in the Durrung, Nowgong, and Goalpara A CHAT ABOUT INDIAN WILD BEASTS. 173 districts of Assam; and I believe are found also in the Yonza- leen, Arrakan, and Yomah ranges in Burma. In the primeval forests there does not seem to be any hostility between the Elephant, Rhinoceros, and Buffalo. I have seen all three feeding within a few yards of one another, and I have also seen Rhinoceros and Buffaloes lying down together in the same mud-hole. But the domesticated Elephants dread these beasts far more than they do any other, why has always been to mea puzzle. When disturbed a Rhinoceros makes a peculiarly squeaking noise; directly an Elephant hears this ninety-nine - times out of a hundred he seeks safety in flight. If the beast is quiet your steed will go up pretty close, but not if it utters its ery. If the ball is placed in the centre of the shield, rather low down over the shoulder, it penetrates the heart; if behind the shoulder the lungs are perforated. The beast makes off full pelt, uttering its squeak, but in a few minutes it falls down, and in its dying moments makes a noise which once heard can never be forgotten, and is a sure sign of approaching dissolution. A pecu- larity of this beast is, that whilst it remains in a locality it will deposit its ordure only on one spot, and visits it for that purpose once when it commences feeding at night, and again before leaving off soon after daybreak. Considering the great value put on the flesh, hide, and horn of the animal, I am astonished that any are left alive. Alla native shikarie has to do, is to dig a pit near this mound, and lie in wait until its usual visit, and then to pot it. _ The Assamese do not waste a morsel of the flesh. The shields over the shoulders are dried in the sun; the rest of the hide is cut into strips, roasted over a charcoal fire, and devoured by them much as is the crackling of a pig by most Kuropeans. The horn, useless as a trophy to British sportsmen, is greatly prized by them, and has a purely fictitious value; they will pay as much as forty-five rupees a seer (2 lb.) for them. They invert them, Store them in their namrghurs, place water in the cone at their base, and believe that it is an antidote to poison if partaken inwardly. Even the Maiwaries, strict vegetarians, have asked | me to bring them the dried tongues; they pulverise them, and partake of a little when they are ill, and believe that it is a sovereign remedy against all diseases. 174 THE ZOOLOGIST. Although timid and anything but pugnacious, if driven to a corner and sore from wounds they will charge savagely. I never had one close with an Elephant of mine, though I have had them several times within a foot or two, but always managed to drop them before they did any harm; but I had an Elephant which I bought from Tye of Koliabar, a good and successful tea-planter, who had been mauled by one, and she was as good on Rhinoceros as an English pointer is on partridges. If there was one within two hundred yards of her, and she scented him, off she would go, and nothing in the world would stop her. At times they are gregarious, and Jackson, Adjutant of the 48rd Assam Light Infantry, and I came across fully twenty, if not more, in a (com- paratively speaking) small patch of long grass and reeds, and dropped four and lost several others severely wounded; but there was an impenetrable jungle close at hand, into which they took refuge, and there was no following them up there. Tue Lesser Ruinoceros (Rhinoceros sondaicus). These are distinguished by their size, by their shields being less prominent, and their skins covered with square angular tubercles. The grow up to 4} ft. high—a monster may be 5 ft. These Rhinos are found in the Sonderbunds, in the delta of the Ganges, and extend throughout Assam, Sylhet, the Garrow Hills, Tipperah, Chittagong into Arrakan, and Burma, probably extending into the western provinces of China. The Burmese dread them very much, and declare that if they see a camp-fire they rush at and devour it! They live in swamps, almost quag- — mires and quicksands, between the lower ranges of the mountains ~ in Burma, where it is impossible for a sportsman to get at them, E though I shot a two-horned variety once near Cape Negrais by — sitting up at night for one; but the sport is not worth the candle. — The tortures we underwent that night from mosquitoes and sand- — flies I shall never forget. j The ordinary R. swmatrensis is the best known two-horned — variety. It is common in Burma and Malaya. Its. body is © covered with bristles, and the folds of the skin are deep, especially — that behind the shoulder; the folds on the neck are not very dis: — tinct. The horns are generally mere knobs, but the one I shot Oe es ee ee ae A CHAT ABOUT INDIAN WILD BEASTS. 175 had a very fair front horn measuring fully nine inches, whilst that behind was little more than an inch or two. In 1868 Captain Hood, Superintendent of Keddahs, and Mr. H. W. Wiches captured a new variety in Chittagong, and it has been named the Hairy-eared Rhinoceros (R. lasiotis). It has long hairy fringe to the ears, and long reddish hair on the body, the skin fine and granulated, the tail shorter. The only known Specimen is, or was a short time ago, in our “ Zoo,”’ having been purchased for £1250.* All Rhinoceroses, if caught young, are easily tamed. A dhoobey (washerman) had one for some time in Gowhatty, and it did not mind carrying burdens or letting people ride it. It is rather profitable to catch the little ones. If a cow with acalf is killed, the little one remains near the carcass. All Assamese villages have nets for catching various beasts, from Deer to Buffaloes, and it is easy to surround and capture the little one. One I captured was more savage than a Tiger ; it was tethered by all four legs, and with a rope over its neck. It rushed open-mouthed at any- one it saw the first day, but soon quieted down. My two shikaries, Sookur (mahout) and Seetaram, his uncle, knew how to manage these animals. After grilling in the sun many hours Sookur poured a little milk over its head, and as it trickled down the little one curled up its lips; a little of the nourishment got into its mouth, which it greatly appreciated, and it readily took all that was given it. ‘The next morning plantains mashed in milk were given to it. After three days it would follow Sookur about anywhere, and in a week or ten days it was quite tame. I had two of them, and sold them to Jamrach’s agent, an Afghan, for 1200 rupees, delivered in Gowhatty ; but I believe I ought to have got double the amount. The milk of a cow Rhinoceros is thin and sweet, very like a woman’s in the earlier stages of nursing. One I shot was milked by my seik overseer, and he got more than two quarts from it. I tasted it just to see what it was like. All Rhinoceroses live on herbage, long grass, null, wild carda- mom, and branches of trees. The upper lip protrudes beyond the lower, and is very pliable. They delight to lhe in mud-holes, -and I have even shot them lying in a clear rippling stream. I have shot them right and left with one ball each, on an occasion ; but frequently I have killed them with but one balleach. Though * Vide ante, p. 142.—ED. 176 THE ZOOLOGIST. the would-be critic of ‘ Land and Water’ said ‘‘ that was more than he could believe,’ I wonder what he would say to two having been killed by the same ball? I was not present, but knew all the sportsmen who were—when it was believed that, although Colonel Campbell fired two shots, they were at animals some way apart; whereas, when they went to examine the one that had fallen dead, they found another freshly killed lying alongside. It was an extraordinary fluke, of course, but I believe it occurred.* Tue Tarrr (Tapirus indicus). It is odd that this pachyderm should be found only in Malaya ~ and the Tenasserim Provinces in Asia, and again in South America. There is very little difference in the two, the Asiatic being somewhat the larger. They inhabit the inmost recesses of the densest forests, and are nocturnal in their habits. They possess short and movable trunks, by which they convey — their food into their mouths. They have no mane, and the general colour of the hair is black. There is a white patch on the back and rump, and the sides of the belly are also white. They are easily tamed, and become as familiar asa dog. They possess immense strength, and although they can force their way through any forest, they yet have regular tracks which they follow, and which lead to a considerable number of them being shot, as skikaries lie in wait for them. The hides are valuable, and the natives like the flesh. They, like Rhinoceroses, must have marshy land handy to retire to; they swim and dive well, and are harmless, unless wounded and cornered, when they show fight. At times the people imitate their cry, and as they approach kill them. Tue Piamy Hoa (Sus salvanius). In the vast dooars lying at the foot of the Bhootan range I have often put up small sounders of what I took to be young porkers deprived of their parents, and having to shift for them- selves; so I never molested them. But on one occasion I had to go into Bagh dooar, at the embouchure of the Manass River, late comrade Von Hohnel shot two Rhinoceroses dead with one ball from a Minnlicher 25-bore rifle! 7 A re * Mr. Chanler, in his ‘Through Jungle and Desert,’ records that his” A CHAT ABOUT. INDIAN WILD BHASTS. 177 in the season; the freshets had already commenced, and I had great difficulty in crossing the river. All the islands were not submerged, and as Deer abounded, and I wanted meat for my numerous followers, I set to work to slay them. Seeing some of these small Pigs, and noticing that one about the size of a large Hare was inclined to be pugnacious, I thought I would like a sucking pig for myself, and shot it. My delight may be imagined when I found it to be a Pigmy Boar. I tried to obtain others, but failed. When young these animals are striped like the young of the Wild Pig. The males continue with the sounders, and are their resolute defenders. Zool. 4th ser. vol. Ij April, 1898. N 178 THE ZOOLOGIST. SOME NOTES ON THE STALK-EYED CRUSTACEA OF GREAT YARMOUTH. By Artuur PATTERSON. THE same remarks which have in a previous contribution been applied to the Fishes* hold good in relation to the Crustacea, as far as unsuitability of the tides, &c., to their habits are concerned—“ the seaboard in the more immediate neighbourhood of Great Yarmouth is not, in my estimation, favourable, .... the flat, sandy, shifting nature of the bottom affording but little shelter, although in the finer months it abounds in (certain) Crustacea and Entomostraca.” With the exception of these common species which, in individual numbers, may be termed “legion,” the search for rare and curious forms proves a very unsatisfactory one, an almost entire absence of sea- weeds, and no rocky bottom at all, denying harbour (or shelter), while other conditions that appear to be necessary to the welfare of the family are also absent. Such a comparatively barren field has found few, if any, local workers interested in this particular branch of zoological research. The Pagets referred to this when cursorily noticing the Mollusca and Crustacea t— “Excellent opportunities would be found for pursuing the study — of a portion of a most extensive class hitherto entirely neglected here, and which do not seem to have received nearly the atten- tion which they deserve in any part of the kingdom: these are the Mollusca, or shells, and the Crustacea of our coasts, in which — there is a most wide and unbeaten field of interest.” It was in 1889 that I first commenced recording such Stalk- eyed Crustaceans as came to hand, and till then not a list had been made. It was to the shrimpers my thoughts naturally turned, for no better allies could be found, if they could only be * “The Marine and Fresh-water Fishes of Great Yarmouth and its neighbouring Coasts, Rivers, and Broads,” ‘The Zoologist,’ 1897, pp. 589-567. +‘ Sketch of the Natural History of Yarmouth and its Neighbourhood,’ by C. J. & James Paget, 1834; introduction, p. xvi. ‘ STALK-EYED CRUSTACEA OF GREAT YARMOUTH. 179 sufficiently interested in the subject as they had been in the matter of fishes; although without a doubt it was the chances of earning a little spending money that induced them rather than any other. Certain circumstances (chiefly in connection with the vulgar “struggle for existence’”’) drew me away from the pursuit of the Crustaceans after 1892, or the list might have been more exten- sive. JI am hoping in 1898 to again pursue the subject in conjunction with the Sessile-eyed Crustaceans. Remarkably few Specimens, alive or dead, have turned up at the high-water mark, or had they, the Sandhoppers (Talitrus locusta), which abound in the tidal refuse, had made short work of them. The eighty shrimp-boats, each carrying twelve-foot-beamed dredges, cover- ing when in action and working several hours daily a net-frontage of nearly 700 yards, are responsible for the majority of the “finds” here recorded. And it will be a matter for sur- prise that the list is such a small one, seeing that the myriads of sizeable Shrimps and Aisop’s Prawns have each to pass through the shrimpers’ fingers ; the smaller are, however, riddled back into the water before sorting. The numbers of the commoner species frequenting the road- stead must be prodigious. Shrimping begins with the first open days of spring, and ends in September or early in October, when some of the men find employment in malthouses or on the Fish- wharf. Day after day good catches generally are made. In March, half a peck is thought an average catch. These are “ Brown” Shrimps (Crangon vulgaris). I have counted at that season 400 Shrimps to the pint. They run larger in the finer months, and a dozen pecks is a frequent “take.” In summer the “ Pink” Shrimps or Aisop’s Prawns (Pandalus annulicornis) come into the shallows and are more eagerly sought. On certain bottoms, known as the “‘ rough grounds,” also as “pink grounds,”’ the shrimpers meet more abundantly with the species; this rough bottom appears to be hard chalky ground, with Fuci and colonies of Sabella and allied forms, which latter, the shrimpers affirm, are a favourirte food of the “ pinks.” Fishes of all kinds devour myriads of Shrimps: Pogges, Bullheads, Weevers, and many others, being often surcharged with them; even the Gobies are sometimes found quite obese, having swallowed Shrimps apparently half as big as themselves. N 2 180 THE ZOOLOGIST. The above remarks apply more aaa ha i to the smaller Macrura. The Bracuyura and ANomuRA are represented chiefly by a few small resident but interesting species; Cancer pagurus and one or two others are simply wanderers, drifted hither involuntarily by the action of the tides, although Cromer, not more than forty miles northward, is noted for the abundance of the Edible Crab. That it occurs occasionally and unwillingly is not to be wondered at, when, during severe north-westerly winds, weighted crab-pots have been found washed up on our beach. The only local nets used in the capture of Crustacea are the dredge or drag-net, and the small trawl. The former has a half- oval mouth, a long thin willow pole being bent over a heavily lead- or iron-weighted beam. ‘The net, which has a small mesh, is cone-shaped, ending in an acute angle. The trawl has a fourteen or fifteen feet beam, with all the usual fittings incidental to the ordinary smack’s trawl, the mesh being, of course, sufficiently fine to keep within it Shrimps of edible size. In this a few Soles, small Rays, and other fish are sometimes taken. The drag-net is responsible for very little damage, if any, to the edible species; a few immature fish are occasionally taken, although Gobies, Pogges, and other—even for bait—useless species are abundantly netted. It is to be hoped that no ~ harassing legislation will ever be made to hamper a very hard- working body of men who do surprisingly little damage, indeed, if any at all, to the undoubtedly diminishing edible fishes of the North Sea. The ‘‘ shove-net’”’ has become obsolete. I have had some difficulty in identifying the various species, — there being no very modern popular work on the subject, nor indeed any reference book on the subject in the local libraries, which goes for saying there has been no “call” for one. My ~ best thanks are due to Mr. H. D. Geldart, of Norwich, for help — rendered in naming difficult ‘‘ finds” forwarded to him from time to time; and also to Mr. Liffen, an intelligent local shrimper, who has been particularly helpful in the procuration of speci- — mens both of Crustacea and Fish. The following abbreviations will denote the position each — species holds in the locality:—R. Rare. F. Frequent. C. Com- mon. A. Abundant. STALK-EYEHD CRUSTACEA OF GREAT YARMOUTH. 181 Stenorhynchus rostratus. Beaked Spider Crab. C.—Taken in shrimp-nets. __ SS. tenuirostris. Slender-beaked Spider Crab. C.—A common take in the shrimpers’ nets all the summer. Iithodes maia. Thornback Crab. K.—Known to fishermen as ‘Camperdown Pilots.” Most of those seen in fish-shops are brought from the west coast, or from the other side of the German Ocean. Trawlers only bring it in as a kind of curiosity. The dried shell is frequently seen in local fish-shops as a window attraction. Is never eaten here. It has been dredged up in the neighbourhood. Hyas araneus. Harper Crab. C.—Frequent on the beach in winter time ; numbers sometimes washed ashore in frosty weather, when it is seen feebly struggling, not uncommonly on its back, and often heavily berried. Is not at all common in the warmer months. I have frequently found freshly-moulted examples on the sands. H. coarctatus. F'.—Occasionally washed up on the beach. EHurynome aspera. K.— The only record I have of this species is one taken out of what I am assured was a locally-taken eod-fish, Oct. 7th, 1889. It was in company with Portumnus variegatus. Pirimela denticulata. Toothed Crab. F.—This pretty little Crab appears to be fairly common, its small size, grey hues, and retiring habits shielding it from casual observation. I first met the species Oct. 9th, 1889. Several times since found on the piles, and amongst seaweed. Pilumnus hirtellus. Hairy Crab. R.—As arule this species, I think, merits the title of a rarity. It is seldom found in perfect condition. On Noy. 25th, 1892, I picked up half a dozen on the north beach within the space of a fewyards. They had evidently been brought hither from the rough ground at Cromer by strong tides. Cancer pagurus. Edible Crab. F.-—-There is no harbour Within my “ten mile limit” for this species. Those found occasionally are undoubtedly driven hither by the strong sea currents following north-westerly gales. Have occasionally found small specimens amongst the drift at the high-water mark. By chance a fine example is taken in the shrimp-nets; on one 182 THE ZOOLOGIST. occasion I saw a huge fellow entangled in a draw-net. It had killed a large Sole, and was still holding it with vicious grip. Cromer, forty miles northward, with its stony bottom, is a favourite rendezvous of this species. An example weighing 24 lb. was taken on a line off Britannia Pier. An illustration of an abnormal development in the pincer-claw of one of the Crabs was given in ‘ The Zoologist’ of last year (p. 340). Portumnus depurator. Swimming Crab. C.—In the warmer months this voracious species is found most abundantly off this coast. It is a most troublesome take both in the draw and shrimp-nets. In the former it becomes woefully entangled ; in the takes of the latter it is a most unwelcome intruder, being eager and alert to nip the fingers deftly sorting over the catches of more valuable crustaceans. I have on occasions observed this species swimming near the surface upon the flood-tide up the Bure. P. variegatus. Pennant’s Swimming Crab. R.—I have met with but very few specimens of this Crab ; have taken it from a Cod’s maw, and on one or two occasions found examples at the tide-mark. Carcinus menas. Shore Crab. A.—Locally known as “Sea- Sammy.” This species is most abundant, even extending its travels to the fresher waters up-river. On one occasion I knew one solitary fellow who lived fairly comfortably in a marsh-ditch not far from the Bure. He was an exceedingly interesting little fellow to watch in his strange quarters. Every Yarmouth boy knows and delights in hunting this species, using any vile animal substance as a bait that may be picked up in the gutter on the way to the river. Not a few children’s lives have been sacrificed to their love of the sport. As the ‘‘ green’’ Shore Crab the name is ambiguous, for highly coloured red examples are as common as those with green-tinted carapaces. No use is locally made of Carcinus, who, however, is a most useful little creature at home, making sepulchre for the many carcases of animals and birds, e.g. cats, pigeons, fish refuse, &c., that would otherwise in the neighbourhood become a decided nuisance. In turn this Crab is provokingly fond of the tempting morsels used by salt-water anglers, on Breydon especially. Myriads of small ones are devoured yearly by Gulls, Herons, and other birds; and Codlings STALK-EYED CRUSTACEA OF GREAT YARMOUTH. 183 taken on Breydon and in the river are often found packed with them. Eels and Flounders are partial to them also. Mr. Geldart informs me that at Cromer there are sometimes very highly coloured specimens with blue and yellow tints. He has also seen them there measuring as much as six or seven inches across the larger diameter of the shell. Pinnotheres veterum. Pea Crab. C.—Found in locally-taken Mussels, and in Oysters. I discovered a very large one in an American Oyster; it had a narrow escape. Have found this species in the Sole. Corystes cassivelaunus. Masked Crab. R.—The first speci- men I met with was from the maw of a Haddock caught off the Norfolk coast. It wasa female. Found a fine male example in a freshly-taken Cod on Oct. 25th, 1889. Two or three on the shore since that date, both male and female. Pagurus Bernhardus. Soldier Crab. C.—A very frequent take both in shrimp and draw-nets in the summer months. I have seen Pagurus frequenting all kinds of shells, but have never yet been able to determine any other of the seven reputed British ‘species. Cods taken off the coast are frequently full of shell-less Soldier Crabs. I am of opinion the shell is thrown up again as soon as the tenant is dead and unattached. I never yet found Whelk-shells in a Cod-fish, which appears to me to be rather strange. Have met with many of this species stranded on the beach, but never saw one make any attempt to reach the water again, if only a few feet separated them. Galathea squamifera. Montagu’s Plated Lobster. F’.—Known locally as ‘“‘ Philadelphias,” this species is occasionally taken with Shrimps. Becomes more abundant further northward of the county. Porcellana longicornis. Porcelain Crab. R.—Somewhat rare, although common at Cromer. Have met with examples occa- sionally washed up on the north beach. [Palinuris vulgaris. Spiny Lobster. (?).—Have occasionally seen examples of this crustacean both at Yarmouth and Lowestoft. Have not known it actually taken locally, although brought in by local smacks. Those exhibited were probably from the west coast of Eingland.] Homarus vulgaris. Lobster. R.—In the immediate locality 184 THK ZOOLOGIST. the Lobster is by no means common, although some miles north- ward, and again in the vicinity of Lowestoft, it is a not uncommon take. Have occasionally seen fair-sized specimens brought in by shrimpers. Two, one a very fine one, captured in the Roads in one net, June 15th, 1897. Enormous specimens are occasionally landed from fishing smacks, covered with barnacles and zoophytes. A specimen weighing 10 lb. is preserved in the town. Boxes of Lobsters, covered with Fucus serratus, sent by rail from Cromer are sold on the fish-wharf. Nephrops norvegicus. Norway Lobster. A.—I am inclined to give this species a locus standi, having met with examples “almost alive” in the stomachs of locally-taken Cods. The digestion of Crustacea takes place most rapidly in the Cod’s maw, the extremities becoming dissolved and gelatinous in a marvel- lously short space of time. The finding of perfect untouched examples is pretty fair proof of the recent capture of both devourer and victim. Very rarely does this species appear on our fishmongers’ slabs, so that as an article of food it is not generally known. It becomes frequent “nor’ard of the Dogger.” I have not yet secured a specimen from the shrimpers. Crangon vulgaris. Sand Shrimp. A. — Literally teems on the coast; most abundant in summer time. Very large speci- mens appear to frequent the shallow waters, as may be seen in the one or two solitary shove-nets now rarely,{used from’ the shore. With Pandalus annulicornis it gives a living to a large number of “catchers” and their families, and provides jfoodffor multitudes of shore-loving fishes. Is found {near shore}'even in winter, although it is a rare thing for a ‘‘ catcher” to go out be : ' STALK-HYED CRUSTACEA OF GREAT YARMOUTH. 185 winter. Locally known as “ Brown” Shrimp. I met with a curious example on Sept. 9th, 1891. The carapace was brown, the ‘“‘body”’ or tail portion being milk-white ;* and I previously saw one, after boiling, which was an ivory-white all over. C. fasciatus. Banded Shrimp. R.—Have had a few brought me occasionally in April and May. It may not be so rare as supposed, owing to the ease with which it may be riddled through the sieve back again into the water. C. trispinosus. Three-spined Shrimp. F'.—Occurs in some numbers, but not often in sufficient abundance to make its sorting out remunerative. Hence it is generally mixed in with the ‘“‘brown” Shrimps. It is superior in flavour to the “pink” or brown” Shrimps. Commonestin August. Local, “Yellow” Shrimp. Nika edulis. R.—Rarely noticed by the shrimpers, of whom I have had a few examples from time to time. They know it as the “green” Shrimp, owing to the green patch usually seen under the semi-transparent carapace. Several turned up in May, 1889. . N. Couchii. R.—I have but once met with this species. Hippolyte varians. R.—This small Prawn is known to the shrimpers by the title of ‘* Little Shrimp.” H. Cranchu. R.—Met with but once, viz. on May 29th, 1891. Pandalus annulicornis. Aiusop’s Prawn. A.— Local, ‘‘ Pink Shrimp ” (vide remarks in introduction). Is a very vile feeder, but of delicate flavour itself. Dies almost immediately it is taken out of the water. When freshly taken its hues are decidedly pinkish, the colour deepening by the process of boiling. Some- times exceedingly highly-coloured specimens are taken. Larger catches of this species than of Crangon vulgaris constitute the takes of local shrimpers during the summer months. A good and profitable average catch is from eight to ten pecks. Twenty pecks have been taken in a tide, but a glut always proves any- thing but welcome from a financial point of view. I have frequently found this species with a parasite attached to the abdomen under the first ring. Mr. Geldart refers it to Phryxus * The figure is from a rough drawing made by Mr. Patterson, designed only to show varietal coloration, and not to be commended for structural accuracy. The drawing has been photographed as received.— Eb. 186 THE ZOOLOGIST. abdominalis. The female is most commonly found, and has much resemblance to a minute octopod. Palemon serratus. Prawn. R.—Locally is extremely rare ; the news of the capture of one by a shrimper becomes quite an item of conversation amongst the fraternity. Only comparatively small examples are taken. P. squilla. White Prawn. F.—This fine sturdy species is not an infrequent take in the trawls occasionally used on Brey- don.* This Prawn appears to prefer a muddy habitat. It is seldom taken offshore. Local, ‘‘Breydon Shrimp.” P. varians. Ditch Prawn. A.—Known locally as the “ Fresh- water Shrimp,” which is erroneous, Gammarus pulex being a sessile-eyed crustacean, equally abundant. Abounds in all the ditches which traverse the marshes abutting on the valleys of the Waveney and Bure. This species is exceedingly interesting to watch both in its native haunts and in captivity. It is impossible to secure one by hand, even when a number are “‘ skirring”’ over the fingers held under water. I have been much amused watching Sticklebacks endeavouring to dislodge these Prawns from favourite corners in an aquarium. ‘This species makes a killing perch-bait. Mysis chameleon. Opossum Shrimp. A.—The salt water in the warmer months teems with myriads of this species. The margins of the rivers, if examined very closely, will be seen to be simply full of them. They are the favourite food of many round fishes; I have examined young Herrings running from three to six inches in length, finding them well filled with Mysis. On one occasion I dissected a stranded six-inch Herring, whose maw contained 143 Opossum Shrimps. It is amusing to observe Flounders gliding along the shallows into the midst of a shoal of these, and to see the latter spring out from the water at their pursuers’ rushes, like a swarm of Lilliputian flying fishes. Around piles these Shrimps may be seen swimming and darting in a per- pendicular attitude. M. vuigaris. ‘‘ Opossum Shrimp.” A.—This also occurs. * Only two or three worn-out shrimp-boats are used for this purpose ; eel-pouts are sought for to be sent away to the crabbers for bait. Flounders and other fish are occasionally taken, and also some numbers of this species of Crustacea. —»~ ia Ae i Sa & 2 i NOTES AND QUERIES. MAMMALIA. CARNIVORA. Stoats (Mustela erminea) turning White in Winter.—A few days before reading Mr. Barrett-Hamilton’s note on this subject (ante, p. 122), my keeper told me that he had seen a white Stoat two or three times lately —that is, between the middle of February and the second week in March— in one of my coverts, but had not succeeded in procuring it. Yesterday (March 22nd) I saw several others, lately killed, some of which were almost all white, and some brown and white, in the shop of Mr. Travis, Bury St. Edmunds, who informed me that, notwithstanding the exception- ally mild winter, he had received more white Stoats this season for preserva- tion than usual. There has been no snow worth mentioning in this neighbourhood the whole winter, and it is evident therefore that they turn white in mild as well as in severe winters, a fact L was not aware of before. It seems curious also that such a small percentage of them turn white. One would imagine that if some changed colour all would do so, but that certainly is not the case, as most of the Stoats observed in the eastern and southern counties of England, so far as my experience goes, do not undergo this change ; and, although many are killed here all through the winter, it is seldom we get a white or even partially white one. If I do get one I will certainly forward it to the Natural History Museum, South Kensington, as requested.—H.. A. Butier (Brettenham Park, Ipswich). Stoats turning White in Winter.—In reply to Mr. Barrett-Hamilton’s query re Stoats turning white during the recent mild winter, I may state that 1 had one brought to me on Dec. 17th last, which was a very good white colour all over, excepting the top of the head, which was of the normal hue. The tip of the tail was, as usual, black. I noticed that the white hairs were longer and thicker than the brown ones, a peculiarity which I have noticed before in other specimens. — W. G. CuarxeE (44, Huntriss Row, Scarborough). AVES. Water Pipit in Carnarvonshire.—On Dec. 8rd, 1897, I observed two Pipits feeding on a piece of mud on the Carnarvonshire side of the river Glaslyn. While examining them with my glass they both rose, one flying out of sight, the other alighting on an alder bush close by, from which I 188 THE ZOOLOGIST. shot it.. It proved to be an immature example of the Water Pipit (Anthus spipoletta), and was exhibited by Mr. Howard Saunders at a meeting of the British Ornithologists’ Club on Jan. 19th Jast—G. H. Caton HatcuH (Penrhyndeudraeth, Merionethshire, North Wales). “ Horse-match,” a name for the Red-backed Shrike,— One of the | least-kndwn local English names of the Red-backed Shrike (Lantus collurio) is ‘ Horse-match.” The “match” is clearly closely connected with one of — the names of the Wheatear, although possibly it may not be cognate with — it. A German name for the Wheatear is ‘“ Steinschmatzer,” and we have — the same name in use among early English authors, viz. “ Fallow Smich”’; Merrett (1667) indeed goes closer still to it with “Smatch.” “ Stein- schmatzer” is of course rendered by the English name ‘ Stone Chacker.” The Shrike may have been called a “match” from its resemblance to the Wheatear in the matter of a conspicuous tail and tail movement; or it may have been so called because it also has a loud chacking note. The prefix “‘ Horse,” I believe, often merely signifies a larger or a coarser sort of a particular thing. In this case it might allude to the fact that the Shrike appears considerably larger than the ordinary “‘ Smatch,” although there is actually only about an inch difference in the length of the two birds. It would be interesting to know in what parts of England this curious name is in use. Personally, I have only met with it on the borders © of Oxfordshire and South Northamptonshire; but a correspondent informed me that it is used in South Warwickshire, which is, however, practically the same district.—O. V. Apiin (Bloxham, Oxon). Se eee Hawfinch near Reigate Railway Station.—I observed a Hawfinch (Coccothraustes coccothraustes) to-day (March 1st, 1898) in the kitchen garden of a villa not three hundred yards away from Reigate Station, South - Eastern Railway. If one escaped from confinement it at least appeared to have full use of its wings, &c. It is generally considered a shy bird, although bold enough in its attacks on green peas.—ALFreD T. ComBER (2, Worcester Terrace, Reigate, Surrey). Hybrid Finches at the Crystal Palace Show.—There was a remark- able exhibition of hybrid British Finches at the show held last February at the Crystal Palace, no fewer than thirty birds being figured in the catalogue. The exhibits included such rare hybrids as the Siskin and Greenfinch and the Linnet and Redpoll, and also a most beautiful series of crosses between the Goldfinch and Bullfinch. This cross has never, I believe, occurred in a wild state, but is the most popular of all with breeders for exhibition. Descriptions in catalogues are often very loose, and there is no doubt that — exhibitors sometimes erroneously describe hybrids of which the male parent — is a Goldfinch as crosses between the “ Bullfinch and Goldfinch.” Some — i = r NOTES AND QUERIES. 189 birds were so described in the show in question, but the male parent in each case was probably the Goldfinch. A correspondent, who has had long experience as a breeder, judge, and exhibitor, assures me that he has never known an authentic case of any cross bred from a cock Bullfinch. I have seen a large number of hybrid Finches, and have on many occasions examined birds described as crosses between “* Bullfinch and Goldfinch,” * Bullfinch and Linnet,” and (occasionally) “ Bullfinch and Redpoll” and “‘ Bullfinch and Greenfinch”; but it is just possible that in each of these cases the order in which the parents’ names were given should have been reversed. If it be the fact that no hybrids have been raised from the cock Bullfinch, it is very curious. Further information would be interesting.— A. Hoxtte MacpHerson (51, Gloucester Terrace, Hyde Park). Chickens reared by Partridges.—On a farm in this parish two chickens were last summer hatched by Partridges, a hen from the farmyard having no doubt laid in their nest. The chickens, which were both pullets, throve well, and were reared to maturity, growing into big lusty birds; but, as might be expected, were as wild as the Partridges with which they lived. This interesting family were in the habit of frequenting some low-lying meadows adjoining a piece of barley. On the first occasion of my meeting with them I was much puzzled by seeing out in the middle of the meadow, which was at some distance from the house, two big dark-looking birds, which from their actions were evidently neither Rooks nor Waterhens. From the length of the grass little else could be seen of them but their heads and necks, and their little foster-parents were at first entirely con- cealed. On seeing me, however, the two big. black pullets at once started off running, accompanied by one of the Partridges, which soon outran them, got up, and flew off, the other Partridge having squatted in the grass. The fowls ran at full speed towards a broad ditch full of water, but choked with sedge and other plants, where I lost sight of them. On atriving at the place where they had disappeared, I distinctly heard them in the ditch, apparently about the middle, but could do nothing towards rescuing them. The broken-down sedges, however, afforded them, no doubt, sufficient support to prevent their drowning. Usually, when disturbed on the open meadows, the whole family would get up and fly into the middle of the barley. These wild-reared pullets seemed to be decidedly stronger on the wing, and able to take longer flights than would have been the case if reared in the ordinary way.—G. T. Roprx (Blaxhall, Suffolk). Birds which nest in London.—With reference to the article in the January number of the ‘ Edinburgh Review,’ mentioned in ‘ The Zoologist ’ (ante, p. 91), I observe the writer divides London birds into three classes : (1) casual stragglers, (2) regular birds of passage, (3) birds nesting in 190 THE ZOOLOGIST. London, which is defined as being within four miles of Charing Cross. As to the first two classes, I have nothing to say, and it would be difficult to add to Dr. Hamilton’s list (Zool. 1879, p. 273). The third class includes the names of twenty-six species, and I am curious to know whether readers of ‘The Zoologist’ can confirm these or add to them. The list is most interesting :— Thrush (T'urdus musicus); Blackbird (7. merula); Redbreast (Hrithacus rubecula); Hedgesparrow (Accentor modularis). These four species nest in all the parks. Whitethroat (Sylvia cinerea). Said to have nested for some years in Battersea Park. Sedge Warbler (Acrocephalus phragmitis). Said to have “ recently ” nested by the Serpentine. I cannot help wondering how long ago this was. Reed Warbler (A. streperus). Said to have nested in the Botanic Gar- dens. I should be curious to know the last occasion it did so. Great Tit (Parus major); Coal Tit (P. ater); Blue Tit (P. caruleus) ; Wren (Troglodytes parvulus); Starling (Sturnus vulgaris) ; Jackdaw (Corvus monecula). Crow (C. corone). I fear this species runs some risk of being destroyed by the park authorities, which surely should be prevented. Rook (C. frugilegus). The writer of the article is wrong in saying there are only three nests left in Gray’s Inn. There are many more, but I have not counted them exactly. This is the last London rookery, and I think only continues because the Rooks are regularly fed. When did the Rooks desert Holland House ? Flycatcher (Muscicapa grisola). Swallow (Hirundo rustica). Nestsin Battersea Park, but there must be other places within four miles of Charing Cross. Martin (Chelidon urbica). 1 never saw a nest in London that I can remember. Greenfinch (Ligurinus chloris). Said still to nest in Battersea Park. Sparrow (Passer domesticus); Chaffinch (fringilla celebs), Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus). I heard a Cuckoo in the Temple Gardens about 8 a.m. last April. It is said a Cuckoo deposited her egg in ‘the Whitethroat’s nest at Battersea a year or two ago. Wild Duck (Anas boscas). I question whether there are any genuinely wild specimens on the London waters. Wood Pigeon (Columba palumbus). One has been sitting since the last week of February on a nest in a plane tree in Fountain Court, Temple. No explanation seems ever to have been given to account for the strange increase of Wood Pigeons in London. Moorhen (Gallinula chloropus). ioe he Oe eS = NOTES AND QUERIES. 191 \ Dabchick (Podicipes fluviatilis). St. James’s Park. —C. Mreape Kine (3, Harcourt Buildings, Temple). PISCHS. Yarrell’s Blenny and the Two-spotted Goby at Scarborough.— While poking about in the rock-pools in the South Bay, Scarborough, last July, I captured two small fishes, with which I was unacquainted, I sent them to Dr. Giinther, who kindly named them for me as Yarrell’s Blenny (Care- lophus ascanit), and the Two-spotted Goby (Gobius ruthensparri). Both species, he says, are not very common, and are somewhat local. Since then I have seen two other specimens of the former, but have not succeeded in finding any more of the latter. — W. G. Cuarxe (44, Huntriss Row, Scarborough). MOLLUSCA. Abnormal Scalariformity in Shells.—In August, 1893, whilst examining the dykes at Pevensey, I came to a spot where the weeds were particularly dense, and here met with an irregularly scalariform shell (immature) of Planorbis complanatus, and another regularly scalariform specimen of P. vortex var. compressa (Mich.), both being dead shells. Having examined these closely, and mentally ruminated as to the probable cause of this kind of deformity, I drew a decided conclusion that the animal from some cause or other—possibly a deformity or a wart at the back of the head—was induced to direct the head downwards, in which case the shell-whorls would be formed at an angle. Being impressed with this idea, and hoping to obtain a living specimen, I went again to the same place, and obtained another similar specimen of P. complanatus, alive. On examining it with a one-inch objective (which I-always use as a pocket-lens), I saw distinctly several minute white worms attached exactly where I had expected to find the causa mali, that is to say, on the head between and around the tentacles. _ They attached themselves by the hinder portion of their bodies, the front part being free and waving about, as if on the look-out for anything in the shape of food. The action was exactly similar to that of a caterpillar, and they looped their bodies similarly also. The lip of the shell evidently formed a capital shelter, from under which they could protrude or withdraw their bodies. On examining one of the worms under the microscope—for they were rather minute, perhaps a line or so in length—I found that the sete were placed more on the ventral surface than usual, and that they occupied only the posterior half of the animal, with the exception of a pair of oral tufts, which were directed forward. ‘There were some seven pairs of bristle-tufts in the hind portion of the body, and an average of ten bristles in each tuft, making 140 bristles in all. With a quarter-inch _ objective it could be seen that each bristle was terminated by a double hook 192 THE . ZOOLOGIST. or grappling-iron, and when in the act of gripping the tufts expanded like ahand. It was evident therefore that these worms were specially adapted ™ for clinging firmly to their host, and I found it rather difficult to detach them ; but with the assistance of a friend, who is rather clever in manipu- lating for the microscope, I managed to get one mounted. The head of the worm, I noticed, was ciliated, and there were from four to six worms on this specimen, if [ remember correctly. I omitted to make a note of it, although on others I found fully six worms. The conclusion one would naturally draw from the above facts is, I think, that the irritation produced by several of such worms, or possibly the desire of the mollusc to accommodate them, is sufficient to account for the depression of the head and the consequent distortion of the shell. On exam- ining two normally formed specimens of Planorbis complanatus, I found that one carried worms and that the other did not. It does not, however, follow that because one animal carried worms and had a normal shell, that therefore my theory will not hold good, since the worms might have only recently attached themselves, and the amount of irritation would naturally be proportionate to the number of worms. I may here mention that the Planorbis was only half-grown, and that the head and tentacles were strongly ciliated. It may be that the worms derived some advantage from this circumstance, since in very stagnant water the currents set up would bring both food and oxygen. But I imagine that the main benefit derived would be from the fact of being transported about, and that from a position of sreat security, Under irritation the worms evinced an uncontrollable desire — to divide. This operation was performed once, and almost a second time. A constriction took place at a certain point in the body, and gradually became more and more pronounced. ‘Then the body from time to time gave some spasmodic twitches and bent upon itself at the constricted point. A few more spasmodic twitches followed, and the trick was done. From the facts here stated J think a fairly good prima facie case is made out, and if other observers who happen to meet with scalariform Helices, &c., would examine the head closely, they would most likely find some irritating parasite to account for the abnormality. On mentioning the above circumstances to a gentleman at South Ken- sington Museum, he cited the case of a scalariform Turritella, which when found had on its head a parasitic crustacean. The name of the worm above alluded to is Chatogaster limnai, Von Baer. — P. Rurrorp (The Croft, Hastings). == { Ng OGIST —— AL HID THE ZOOL No. 685.—May, 1898. STOATS TURNING WHITE IN WINTER. By O. V. Apuin, F.L.8., M.B.O.U. On February 3rd, 1898, I examined a female Stoat in the flesh, which had been killed in this neighbourhood* the day before, and was nearly white. That is tu say, it was white, with the exception of the crown of the head, a space round the eyes, -and a stripe down the back of the neck—the black part of the tail of course excepted. It closely resembled one figured in ‘The Field,’ February 20th, 1897. As long ago as 1884 I called attention in ‘ The Zoologist’ to the fact that Stoats turned white in mild winters, with reference to that of 1883-4 (Zool. 1884, p. 112). I then mentioned an example killed on January 19th, 1884, which was white, with the exception of a (chance) narrow light brown mark on the near fore leg. Also another, white, save for a dark patch on the crown of the head. The change is not universal in all the individual Stoats in a given locality. For on the day I handled the above-mentioned white one (four days after it was captured) I saw a specimen in the flesh which did not show a sign of white on the upper parts. In the winter of 1895-6 I received information of two partly white Stoats, one pied, the other white, with the exception of the head. In the mild winter of 1881-2 I observed that the change took place in some examples. But white, or partly white, Stoats are naturally far more common im severe winters. After the hard winter of 1890-1, I saw and * Bloxham, Oxon. Zool. 4th ser. vol. IT., May, 1898. 0 194 ‘THE ZOOLOGIST. heard of a great many. Few reach the birdstuffers until after the severe weather, for Ermine Stoats escape notice until after the snow is gone, when they become very conspicuous. An interesting question is-—-Would a Stoat turn white in a winter in which absolutely no cold weather (say, nothing below 30°) occurred? It is worth remembering that during this mild season of 1897-8 we had a few days of sharp frost in the latter end of December, with a good deal of white rimy frost. On two nights I registered 22° at four feet from the ground on a north wall, and on four days it froze all day on the ground in the shade. The change to ermine dress is produced by the white of the belly extending up the sides of the body and over the limbs, until only the top of the head and a band down the middle of the back remain brown. The white then spreads across the lower part of the back (leaving for a time, in some cases, a detached portion of brown near the root of the tail); the spinal line becomes gradually shorter and narrower, and at last disappears. Meanwhile the white on the head has increased, the ears and the region about them have become white, and a space round the eyes and a patch on the top of the head alone remain brown. The latter dis- | appears, and the patches about the eyes decrease, until only a | narrow ring of brown round each eye is left. This is actually the last part to turn white. Stoats in this condition have a *“‘spectacled” appearance; I have handled several. One was caught at the end of February or beginning of March, 1891, and another on March 5th, 1894. | In ‘The Zoologist’ for 1888, p. 140, I published some observations which pointed to the fact that the change from white to brown was effected by a change of colour in the fur, and not by a change or moult of the hairs; and that the change | began at the tip and not at the base of the hairs. I believe that | the change from brown to white is also effected by a change in | colour of the hairs, and not by a change in the coat. A change | of coat in severe weather would be inconvenient for the animal. GMi9S) NOTES ON THE BREEDING OF THE CHAFFINCH. By Cuarues A. WIrTcHELL. SoME years ago, a friend who had bred many hybrid Finches of different kinds told me that hybrids could not be obtained from the Chaffinch, because that bird would not breed in confinement, a flight being necessary for the union of the sexes. This in- formation, and the frequent exhibition of a swooping flight by a pair of Chaffinches, led me to conclude that the swooping flight might be really necessary to the breeding of the Chaffinch; and it may be mentioned that Mr. W. H. Vale, in his ‘ Handbook of Hybrid Birds’ (1896), records that he has not been able to find an authentic instance of a Chaffinch mule. My present purpose is to offer some remarks on the question whether a love-flight is necessary to the Chaffinch. By “love- flight”” I do not mean the common straight Cuckoo-like flight of the male when he is leading a female from tree to tree, and flying with a constant and even succession of wing-beats; but I mean the swooping flight performed by both birds together, in which they are very near each other, if not actually in contact. During this swooping, the birds always utter the call-note which they particularly address to each other and to their young. ~ It is a little soft sound, something like ‘‘ chirri” pronounced very rapidly. In April and May this note may be constantly heard. But during the love-flight another sound is sometimes uttered, and this deserves very close attention. Perhaps the simplest mode of describing it will be to give a few instances of its occurrence. On April 5th, 1896, a pair of Chaffinches near each other in an Austrian pine in a garden at Stroud, in which tree the species nests nearly every season, were uttering the love-call, “ chirri.” They suddenly darted forth and swooped and swerved close together, both of them uttering the call many times; and during the flight the whole song was given by one of the birds (doubtless the male), but in a hurried manner, ending in a very full low rattle, seemingly lower in pitch than the usual termination of the 02 196 THE ZOOLOGIST. song. At that moment the birds had descended to within a foot or so of the ground, and were so close together that they seemed almost as one. ‘They did not separate until, after swerving up- ward, they had again descended and actually entered a thick pink-may bush. Throughout the incident they were never more than twenty yards distant from me. On April 19th, near New Eltham (Kent), a male and female Chaffinch were uttering their call-note. nearly overhead in an oak. They quitted the tree at the same time and swooped close together, passing within two yards of my head, and swerved up again into another tree, They were squeaking their call all the time, and during the flight, but at a moment when the birds were behind me one of them uttered a brief repetition of a full low note, precisely like the low gurgling rattle which was uttered on a similar occasion by the above-mentioned Chaffinch at Stroud. On April 20th, at a spot a quarter of a mile from the site of what occurred on the 19th (above described), two Chaffinches were calling in an elm tree. The female was shivering her wings and repeating the love-call very rapidly. A few yards distant from her a male was hopping from twig to twig, exclaiming in the same manner. Both birds swooped, and during the flight the low rattling cry was uttered exactly as it was yesterday. The low rattle is not always heard. On May 11th two Chaffinches swooped downwards together when passing from tree to tree, and during some portion of the descent they were very close together, breast to breast. They were all the time uttering the ‘“chirri” very rapidly. One was certainly a female, and the other seemed to be a male. The foliage interfered with the view. On May 12th a pair of Chaffinches descended together from the top of an oak, swerved up again nearly to the full height of the tree (forty feet) and descended as before, uttering the call- note all the while. I have sometimes seen Chaffinches treading in a tree. The male then alights several times in succession on the female, meanwhile uttering the “chirri”; and at the last attempt, when about to quit the female, he utters the low full rattling note above mentioned, and immediately quits her and makes no further attempt for some time. It appears therefore that this full NOTES ON THE BREEDING OF THE CHAFFINCH. 197% ery accompanies the act of coition, and, if so, it is important if the note is sometimes heard when the two sexes are swooping together. It seems to imply that coition may actually occur in the air. The full rattle is also deserving of observation in relation to the song of the bird, for the greater part of the song is of much the same character as this exclamation; and it is probable that if this full sound had been originally employed during coition, it might have been afterwards employed for the purposes of sugges- tion, and in course of time might have been elaborated into a com- paratively long strain. I venture to think that ornithologists will allow that I have elsewhere (‘ Evolution of Bird-Song’) adduced some reasons for the theory of the development of certain songs (as well as certain alarms) from a repetition of short cries, and the song of the Chaffinch is not without indications of a similar history. Dr. Butler tells me that the song of the Chaffinch is popularly rendered— ‘¢In another month will come a Wheatear.”’ The first few notes never show much variation, and in early spring they may sometimes be heard in the form of mere repe- titions of the “‘chirri.” The middle of the song consists of a rattling repetition of the same character-as the full rattle I have just described. ‘lhe last syllables, ‘‘ wheatear,” have always seemed to me to be very interesting, as relating the song of the Chaffinch to those of the Greenfinch and Lesser Redpoll. The “wheat” is greatly varied in loudness, and is very often wholly absent, or its place is occupied by a sound like ‘“‘ tissi.” Near Eltham, in April and May, some of the male Chaffinches have a loud single alarm-cry, “ zee,”’ which can be heard through all the chorus of birds. This note is sometimes given in the song, but only at one particular part. It then takes the place of the hard penultimate note, “ wheat,” and whenever given it ends the strain. I called the attention of Mr. A. Holte Macpherson to this note, and he, like myself, had never heard it elsewhere. It seems to me to be a survival from an earlier period. The Chaf- finch seems to be losing all trace of this danger-cry, and to be developing instead the full love-rattle. The ‘‘chirri,’” and the “love-rattle,” and the ‘‘zee,” uttered in succession, would con- stitute an excellent “skeleton” of the Chaffinch’s song, and especially so if the first two cries were each repeated a few times, 198 THE ZOOLOGIST. ORNITHOLOGICAL NOTES FROM MID-WALES. By J. H. SAuTer. THovueu rather late to record the fact, it may be worth noting that an unusually large flock of Bar-tailed Godwits visited the estuary of the Dovey about the first week in September, 1895. Mr. F. T. Feilden tells me that on the day of their arrival he walked to within forty yards of them, and that the flock could not have numbered less than two hundred. Later in the day he got a shot at part of them with a four-bore gun, and bagged eleven, and one Curlew Sandpiper; and a few days later a second shot bagged nine, and one Knot. On Dec. 9th of the same year, at Penglais House, I found, amongst various stuffed birds obtained by the late Captain Richards, a local specimen of the Waxwing, and also the only Cardiganshire Dotterel of which I have any knowledge. Owing to absence from home I have no notes for the spring and summer of 1896. As already recorded, the late September gales of that year brought an unusual visitation of Sabine’s Gull. As far as I can learn, eight were obtained in the course of the three days (Sept. 24th-26th). Another was seen on Sunday morning (27th), and the last one was obtained on the morning of Oct. 8th—which will be long remembered here for its gale and high tide—making in all nine taken, ten seen. swsscomeeee 295 cwt EAN gE ae ning ae ease ne 1833 _,, Bread : ..s.ccewenae eae 6081 qtn. Givaw —Having noted the arrival of 8pring visitants for thirty-nine years, I should say that Messrs. Fowler and Aplin’s records show very well the average time of arrival of this species (Chelidon urbica). In the following thirty-seven records (those for years 1863 and 1864 unfortunately lost) by my brothers and myself, there is a considerable gap between the earliest and latest notes, wz. April 13th and May 12th; but we early became accustomed to expect the bird considerably later than the Swallow, and not so very much before the Swift. It will be noted that this year (1898) gives the only record of arrival so early as second week in April. 318 THE ZOOLOGIST. 1860, May 12th (two) ........000. Ealing. 1861, April 25th (several) ......... Ealing. 1862, April 28th (one) ........000 Rainham, Kent. 1865, April 28th (one) ............ Rainham, Kent (visiting old nest). 1866, April 16th (two) ............ Rainham, Kent (visiting old nest). 1867, May Ath Give) Gicsreccasvcten West Drayton. 1868, April 23rd (one) ..........0. Sandhurst. 1869, April 28th (one) .........04. Belvedere. 1870, April 25th (one) ............ Wells, Somerset. 1871, May 4th (several)............ Wells, Somerset. 1872, May Bra(One) sos sessieest ess Lewisham. 18te, May’ Sih (one) +..0, Sch ee as Lewisham. 1874, April 24th (several) ......... Windermere. 1876, April 19th (one). « ....cssa0r9 Nottingham. 1876, April 23rd (two) ............ Southend, 8.H. 1877, May 12th (one)...........000 Lewisham. 1878; April 27th (One) sc.cssssenr « Gloucester. LOTS, April: Zara: (lOUs): si.ssacc is Southend, 8.E. 1880, April 19th (one) ............ Nottingham. 1881, April 19th: (ome) scs2.sa9000 Walton-on-Thames. 1882, April 25th (one) ............ Nottingham. 1888, May 4th (one) ...........000 Nottingham. 1884, April 30th (one) ............ Nottingham. 1885, April 20th (two) .......000. Nottingham. 1886, April 24th (one) ............ Nottingham. L887," May Srd\(one))..i...scscctacee Brixton. 1888, April. 30th (one) . .........0 Nottingham. 1889, May Sth (two) ..........s.s06 Brixton. £890; May 7th (Give) \.. Mie. taets Northfleet, Kent. 101, April 25th (ame) eecs2. 525. Nottingham. 1892, May 8th (three) ............ Greenhithe. 1695, May Ust (OMe) | (i.e casecans Nottingham. 1894, May 2nd (two) ...........c006 Brixton. 1895, April 25th (one) - ..... MIGRATION AT THE SPURN LIGHTHOUSE rn 1897-98. | By Joun CorpveEavux, F.R.G.S., M.B.O.U. I am again (as in 1896) indebted to Mr. W. G. Cawnter, one of the light-keepers of the Spurn, for the following notes of birds observed by him at the Light in 1897 and part of 1898 :— FEBRUARY, 1897. 15th.—A few Starlings struck, and a Thrush killed. Marcu. 30th.—One Lapwing, one Grey Plover, one Little Grebe, two Larks, one Fieldfare, and several Chaffinches struck and were killed. Wind W.N.W., overcast, and drizzling rain. APRIL. 18th.—The Ringed Plovers are breeding; several nests have from one to two eggs. 19th.—A very large flock of Dunlins on the coast. 27th.—Lesser Tern seen for the first time. 28th.—Several Redstarts, Warblers, and Chiffchaffs struck. S.W. breeze, very gentle; night very dark. “May. 6th.—Several Chiffchaffs struck. Overcast, W., gentle breeze. 8th, 2a.m.—Several Chiffchaffs and Redstarts striking. 8.8. W., gentle, overcast. 26th.—Sedge Warblers, Whitethroats, and Redstarts flying around lantern. Light air from S.; night very dark. we JUNE. ie 17th.—Swift killed at lantern ; several flying around. JULY. 1st.— Young Starling killed against lantern. N.H. (4), overcast and drizzle, 346 THE ZOOLOGIST. 4th.—F lock of young Rooks flying about the place. 25th.—Large numbers of Swallows flying southward. 26th.—Several to south. 28th.—Two Fern-owls on the sands. AUGUST. 26th.—A Gull struck dome of lantern and was killed. ‘It is nineteen years since a Gull struck a lantern in my charge.” 27th.—Several Swifts observed. 30th.—Several Warblers and Whitethroats struck. S.W., moderate, overcast and rain. 81st.—A few Swifts flying around. SEPTEMBER. 9nd.—A large number of Swifts (about fifty) roosting in the tower-windows. Some Warblers flying around and striking lan- tern. W.N.W., moderate, dark and overcast. 8rd.—Towards evening a number of Swifts flying around, but less than on the 2nd: several roosting in tower-windows. 4th.—Several Kestrels observed flying south. 30th.—A large number of birds flying about light, a few Knots striking. Several Snipe during the day. OCTOBER. 2nd.—A large number of birds—Curlews, Knots, Thrushes, Larks, Plovers, and Golden-crested Wrens—flying around the light. W.S.W., gentle, dark and overcast. | 7th.—Several Starlings struck; two Wigeon (young males) struck the base of the lantern and were killed. W.S.W., dark, overcast, showery. 9th.—Many Golden-crested Wrens about the place. 18th.—Lark struck and killed; several Crows passing to the south ; also great numbers of Linnets. 21st.—First flight of Woodcocks. 23rd.—-Several Starlings struck the lantern. E., moderate, overcast, but very clear. Robin observed for first time. 24th.—Several Starlings and Larks struck. 27th, 3 a.m. to daylight.—A few Starlings struck. MIGRATION AT THE SPURN LIGHTHOUSE. 347 NOVEMBER. lst.—A lot of Crows flying south; several Thrushes about dunes, and also striking. 5th.—A few Starlings struck. Dark, and drizzling rain. 20th.—Stormy Petrel caught on lantern gallery. W., dark and misty. Flock of Geese seen flying south during day. 21st.—Flock of Ducks to south. 24th.—An immense number of Knots flying south. A large number of birds flying around the light—Knots, Golden, Grey, and Green Plovers, Woodcocks, Snipes, Starlings, and Thrushes ; many killed by striking. S., night dark and clear, with frequent showers of drizzle. 25th.—Several Woodcocks shot amongst dunes. 26th, 7 p.m.—A Knot struck and was killed. 29th.—Several Geese about; one shot. DECEMBER. 7th.—Two flights of Stock Doves to the south during day. (These would probably be Ring Doves, Columba palumbus.—J. C.) 11th.—During the week large numbers of Rooks to south. 24th.—Large flock of Ducks to south. _ 26th, 5 a.m.—Sanderling struck and killed. JANUARY, 1898. 12th.—Knots, Curlews, and Plovers flying around light. S.S.W. (2), overcast, misty. : 13th.—Gulls, Wigeons, Knots, and Plovers flying around light. S.W. (2), overcast, misty. 14th.—Larks and Starlings around light; Sanderling killed. W.S.W. (2), overcast. 15th.—The same. Marcu. 11th.—Starlings and Larks striking lantern. S.E. (8), overcast. 13th, 1 until 2.30 a.m.—Starlings, Curlews, Lapwings, and Sanderlings around light. Overcast, misty. 16th.—Starlings and Larks around light. 17th.—The same. 22nd, 1 to 3 a.m.—Starlings and Larks striking. 24th, 4 am.—A few Starlings flying round; Gold-crested | Wren struck and killed, 348 THE ZOOLOGIST. Mr. Thomas O. Hall sends the pga notes from Flam- borough Lighthouse :— ‘* We had a very straggling migration.of Rooks and Jackdaws ; they commenced on Oct. 21st, and, as we had a continuance of winds from §.8.E. to 8.S.W. for seventeen or eighteen days, so the migration continued to Nov. 7th. We had then a great rush of Fieldfares, with scarcely any other birds. It was.the greatest rush of Fieldfares I have seen for at least twenty years during the autumn migration. 'They commenced about 11 p.m. on the night of Nov. 24th, and continued to daylight on the 25th. I once saw as large a rush of Fieldfares four years ago, in January, coming from the north and flying south; this was after a heavy fall of snow in Scotland. “On Feb. 13th, at midnight, there was a slight migration of Fieldfares and Golden Plovers; they appeared to come from the eastward, at least they were travelling westward. “On Feb. 9th, at 9.30 a.m., I was up in the lantern, and, hearing a great cawing, I looked out, and saw a flock of about two hundred Rooks coming from the eastward; they flew over the top of the lantern and settled in the field beyond, feeding for an hour, and then going west. There has been a great migration, but no sorts of birds in any quantity except the Fieldfare. I think this light has never been a good one for birds; they get in the red rays of light and fly away, but in the white ray they get dazzled, and fly to the lantern-windows.”’ ( 349 ) ROUGH NESTING NOTES FROM YORKSHIRE. By Oxtey GraspuamM, M.A., M.B.O.U. Herons had eggs the second week in February in spite of most inclement weather, and they still hold their own in face of persistent trapping on the trout streams. I remember some years ago, when fishing for the first time a well-known stream which shall be nameless, my wrath at seeing five Herons gibbeted hard by; a few days’ experience, however, convinced me that a clean bill cannot unfortunately be given to them, for they often destroy fine fish which they cannot possibly eat, out of sheer devilment, and fond as I am of them, I must own they do a good deal of harm; however, I believe fully in the principle of live and let live, and would gladly sacrifice a few fish for the pleasure of seeing this stately bird. ‘Thanks to the protection afforded it on certain estates, it is likely to gladden the eyes of the field naturalist for some time to come. Woodcock are increasing yearly, and I know of a wood where over twenty pairs have bred this year, but the young are off long before the shooting season. ‘The same increase I have noted in the breeding of Snipe and Redshank. I know of many colonies of the latter, one numbering nearly twenty pairs of birds, and so far from the nests always being placed in a tuft of grass, with the blades most carefully concealing the eggs, as we are told in the books, I have frequently found them on the open moor amidst the short ling, without any attempt at concealment; and I have found Snipe in exactly similar places. The Lapwing, despite the netting, egging, and shooting that it has to contend with, holds its own well in most places: this I attribute to their wonderful adaptability to circumstances. I find their nests equally on the highest fells, in the marshy plains, on the moorlands, and amidst enclosed ground, and no matter how their ‘eggs are taken, in a very short time they are laying again. I see Mr. Cordeaux states that the Lapwing is getting scarcer in 350 THE ZOOLOGIST. Lincolnshire, but it is not so in the “ broad-acred shire,”’ and long — may it be before its ‘‘ mournful, piercing, despairing cry” ceases to be a common country sound. On June 3rd, with Mr. James Backhouse, I watched on a certain fell, 2225 feet above the sea-level, at the distance of only five or six yards, a Dunlin brooding her just-hatched young; it was sleeting and bitterly cold, and the poor little birds must have wished they were back in the shell. There were a nice lot of the birds about, and the name they are known by in this district is “Jack Plover.” On the estate of a well-known Yorkshire naturalist, whose grounds are a perfect paradise of bird-life, and a haven of refuge to rare and common alike, the Nuthatch, Lesser Spotted Wood- pecker, and Hawfinch have bred this year; and what is of still greater interest, though the nest could not be found, the owner told me that the Crossbills, which are there all the year round, were seen carrying bits of bark, fir-needles, moss, wool, &c.; bat the covers are so dense that though every effort was made to trace the birds, the attempts hitherto have failed. The Turtle Dove is yearly increasing its range, and it breeds in parts of the county where a few years ago it was unknown. In secluded places the Goldfinch, locally known as ‘‘ Redcap,” still breeds not uncommonly, despite the fact that I knew of nearly forty being caught by one birdcatcher in less than a week one autumn. The Pied Flycatcher is by no means rare, and all the nests I have examined were lined with the leaves of Luzula campestris ~ or pilosa. In one valley I knew of a dozen pairs, but they each keep to their own district, and the nesting places are a good distance apart. I never found hair myself in a Pied Flycatcher’s — nest; they are very loosely put together and difficult to get out intact. The Grasshopper Warbler has been common. Most people consider it rare, but it is a very peculiar little bird and wants a — good deal of knowing. After a spell of cold weather they will — sometimes leave the district entirely, or, as they did in one locality this year, remain there but keep perfect silence. There is a good deal of art in finding their nests; my tutor therein, a past master — at the game, has found more Grasshopper Warblers’ nests than _ ROUGH NESTING NOTES FROM YORKSHIRE. 351 any one else that I ever heard of. Iam not going to reveal the secret, for I have had bitter experience of that sort of thing. I once knew of a pair, and told a man who I thought was above suspicion, but he promptly went and shot one of them, which taught me a lesson I have not forgotten. Suffice it to say that under certain conditions the bird will sulk, and nothing will induce her to leave the nest; and in one instance on being touched by mistake, she feigned death, and allowed herself to be handled as if dead— a quivering of the eyelid was all that showed she was shamming. They are most prolific little birds, and I have known thirty eggs taken from one pair. I very much deprecate this sort of thing, but there are times when in pursuit of knowledge and experience, especially if one has to rely upon the good offices and infor- mation originally imparted by another, when all one can do is to sit tight. I may say that I see no harm in taking a clutch of eggs whatever, but after that I believe in allowing the birds to lay again, which they always do, and rear their young in safety. I found a nest of Locustella nevia on May 30th, containing five fresh eggs. The nest was in a big tussock of Aira cespitosa (common turfy hair-grass), in the middle of a big osier-bed, or willow garth as it is called in the county, and was made of a foundation of willow-leaves, &c., and coarse grass, a very little moss, and lined with finer grass—a bulky nest. All the Grasshopper Warblers, when driven off their nests in thick cover, run along the ground a few yards, for all the world like a Mouse; then fly up on to some twig, reed, &c., for a few moments; and afterwards drop down into the thick grass. I have examined a large number of Swifts’ nests this year, and so far from their being small and loose structures, they have been most bulky, and in every instance they contained fresh flowers with long stalks of the buttercup. Now I have found fresh flowers of the buttercup in the nest of our old friend ‘‘ Passer damnabilis ;”’ and I have often wondered whether the Swifts occasionally take possession of these nests and agglutinate them together with their salivary secretion. But I have found Swifts’ nests still containing fresh buttercups, with no Sparrows near, so that the Swifts must have taken them there themselves, though I never saw, or met with anyone who had seen them doing so. With all due deference to so excellent an authority 352 THE ZOOLOGIST. as Mr. Howard Saunders, I must demur to his statement that when three eggs are found in a Swift’s nest they are probably the produce of two females. I have found this to occur so often, and in isolated nests, that unless for the sake of argument one supposes the Swift to regularly lay in each other’s nests, the evidence, to my mind, is strongly in favour of the hen bird by no means infrequently laying three eggs. Kingfishers are certainly not so rare as many people suppose, but they are often unobserved. I knew of a nest, the young of which were reared within two miles of York Minster. I witnessed the prettiest ornithological sight that I have | seen for many a long day, on June 15th, on a certain large sheet of water. I rowed out to examine a Great Crested Grebe’s nest, which was made on a foundation of various species Of Potamogeton, surmounted by a quantity of stalks of a large Hquisetum or mare’s-tail. There were two other similar nests near, and I have generally found one or more of these false nests near the true nest of the Great Crested Grebe. The idea is that the cock bird uses them as resting-places or look-out stations; and though I have not been able to verify the same myself, still it seems a feasible explanation. When J arrived within a couple of hundred yards of the nest I could see through my glasses that the old bird was greatly excited. She allowed me to advance within forty yards of her, when I stopped my boat and saw that the eggs had been hatched, for she had three young ones, two or three days old with her; one was on her back, and the other two were tucked away, one under each wing. She gradually sunk herself in the water till only her head was above it, and then dived, coming up a long distance from where she went down. I never before had the pleasure of seeing a Grebe dive with her young ones, and it was a sight I most thoroughly appreciated. While the Great Crested Grebe is, if anything, on the increase, the Little Grebe, in my experience, is slightly diminishing in numbers; there are plenty in the winter, but few in the breeding-season, and they do not breed on the big sheets of water, as the large Pike play havoc with them. They are well known throughout all the three Ridings as ‘Tom Puddings,’ a cognomen which I do not remember to have seen mentioned in any book. On this same sheet of water where the Great Crested Grebes rt ROUGH NESTING NOTES FROM YORKSHIRE. 353 were, I detected through my glass three pairs of Tufted Ducks, and on looking over a small island I found two nests, each con- » taining ten eggs completely covered up with down. The other Ducks which I have found breeding this season in a wild state in various parts of the county are the Mallard, Teal, Shoveller, and Pochard. Nightjars have been common. I took a friend to obtain a photograph of two eggs im situ that I had found on a moorside. The hen harmonized so beautifully with the dead bracken and bare ground that it was some time before I could make him see her. After photographing the eggs he fastened green cloth over the camera, tied a thread to the shutter, and then hid behind a large stone about twenty yards away. ‘Though an hour was allowed she failed to come back, so we pinned portions of the bracken, which was growing all round, on to the green cloth, and then hid up again, when, after waiting about twenty minutes, on she came. Allowing a few minutes for her to settle, my friend took his shot, and an excellent one it has turned out. This same friend told me of a prolific nest. Four years ago he found a Carrion Crow’s nest; the next year it was tenanted by a Long-eared Owl, very abundant in the county; last year a Sparrowhawk took possession, and this year a Kestrel. Everybody heard with the greatest regret of the recent shooting of an Osprey near Beverley—audi alteram partem. Some time ago, on the gentleman’s estate I have before men- tioned as being such a paradise for birds, an Osprey appeared and remained for six weeks; when, although it levied heavy toll on the big Trout in the lake, it was a welcome visitor, and allowed to pursue its own habits. Would that there were more such naturalists, and such havens of refuge! Some men, I verily be- lieve, would shoot at an archangel himself if he appeared on the wing. A fine of five shillings is ridiculously inadequate; when _ five pounds can be obtained for the specimen it is no deterrent at all. I am afraid that the laws relating to bird-protection are in many cases but a farce; for example—shade of Dracon!—in some places the eggs are allowed to be taken, but not the young or old birds, and, as Mr. Southwell pointed out in an excellent letter to ‘ The Field,’ it is not fair that the onus of getting up a Zool. 4th ser. vol. II., August, 1898. QA 354 THE ZOOLOGIST. prosecution should rest with a private individual. It is not the ornithologist who takes one clutch for scientific purposes who does the harm, but the professional collector who decimates whole colonies time after time. I frankly own that I am indebted for a great deal of my knowledge of the various nesting-places, resorts, and habits of some of our rarest birds to men who, unfortunately, are sometimes tempted by the ridiculously high prices paid by collectors to shoot these birds in the breeding-season, for the sake of their plumage; but I strongly maintain that it is the collectors who are the most to blame—qui facit per aliwm facit per se—and not these men who are not too well endowed with this world’s goods, and who, most of them, are decent fel- lows, struggling to earn an honest livelihood. Only this season I have known, in the county, of Cormorants being shot on the coast; Dotterel on the wolds; a Honey Buzzard, Turtle Doves, and Nightjars in the plains, in full breeding plumage, and in open defiance of the law; but what canI do? As Mr. South- well truly remarks, even if one felt inclined to take up these cases, would it do any good? ‘The penalties are so inadequate, and above all, though perhaps this may seem a selfish view to some, these men’s mouths and others like them would be eternally closed, which when one is working up a county fauna would be a most serious thing. So that, however much one may deprecate and deplore the destruction of our favourites, the most that can be done is to see that this destruction is not wholesale. I have often procured immunity for the remainder by a little judicious expenditure of the current coin of the realm. These men rely on one’s honour “ not to give them away,” so that one is compelled as it were to a certain extent to “‘ bow oneself down in the house of Rimmon.” I forgot to mention that, while visiting the cliff-climbers at Bempton, where the Guillemots, Razorbills, Puffins and Kitti- wakes are aS numerous as ever, I was told that a Guillemot, pure white except for its black head, had been frequently seen by them. In conclusion: I was much interested in an article that appeared in ‘ The Zoologist’ some little time since, on the time ~ of day at which various birds lay their eggs. I have taken particular notice this season, and the conclusion I have come ROUGH NESTING NOTES FROM YORKSHIRE. 355 to is that no hard and fast rule can be laid down, for while many birds—Thrushes, Blackbirds, Chaffinches, &c.—generally | lay between the hours of ten and twelve a.m., a Reed Warbler I had under observation laid all its eggs before six a.m., while a Spotted Flycatcher laid its clutch in the afternoon after three p.m. BAY 356 THE ZOOLOGIST. NOTES AND QUERIES. AVES. The Whinchat in Co. Dublin.—I have long been anxious to make the acquaintance of the Whinchat (Pratincola rubetra) in Ireland; yet, although I frequently visited what J thought were suitable localities, I was never fortunate enough to do so until June 9th last. I will not, for obvious reasons, specify the locality in which I met my long-sought friend ; sufficient to say that it was about twelve miles distant from the Irish metropolis, and that there, on the day I have mentioned, I was delighted to hear the familiar ‘“‘u-tick” which I heard last in the Rhone Valley. With my glass I perceived that there were four Whinchats in the field ; the male was flitting from bush to bush singing gaily, whilst the female seemed to be employed in feeding one of two young ones by her side. On the llth I returned with my son Ambrose, when we got quite near the birds, which were far from being shy. My friend Mr. Edward Williams, naturalist, tells me that a few years ago he observed Whinchats in the very same locality. —CHarLtes W. Benson (Rathmines School, Dublin). The Marsh Warbler in Oxfordshire. — Last year I published no account of the Marsh Warblers (Acrocephalus palustris) which have now for seven successive summers occupied an old osier-bed in this neighbour- hood; my last communication to ‘The Zoologist’ was in August, 1896 (p. 286). In 1897 they had arrived by June 4th, sang vociferously for about ten days, and then quieted down as usual when the nest was being built. There were beyond doubt two pairs. I was away till well into July, and when I returned they were still in the osiers with their young; there they remained till the 22nd, when I lost sight of them. This year my observa- tions have been, I think, sufficiently interesting for publication. The day on which I first heard them was again June 4th; I had already heard the bird near Abbeville in France on May 28th, but have never yet heard it in England till the first week in June. On the 10th the osiers were alive with the brilliant singing of at least two or three males, in a space about half an acre in extent. The Sedge Warblers seemed entirely outdone, and the listener could regale himself with the strains of the rarer species undisturbed by any other songs. On the 20th, after some careful watching, I found a nest with five eggs almost in the exact spot where I first found NOTES AND QUERIES. 357 one in 1893, which is now in the Oxford Museum; and on the 2lst I found another, containing one egg, in the identical spot almost to a square’ yard where I found one in 1895 (June 26th). This close adherence to the same site year after year has also been noticed by my friend Mr. Playne near Bristol. The same day a young friend from Oxford, whom I had invited to study the bird, discovered a third nest with four eggs in a new site. This was a little further from the edge of the osier-bed than has so far been the case; but my experience entirely confirms Mr. Seebohm’s statement (or rather that of his German informant) that it is almost useless to look for the nest in the centre of any dense thicket. All the eggs were very characteristic, of a clear greenish or bluish white ground colour; but the spots and blotches were somewhat larger and more numerous in one clutch than in the others. On the 25th Mr. O. V. Aplin came to look at these three nests, and we had the pleasure of a leisurely inspection of the sitting bird in two cases out of the three. Looked at from a yard or so away, the colour of the back is a light uniform neutral brown, with a shade of olive, and the eye-stripe is only discernible when looked for closely ; it passes not over the eye, as described in Mr. Howard Saunders’s ‘ Manual,’ but through it. By this time the nest which, when I originally observed it, had one egg only, contained three, but the previous day there had been four. ‘This nest differed from the others in having more or less wool in its composition, and a large loose lump of wool in the lining. This attracted my attention, for I had never seen wool in a Marsh Warbler’s nest before ; there is sometimes a little moss, and this was the case also with the nest of which I am speaking We saw a Cuckoo this day at the osier-bed, and I had seen one there once or twice before ; but it did not occur to me as yet to associate the disappearance of an egg or the peculiar make of the nest with the presence of this mischief-maker. But on the 27th, when I next looked at the nest, there were only two eggs, and my suspicions began to be aroused, for there was no sign that any human being had been to the spot. On the morning of the 28th the bird was no longer sitting, and the eggs were all gone. There was no trace of them underneath the nest, among the roots of the meadow-sweet, in which this nest, like all the others this year, had been built. On examining the nest more closely I thought I saw something at the very bottom, underneath the lining, which as usual was of dry grass and horsehair, with the addition, as I have said, of some wool and a few minute fragments of moss, and, putting in my finger, I felt an egg. I then cut away the meadow-sweet, with the nest in it, and, getting it into a good light, could see a Cuckoo's egg, of the greenish-brown type often found in the nest of the Reed Warbler and other birds, almost hid- den, and quite firmly fixed below the lining. The nest could be held upside down without displacing the egg, which occupied a small’ hole or chamber 358 THE ZOOLOGIST. in the floor of the nest. As I was going that day on a visit to Mr. Aplin, I took the nest with me; we extracted the egg from its hole, blew it and replaced it, and had the nest photographed.* This is, I believe, the first instance on record in this country of a Cuckoo’s egg being laid in a Marsh Warbler’s nest. Whether this can throw any light on the peculiar position of the egg in the nest may indeed be doubtful ; but I am inclined to guess that this Cuckoo is in the habit of depositing her eggs in the nests of Sedge Warblers or Whitethroats, and that, finding herself too late for these (for a Whitethroat that had a nest hard by had been sitting a long time, and the Sedge Warblers in the osiers had young already), she put the egg into the Marsh Warbler’s nest when only one or perhaps two eggs had been laid in it. And it is just possible that the striking contrast between the Cuckoo’s egg and those of the intended foster-parent enabled the latter to discover the intruder, which she buried in the bottom of the nest out of sight, adding some new materials, e.g. the wool I have mentioned, with this end in view. However this may be, the facts are as I have described them, and the nest will be placed in the Oxford Museum, with the Cuckoo’s egg thus buried, so that anyone who may be studying the ways of the Cuckoo and its victims will be able to form an opinion for himself. On July Ist I was glad to find that the birds were evidently at work on a new nest; the cock was singing vigorously in heavy rain at six in the afternoon, a sure sign of renewed activity. After a short absence I returned on the 6th, to find that another of the three nests had been discovered and destroyed ; but in the third the young were just ready to fly. They are now (July 9th) about in the osiers with their parents, whose warning notes, more musical and agreeable than the harsh grating of the Sedge Warblers, are to be heard on every side. The plumage of the young birds is, as I observed two years ago, much darker and more rufous than that of the parents, and the throat and breast are of a warm buff. I may add that the vigorous singing still going on shows clearly that one new nest at least has been built within the last few days.—W. WarDE Fow er (Kingham, Chipping Norton). On the Nesting of the Spotted Flycatcher.—A pair of Common Fly- catchers (Muscicapa grisola) nesting in my garden built their first nest on the spouting against the house, which unfortunately was pulled away during building repairs. The second nest, which they started to build a few days after, on May 31st, was placed in a rose tree nailed to the house within a few feet of the old site. On June 6th the nest was finished, and on the 7th the first egg was laid. ‘To notify at what hour the eggs were laid, I visited the nest at 5 a.m. the next morning without finding a further addition ; the * It may be as well to state that the Cuckoo’s egg was quite fresh when blown ; it was small even for a Cuckoo’s, but had the usual hard shell, ee” NOTES AND QUERIES. 359 hen bird was on the nest, however, at 7 o'clock, and at 8 a.m., to my surprise, three eggs were deposited, which caused me to make a more careful examination as to the possibility of any egg that might be laid on the edge of the nest and roll in subsequently. On the 9th, however, two more eggs were laid, and the bird commenced to sit, another egg (making a clutch of six) being added afterwards. On June 23rd three eggs were hatched, one of the remaining three being infertile. On the following morning there were four young, and in the evening the last egg was hatched. On July 6th the three young ones reared out of the five left the nest, and, as frequently happens, also left the immediate locality, neither the old nor young having been seen since in the garden. To what extent the double laying exists I am unable to say, but with close watching in future it may be possible to throw further light upon this subject. Construction of nest, 7 days; depositing clutch of six eggs, 4 days; incubation, 14-15 days; young in nest, 12-13 days; total nesting, 37 days.—J. Srexu.e-Exuiorr (Clent, Worcestershire). Spotless Eggs of the Spotted Flycatcher.—An answer to a corre- spondent, signing himself “Isham,” in the ‘Field’ of July 23rd, to the effect that ‘“‘spotless eggs of the Spotted Flycatcher (Muscicapa grisola) are very unusual,” and further embodying a doubt as to the correct identification of the species, has just caught my eye. May I, as one almost as familiar with birds’ eggs as the letters of the alphabet, and in the interests of a future generation, put it on record with all humility in the pages of ‘ The Zoologist ’ that upwards of a quarter of a century’s unremitting birdsnesting has left me with the fixed conviction that of all the varieties of eggs, such as drab unspotted Chaffinches’, white Robins’, pink Jays’, blue unspotted Black- birds’, &c., one is liable to come across, there is no freak so fashionable as a Spotted Flycatcher’s nest containing a clutch of eggs with the ground colour, generally a pale blue, unruffled by spot or speck. At p. 77 of that pleasant little work, ‘ Our Summer Migrants,’ the author, referring to the Redstart, writes as follows :—* It is not unusual to find the nest, containing five or six pale blue eggs, upon a peach or plum tree against a wall ; upon a crossbeam of a summer-house.” Personally, I have never known a Red- start nidificate except in a hole, or at all events in a covered site; and 1 make no doubt that much confusion has been generated in the past by eggs resembling and wrongly identified as Redstarts’ being discovered in nests which in reality belonged to Spotted Flycatchers.—H. S. Davunvort (Melton Mowbray). Cuckoos recently observed in Aberdeen. — Two young Cuckoos (Cuculus canorus) were successfully hatched this year on natural pasture on my farm. In both cases the foster-parents were the same species as in the 360 THE ZOOLOGIST. former year—Mountain Linnets (Linota flavirostris). On May 380th a Cuckoo’s egg was detected in a nest, and in a day or two a young one was hatched. The egg was nearly like those of the foster-parents ; just a little longer or perhaps a little larger, with the general colouring of the other eggs. The nest altogether contained four eggs. The first day after hatching the young Cuckoo (a weak creature) was in the nest, while two young and an addled egg of the foster-parents were lying near, but had all disappeared by the following day. The young Cuckoo, which had less down than the other two, could not have evicted them; but who evicted and who carried away it is impossible to tell. The same care and attention was given this one as the other described in 1897, and on June-22nd it flew away from the nest, and was seen three days later still attended by the foster-parents. This went on to the 7th July, that being the last occasion on which it was seen. This bird was remarkable for the uniform darkness of its plumage. On June 22nd the second one was found in a nest- nearly one hundred yards from the other. It was about half-grown, and the four eggs of the foster-birds were found lying in a small hollow such as might be made by a bullock’s foot. They were about three feet from the nest and chipped, either through the young birds having been about to emerge from the shell, or, as is just possible, had been removed by the bill of a bird, and received the marks that way. It is difficult to understand how they could have all been ejected by the young Cuckoo and rolled so regularly together by themselves. On July 7th this bird was seen moving about at a short distance from the nest, and returning to it again. On July 9th it had deserted it, but the foster-parents were still moving about near the nest, while the three were seen for some days later flying about in the vicinity. It seems probable that the Cuckoo would place her egg in nests of birds whose eggs are at different stages of incubation. Would it be too much to suppose that the eggs in this case had been set apart to feed the young one ? They were destroyed because they might have attracted Hooded Crows or similar depredators, otherwise it would have been interesting to note whether the young Cuckoo would have used them for food. The colour of this Cuckoo was extremely rufous, the plumage being in strong contrast to the other one; whilst the bird of 1897 was between the two in this respect. It is fairly reasonable to suppose that the eggs had both belonged to one bird, more especially as it is well known that some days elapse between the pro- duction of each egg of the Cuckoo. We had no means of ascertaining the sex of either of these birds, as colour does not denote it ; so we must find other reasons for so great a variation in colour which these two presented. As observations of these birds were practically of daily occurrence, it was remarked that there were no appearances of the old Cuckoo being about ; still the latter might put in an appearance at night or in the morning when ¥ Ss% \4: r poe Co Be en) Lee NOTES AND QUERIES. 361 there was no one to see her. Thus we are without sufficient evidence to say that she had no interest in them. This is the first time which I have known of two young ones being reared near each other. Regarding the numbers of eggs which one Cuckoo will produce in a single year, and which various naturalists have estimated at from twenty to five, we should favour the latter number, or perhaps even less ; but we believe that it would differ very much with varying conditions. When we consider that in two years in this neighbourhood three pairs of Mountain Linnets have been hatching Cuckoos, another two pairs having done so in former years, while no case was observed in that time of other birds doing so, we are bound to place this bird as the favourite foster-parent of the locality ; and if Cuckoos were laying many eggs the effect would be such as to curtail the foster-bird seriously in numbers. I cannot find a reason why this should be so, for there are plenty of other birds, such as Larks, Brown Linnets, Hedge- sparrows, Robins, Wagtails, Chaffinches, Yellowhammers, &c., which might serve this purpose. It is also noticeable that the favourite is quite a local bird, as it does not extend into the low part of the country, and hence it is not generally noticed in natural history works as one of the usual foster- parents of the Cuckoo. Another point to be observed is that this bird has little connection with woods, moors being its favourite haunt; while Cuckoos are very fond of frequenting plantations. We have seen in the one case that the egg resembled those of the foster-birds, while that each of the young birds differed in the colour of plumage. Then the date of leaving here—July 7th is the last date which the Cuckoo was heard. I believe that they do not stay long after we cease to hear them; for instance, one which frequented my garden or its vicinity since their arrival has disappeared, and while some may remain for a while, everything leads me to think that they flit about the end of July. Then of course the foster-birds here will not follow far ; so that the young Cuckoos must shift for themselves, or obtain some guidance from parent Cuckoos or other promiscuous birds of their own species.—W. Witson (Alford, Aberdeen). Mallard and Pintail interbreeding in Captivity.— Last year I induced my friend Mr. R. Mann to pair a drake Pintail (Dajfila acuta) with a female Wild Duck (Anas boscas), but a Mallard found access to his neighbour’s mate, and her eggs hatched into pure-bred Mallards. This year the Pintail succeeded in pairing with a Wild Duck for a second time, and five eggs hatched. One duckling was killed by a Herring Gull, but the other four have feathered, and promise to be handsome specimens of this well-known cross. They most resemble the Pintail in immature plumage.— H. A, MacpueErson (Allonby Vicarage, Cumberland). Breeding Range of the Scaup-Duck.—I do not agree with your corre- -spondent, Mr. Crossman (Zool. ante, p. 819), when he presumes that any 362 THE ZOOLOGIST. stray Scaup-Duck (Fuligula marila) must have come from an ornamental water. It is just possible that, as in the case of the Teal, the breeding range of this species may be creeping further southward. I am not aware that the Scaup has been known to breed even so far south as the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright; yet on May 25th, 1892, I saw a pair of these birds frequenting Jordieland Loch, a sheet of water on the moors about five miles from the town of Kirkcudbright. I need hardly repeat from my notes that : * The male had a black neck and breast, the upper parts of the body also being dark, the under parts white. The female was similarly marked, but dusky. Their cry was hoarse compared with that of the Mallard.” Looking to the season at which I saw these birds—at the time a female Mallard had her young, little puffs of down, in the water in another part of the loch—I think that the Scaup may: have bred either there or in the vicinity, although unfortunately I could not certify this. The Teal breeds in fair numbers in that part of the country; the numbers to be seen in winter do not all remain to breed, but I think these are on the increase. It is not improbable that the same climatic tendency that keeps the Teal may ultimately keep the Scaup.—J. W. Payne (Edinburgh). | Occurrence of the Fork-tailed Petrel on the Yorkshire Coast.— I have a fine example of this Petrel (Cymochorea leucorrhoa Vieill.), taken on the beach at Filey on March 26th of this year, after some heavy westerly gales. This bird has been set up with the wings expanded, and the light smoky grey of the upper wing-coverts is very conspicuous. Both this and the closely allied Ridgway’s Petrel (Oceanodroma cryptoleucura) of the Canary Seas are figured in Lord Lilford’s ‘ Illustrations.’ In the latter the tail is not deeply forked, but nearly square. The upper tail-coverts are described (‘ Ibis,’ 1897, p. 54) as white tipped with black; this feature, however, is probably common to both, as my Filey bird has the tips of the white upper tail-coverts and the shafts of the same very dark. — JoHN CorDEAux (Great Cotes House, R.S.O., Lincoln). Bird Notes from the Northern Cairngorms.—The following account of some of the birds which are to be found near Aviemore, Inverness-shire, is the result of a few rough notes made by myself this summer (June 24th— July 7th) during a holiday spent in the district with three fellow-tourists. We made Coylum Bridge our headquarters, from whence we explored the forests of Rothiemurchus and Glenmore, and the northern slopes of the Cairngorm Mountains. Our first expedition was to Lochan Hileau, where we hoped to see the Ospreys (Pandion haliaétus), a pair of which are said to have nested on a ruined castle in the loch, with varying intervals, for the last century. We were much disappointed to find the eyrie deserted, but on enquiry were told that a pair had arrived as usual in May. Soon after ae |) 7. o, NOTHS AND QUERIES. 363 their arrival, however, a third bird, presumably a male, appeared on the loch, and a fierce fight ensued between two of the birds, the result of which was that the eyrie was shortly afterwards deserted. Although no young appear to have been reared on the castle this year, a pair of Ospreys seem to have remained in the neighbourhood, as a bird was seen on the castle about the middle of June, and I myself saw a pair flying in circles high above the loch on July 6th. We saw an Osprey’s nest which had been built in a large fir tree overhanging Loch Morlich, but were told by the keeper that it had not been used for the last five or six years. Another interesting bird we noticed was the Greenshank (T’otanus canescens), of which species we saw three or four pairs, all of which, from their manners, appeared to have young. Their alarm-cry is exceedingly resonant, and they also utter a chattering note, like that of the Kestrel. We only saw one young bird, which I flushed from some marshy ground, while the parent birds were flying over my head, calling loudly. It was fairly strong on the wing, so the Greenshank must be rather an early breeder. This species often perches on trees; in fact, we saw them more often on the tops of small firs than on the ground. They seem, however, to have considerable difficulty in keeping their balance on trees, and probably only resort to them when they suspect danger. We met with several parties of Crested Tits (Parus.cristatus), both in Rothiemurchus and Glenmore forests. They do not appear to be at all uncommon in the district, and when once we had learnt their call-note, we came across them nearly every day. The note to my ear sounds like a spluttering “ ptur-r-r-r-re,” rather low, and sometimes preceded by a shrill “ zi-zi-zi.”. Some of the young had apparently just left the nest, and were being fed by the parents. We also saw several parties of Crossbills (Lowia curvirostra), consisting of both young and old birds, in Glenmore Forest, where they had probably been reared. The Common Sandpiper (Totanus hypoleucus) was particularly numerous on the shores of all the lochs which we visited, especially on Loch Morlich, on the banks of which we found two nests, each containing four eggs. This bird follows the streams well up into the mountains, and we saw them up to about 2000 feet above sea-level. We saw plenty of Black-headed Gulls (Larus ridibundus), either fishing on the lochs or following the plough like Rooks, and we found a colony of about two hundred pairs which were nesting on a marshy loch near Aviemore, where the nests were built among the reeds, and usually almost floating on the water. A great number of Oystercatchers (Hematopus ostralegus) breed on the banks of the river Spey, above Aviemore. The birds were exceedingly numerous and very noisy, and we found one nest with three eggs, and many others which only. contained shells. The young birds on being handled feign death, drooping their.-necks and relaxing all their muscles, so that they appear quite limp 364 THE ZOOLOGIST. and helpless. This species is also to be found on most of the lochs, and we saw one on Loch Eunach, at an elevation of about 1760 feet. On the west of this loch is a precipice of about 2000 feet, where in former years a pair of Golden Eagles are said to have had their eyrie. Coots, Teal, and Wild Duck (Anas boscas) might also be seen on most of the lochs, usually followed by a brood of young. We noticed a Red-breasted Merganser (Mergus serrator) on the Spey, accompanied by two young birds, and on another occasion I saw four birds flying over Loch Morlich, which from their size and general black and white appearance must, I think, have been male Goosanders (M. merganser). Near this loch we found a nest of the Ringed Plover (Aigialitis hiaticula), containing two eggs. Ptarmigan (Lagopus mutus) were fairly numerous on the mountains above the altitude of 3000 feet, but we seldom saw them at a lower elevation. We noticed many of their egg-shells scattered about among the rocks, the contents of which had evidently been sucked by Grey Crows, and also came across young birds in various stages of growth. The hen birds were remark- ably bold when they thought that their young were in danger.—F. L. Buatuwayt (Weston-super-Mare). PISCES. Centrolophus pomphilus on the Norfolk Coast.—A specimen of the ‘* Black Fish,” a species not hitherto recorded as met with on the Norfolk coast, was found, still living, cast up by the sea on Sea Palling beach about the 27th of March last, after the severe weather, accompanied by north- east gales, which had prevailed for the few previous days. It had been stuffed when I saw it, but in a fresh state measured 12 in. in length and 32 in. in depth. Tuomas SouTHwELL (Norwich). Notes from Great Yarmouth.—As is generally known, the Mackerel (Scomber scomber) is very eccentric and capricious in its habits, sometimes suddenly leaving a noted locality, and, after being away for an uncertain time, as suddenly turning up again. Our old Mackerel fishery of May and June died out in the seventies, owing to the fish forsaking the coast. Strangely enough, they came in afterwards with the Herrings, numbers being taken, even up to November. This year something like the old order of things obtained, and great quantities of Mackerel have been landed on the fish-wharf. On May 9th I have a record of heavy catches. A 134 1b. Salmon (Salmo salar) was taken in a draw-net off Gorleston, May 17th. An example of the Scribbled Mackerel (Scomber scriptus) came to hand May 18th, another June 19th. Two Sting Rays (Raia pastinaca) observed on the fish-wharf; one weighed over 15 1b. This fish has been taken off our coast in rather more than usual numbers this spring. A. NOTES AND QUERIES. 365 “double Turbot” (Rhombus maximus), with only a white under side to the head, and with one eye in the usual “notch,” May 24th; dark on both sides, and also spined. A nine-inch Sea Angler (Lophius piscatorius), the smallest I have seen locally taken, was caught in a shrimp-net on June 3rd. An exceptionally fine Surmullet (Mulius surmuletus) was brought in on June 14th; weight, 2 lb. 10 oz. — A. Patterson (Ibis House, Great Yarmouth). Sea Lamprey in Cumberland.—On the 20th of July I had the pleasure of weighing a fine example of the Lamprey (Petromyzon marinus). It was one of a pair which had ascended the river Eden, probably for the purposes of reproduction, and was taken near Carlisle. It scaled about 241b. I only mention it because, though a common fish in many English rivers, it is a comparatively rare fish in the north-west of England. The last local example that I had handled previously was taken in Morecambe Bay, near Ulverston.—H. A. Macruerson (Allonby Vicarage, Cumberland). AMPHIBIA. Notes on Batrachians: Frog attacking Toad. — The interesting paragraph in ‘The Zoologist’ (ante, p. 323) on Frogs attacking Toads. reminds me of a curious incident which I witnessed some time ago. I used to keep a number of F'rogs and similar creatures out of doors in a cool airy situation close to a cellar window, where they lived in harmony for a long time. One day, when feeding them, I remember noticing a Common Frog (Rana temporaria) and a Common Toad (Bufo vulgaris) both eyeing a tempting morsel—a worm, I believe. Suddenly the Toad seized and speedily swallowed the worm. The Frog remained staring at the spot where the worm had been, and then, as if realizing his loss, deliberately turned and bit the Toad over the jaw. I was much astonished at this exhibition of revenge on such an animal, as the worm had completely dis- appeared, and it certainly was not a belated attempt to obtain it. I have never known another instance, and I have had considerable experience in keeping these and similar creatures, having studied the following species : —Testudo graca, Emys europea, Lacerta agilis, Zootoca vivipara, Anguis fragilis, Tropidonotus natrix, Rana temporaria, Bombinator igneus, Hyla arborea (one has lived four years here), Bufo vulgaris, B. calamita, Triton cristatus, Lissotriton punctatus, and Salamandra maculosa. — GRAHAM Rensuaw (Sale Bridge House, Sale, Manchester). MYRIOPODA. Mode of Progression among Millipedes.— During a stay at Waterval- onder (Hast Transvaal) in November last, I was much surprised at the 366 THE ZOOLOGIST. number of Millipedes moving about among the fallen leaves, and more so. at their peculiar method of hurrying off when disturbed... This they did by turning on their backs, and retreating with an undulating and wavy motion without at all using their feet. This so attracted my attention that I repeated the observation with these Millipedes on more than a dozen occasions, and in every instance their action was the same. — A. Duncan (Johannesburg). PRESERVATION OF ZOOLOGICAL SPECIMENS. It was with great pleasure that I read in ‘ The Zoologist ’ you are about to open the pages of that magazine to notes on taxidermy, and I also perused Mr. Oxley Grabham’s remarks with the greatest interest. I hope the new venture will meet with the support which it thoroughly deserves, and I am looking forward very much to the contributions of other taxidermists. . All large works on this subject are expensive, and as far as I know there is no periodical which devotes any attention to this most fascinating art. I know well how disappointing it is to a beginner to have his attempts at stuffing severely criticised by some professional who sees faults which the tyro perhaps fondly imagined did not exist. I can fully endorse Mr. Grabham’s statement to the effect that one must have any amount of ‘patience, and be devoted to the study of whatever branch or branches of taxidermy he desires to pursue. I am devoted to stuffing, and attempt everything which falls into my hands, from caterpillars to fish. This last is the most difficult of any subject in which to attain even moderate proficiency. I now imagine (in error, perhaps) that I have mastered the faults and peculiarities of the beginner as far as the birds are concerned, though there are still some birds which are extremely difficult to skin, let alone stuff, in a workmanlike manner. for instance, the novice may perhaps endeavour to skin a Cuckoo or Woodcock, and fail miserably in the attempt. Even a good professional will admit that these two birds, as well as a few other species, require extra care in the skinning; they are generally very fat, and their skins are as delicate to handle as wet blotting- paper. Decidedly the bird for the beginner is the Starling, being not too large, and having a fairly tough skin. It is indeed too true, as Mr. Grabham remarks, how often one sees birds placed in impossible positions, legs and beaks painted the wrong colour; and this is done not only by amateurs, but, alas, by a few professionals, who certainly ought to know everything about the creatures they set up. After a bird has been skinned, the question naturally arises as to the kind of preservative which must be used. There are so many different sorts, their name is almost legion. Most, I think, are NOTES AND QUERIES. 367 ~ equally efficacious, but I would strongly warn everyone against the use of alum for bird-skins, as it tends to make them brittle, and I fancy is not of much effect against the attacks of Dermestes. For the skins of large animals it may be useful. I always anoint my specimens with carbolic acid and a special kind of powder containing such, and make a mixture of the two, which I paint on the skin of the creature I am preserving. Arsenical soap should also be avoided, as it is undoubtedly dangerous to have much to do with this poison. That an ounce of practice is worth a pound of theory is an axiom which no one would think of disputing, and the beginner who can start away under the supervision of a professional is to be envied. I had to wait several years before such a chance was available. Most professional taxidermists I have met have been very kind in giving me many hints, which have been of the greatest use, and they themselves are always glad to hear of any new “discoveries,” even if they do not adopt them. Presuming, therefore, that the following suggestion may be of some use to those readers who study taxidermy, and also in meeting a well- recognized difficulty, I should be pleased to hear if my idea meets with any approval. Everyone has noticed, even in the cases of the South Kensington Museum, where a sheet of glass is made to represent water, the utter absence of ripples, and this is all the more noticeable where a bird is stuffed swimming or at rest in the water. My plan is to paint, in very dilute glue, those ripples which would naturally occur from the motion, however slight, of the bird in the pool of water. I have found it the most realistic of any plan which I have as yet come across, and I sincerely hope it may be of some use to others until a better one is substituted. The glue does not crack or chip off (according to my experience) as one might expect. I very much want to know of some cheap way of making a large hole in a sheet of glass, as is done in the National Museums, in order to receive the body of a bird or the stump of a tree. I should be delighted to hear of any feasible plan which would answer my purpose. Another thing I should like to know is the address of some firm which supplies really good artificial flowers, leaves, é&c., at moderate prices. Good accessories are of great advantage to the life-like effect of a carefully-finished case. A few words more as regards the accessories, more especially the rock- work: anyone who has a taste for painting and an eye for colour will find it of no great difficulty to successfully imitate the colour of any stone, and a well-painted scene at back of a case is a great piece de résistance of undoubted value to the general tout ensemble. Witness some of Rowland Ward’s cases; the beauty and perfection of detail are charming. It is most satisfactory to look at cases made years ago and compare them with those which have recently been finished. The amount of improvement which is acquired by constant practice will be noticed at once. I think a case 368 THE ZOOLOGIST. arranged and set up by oneself is usually more valued than if it had been done by a professional, at least that is how I feel. I am sure no one who has any aptitude for taxidermy will ever regret having taken up such a delightful subject, and beginners need never give up in despair if they have to throw away their first twenty attempts at stuffing, as they cannot possibly hope to attain great proficiency ata bound. It only needs practice and a good knowledge of the habits of the creature which it is proposed to set up. This last point is important, for by neglecting it mistakes will assuredly occur which would otherwise have been avoided. It is not of much use to chance getting a good attitude for a bird or animal, but before attempting to set it up it is advisable to think of every conceivable pose which could be assumed strictly in accordance with nature. Good books ought to be consulted for correct positions, or the natural attitude may be obtained by observing live specimens. In conclusion, I would impress on everyone, whether amateur or otherwise, to make it a rule to label every specimen most carefully with particulars as to date, locality, and sex; any other remarks might be added if desirable. A collection, no matter in what branch of natural history, is practically valueless without any data. The value of any collection is so much more enhanced by careful and truthful notes, and the amount of extra trouble is well repaid should the collection ever be offered for sale-—C. B. Horssrueu (4, Richmond Hill, Bath). Correction.—In the note on Daubenton’s Bat in the Conway Valley (ante p. 317), for “ Llngwy” and “ Llyn-yr-Afange ” read “ Llugwy ” and “ Llyn-yr-Afange.”—Cuas. OLpHaAm (Alderley Edge). NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS. The Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma. Birds. Vol. IV. By W. T. Buanrorp, F.R.S. Taylor & Francis. 1898. Tue description of the vertebrate animals of British India, in eight volumes, is—by this concluding and fourth volume on birds—now completed. India has not only been the training- ground for our soldiers, but has been an area—and long will be— productive of the best traditions in zoology and zoologists. We need not recapitulate the well-known names that were made in India and have become household words in zoology, and which, with perhaps the exception of Ferdinand Sloliczka, have been those of our own countrymen; nor is it necessary to recall the many instances in which the first zoological inspiration was received in that torrid clime which one usually leaves, but which one never forgets. Again, its field naturalists, or in other words its sportsmen, have always been renowned and will continue to exist; in fact, our Indian Empire is a zoological influence from which few sympathetic spirits have escaped. In the present work the number of Indian birds regarded as distinct species is estimated as 1626, which fairly agrees with Hume’s enumeration in his ‘ Catalogue’ of 1879, which reached a nett total of 1608; and perhaps this expresses a somewhat synthetic concord between good authorities, when the personal equation of individual discrimination between species and varieties is considered. It must also be remembered that of the four volumes devoted to Aves in this series, the first and second were contributed by Mr. E. W. Oates, and the remaining two by Mr. Blanford, so that the general specific consensus of opinion is still more marked. Vol IV., now before us, is devoted to the gallina- ceous, wading, and swimming birds. Ornithological publications such as these are of course pri- marily intended for the Indian or Oriental student; they may Zool. 4th ser. vol. II., August, 1898. 2B 370 THE ZOOLOGIST. be expected to say a last word in synonymy, and to serve a ready means for the identification of species. But their value extends over a larger field than the faunistic area in which they are centred, as many species have a wide range and their distribution is fully treated, so that in the problem of zoogeography the volumes must be shelved for consultation by the investigators of other faunas. We frequently find surprising additions in unex- pected migrants. Thus, in the Petrels, our old maritime friend the ‘‘ Cape Pigeon” (Daption capensis) is included on the autho- rity of a specimen shot in the Gulf of Manaar, between Ceylon and the mainland, the skin of which is preserved in the Hume collection. The completion of the vertebrate portion of this work should let loose some unused energy among Indian zoologists. They may now accept, and cease to too ardently criticise—for some years at least—the nomenclature of the series. We do not say that finality has been obtained; that, at least so far as specific treatment is concerned, is a question for the future, and must be based on more extensive knowledge than exists at present. But the Indian ornithologist can now estimate that his work is largely one of observation; he possesses a formula of identification that will be hard to beat, and with which he may be expected to remain content. The bionomical field is now the one to explore. Thanks to Messrs. Blanford and Oates one branch of Indian ornithology is thoroughly brought up to date, and is in line with the best current scientific conceptions. If the ubiquitous theorist can now be controlled, and observers take up the work, the volumes com- | prising the ‘ Fauna of British India’ will not have been written in vain. Bird Neighbours. By Neutse Buancuan; with introduction by JoHN Burroveus. Sampson Low, Marston & Co. THis is a book written by a lady, and refers to North American birds. It is a somewhat sumptuous work possessing fifty-two coloured plates, and is what may be styled an extra- scientific rather than a non-scientific volume. It is intended to promote the knowledge of birds, but is not in any sense a primer of ornithology. Just as we sometimes find a Professor of natural NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS. 371 history who is not a naturalist, so we have in our authoress a lover of birds who is clearly not a scientific ornithologist. With this we have no complaint to make, for under the present circum- stances we rather welcome the innovation, as the book makes no pretence to be anything but “an introductory acquaintance with one hundred and fifty birds commonly found in the gardens, meadows, and woods about our homes”; and systems are but a set of propositions to yet secure finality, while all should know their birds and their habits. We like the book for its purely American independence. Emerson has exclaimed for his country- men—‘ We will walk on our own feet; we will work with our own hands; we will speak our own minds.” And certainly our authoress has proved her emancipation on this point, for we find a perfectly new treatment of the subject. Thus after a rough sketch of ‘‘ Bird Families” we have “ Habitats of Birds,” in which species are grouped according to the positions they frequent, such as in the upper or lower parts of trees, among foliage and twigs or on conspicuous perches, birds of the woods or their edges, birds found near water, birds that sing on the wing, &c. Then the birds are enumerated according to their seasonal appearance; again, according to size; and lastly,—and this is the method of the book,—“‘ grouped according to colour.” It is thus abundantly clear that we are alone with the birds, and for the nonce we may well discard all our classifications if we are with any pleasure to read these pages. The treatment is, there- fore, an individual one; each bird is as unconnected and free from all systematic restraints as though a scientific ornithology had never spread its net of avian order. We pass from the Titmouse to the Jay; from the Nightjar to the Cuckoo. Colour is here the main plank of an alliance. If our English Jay is evil in the sight of the gamekeeper, the Canada Jay (Perisoreus canadensis) is answerable for a long list of offences. We read that, according to Mr. Hardy, there is scarcely anything ‘‘ which can be eaten that they will not take; and I had one steal all my candles, pulling them out endwise, one by one, from a piece of birch bark in which they were rolled; and another peck a large hole in a keg of castile soap. A duck, which I had picked and iaid down for a few minutes, had the entire breast eaten out by one or more of these birds. I have 372 THE ZOOLOGIST. seen one alight in the middle of my canoe and peck away at the carcase of a beaver I had skinned. They often spoil deer saddles by pecking into them near the kidneys. They do great damage to the trappers by stealing the bait from traps set for Martens and Minks, and by eating trapped game, &c.”’ ‘Bird Neighbours’ is written by a lover of birds, and will increase that love in others who may consult its pages. We must not expect to find science everywhere, but nature is universal; and he who has learnt to love the last will almost inevitably seek the first. The Birds of Montreal. By Ernest D. Wintute. Montreal: W. Drysdale & Co. London: John Wheldon & Co. Tuts volume is devoted to the avifauna of the district of Montreal. The area covered by the work “is principally the island of Montreal, situated at the confluence of the Ottawa with the St. Laurence River, thirty-two miles long by about ten miles broad at the widest part.” It is the centre of attraction for a large number of North American birds during the migratory periods in the spring and fall, and many species remain to breed. Two hundred and fifty-four birds are enumerated, arranged in a somewhat unfamiliar classification, commencing with the Podicipide (Grebes) and terminating with the Turdide. The first part is devoted.to an enumeration, with bionomical notes; the second part consists of “ abridged descriptions” of the species. The last portion of the volume consists of *‘ Original Sporting Sketches’’ by various authors. The book is naturally of local interest in the first place; but is also valuable for material in the study of avian geographical distribution. A few plates are given, but these are of a somewhat primitive description, recalling those in old works of travel. The preface is dated 1896; but the volume has only just reached our hands. . ( 873 ) EDITORIAL GLEANINGS. THe Trustees of the British Museum have appointed Professor Ray Lankester as Director of the Natural History Department. He succeeds Sir William Henry Flower, who retires, through ill health, on Sept. 30th. The remuneration is £1200 per annum. WE recently (ante, p. 236) referred to a paper by Mr. Faxon on some *‘ Observations on the Astacide, &c.” Since then Dr. Emar Léonberg, in the ‘ Zoologischer Anzeiger,’ has contributed to the same subject “Some Biological and Anatomical Facts concerning Parastacus.” Parastacus hasslert, Faxon, is found in Chile, and Mr. P. Dusén has related some facts as to its life-history. This Crayfish lives in slightly sloping, moist meadows. The humidity on the surface was, however, not greater than that Mr. Dusén could walk there with dry shoes,” and there was no open water, lake, or river in the neighbourhood. Here the Crayfishes had made vertical holes in the earth, and round these holes they had erected “ mud chimneys” out of the clayey material which they had carried up from their burrows. ‘These chimneys had often a height of 2-3 decm. The results arising from Dr. Loonberg’s study of this species are, “ that in Parastacus hasslert a partial hermaphroditism is prevailing, but male and female organs are not functionary in the same individual,-neither are ripe elements of both sexes produced by the same specimen. The hermaphroditism could thus be called rudimentary.” The Astacide seem to offer a most interesting study to zoologists, both by their functions and habits. In the ‘Western World’ for May last, a correspondent writes ;— “In a very few weeks the last remnant of the Buffalo tribe, so far as Manitoba is concerned, will be removed from Silver Heights, near Winnipeg, where they now are, to the National Park at Banff. They have been given by Lord Strathcona to the Dominion Government, with a view to their preservation in the park, but how long they will stay there is another question. It is only too likely that their natural instincts will, in spite of their half-tame condition, reassert themselves and induce them to wander off in any direction. ‘The herd numbers seventeen in all. There are five pure bred males, eleven, seven, six, five, and two years old; and four pure bred females, eleven, six, four, and two years old; one aged half-bred cow about sixteen years old, one three-quarter bred heifer three years old, one 374 THE ZOOLOGIST. three-quarter bred bull seven years old, and one three-quarter bred bull five years old. Four calves of last year, two of them pure, make up the lot. “Tt is now well-nigh thirty years since the first Buffalo calves were brought in by Indians for James Mackay, of Silver Heights. A little later, when the herd had increased to about twenty, they were taken to Stony Mountain, where, having been bought by the late Col. Bedson, with the exception of the few claimed by Sir Donald Smith as his share, the bulk of the herd, including a few cross-breeas, were sold to ‘“ Buffalo Jones,” who was then speculating on getting up a company to breed crosses on domestic cows for the sake of the robes, as well as the extra value of the meat. Besides a few owned by private individuals, there is still a wild herd preserved by the U.S. Government in the National Park at the head of the Yellowstone. In the Smithsonian Institute at Washington is a splendidly mounted group of stuffed specimens set up by Mr. Hornaday, who was sent out in 1883 to procure for that purpose a few specimens out of a small remnant then existing in the Bad Lands on the Upper Missouri. Some of the finest specimens were killed on that expedition. The bull stands 6 ft. high, and is set up just as he stood at bay, after he had been shot by Hornaday, and his leg broken. Millions of Buffalo were killed between 1873 and 1883, and some of the higher valleys looked white all summer with the skeletons of countless Buffalo that had been killed for the sake of their hides, the meat going to feast the wolves.” ~ In the May number of the ‘ Osprey,’ Mr. George Harlow Clarke, the. Naturalist to the Peary Polar Expedition, 1893-4, contributes an article on * The Birds of Bowdoin Bay.” Bowdoin Bay is situated far up the western shore of Greenland. It is ‘“‘ some five miles wide, extends inland a distance of about twelve miles due north from Inglefield Gulf, an arm of the Polar Sea penetrating the coast between Smith Sound and Baffin Bay.” ‘A list, based on observations covering a period of twelve consecutive months, of the birds frequenting the bay comprises nineteen authenticated species.” Some others were seen, but as yet they can only hypothetically be accorded a place in the limited ornithology of the bay. The most conspicuous bird is the Raven, and scarcely less numerous is the Rock Ptarmigan (Lagopus rupestris reinhardti). These birds are indisputably resident species, and the Eskimos aver that the Snowy Owl and Greenland Gyr-falcon also ‘brave the vigorous sunless winter of that latitude. Prominent as summer visitors are the Mandt’s Guillemot, Little Auk, Kittiwake and Glaucous Gulls, Kiders—King and Northern—Old Squaw, Snowflake, and Greenland Redpoll.” The Red-throated Diver rears its young in that locality; the Wheatear was first seen on August 21st, 1893, but on July 4th, 1894, a nest containing seven eggs was found on the shore of Inglefield Gulf, a few EDITORIAL GLEANINGS. 375 miles east of the bay. Knots and Turnstones were reported during July and August, and the Ring Plover was occasionally seen. The advance guard of Burgomasters and Kittiwakes arrived early in May, and in June, 1894, a solitary Snow Goose passed overhead, an occupied nest of the species being discovered in the Tucktoo Valley, beyond Bowdoin Glacier. We have received the Report of the Marlborough College Natural History Society for the year ending 1897. This Society shows every mark of vitality. Its president is Mr. E. Meyrick, the well-known lepidopterist; it has been found necessary to limit the number of school members to three hun- dred ; while its financial position is shown by a credit balance of about £100. Among interesting facts to be found in these pages is a census of the Rooks’ nests in College Grounds, compiled by Mr. Meyrick :—* The nests were counted on April 6th, when there were found to be 13 in the trees facing B House, 153 in the Wilderness, 8 on the Mound, and 1 in a willow lower down the garden; total, 175, being an increase of 7 on last year, but not yet quite up to the record of 1894. During the last two years there have been (each year) two nests in the elms in Mr. Morrison’s meadow at the top of Kingsbury Hill; this attempt at forming a new colony is probably due to stragglers from the College settlement.” Another note relates to a climbing habit in Frogs:—‘‘ We have made a curious discovery this summer in our garden. Some Frogs have taken up their abode for the last month in two deserted Blackbirds’ nests, built in round thick box bushes about two feet from the ground. One Frog is generally to be seen alone sometimes on or near the edge of the nest, sometimes comfortably ensconced in the middle, only his head peeping out. In the other nest there are now always two Frogs.”—(E. A. M.; July 20th), An Anthropological Record, giving statistics of weight and measurement of all boys passing through the College, is a very valuable feature of these Reports. We read that in 1897 “ some modifications have been introduced into our practice. The dynamometer test has been discontinued; the results attained by it were very fluctuating, being probably largely influenced by the condition of the subject on the particular day, and it has also been found difficult to get boys to pull to their full capacity, the action being unfamiliar. The chest measurement hitherto taken seems also unsatis- factory, as it is difficult to determine when the chest is really normally expanded, neither too full nor too empty. In place of these we have now substituted two chest measurements ; one of the chest expanded to its fullest capacity, and one taken when it is emptied as far as possible. ‘The mean of these two measurements may be regarded in practice as indicating the normal girth, and the difference between them gives a measure of the total capacity of expansion, and may be taken as an index of the efficiency of respiration.” 376 THE ZOOLOGIST. Pror. McInrosu recently delivered a lecture in Aberdeen on “ The Resources of the Sea.” The following extracts are taken from a report of the lecture which appeared in the Aberdeen ‘ Daily Free Press ’:— “* He remarked on the enormous length of time and the large extent to which fishing had been carried on for the commercial sponge, the red coral, trepangs, the lob-worm, and similar marketable forms of fish life, and he said it was very interesting and instructive to find that after ages of eager pursuit there is as yet no sign of the extinction of these species. For ages man has gathered the sedentary and creeping shellfishes, such as Mussels, Cockles, Periwinkles, for food and bait, often without the slightest restriction, as in the case of the Periwinkle and Limpet; yet extinction has not ensued in the much-abused and easily reached Mussel, which has suffered, on the one hand, from reckless fishing, and, on the other, from the very varied suppositions of Mussel-merchants and _ politicians. In dealing with food fishes, he remarked that at first sight it seems almost incredible that such species as the Cod, Haddock, Whiting, Herring, Plaice, and Sole could withstand the vast annual drain caused by the operations of fishermen. Yet at this moment all these species in the open seas present as wide a distribution, and, in some, as little diminution in numbers, as if the constant persecution of man had not been. It is true that the large examples of the common species of food-fishes become fewer by persistent fishing, but it cannot be said that, in the case of either round or flat fishes in the majority of the areas, signs of extinction are apparent. Even, if, in the waters within a reasonable distance of land, fishing were carried to such a degree that it would be no longer profitable to pursue it, it is possible that the adjoining areas and the wonderful powers of increase of the few fishes remaining would by-and-by people the waters as before, because everything in the sea around, including the plentitude of food—so nicely fitted for every stage of growth—would conduce to this end. It has apparently been beyond man’s power either to reduce to vanishing point or greatly to increase the yield of the open sea. ‘The larger forms of such species as the Halibut, for instance, may be thinned by constant attacks, but the race continues as before with a resilience and pertinacity none the less sure that they are often doubted and may be denied.” Tue Syndics of the Cambridge University Press have undertaken the publication of a series of monographs upon material obtained by Dr. Arthur Willey, Balfour Student of the University of Cambridge, from New Britain, the Loyalty Islands, and other Islands of the South Pacific during the years 1895-1897 inclusive. The work will embody the zoological results of the expedition, and will, it is expected, be completed in five or six parts. THE ZOOLOGIST No. 687.—September, 1898. BIOLOGICAL SUGGESTIONS. ASSIMILATIVE COLOURATION. By W. L. Distant. Part I. Mr. Darwin admits that there are unknown laws of development and variation, and certain direct actions of external conditions, which to some extent modify animal forms; but, so far as yet known, these can only be permanently preserved or increased, when useful, by means of natural selection. We are not now discussing whether this view is strictly correct, or whether there are not probably unknown laws determining the lines of directions in which alone natural selection can profitably and permanently act. There may be such, and the present writer is disposed to think there are such ; but these have not beeri proved to exist.—A. R. WALLACE. We are not enunciating ascertained truths; we are simply recording the results of study.—G. H. Lewes. Any student of natural history who cares to analyse the vast strides made by his science during the last thirty years must be impressed by the great advance which has taken place in the philosophical conception of the origin of animal colouration. ** Protective resemblance,” ‘‘mimicry,” and “utility markings” are now by-words with every naturalist, whilst some scientific theory has replaced much teleological wonder. Although our new views are in very many cases explanations of old observations, these views have in friends and foes alike created such a host of good observers, who are anxious to support or demolish advanced Zool. 4th ser. vol. II., September, 1898 2¢ 378 THE ZO0O0OLOGIST. theories, that purely zoological suppositions are often the fore- runners of original experiment and the discharge of a battery of new or little-known facts. In this way the opponents of evolution have been of the greatest service to the cause. They have acted as deterrents to too hasty generalizations; by their contentions a greater precision in the argument has been attained; while the facts adduced as weapons in their controversy have not only often proved new, but actually supportive of the cause attacked, and have not infrequently become honoured inmates of the evolu- tionary armoury. Much biological controversy is only of a more or less forensic character. It has often occurred to the writer that considerable interest would attach to biological briefs being drawn up by different theorists, and the same handed to eminent Queen’s Counsel to be made much, or little of, as ingenious argument could bolster up or destroy. Dean Buckland, as related by his son, once placed the evidence for the former existence of hyenas in England before ‘‘ one of the most learned judges in the land,” with the further argument of their equally rapacious and ravenous character. And now, said the Dean, ‘‘what do you think of that, my lord?” Such facts, replied the Judge, “brought as evidence against a man, would be sufficient to convict and even hang him.”* Judicial consideration would be most beneficial in many biological theories, where the facts are strong but the argument weak, or, as is not altogether unusual, the strength of the advocacy is in an inverse ratio to that of the evidence. There is also a danger, now that we have entered so many of nature’s portals, in believing that our present keys will open all locks, and that our explanations of many problems in animal colouration are sufficient for universal application. It seems more probable, however, that we have captured many outworks, and threatened the citadel, but certainly not secured it, and under these circumstances one may offer some suggestions and indulge in some criticism, as at a council of war, without being proclaimed a deserter from evolutionary principles, or an enemy to advanced ideas of natural selection. How far have we at present accounted for the varied animal colouration which we see around us? the glory of our cabinet- * ‘Curiosities of Nat, Hist.,’ Pop. Edit., 2nd ser., p. 53, ASSIMILATIVE COLOURATION. 379 drawers, the mysterious wonder in the galleries of our museums, the charm of travellers abroad, and appreciative lovers of nature at home. Very much, when the difficulty of the problem is considered, and especially where the utility of animal disguises and mimicking appearances has been unravelled by the magic wand of “natural selection,” or ‘“‘the survival of the fittest.” But very little when we wish to understand the larger element in the phenomena of colour, to which we are, at present, unable to take the initiatory steps of defining its exact purpose in the battle of life. Some colour-development appears to be inscrutable as the green bones in the Mud-fish (Protopterus annectans), and the common Gar-fish (Lepidosteus sp.). As Darwin remarks, in the Hornbill (Buceros bicornis) the inside of the mouth is black in the male and flesh-coloured in the female.* In the twelve-winged Bird of Paradise (Seleucides nigricans) the mouth and throat are of a “‘vivid grass-green colouring,” which was seen by Guillemard in the course of feeding, when the bird threw a cockroach in the air and caught it lengthways.t At St. Kilda, Mr. R. Kearton describes how on a small ledge of rock in the mouth of a cave “I observed a little patch of brilliant orange colour appearing and disappearing simultaneously with the sound,” which that writer was endeavouring to unravel: ‘“‘it was the open mouth of a Black Guillemot.’’{ In the Transvaal, the writer was informed by a poultry fancier of Pretoria that his imported White Leghorns lose the yeliow colour of their legs; the young chickens exhibit that colour, but again lose it as they grow older. The body cavity of some Lizards is deep black; the pigmentation does not affect the entire lining of the body cavity, but only a part of it which is sharply differentiated from the rest; the palate of the Ourang-outan is black, that of the Chimpanzee flesh-coloured, with no pigment at all.§ In the preparatory stages of Lepidoptera there appears to be, as a rule, no relation either in tint or brilliancy of colour between larva, pupa, and imago.|| But there are exceptions, as in the case of that well- * “Descent of Man,’ 2nd edit., p. 426. + ‘Cruise of the Marchesa,’ 2nd edit., p. 434. { ‘With Nature and a Camera,’ p. 61. § Beddard, ‘Animal Colouration,’ 2nd edit., p. 10. || So among Molluses— The colour of the shell does not necessarily 2c2 380 THK ZOOLOGIST. known and undesirable garden moth, Abraxas grossulariata, in which the larva and pupa are both prominently marked with yellow and black, and the perfect insect exhibits the same prominent hues. Plants often develop colour in response to purely environmental conditions. Mr. Scott Elliot observes :— ‘“‘T have noticed everywhere that in places .... where there is plenty of sunlight and not enough humidity to form a large amount of branches and leafage, the surplus nourishment is usually disposed of in bright colouring. A curious instance of this effect carried to extremes is an orchid (Disa erubescens, Rendle), which is all over the curious red colour which one often sees on the leaves and stems, e.g. of our common Herb Robert in England. Other instances of this sort of flora may be seen, e.g. on the limestone hillocks about Alexandria and on Table Mountain summit.”* Mr. Wallace enumerates as instances of colour needing ‘‘no special explanation,” those alge and fungi which have bright colours—the ‘‘red-snow’”’ of the Arctic regions, the red, green, or purple seaweeds, the brilliant -scarlet, yellow, white, or black agarics, and other fungi; also the varied tints of the bark of trunks, branches, and twigs, which are often of various shades of brown and green, or even vivid reds or yellows.t Prof. Marshall Ward also remarks:—‘‘ The red colour often assumed by parts of plants other than flowers, especially young leaves, afforded an instance of the danger of pushing an explana- tion too far. In many instances it doubtless served to absorb some of the sunlight, and so protect the chlorophyll of young organs; but such a case as the red colour in the lower layers of the floating leaf of a water lily demanded some other explanation.” f Dr. Bonavia, amid much speculation, has truly written: ‘ Phzno- gams, such as the carrot and beetroot, develop their orange and crimson colours in what we should consider as total darkness.” § We must all agree with Darwin that ‘‘hardly any colour is finer correspond with that of the mollusc. The latter may be of an intense black, the shell being quite white ; the ‘animal’ may be a most brilliant creature with a variety of many colours, and its test merely of some uniform sombre hue.” (Edgar Smith, ‘ Roy. Nat. Hist.,’ vol. vi. pp. 822-3.) * ¢A Naturalist in Mid-Africa,’ pp. 93-4. + ‘Darwinism,’ p. 302. { ‘Royal Institution Lecture,’ February 18th, 1896. § ‘Phil. Notes on Botanical Subjects,’ p. 89. ASSIMILATIVE COLOURATION. 381 than that of arterial blood; but there is no reason to suppose that the colour of the blood is in itself any advantage; and - though it adds to the beauty of the maiden’s cheek, no one will pretend that it has been acquired for this purpose.” * All our present knowledge of animal colouration is derived from motive; show us a practical use for the same in the creature’s life, either in “protective and aggressive resemblance or mimicry,” or in warning or nuptial colours, and the same is at once found to dovetail in that marvellous intellectual con- ception of this our time, so well known as Darwinism. But let the purpose be unknown, as is the general rule,—though probably no form exists in nature but is the outcome of use, now, or once,—and explanation reaches the standard of pure and scant hypothesis, scarcely to be avoided under the limitations of our present knowledge, nor to be condemned in the absence of experimental test. Poulton has advanced the proposition that the bright hue of many Sea Anemones may be explained under the term and theory of “ warning colours,” + and that—based on experiments made by Garstang—the tentacles of Sea Anemones were distasteful to fish.{ But we learn from McIntosh and Masterman that “it is a well-known fact that adult Cod are extremely fond of Sea Anemones, and some of the rarest species may be procured in their stomachs;’’ also that Sea Anemones are a favourite bait for Cod in some parts of Scotland.§ Darwin has pointed out how colour and constitutional peculiarities go together, and he learned from Prof. Wyman that in Virginia the Pigs were all black because they “‘ate the paint-root (Lacnanthes), which coloured their bones pink, and which caused the hoofs of all but the black varieties to drop off.” || Superabundant vigour in the male sex often produces excess or rather extra-development in colour, ‘as a cock Brambling will occasionally assume a black throat, or a cock Sparrow a chestnut breast, or a Rose Pastor a a reddish head.” {] Although colours in fruits and plants have — In many cases an equally important function as in animals for * Descent of Man,’ 2nd edit., p. 261. + ‘The Colours of Animals,’ p. 166. + Ibid. p. 200. § ‘The Life-histories of British Marine Food-fishes,’ p. 38. || ‘ Origin of Species,’ 6th edit., p. 9. WJ. H. Gurney, ‘ Zoologist,’ 3rd ser., vol. xviii. p. 295. 382 THE ZOOLOGIST. protection, attraction, or aggression, there are still immense ex- ceptions to the rule. This is particularly evident to anyone who has witnessed the glorious autumnal tints exhibited by the foliage of trees along the mountain slopes of the Rhine and Danube, and on the shores of the Canadian lakes.* 'l'hese beautiful shades of red, violet, and yellow merely denote the proximate fall of the leaf and chemical processes incidental thereto. Many leaves— due to anthocyanin—are highly coloured on their under surfaces, a process probably which absorbs light and changes it into heat, and thus “in the ever green leaves of those plants in the depths of the forest which are natives of inclement regions, this advan- tage is obtained from the layer of anthocyanin developed on the lower leaf-surface, that every sunbeam, even in the cooler seasons, can be utilized to the utmost.” f We may probably have reached a stage in our 1 ingerieatiogs where suggestion may at least be valuable during a halt, and, where consideration may be given to facts, and attention to questions, which do not altogether quite advance new theories nor disprove older ones. Let us bring grist to the mill, even if others alone are capable of producing the meal; surely the naturalist can collate his facts, give his experience, and propound his views, without seeking a ‘‘ patent” for every idea, or to be the parent of another theory. At the present time, among many students of biology there seems a desire to advocate what may be called a personal theory. Such workers will, with the greatest avidity, dissect and criticise the theories advanced by others. But their own theory is sacred, is, in fact, ‘‘totem.” This feeling is almost a form of survival. According to Turner, one Samoan saw his god in the Hel, another in the Shark, another in the * Brehm has described similar autumn beauties in the woodlands of Western Siberia. (‘From North Pole to Equator,’ p. 130.) + Kerner and Oliver, ‘Nat. Hist. Plants,’ vol. i. p. 521. A case which seems to imply non-utility in vegetable markings is given by Prof. Thiselton- Dyer :—‘‘ There is a variety of the common oak with marbled foliage. A tree at Tortworth has borne acorns, and these are striped. At first sight it might seem odd that a variation in foliage and fruit should be correlated. But it is not so; the marbling is due to the partial suppression of chlorophyll in those portions of the ground-tissue which are exposed to light; and this tract of tissue igs continuous in the leaves and the carpels” (‘ Nature,’ vol. liv. p. 293). ASSIMILATIVE COLOURATION. 383 Turtle, another in the Dog, another in the Lizard, and so on through nearly all living things. A man would eat freely of © what was regarded as the incarnation of the god of another man, but the incarnation of his own god he would consider it death to injure or to eat. And so it is with our own theoretical bantlings; surely they must live whatever else may perish. As Lecky has remarked of earlier days of the Church: ‘‘ Whenever a saint was canonized it was necessary to prove that he had worked miracles” ; it would appear now, that to be famous as a naturalist, one must be at least original in theory. There seems at present a danger of being too conclusive, as though the study of animal life is only advanced by the promulga- tion of new views that shall be canonized by a more or less general acceptance; that the observing must be combined with the inventing faculty ; that to be behind a theory is to be behind the knowledge of the day. On the other hand, there lurks an Opinion, even in powerful and highly qualified quarters, that to suggest a new interpretation of natural phenomena without the most absolute appeal to scientific verification is a deadly sin; that theory is heresy ; and that the “romance” of natural history is only expounded by the cautious systematist. Safety seems only possible in the almost forlorn hope of clearing these intel- lectual Scylla and Charybdis, these opposing schools who both see it all clare et distincte. If we seek to understand animal colouration, the knowledge will scarcely be acquired from the facts to be derived from the world as we know it. As recently remarked: ‘‘ But we must remember that such protective resemblances—if in reality they exist—are of very ancient date; and that in the early days of mammalian life on the earth the warm-blooded quadrupeds were an exceedingly feeble folk when compared with contemporary birds and reptiles. It is therefore quite possible that many of the characteristic markings upon creatures living to-day—which are often so difficult to explain—are mere vestiges of a state of affairs which existed in very ancient times, and which demanded special means of protection.” * If the earliest forms of life are to be sought only in an ancient geological record, it is also in that phase of animal existence that the beginnings of colouration * Louis Robinson, ‘ Wild Traits in Tame Animals,’ p. 243. 384 THE ZOOLOGIST. must have developed ; and this we may imagine to have been of an assimilative hue, for, as Poulton has remarked, “ali animal colour must have been originally non-significant; for, although selective agencies have found manifold uses for colour, this fact can never have accounted for its first appearance.’* We may think with Grant Allen, who asserts of the unbroken green hue which was the dominant feature of the flowerless carboniferous era: “ EKqually unvaried, no doubt, was the hue of the articulate creatures which fed amid those green jungles of tangled fern and club-moss. A few scorpion-like insects, an occasional cockroach, beetle, or other uncanny creeping thing may still be detected in the débris of a forgotten world; but no trace of a bee, a moth, or a joyous butterfly can be discovered in these earliest ages of animal life.” + Many phases of plant-life can only be understood by a knowledge of past geological conditions. Mr. Harshberger, of Pennsylvania, has recently discussed the origin of the vernal flora of his own land, and has apparently shown that the flowering time of many plants and trees is a direct product of heredity from the glacial period.{ It therefore seems possible that assimilative colouration may have been a first and very general consequent in animal development; that such a view is suggested by many facts; and that the subsequent protective resemblance acquired by numerous living creatures through the process of natural selection, when life had advanced to the competitive stage, is far too frequently used as an explanation for whole series of uniform phenomena in colouration, which have probably sur- vived unaltered from remote antiquity, and which by their very essence were “ outside the law’’§ of natural selection, or un- * ©Colours of Animals,’ p. 13. + ‘The Colour-Sense,’ p. 38. t ‘Science,’ new ser. vol. i. pp. 92-8. § The reader will readily apprehend that by the term “law” we mean observed, constant, sequence in phenomena. As Prof. Huxley remarks :— “The habitual use of the word ‘law,’ in the sense of an active thing, is almost a mark of pseudo-science; it characterizes the writings of those who have appropriated the forms of science without knowing anything of its substance” (‘Collected Essays,’ vol. v. p. 79). And again:—‘‘We have succeeded in finding out the rules of action of a little bit of the universe; we call these rules ‘laws of nature,’ not because anybody knows whether they bind nature or not, but because we find it is obligatory on us to take them ASSIMILATIVE COLOURATION. 385 altered survived as the “ fittest.”” For, as remarked by Paul in a sense that cannot, however, be called biological, that without he had known the law, neither had he known sin; so, until animal life had developed from its little differentiated phase to the advanced stage when a struggle for existence ensued, natural selection scarcely existed as a controlling force. There was doubtless what may be suggested as an evolutionary impulse,* into account, both as actors under nature, and as interpreters of nature” (ibid. p. 81). John Stuart Mill has given a similar definition (‘Three Essays on Religion,’ p. 6). * This evolutionary impulse might be perhaps defined in the words of Matthew Arnold as applied to another subject: ‘‘ That awful and benevolent impulsion of things within us and without us, which we can concur with, indeed, but cannot create.” Apparently similar to the ‘idioplasm” of Nageli. On the other hand, the terms ‘‘impulse”’ and “ stimulus” lack a clear definition. ‘‘Here, as in so many similar cases, a phrase, a technical term, a word, is introduced to designate the process observed, and not infrequently those who use it ultimately come to think they have given an explanation of the process, while they really have only stated it. This is especially the case with the term ‘stimulus.’ What is a stimulus? From the present state of our knowledge we cannot yet give a concise answer to this question, consequently explanations in which this word is inserted are, as explanations, incomplete’? (Kerner and Oliver, ‘ Nat. Hist. Plants,’ vol. i. pp. 776-7). Mr. Mivart would apparently recognize this internal force as ‘‘instinct,” postulating: ‘‘ Instead, then, of explaining instinct by reflex action (as a reflex action accompanied by sensation), I would explain reflex action, processes of repair, and processes of individual and specific evolution, by Instinct—the wonderful action and nature of which we know as it exists in our own personal activity” (Proc. Zool. Soc. 1884, p. 473). Mr. Orr uses several equivalents, such as elementary nervousness, ‘‘ which makes possible and necessary the formation of co-ordinations and associations as the result of repetition of the necessitated reactions.” Inherited impulse of growth, ‘‘which in combination with external forces constantly drives the organism forward on its course of development, and, even while the environing forces remain the same, is constantly exposing the developing individual to new stimuli, because it is constantly changing the individual.” Hereditary im- pulse, ‘which is the result of the long previous history of the organism” (‘Theory of Development and Heredity,’ pp. 108, 148, 198). In all these terms we are reminded of the ‘‘internal perfecting tendency”’ of Aristotle. Again, Kolliker’s idea of the evolution of forms from “internal causes”? on the basis of a “ general law of evolution”; Kolliker subsequently explained that his internal causes were physico-chemical (see Himer, ‘Organic Evo- lution,’ Eng. transl. pp. 49, 50). Mr. Dixon recognizes this factor in the migration of birds: ‘“‘ Young birds are not born with this hereditary know- 386 THE ZOOLOGIST. subject to many conditions, of which at present we know as little of one as the other. This phenomenon may be seen in many ways, quite independent of environmental conditions. Plants would certainly be thought to flower in response to the climatic conditions of the year; yet Kerner observed the earliest date of flowering of a number of willows growing in the Botanic Garden at Innsbruck for a period of twelve years, and thus not only arrived at an average date for the first opening of the male flowers in some fifty different kinds of Salix, but, as he remarks : —‘Tt will be observed that the two alpine willows, Salix retusa and S. jacquiniana, flowered on an average in the twelve years on the same day, and that their hybrid, S. retusoides, kept also to that date.”* Again, every angler knows—at least everyone of experience and observation—that, as the Countess of Malmesbury has expressed it, ‘‘ each river has certain hours during which the fish rise in preference to any other.” t But the “law” of natural selection had as much a beginning in time, and in biological time, as the “ moral law”’—practised in some form or another by the greater part of mankind—must have been unknown to our more bestial ancestors ; little understood by prehistoric man, and only fully developed as human civilization and slavery advanced hand in hand, through peace and plenty, through misery and despair. In fact, the term “ natural law’”’ is as loose and ill-defined as that of “moral law.” All that we see, all that we can reduce to rational conception, are natural phenomena, different or more evolved to-day than what little we know of them in the past; while that scanty record represents merely an appreciation of a form of evolution which took place in time estimated only by theoretical calculation, and under conditions of which we practi- cally know nothing. We see sequences of natural phenomena, which we call natural laws, and we can no more realize the antecedents of these phenomena than we can conceive an era when our so-called natural laws were neither existent, necessary, nor consequent. We are thus compelled to seek a time prior to or independent of natural selection, or else logically to apply it ledge, but only with a strong inherited impulse to undertake the habit or function”’ (‘The Migration of Birds,’ amend. edit. 1897, p. 100). * Kerner and Oliver, ‘ Nat. Hist. Plants,’ vol. ii. p. 574. + ‘Badminton Mag.’ vol. i. p. 45. ASSIMILATIVE COLOURATION. 387 as a law acting through space and time; so that we narcotise our mind with a new dogma: not that in the beginning was the *‘ word,” but *‘ natural selection.” This endeavour to make natural selection the all and all of evolution* has in some cases brought about a reaction which denies its efficacy in toto. Thus the Rev. G. Henslow, in a recent interesting work, ascribes the origin of species “to the joint action alone of two great factors of evolution—variability and environment.” Mr. Henslow does good service in recording a large number of facts and observations, which go to prove to demonstration that the environment largely induces the form and structure of vegetable life, and he formulates the proposition that these features are due ‘“‘to the responsive power of protoplasm, which, under the influences of the external forces of the environ- ment, builds up just those tissues which are the best fitted to be in harmony with the environment in question.” +t But, alas! La phrase est le tyran de notre siécle. The term ‘“‘ responsive power of protoplasm ”’ is, like that of “germ plasm,” workable, but unprovable. It refers to a fact, and seeks to explain it by a suggestion. But even if we accept this ‘“‘ responsiveness of protoplasm to the environmental conditions,” natural selection is not banished, but only limited. It is still a cause, but not an absolute one; it has had an elementary and preserving process in a stage of life it did not create. Thus, if spinescent characters in plant-life seem undoubtedly due to drought, and usually possess an arid environment, as one may read who ever gazes on the Transvaalian veld, plants still survive, and could only have survived the effects of the foraging powers of the immense herds of ruminants which formerly swarmed over the land, by the possession of spines of defence.{ Although these animals are * Darwin himself distinctly stated, and again reaffirmed, ‘‘I am con- vinced that natural selection has been the main but not the exclusive means of modification” (‘ Origin of Species,’ sixth edition, p. 421). + ‘Origin of Plant-Structures,’ p. 14. { Dr. Meyer, quoting Grisebach (‘ Vegetation der Erde’), and detailing _his own observations in Hast Africa, writes:—‘‘ The plants are protected on the one hand against drought, and on the other against animals, by a partial suppression of the leaves, of which in a certain number the fibro-vascular bundles become indurated and form thorns from an inch and a half to two incheslong. . . . It is self-evident that with such a suppression of the foliage 388 | THE ZOOLOGIST. now practically extinct from so many areas, their former presence is proved by the hard-wooded and spinous trees and shrubs which have almost alone survived. And thus natural selection has acted on the original flora and fauna in which this obscurely understood evolutionary response to environmental conditions played such a vast and primary part. Natural selection is not the act of creation, but the effect of competition; it guides the battles, and directs the forces it did not provide. There seems indeed some prospect of ‘‘ natural selection”’ being relegated by some writers to the old armoury of teleology. Thus a recent writer has remarked that it is held by ‘“‘ Wallace and others among our deeper-thinking naturalists, that the workings of natural selection are incomprehensible unless we regard them as suided by a controlling intelligence.”* A much more weighty argument is “that the conception of the struggle for existence has derived its force, not wholly from actual observation of what occurs, but very largely from inference as to what, it is believed, must occur.’’t We may, however, quit these realms of suggestion, and observe how even in our scanty geological records we see ex- hibited some phases of the commencement of a struggle for existence. Thus, after a period of animal evolution which may be computed by millions of years, and in which fish abounded, perhaps not yet altogether under a severe stress of selection and survival, the Mesozoic period arrives, when, in the words of Oscar Schmidt, ‘‘the Placoids and Ganoids, hitherto predomi- nating in the ocean almost without a foe, now found over- whelming enemies in the true Sea-lizards or Enaliosaurians, especially the Ichthyosaura and Plesiosaura.’{ Here we see natural selection, with its iron and implacable rule, a real factor there must be a corresponding diminution of transpiration, and the tree is enabled to preserve its sap when, during the dry season, its roots cannot any longer obtain a supply of moisture” (‘Across East African Glaciers,’ p. 68). * Kirby, ‘ Nature,’ vol. lili. p. 77. + Thomson, ‘ Natural Science,’ vol. viii. p. 22. The Right Hon. A. J. ce hel i Balfour has now invoked—perhaps sarcastically—the aid of ‘natural “ selection” to account for such a theological conception as “free will” (‘ Foundations of Belief,’ p. 20). { ‘ Doctrine of Descent,’ p. 74. ASSIMILATIVE COLOURATION. 389 in the lives and development of these creatures, connected and increasing with an advancing animal evolution, but still only a term to express the modifying influences incidental to a struggle for existence.* In fact, natural selection is more an effect than a cause. It was incidental and consequent to the progress of evolution in animal life, and ever increasing its sway in ratio with the vast increase of living things became the giant modi- fying influence, and modelled, painted, exterminated, and sus- tained the fauna and flora which by their dangerous fecundity came under her rule. But because a phenomenon is ancient it is not necessarily eternal—theologians discuss those questions— and if logic imperatively demands an antecedent to natural selection, biology must refuse to recognize that undoubtedly mighty and modifying influence as a First Cause.t ‘‘ We attach too exclusive an importance to adaptation . . . when we think to explain by selection every similarity between the colouring of an animal and that of the ground on which it lives. For, as we have seen, animals may become similar in colour to their sur- roundings, actually adapted in colour, quite by chance; for instance, in consequence of the direct necessary action of light, 4.@ of the surrounding colours, and therefore without selection, many really wonderful cases of adaptation, apparently due to selection, probably come under the category.’’} It seems a probable suggestion that assimilative colouration was a very constant factor in an early stage of animal life, and * To understand the philosophical conceptions in Biology previous to the Darwinian epoch, which may be said to have commenced with the pub- lication of the ‘Origin of Species’ in 1859, we may with the greatest in- struction reperuse the ‘Essay on Classification,’ written by that master naturalist, Agassiz, the preface of which bears date 1858, the same year that simultaneous papers by Darwin and Wallace were read before the Linnean Society, and the way made straight for the theory of natural selection. In the essay of Agassiz only three references are made to Darwin, and those purely bibliographical, recording more or less technical memoirs. In a philosophic sense the ‘ Essay on Classification ’ may be described as the last charge of the Old Guard. + It will be remembered that Mr. Mivart has brilliantly advanced his thesis that ‘‘species have been evolved by ordinary natural laws (for the most part unknown) aided by the swbhordinate action of‘ natural selection’”’ (‘ Genesis of Species,’ p. 333). t Eimer, ‘ Organic Evolution,’ Eng. transl. p. 144. 890 THE ZOOLOGIST. that it has come down as a survival to the present day in a host of instances to which we have applied the explanation of ‘ pro- tective resemblance.” The reason why it has thus survived is not because it contradicts, but because it does not require the modifying influence of natural selection. It neither broke the “law,” nor did it arise through the controlling action of the “law’’; and where species uninfluenced by the impulse of variation, or unharmed by a too rapid or excessive fecundity, existed in assimilative colouration to the surroundings which have remained unchanged, and subject to no climatic changes enforcing migration, such species have survived, and do appear to-day, in their original assimilative colouration. The suggestion receives support from many facts recorded by travellers and naturalists, which, taken singly, have only the appearance of curious observations, but, considered together, exhibit more cumulative force. According to Dr. A. Leith Adams, “there is, moreover, a seemingly strong disposition for the lower parts of animals to become white in winter, 1. e. the parts in closest contact with the snow; thus, the under surfaces of the Deer tribe are always whitest.”* Mr. J. Newton Baskett would seem to favour the same suggestion with regard to the colour of birds’ eggs :—‘“ To my mind the suggestion comes that many of our early birds with spotted eggs may have reverted from green and dead grass nesting to shingly or brilliant pebbly regions, carrying with them the bluish, greenish, creamy, or drab grounds, and by that tendency to variation for which we can never account—a thing as mysterious as life itselfi—they here, through the agency of natural selection, began a mottled colour- adaptation which has developed so highly in our shore birds, Gulls and their relations.”t The well-known and much-quoted observation made by Canon Tristram in North Africa cannot be omitted here :—‘“ In the desert, where neither trees, brushwood, nor even undulation of the surface afford the slightest protection to its foes, a modification of colour which shall be assimilated to that of the surrounding country is absolutely necessary. Hence without exception the upper plumage of every bird, whether Lark, Chat, Sylvain, or Sand Grouse, and also the fur of all the smaller * ‘Field and Forest Rambles,’ p. 124. + Papers, ‘“‘ World’s Congress on Ornithology,” Chicago, pp. 97, 98. ASSIMILATIVE COLOURATION. 891 mammals, and the skin of all the Snakes and Lizards, is of one uniform isabelline or sand colour.”* Brehm writes :— “ The birds, the reptiles, and even the insects show the same stamp, though form and colouring may vary greatly. When any other colour besides sandy yellow becomes prominent, if hair, feather, or scale be marked with black or white, ashy grey or brown, red or blue, such decorations occur only in places where they are not noticeable when looked at from above or from the side.” + But he also remarks :—‘‘ The fact that almost all the desert animals agree in colouring with their surroundings explains why the traveller who is not an experienced observer often sees, at first at least, but little of the animal life.” {| This appears to better illustrate the survival of an original assimilative colouration than to afford an example of the strict definition of what is meant as ‘* protective resemblance,” which affords an extraneous means of survival under an increased competition of life. Mr. Beddard, discussing the effects of temperature and moisture on the colours of animals, considers it “‘ at least possible that the tawny colours of desert animals, which have been so often brought forward as an instance of adaptation to the hues of their environment, may be due to a similar cause.’ § Mr. Quelch, writing on the Birds * ‘This,’ vol. i. p. 429. I do not remember meeting with this remark in the Canon’s ‘ Great Sahara,’ and it may have been an observation recalled when the specimens were more closely examined. Such reflections are no less valuable when subsequent considerations. Some exceptions to this rule were, however, given by Canon Tristram to Mr. Darwin: ‘Thus the male of. Monticola cyanea is conspicuous from his bright blue colour, and the female almost equally conspicuous from her mottled brown and white plumage; both sexes of two species of Dromolea are of a lustrous black; so that these three species are far from receiving protection from their colours; yet they are able to survive, for they have acquired the habit of taking refuge from danger in holes or crevices in the rocks’ (‘Descent of Man,’ second edition, p. 456). According to Dr. Merriam: ‘‘The theory of the direct action of environment in modifying colour, as in the bleached types of the desert regions, is not borne out by observations, and is disproved in the case of nocturnal types” (Balt. Meet. Am. Soc. Nat.; see ‘ Science,’ new ser. vol. i. p. 38). Another American authority—Mr. Orr—accepts the theory, and remarks :—‘‘ Living matter seems to be in a general way capable to a certain extent of photographing colours when exposed for many generations” (‘A Theory of Development and Heredity,’ p. 50). + ‘From North Pole to Equator,’ p. 386. t Ibid. p. 331. § ‘Animal Coloration,’ 2nd edit. p. 60. 392 THE ZOOLOGIST. of British Guiana, states that ‘‘the purple tints on the throat, breast, and body of Cotinga cayana, C. cerulea, and Xipholena pompadora can be changed to a brilliant red by exposing them to heat in such a way as to affect those feathers without singeing— an indication of the possibilities in nature under changing thermal conditions.’* Where everything is of one assimilative hue, such universal protection—if it were such—would rather tend to neutralization in all such properties, and other qualities would be necessary in the struggle for existence, the absence of which might mean starvation and extermination to many species, or vice versd—the correlative undue multiplication of others; facts which certainly do not appear on the surface. An American writer in studying the same problem has given a similar opinion. As he observes, ‘its tendency is to bring the colours of the animals to agree with those of its surroundings; for this reason it has been classed as protective colouration, notwithstanding the fact of its occurrence on all the species of a locality whether in need of protection or not.” + The very essence of the theory of protective resemblance, as a means of survival consequent upon the slow but sure action of natural selection, is a special, not a general effect,—a particular, not an universal attribute,—but one of the many and diverse qualifications which enable animals and plants to survive in the competitive struggle for existence. If such a suggestion is reasonable or probable, we ought at least to find some supportive facts, and these can be gathered, though scantily, for the observations of travellers and naturalists do not appear to have been greatly attracted in that quarter.[ M. * Papers, ‘‘ World’s Congress on Ornithology,” Chicago, p. 124. + Garman, ‘Proc. Am. Ass. Buffalo, N.Y.’ 1876, p. 200. t We must, however, carefully guard against hasty or erroneous ob- servations. Thus the early South African traveller, Le Vaillant, was told of a race of red Elephants, which he afterwards observed were of the same tint as the soil on which they were found. But after killing one he proved his surmise, that the colour was only due to their wallowing in moist and marshy places (‘ Travels in the Years 1780-85,’ Eng. transl. vol. i. p. 266). Again, Von Hohnel deseribes the hairless bodies of old male Buffaloes in East Africa as being of ‘‘ the colour of the mud—black, grey, brown, or reddish brown, as the case may be—in which they last wallowed”’ (‘ Discovery of Lakes Rudolf and Stefanie,’ Eng. transl. vol. ii. p. 21). Chanler has a similar observation as to a “fred” Rhinoceros (‘ Through Jungle and Desert, p. 120). ss. ia —_— ee “ ce ee ee ee, ee ‘oo 7 ASSIMILATIVE COLOURATION. 398 Porchinsky, one of a scientific party engaged in exploring the Caucasus, also witnessed a nearly complete phenomenon of assimilative colouration. The southern limit of the region ex- plored was the steppe of EHrivan, a plain covered with sand, with some patches of variously coloured clays appearing in the low hills. A remarkable feature of the animal inhabitants of the steppe, insects and reptiles, and especially of the Lizards, is the most perfect agreement of their colouration with that of the steppe. The same thing was also observed in the steppe of Eliza- bethpoi.* This is a similar observation to that made by Canon Tristram in North Africa, and induces the same comment. Dr. A. Leith Adams remarks :—‘‘ The colour of the plumage of many desert-loving birds, like the denizens of arctic regions, assimilates to that of surrounding objects, and, moreover, as has been truly said, we also find the bleaching influence of the desert, and the dry and cloudless climate imparting their hues to the Egyptian monuments. So much is the latter the case that the eye fails at first to receive an impression of their immense antiquity, owing to the absence of the grey colouring and weather stains which give so venerable an aspect to those of Northern Europe. There is thus a stamp imprinted on all the animate and inanimate objects, in accordance with their haunts, as, for example, the desert Chats and other birds are much paler in colouring than those which frequent the cultivated districts on the river’s banks.’’t If this appears to be evident on the surface of the earth, the same phenomena seem to exist in the abyssal depths of the ocean. From recent deep-sea researches we know that the floor of the ocean is probably a vast undulating plain of mud; and, to quote both Sir John Murray and Mr. Hickson, of all the deep- sea deposits, the so-called ‘‘red mud” has by far the widest distribution. According to the testimony of the late Prof. Wyville Thomson and his colleagues in the ‘ Challenger’ Ex- pedition, this red clay is the residuum left after the calcareous matter of the Globigerine ooze has been dissolved away; and Sir John Murray is of opinion that “ probably the majority of deep-sea species live by eating the surface-layers of the niud, clay, or ooze at the bottom, and by catching or picking up the * Commun. to St. Petersb. Entomol. Soc.; see ‘ Nature,’ vol. xv. p. 16. + ‘Naturalist in the Nile Valley and Malta,’ pp. 50, 51. Zool. 4th ser. vol. II., September, 1898. 2D 394 THE ZOOLOGIST. small organisms or minute particles of organic matter which fall from the surface, &c.”’* Now how far does assimilative coloura- tion appear to obtain in these dreary depths? Sir John Murray speaks of the “red and brown tints of the majority of deep-sea organisms.”t Mr. Hickson’s statement that ‘the deep-sea fish are usually devoid of any pronounced spots, stripes, or other mark- ings is now well recognized,” and it seems to be “a very general rule among fishes that as they migrate into deeper water the spots and stripes so conspicuous among many forms living on the surface and in shallow water disappear, and the colouration of the body becomes more evenly distributed and uniform.” ‘‘ Among the Crustacea various shades of red are the prevailing colours.” “The colouring of the deep-sea jelly-fishes is said to be usually deep violet or yellowish red.” ‘‘ Moseley records most minutely the colour of some of the deep-sea anemones and corals, and calls attention to the very general presence of madder-brown in the soft parts.” ‘The pelagic Schizopoda are usually quite pale and transparent; the deep-sea forms, on the other hand, are frequently, if not invariably, of a bright red colour.” Mr. Hick- son concludes that the fauna of the deep sea, taken as a whole, is not characterized by the predominance of any one colour, but “the shades of red occur rather more frequently than they do in the fauna of any other zone or region.”{ Mr. Beddard, arguing from the many cases of degenerate eyes among deep-sea animals, considers it reasonable to suppose that vision is impossible. ‘‘ The inevitable conclusion, therefore, from these facts appears to be that the brilliant and varied colourations of deep-sea animals is totally devoid of meaning ; they cannot be of advan- * *‘Compte-Rendu,’ Third Inter. Congr. Zool. Leyden, p. 107. ‘The scientific men engaged in the ‘ Challenger’ Expedition came at last to the conclusion that the red clay was mainly produced by the decomposition of inorganic material, such as the pumice discharged into the air during volcanic eruptions, which after long floating about on the surface of the sea must become waterlogged, and sink together with the various kinds of dust already mentioned. ‘The evidence which they cite indicates that this red clay accumu- lates very slowly, and that it owes much to the above materials; but that some part of it may be, directly or indirectly, due to chemical action does not seem improbable” (T. G. Bonney, ‘ Story of our Planet,’ p. 209). + ‘Compte-Rendu,’ Third Inter. Congr. Zool. Leyden, p. 107. t * The Fauna of the Deep Sea,’ pp. 61, 62, 68, 65, 66, 135. Ee ASSIMILATIVEH COLOURATION. 395 tage for protective purposes or as warning colours, for the single and sufficient reason that they are invisible.”’* Some shore species of crustaceans are found to turn red when kept in the dark ; hence Mr. Faxon is inclined to believe that in the deep-sea species the prevalence of red is “due to a modification of the pigments, induced by the darkness in which the creatures dwell » either through chemical action, or more probably through a physiological process originating in the eye, and affecting the pigment-cells by a reflex action. In either case the prime cause is a purely physical one—the more or less complete absence of light in the depths of the sea.” . . . To those who may enquire why deep-sea crustaceans should be red-tinted in general rather than of any other colour, Mr. Faxon quotes Pouchet’s explana- tion, that ‘‘the pigments of the xanthic series (red, orange, and yellow) in Crustacea are contained in contractile anatomical elements—the chromatoblasts—while the blue pigment is never found in the substance of the chromatoblasts, but is held in free solution.” ‘‘ Under the influence of the abyssal darkness there is supposed to be so great an expansion of the red chromato- blasts that any effect from the cyanic tints is completely over- powered.’ t+ Another explanation has been advanced to account for a similar colouration of the deep-sea flora. The blue coloura- tion of the water is due to the decomposition or absorption of the red, orange, and yellow rays of light in their passage through the water, and owes its hue to those rays of high refrangibility, * © Animal Coloration,’ 2nd edit. p. 37. + Review in ‘ Nat. Science,’ vol. viii. p. 119, of “* Reports on an Explora- tion in charge of A. Agassiz by s.s. ‘ Albatross,’ 1891, xv.: the Stalk-eyed Crustaceans,” by Walter Faxon. As regards the deep-sea fishes, according to Dr. Ginther, their colours ‘are extremely simple, their bodies being either black or silvery; in a few only are some filaments or the fin-rays of a bright scarlet colour. Among the black forms albinos are not scarce” (‘ Introd. Study of Fishes,’ p. 800). On the other hand, fishes do exhibit assimilative colouration. Mr. Brown-Goode writes :— ‘‘ On certain ledges along the New England coast are rocks covered with dense growths of scarlet and crimson seaweeds. ‘The Codfish, the Cunner, the Sea-raven, the Rock-eel, and the Wry-mouth, which inhabit these brilliant groves, are all coloured to match their surroundings ; the Cod, which has naturally the lightest colour, being most brilliant in its scarlet hues, while others whose skins have a large and original supply of black have deeper tints of dark red and brown ”’ (‘ Science,’ vol. xv. p. 211). 2D2 896 THE ZOOLOGIST. such as the blue, which are allowed to pass through. ‘‘ The rays on the further side of the red, not perceptible to our eyes—the so-called dark heat-rays—are likewise absorbed in their passage through the water, and an object at some depth under water would therefore only be reached by rays of high refrangibility, par- ticularly blue rays. The conditions of illumination for plants growing in the depths of the ocean are consequently in reality quite unfavourable. It is not only that a portion of the light falling on the surface of the water is reflected, and the other portion is weakened by its passage through the water, but besides, those rays which are necessary to the formation of organic matter by the chlorophyll granules in the plant-cells are abstracted from the light which passes through; for the chlorophyll granules need just the red, yellow, and orange rays if they are to perform their functions; only under the influence of these rays can the decomposition of carbonic acid, the separation of oxygen, and the formation of carbohydrates take place. The blue rays do not assist at all in this respect ; they are even hurtful to these pro- cesses, since they assist the oxidation—that is, the decomposition of organic substance. Consequently, phycoérythrin, the red pig- ment of the Floride, now appears, and indeed so abundantly, that the chlorophyll granules in the interior are quite hidden by it. This colouring matter displays a very marked fluorescence, that is to say, it absorbs a large portion of the light rays falling on it, and gives out other rays of greater wave-length. The blue rays are to some extent changed by it to yellow, orange, and red, and thus the chlorophyll granules finally receive those rays which act as the propelling force in the decomposition of carbonic acid. But this also affords an explanation of the remarkable phenomenon that sea-plants are only coloured green close to the shore, and only in the most superficial layers of water, while lower down they appear red. Only quite on the surface the emerald-like Ulvacee and Hntermorphas sway hither and thither, forming thus a light green belt; these alge are to be sought for in vain in the depths beneath. Of the plants which flourish below this region it can no longer be said that they grow green; this mark of vegetation has entirely vanished. Green has given place to red. All the innumerable Floride are reddened—sometimes a delicate car- mine, sometimes a deep purple; then again a light brownish red, ASSIMILATIVE COLOURATION. 397 and a dull dark crimson.”* As further remarked :— ‘‘ In the dark bosom of the earth a green leaf would be quite useless, and ~ as a matter of fact there is not a single plant whose green tissue is situated in the depths of the soil.” + Even the obscure problem of the colouration of mankind may have originally—and before migration became such an important factor in modification—been due to a more or less assimilative colouration. Thus, in Central Africa, Schweinfurth has re- marked :—“ The complexion of the Bongo in colour is not dissimilar to the red-brown soil on which they reside; the Dinka, on the other hand, are black as their own native alluvium.” And again :—‘‘ Any traveller who has followed the course of the main sources of the White Nile into the heathen Negro countries, and who has hitherto made acquaintance only with Shillooks, Nueir, and Dinka, will, on coming amongst the Bongo, at once recognise the commencement of a new series of races extending far onwards to the south. As trees and plants are the children of the soil from which they spring, so here does the human species appear to adapt itself in external aspect to the red ferruginous rock which prevails around. ‘The jet-black Shillooks, Nueir, and Dinka natives of the dark alluvial flats stand out in marked distinction to the dwellers upon the iron-red rocks, who, notwith- standing their diversity in dialect, in habit, or in mode of life, present the characteristics of a connected whole.” {| Dr. Schwein- furth also observes that ‘‘the circumstance is suggestive of Darwin’s theory of ‘protective resemblance’ among animals.” But as such a view of protective resemblance has not hitherto been applied to the colour of mankind, and as it would be ex- tremely difficult to defend such a proposition, it might at least be suggested as probable that we have here another survival of an original and somewhat universal assimilative colouration. Similar observations have been made by many travellers. Livingstone describes the colour of the soil composing the plain of the Kalahari Desert as in general “light-coloured soft sand, nearly pure silica,” § and that the Bushmen inhabiting these plains are * Kerner and Oliver, ‘ Nat. Hist. Plants,’ vol. 1. pp. 889-90. + Ibid. p. 665. . { ‘The Heart of Africa,’ vol. i. p. 261. § ‘ Miss. Travels and Researches in 8. Africa,’ p. 47. 398 THE ZOOLOGIST. generally of a “‘light-yellow colour.”* In Equatorial Africa, Emin Pasha states that the people of Magingo are of a black colour, “through which, however, appears very distinctly a red sround tone” +; and he further describes “‘a streamlet dyed red with the iron that impregnates the soil.”” { In Unyoro the same author writes of the exposed ‘‘red clayey subsoil,” § and describes the people of this district as reddish brown in colour.|| Again, in the Wadelai district, he writes of the inhabitants as ‘‘in colour black, with a reddish brown tinge.’ { In Mashonaland Mr. Kckersley states that the soil of the plateau between Umtali and Salisbury consists, for the most part, of decomposed granite, &c. “ Large areas of red soil are, however, frequently met with,” &c.** Of the Mashonas, he writes: ‘‘ Their skin has a fine healthy glow, its colour being dark chocolate brown, some shades removed from black.” tt According to Ratzel, ‘“‘ Stokes, one of the most ex- perienced of all Australian travellers, sums up his judgment in the phrase, ‘ The Australians vary as curiously as their soil.’” {{ Lord Geo. Campbell in one of the Fiji islands, describing the men engaged on the yam-grounds, adds: ‘“‘ Working on the brown soil, which is very much their own colour too.’ §¥ Richtofen, in a work—apparently still untranslated into English—in his physical exposition of the soil of Northern China, to which the German name of Léss has been applied, states that this Lédss is so predominant in the basin of the Wei river, on which stands Singanfu, that its yellow hue affects the whole landscape, and even tinges the atmosphere. ||||_ Its suggested partial application here to the colour of the Chinese, as an incident in the argument, requires no further emphasis. * ¢ Miss. Travels and Researches in 8. Africa,’ p. 78. + ‘Emin Pasha in Central Africa,’ p. 16. t Ibid. p. 20. § Ibid. p. 50. | Lbed. p. 52. ‘| Ibid. p. 143.—According to Dr. Junker, ‘‘a decided black complexion nowhere occurs, and that it would be merely more correct to speak of a brown, a copper, or chocolate-coloured, than of a black race in Africa” ‘Travels in Africa, 1879-1883’; Engl. transl. p. 190). ** © Geographical Journal,’ vol. v. p. 35. t+ Ibid. p. 438. {{ ‘ History of Mankind,’ vol. i. p. 389. §§ ‘Log Letters from the “ Challenger,”’ p. 147. || || ‘ China—Ergebnisse eigener Reisen und darauf gegriindeter Studien.’ eee ASSIMILATIVE COLOURATION. 399 It is true that assimilative colouration seems to have little modified the colour of indigenous races, even in Africa, if we take a comprehensive view of the whole area. But we must not forget that men have so often migrated from their original birthplaces, and more than that, much mixture has taken place. Emin Pasha remarks on “ the intermingling of separate tribes and peoples in Central Africa consequent upon war, plundering raids, dividing of the spoil in women, slavery and exchange of slaves, and in a much less degree on intermarriage’’; and further, “that it is almost impossible to obtain skulls of really pure race.” He also observes: ‘‘ Whether the great variation in the colour of the skin observable among all Negro tribes is to be attributed to these mixed relationships, I do not venture yet to decide.” * The relationship between the surface hue of the geological floor on which the primary races of men may have developed their individuality of colour, and the prevalent tints of those races, has been little studied, though that investigation might also throw much light on the areas where racial segregation established those divisions which in any other group of animals would at least be considered specific. ven in our own country this old connection between land and man has been pointed out by the late Prof. Ramsay: “Thus it happens that the oldest tribes now inhabiting our country are to be found among the old palzozoic mountains, which, composed of the most ancient of our geological formations, and rising up into the highest grounds, must have been the first parts of the British islands to rise above the waters during the last elevation of the land.” + This observation is doubtless capable of more universal application, and human assimilative colouration might prove a reasonable hypothesis if we could only trace the early dispersal of our species in a scientific manner and spirit, without the aid of a Hebraistic ‘‘ Tower of Babel,” or the view once advanced by ethnologists of a Caucasian nursery based on a still earlier attempt to locate the “Garden of Eden.” The boldest of new theories are at least not more grotesque than the explanations of quite recent times, and whereas the last were believed to be final, the first are advanced only as propositions for future verification or * ¢Hmin Pasha in Central Africa,’ p. 197. + Cf. Extracts from Lectures—‘ Anthropological Review,’ vol. i. p. 486. 400 THE ZOOLOGIST. dismissal. Even journalism has referred to the connection between land and man, and a writer in the ‘St. James’s Gazette’ (January 6th, 1881) on the London Clay remarks :—“ In the old days all London lay upon the few scattered patches of pleistocene gravel which here and there cap the surface, because it was only’ on the gravel that water could be obtained from springs or wells. Hence the original development of the suburbs, as Prof. Prest- wich has pointed out, followed with unerring precision the zig-zag course of the pleistocene tracts.” ‘‘In Caithness the best cereals, cattle, and men were raised on the boulder clay, and where it was wanting, the corn, cattle, and men were miserable.’’* Frank Buckland states :—‘‘ The geological formation of a district I found, in examining recruits for the regiment, has considerable effect upon the stature of its inhabitants; coal-producing counties, as a rule, generally grow the tallest, and, at the same time, the largest-boned men.” + But although facts may be found to support new suggestions, such as a possible original assimilative colouration of man, the quest ae such produces other recorded observations, which, though not altogether contradictory to the view, still point to other causes, support other conclusions, and reassert the problem we seek to solve. Thus we find indications of the influence of food in human colouration. The ship “Strathmore” was wrecked upon one of the rocks of the ‘Twelve Apostles,” an island in the Crozet group, on July 1st, 1875, and the survivors of the passengers and crew, before being rescued, remained there for a period of six months and twenty-two days. Of the events that occurred during that time we have the narrative of Mrs. Words- worth and her son. Speaking of a period four months subsequent to the wreck, and when Penguins’ eggs had begun to furnish the castaways with ample food, Mrs. Wordsworth remarks :—‘‘ The eggs did everyone a great deal of good; those who had been * Cleghorn, ‘ Anthropological Review,’ 1868, No. 20, p. xxi. + ‘Curiosities Nat. Hist.,’ popular edition, 4th series, p. 9.—A similar observation is recorded by Mr. Atmore in South African ornithology :—‘‘ The Rock-chat (Saaicola cinerea) is abundant in the Karroo—and, by the way, how well this class of birds obeys the geology of the country; wherever there is Karroo soil you find them. The same also with the ‘ Kalkvent-je’ (Macronyx capensis), which is found in every patch of grass country, but never in Karroo soil” (Layard’s ‘ Birds 8. Africa,’ Sharpe’s edition, p. 242), ASSIMILATIVE COLOURATION, 401 haggard and miserable got quite plump and fresh; some of them ate about thirty at a meal, and we now saw each other with clean faces, for we used the eggs as soap; while a most remarkable thing was that everyone had fair skins and light hair, dark faces and hair being quite changed, black hair turning brown or red, and fairer people quite flaxen. As for myself, my complexion was pink and white, like a girl’s” (this after four months’ constant exposure to the weather), ‘‘ with white eyebrows, yellow hair, &c.”’ The survivors were rescued on Jan. 21st, 1876, and the same lady subsequently writes :—‘‘ Charlie looks well and firm now, his hair had got quite flaxen, which didnot suit him at all, but now it has nearly recovered its original colour.”* Here, presumably, the colouring factor is considered as the constant diet of Penguins’ eggs.. As Darwin has observed: ‘‘ There can, however, be little doubt about many slight changes, such as size from the amount of food, colour from the nature of the food.” + Climatic conditions are not altogether inoperative, and an extreme case is recorded by Andersson in the Ovambo country, South-west Africa. In describing the bitterly cold nights experienced in the month of June, he states that one of his men, Timbo, a native of Portuguese East Africa, suffered much from the low temperature, and one morning the members of the expedition were amazed at finding “his dark shiny skin suddenly changed into a pale ashy grey.” { The view of a direct action caused by a constant food on animal colouration has frequently been remarked. Mr. Harvie Brown thought that the Sand Martin might derive its black or dark-coloured plumage in North Russia by constant feeding on Mosquitos.§ Most natives of Brazil take pleasure in intercourse with animals. They are in the habit of attaching Monkeys and Parrots to themselves, and by feeding the latter on fish they produce red and yellow feathers when the plumage is green.|| The Bullfinch is well known to turn black when fed on hemp- seeds, and the Canary to become red when fed on cayenne pepper.{1 According to Mr. Harting, “ Bullfinches are not the * © Nature,’ vol. xiv. p. 527 (quoted from ‘ Blackwood’s Magazine’). + ‘Origin of Species,’ 6th edition, p. 6. t ‘Lake Ngami,’ p. 210. \ § ‘Zoologist,’ p. 5162. || Oscar Peschel, ‘ The Races of Man,’ p. 423. Si Romanes, ‘ Darwin, and after Darwin,’ vol. il. p. 218. 402 THE ZOOLOGIST. only birds which have been observed to turn black from feeding on hemp-seed, nor is hemp-seed the only seed which conduces to such a change of colour. Larks have been known to become black after being fed for some time on hemp-seed; and the late Mr. Blyth informed us that he had seen one of the little Amandavat Finches which had become black, though fed entirely on canary-seed.”* Again, there is the ‘‘ change produced in so many of the Green Parrots by the native peoples of Guiana, who, by feeding these birds on a special diet, consisting largely of pounded corr or maize, produce eventually yellow-coloured birds.” + A pair of American Screech Owls (Megascops asio) which were fed in captivity largely on liver, and which were originally in typical grey plumage, exhibited subsequently, especi- ally in the larger female Owl, an actual change from grey to red- brown in individual feathers, and the red phase was not thought entirely, if at all, due to new feather-growth.{ By mixing madder with the food of a female mammal, Flourens produced a red colour in the bones of the fetus. By placing the eggs of a Salmon Trout in waters which only nourished White Trout, Coste noticed the eggs became gradually paler, and produced Trout which had lost the characteristic colour of their race.§ “Ifa Horse has an addition of arsenic to its usual food, its hair be- comes more glossy ; and Holmegreen has proved that if Pigeons are fed with meat they change not only the colours of their feathers, but also their odour.’’|| In the Salmonoids the flesh is frequently of a marked pinkish hue, “brought about by the crustaceans on which these carnivorous fishes so largely feed.” 4 By changing or varying the food of lepidopterous larve, much variation has been produced in the depth of colour of the imagines.** The whole problem of the colouration of mankind centres largely on the question of what was the tint or hue of the skin of * ‘Nat. Hist. Selborne,’ Harting’s edition, p. 118, note. + J. J. Quelch, Papers, ‘‘World’s Congress on Ornithology,” p. 124. { A. P. Chadbourne, ‘The Auk,’ new series, vol. xiii. p. 321. * § De Quatrefages, ‘The Human Species,’ p. 247. || ‘ Problems of Nature, Researches and Discoveries of Gustav Jaeger,’ Engl. transl. p. 38. qj Lydekker, ‘ Roy. Nat. Hist.,’ vol. v. p. 494. ** Of, Kock, Goss, Gregson, and others, ASSIMILATIVE COLOURATION. . 403 our earliest ancestors; not altogether what we mean by “ primi- tive man,” but rather of the creature that gradually became less simian, and more and more human. Of this missing link we know absolutely nothing as to the colour of its—or perhaps we should say his—skin; neither do we of the colour of fossil Apes. © As Dr. Buchner has remarked: “'The Orang or Orang-outan which inhabits the Asiatic Archipelago is of a yellowish red colour and brachycephalous, or short-headed, like the Malays; whilst the Chimpanzee and the Gorilla, both of which are indigenous to Africa, are black and dolichocephalous, or long-headed, like the Negroes.” * There is also much truth in the statement of Winwood Reade, that many ethnologists discuss the question as though the original colour of mankind was white; “but the naked primeval men were probably dark, for white is a colour injurious to wild animals, and seldom if ever found in the fauna of the forest.’’+ Of fossil Apes we know more or less of the anatomical structure, but our conclusions as to colour can only be equivalent to our pronouncing the colour of a prehistoric man whose skull was found in Africa as black ; of one found in Kurope as necessarily white; or another discovered in America as red. That secret belongs entirely to the past, and its solution can only be suggested by induction. As De Quatrefages has re- marked: ‘‘ The first men who peopled the centre of human appearance must at first have differed from each other only in individual features.” { Their colour would have been uniform, either derived from their more brutish ancestors, or possibly, as their habits became less arboreal, a more assimilative colouration may have ensued to the soil on which they walked. Then, as migrations followed and the more plastic forms of these last evoluted children of nature reached centres of different geological conditions, we might imagine that again assimilative colouration played a part; and these incidents of early wanderings and colour absorption of the long, long ago, when the species was still clay in the hands of Nature,§ the potter, gradually became permanent, * ‘Man—Present, Past, Future,’ p. 125. With reference to colour, the observation had also occurred to Agassiz. (‘Essay on Classification, p. 182.) + ‘African Sketch Book,’ vol. ii. p. 528. j ‘The Human Species,’ p. 244. § We use this term as defined by J. 8. Mill: ‘* Nature means the sum of 404 THE ZOOLOGIST. and in a creature that had reached the stage of protection afforded by human society, and of aggression by human invention, were outside the ordinary action of natural selection, and became fixed and hereditary. The colour of mankind can in no sense come under the explanations of protective or aggressive resem- blance, mimicry, warning or nuptial colouration, &c., and if there are physiological advantages appertaining to the different hues in connection with the climates in which these differently coloured races are found, these advantages are probably incidental to, or rather the effects of, a perfect acclimatization. Perhaps suggestion in this problem is too crude and too early; and, as Tylor cautiously observes, “the great races—black, brown, yellow, white—had already settled into their well-known characters before written record began, so that their formation is hidden far back in the pre-historic period” *; or, as Darwin more precisely writes, ‘“‘we are far from knowing how long ago it was when man first diverged from the Catarhine stock; but it may have occurred at an epoch as remote as the Eocene period; for that the higher Apes had diverged from the lower Apes as early as the Upper Miocene period is shown by the existence of Dryopi- thecus.’’+ We may well conclude that our earliest progenitors had a more or less hairy covering, but if we are ignorant on this very point, how much less should we speculate on the colour of the same. } There is considerable evidence to be obtained that surface geology induces assimilative colouration in plants as well as in animal life. ‘Thus in the charming ‘ Letters of Rusticus,’ and in connection with the locality of Godalming in Surrey, this passage occurs :—‘‘ The soil is a bright red sand, which extends from the chalky range of cold poverty-stricken downs crossing the country all phenomena, together with the causes which produce them ; including not only all that happens, but all that is capable of happening, the unused capabilities of causes being as much a part of the idea of Nature as those which take effect’ (‘Three Essays on Religion,’ p. 5). There is also a purely literary or artistic idea of Nature, which sometimes becomes hysterical, and finds an amusing illustration in a sentence quoted by Max Nordau: ‘“ Nature is so indifferent, so unappreciative. Whenever I walk in the park here, I always feel that I am no more to her than the cattle that browse on the slope ’’ (‘ Degeneration,’ p. 319). * ¢ Anthropology,’ p. 85. + ‘Descent of Man,’ 2nd edit. p. 156. ~~ : 3 fig a. Rast ae heres J =, eee ASSIMILATIVE COLOURATION. 405 from Reigate to Farnham. Between the chalk and the sand is an exceedingly narrow tract of blue clay, sometimes scarcely ten yards in width. These three distinct soils do not gradually intermingle, but are separated by the most.abrupt transitions, and their effect on the produce where the three soils occur in the Same field is very marked. . . . Wherever the sand bears the red tint of iron, the chief natural produce is furze; but this colour, as we proceed westwards, yields to a blue tint. The two colours stain the wool of the sheep which range the wastes, and the red and blue are very conspicuous in their fleeces, the blue being much preferred.” * In Hampshire, Mr. Starkie Gardner states, ‘‘the heath is in some patches of a magenta colour where a crimson clay patch forms the soil.” + Lord Walsingham’s head keeper told Mr. R. Kearton that “stiff clay land on which pheasants feed produces dark-coloured eggs, and a light sandy soil pale-coloured ones’; and the writer remarks: ‘‘ This con- tention he certainly supported by several instances which he brought under my notice, although other keepers to whom I have mentioned the circumstance have no faith in its accuracy.’”’} ‘In British Guiana some have gone so far as to say that they can tell when an auriferous district has been reached by the prevalence of certain kinds of birds and Monkeys. ‘This can be easily understood when the close connection of the trees with the soil, and the fruit with the animals, is considered.”§ In the Magango country of Equatorial Africa, Emin Pasha speaks of “the red clayey ground,” and describes the red blooming Canna as ‘“‘being everywhere abundant.’ || These observations could doubtless be multiplied if interest was awakened on the question, as on the ‘‘reddish argillaceous earth, called ‘ Pampean mud,’” which overspreads the Rio Plata region, or on the immense granite formation which forms one of the geological features of the State of Perak in the Malay Peninsula, of which ‘the pre- vailing colour is blue.” ** ‘The nature of the environment has * ‘Letters of Rusticus,’ pp. 1-2. + ‘Nature,’ vol. xv. p. 230. t ‘With Nature and a Camera,’ p. 166. § James Rodway, ‘In the Guiana Forest,’ p. 81. || ‘ Hmin Pasha in Central Africa,’ p. 26. 1 Orton, ‘The Andes and the Amazon,’ p. 283. ** Tenison-Woods, ‘ Nature,’ vol. xxx1. p. 152. 406 THE ZOOLOGIST. also a distinct effect upon the structure of plants. Thus in the Mediterranean regions Ranunculus jficaria, as compared with the typical species growing in England, “bears finer and larger flowers and leaves, so that it is generally recognised as the variety Calthefola.” Caltha palustris “ has itself no recorded variety in low-lying situations.” ‘‘ When, however, this plant manages to get away from its habitual environment, and to reach ‘ mountain- ous places’ (Hooker), it puts on characters which descriptive botanists have independently noticed and variously named as varietal or specific. It is commonly known as Caltha minor.” “Many experiments have shown that if plants, or their seeds, be taken from lowlands and planted on alpine regions, all those that change their structures at once begin to assume more or less the same anatomical and morphological characters as the plants normally growing in highland regions.”* Again, according to Kerner, a plant of the grass Glyceria fluitans ‘‘ growing on damp soil on the edge of a stream over the water had linear bluntly- powmted leaves, whose sheaths were on the average 15 cm. long, the blades 23 cm. long and 8°5 mm. broad. After this plant had been submerged under rapidly-flowing water in the following year, leaves unfolded, which tapered gradually to a point, with a sheath having a mean length of 47 cm., and blades 73 cm. long, but only 5 mm. broad. The blades produced in running water were three times as long, and actually rather narrower than in the air.” + According to Varigny, ‘‘ Curtiss had seen in some places near the Potomac Bidens cernua acquire a height which is six times the common average height of this plant, and he has seen the same in Oxalis stricta; C. Lemaire states in D’Orbigny’s ‘Dictionary’ that, while cultivated hemp grows no higher than a metre and a half in France, in Piedmont it attains three and four metres; and if Italian stock is planted in France it rapidly reverts to the small variety in the course of two or three years.” “Tt is also well known that where mountain plants are transferred to the valleys and plains they lose the hairy covering which they generally possess, while valley plants transferred to the mountains acquire this same covering.” ‘ The common Dandelion (Taraza-. cum dens leonis) has in dry soil leaves which are much more ** Henslow, ‘ Natural Science,’ vol. vi. pp. 886, 388, 389. + Kerner and Oliver, ‘ Nat. Hist. Plants,’ vol. ii. p. 502, ” > _aigities. ASSIMILATIVE COLOURATION. 407 irregular and incised, while they are hardly dentate in marshy stations, when it is called Taraxacum palustre.”* ‘‘ Plants growing on chalky soils, when compared with those growing on richer soils, are often more thickly covered with down, which is usually of a white or grey colour. Their leaves are frequently of a bluish green tint, more deeply cut, and less veined, while their flowers tend to be larger and of a lighter tint. . . . Sea-salt has the general effect on many different kinds of plants of pro- ducing moist fleshy leaves and red tints.” + The Rev. Hamlet Clark records a remark made to him by ‘one who evidently knew the subject’’:—‘‘ The quality of wine depends always and absolutely on the locality in which the vineyards are cultivated, not on the stock whence the young trees are derived. The same vine which in the South of France produces French wines will, if transplanted to the Cape, produce Cape, to Madeira, Madeira, to Teneriffe, Teneriffe wine.” | According to Allan Gordon Cameron, ‘** The ground-tint, so to speak, among Old World Deer—genera Cervulus and Cervus—is from brown to black, but unmistakably dark; among New World Deer, on the other hand,—genus Cariacus,—it is a light stone colour, sometimes very light indeed. Before me, as I write, are the antlers of a British Stag and of an American Black-tailed Deer, which to a casual observer exhibit almost the difference in colour between black and white. It seems to me that a contrast of this kind, which is fairly constant in the respective species, cannot be ascribed either to the quality of the fraying post or to the constituents of the blood-stain on the antlers, but must be a specific character of the bone structure, which reacts differently to more or less similar external condi- tions. Variation in the colour of horns, both in Oxen and Antelopes, seems to point the same way.’’§ Moseley was told that the Goats which are wild on the island of St. Vincent, one of the Cape Verde Islands, ‘‘ have all attained a red colour resembling that of the rocks.” || As the Rev. H. A. Macpherson remarks, ‘‘the colour of Red Deer varies not only with the * © Hixperimental Evolution,’ pp. 72, 91, 95. + Romanes, ‘ Darwin, and after Darwin,’ vol. ii. p. 207. 1 ‘Letters Home,’ p. 90. § ‘Field,’ January 16th, 1897. | ‘ Notes by a Naturalist on the ‘‘ Challenger,”’ p. 54. 408 THE ZOOLOGIST. summer and winter coat—for that is obvious—but also with particular districts.” * In the New Hebrides the soil of nearly all the islands consists of a “rich voleanic mould.” Pigs, Fowls, and Dogs are said to have been brought into the islands within the last one hundred years, and Capt. Cook has the credit of having introduced the first two. The Fowls have gone wild in the bush, and have * become small and of bantam-like appearance, and are generally of a brownish colour, with all white tail feathers.” | This is only approximate evidence; but more direct testimony is afforded by Mr. Lydekker, who states: ‘‘ The rich red soil of Devonshire is tenanted by a breed of cattle readily distinguished by the deep red colour of their hair.” ~ According to the same authority, in certain parts of America, the Falkland Islands, Australia, New Zealand, and other countries, the cattle introduced from Europe have run wild, and form vast herds. Those found in Texas and on the Argentine pampas have become of a nearly uniform dark brownish red colour; while in the Ladrone or Mariana Islands, in the Pacific Ocean, all the wild cattle are white with black ears.’ § It would be interesting to know the prevalent surface colour of the soil at Porto Santo, an island near Madeira. ‘To relate a well-known fact, in the year 1419 a few Rabbits born on board ship of a tame Spanish Rabbit were put on the island. The animals not only increased so enormously as to become a pest, but in the course of four hundred and fifty years have developed into a distinct variety or species, which is distinguished among other acquired peculiarities of structure and habits by a “‘ peculiar colour.” || Mr. Lydekker confirms this statement, and states that the descendants of these Rabbits “‘ have now formed a breed distinguished by their small size, the reddish colour of the fur of the upper parts and the grey tints of that below. So different indeed are these Rabbits from the ordinary kind that the two kinds will not even breed together; and if the history of the Porto Santo race were not known, it would undoubtedly be re- * ‘Red Deer’ (Fur and Feather Series), p. 43. + Somerville, ‘ Journ. Anthrop. Instit.,’ vol. xxiii. pp. 364, 390-1. t ‘Roy. Nat. Hist.,’ vol. ii. p. 170. § Ibid. p. 172. | Haeckel, ‘ History Creation,’ Engl. transl. 4th edit., vol. i. p. 150. 28 eee oS ee 4 ASSIMILATIVE COLOURATION. 409 garded as a distinct species.”’* In Queensland the Rabbit has apparently acquired poisonous qualities. Lumbholtz relates :— “The next night we made our camp on an island, and the squatter at once went out to shoot Rabbits with his rifle. The Rabbits had been placed on this island a few years previously, and although there was no fresh water, excepting when it rained, still they throve very well, and had greatly increased in numbers. Strange to say, these Rabbits are said to be poisonous, doubtless on account of the food on which they are obliged to subsist. The squatter informed me that a year ago he had visited the island and shot some of these animals, which were roasted and eaten, but had made both him and his companions ill.” + They vary also remarkably in colour. Prof. Strong states:—‘‘ I have seen more parti-coloured Rabbits in Australia than I have ever seen in Europe. Near Queenscliffe numerous instances occur, not merely of white and black Rabbits, which are common, but of Rabbits with beautifully striped skins.” { In Paraguay the domestic Cat has become one-fourth smaller, its body is slender, its hair short, shiny, thin, and pressed closely to the skin, especially on the tail, which is almost naked (Rengger).§ (To be continued.) * ¢ Royal Nat. Hist.,’ vol. iii. p. 200. In the face of this and other testi- mony it is somewhat startling to find Weismann stating no alteration has taken place: ‘The Rabbit which was brought by sailors to the Atlantic island of Porto Santo has bred abundantly, and remains unchanged in this locality ” (‘Essays upon Heredity,’ &c., Engl. transl. 2nd edit.vol. i. p. 271). + ‘Among Cannibals,’ p. 322. t * Zoologist,’ 38rd series, vol. xvili. p. 406. § Eimer, ‘ Organic Evolution,’ Engl. transl. p. 102. Zool. 4th ser. vol. II., September, 1898. 25 410 THE ZOOLOGIST. THE AUTUMN SONG OF BIRDS. By Cuarurs A. WItcHELL. THE songs of birds are worth investigating; but before progress can be made in the knowledge of the why and wherefore of these songs, we must ascertain how and when they occur. The last particular is especially important. It is very well to attribute the songs of birds to an erotic origin; but that will hardly account for the Robin and Starling recommencing in July or the first few days of August. Nor will it account for autumnal songs which are preceded by a period of silence (e.g- the Chiffchaff), or which are followed by a silence, which is not the case with the Robin and Starling. The September songs of Willow Wren and Chiffchaff are so exceedingly few and far between, as compared with the spring songs, that they may very probably proceed from birds that did not breed in spring, or whose nests were destroyed. My particular reason for calling attention to this theme is that my own observations seem to conflict with some other records. ‘This may be due to the fact that I have always been ‘“‘an early bird”; while other observers with less exacting avocations may be more of midday or evening observers. When articled and subsequently in a practice at Stroud, where most of my observations were made, I never loafed after birds during office hours, but was out on nearly half the fine mornings from 6 or 6.30 till 9 o’clock a.m. In a paper on the autumn song of birds (Zool. 1894, p. 410) Mr. O. V. Aplin says that the Willow Wren (after being silent from mid-June) strikes up again about the second week in August. The words “strike up” are, however, also applied to the Robin and Starling in November or October. Mr. Aplin has assured me that the remark does not, in the case of the latter birds, mean commencing to sing, but the employment of a new style of song. As, however, in the same paper he has a special reference to the Starling as singing in October (why October, oe THH AUTUMN SONG OF BIRDS. 411 when it begins early in August ?), I can only regret that Mr. Aplin was here less careful than usual in expressing his meaning. Unfortunately for me, Mr. Aplin, while not in the least minding my attempting to correct him, found it impossible to believe that I had supposed him ignorant of the singing of the Robin and Starling early in August. But that is just what an ornithologist of repute might overlook. To take a similar instance: How many generations have observed the Swift! Yet, how many scientists will admit its night-flight as a fact ? The mimicry of wild Lark and Thrush: how long has it been admitted? It may be denied that the latter mimics the Crow or Land Rail, for its pipe is not suited to coarse cries; but its general mimicry is bound to be admitted sooner or later. The only previous letter I had received from Myr. Aplin described the wonderful mimicry of a bird which was carefully identified as a Sedge Warbler. But Mr. Warde Fowler told me that in the opinion of the listener the bird ultimately resolved itself into a Marsh Warbler. Returning to autumn songs. I heard the Wren and Robin nearly every morning from July 7th to August 15th; but not once the Chiffchaff. That bird has a true autumn song, though only one or two here and there indulge in it. As to the Willow Wren, I have made careful observations on every day but two from June lst to August 19th. Those two days were cold and wet, so probably there was then nothing to observe. In June and July I observed at morning and evening. My opportunities were easy. In front of my cottage is a small meadow, flanked on two sides by a dense thicket, so I have only to open a window to hear the birds. In the back garden I am within hearing of two other thickets. I pass three others on my way to the railway station, which I reach by nine o’clock. The Willow Wren has this interesting feature (due perhaps to pugnacity), that when one begins to sing, another will begin almost at the same moment; and when many are in song at the same spot, their successive descending songs make a sort of “chiming,” very sweet to hear. I do not know any other bird with this habit. In May the chiming can be heard all day. I am sending a copy of my notes to the Editor, and will here only summarize them. 412 THE ZOOLOGIST. The Willow Wrens sang every day but one in June, the 27th, which was wet and cold. From three to five or six were heard at the same time on every fine waitm morning. On cold mornings only one or two could be heard. The evening song (after seven) was abandoned early in July. July 13th was cold, and no Willow Wren sang; 14th, two, occa- sionally. From 15th to 24th two could generally be heard in the morning; sometimes one. On 25th (7 to 8 a.m.) four or five were singing, sometimes chiming. 26th to 28th, five or six could be heard. 29th and 30th, cold; one heard. Thence to August 14th from one to three or four could be heard, except on the 7th, which was wet. From 14th to 17th two could generally be heard. On 18th none. 19th, two occasionally. 23rd to 28th, none. There was no doubt of the song when audible. When two or three were singing I heard about twelve phrases per minute (counted). If any were singing I never had to listen for a minute without hearing them. But though this year the Willow Wrens were not silent in the latter half of June, I had previously formed the opinion that in some years they are so silent, although the species is otherwise our most persistent summer singer. Had I never risen before nine o’clock I should never have noticed the July singing. Since the middle of July it has been the sole Warbler in song. I may say I have observed the July singing of this bird for many years. A particular incident fixes my memory of one occasion of the kind. More than twenty years ago, at Stroud, I was developing into what the Americans might appropriately term — a ‘“collector-fiend,” and wished to‘ procure” a Willow Wren. It was on the 15th of July I went to a thicket where these birds swarmed, and I shot two with a catapult, but found them in heavy moult. Another came along; he sang beautifully, and I shot him. He fell, but rose again and sat on a twig, with one thigh shattered and hanging loose. But he sang his little strain. Another came and attacked him, and he flew a few yards, while I crept after like a murderer. He sang again, his wings pulsating with the notes. I shot him dead. His death probably saved the lives of many birds, for it made me give up the procuring of specimens. But it also made me remember that the Willow Wren sings in mid-July. —————— 0 OR ee ae i eh Sn in tt lh es ( 418. ) NOTES AND QUERIES. MAMMALIA. RODENTIA. Conduct of a Rabbit when pursued by Dog.—One day in July last, when my daughter was walking in my garden here, a little Dog which was with her put up a Rabbit (Lepus cuniculus) from one of the flower-beds, which was chased for a short distance by the Dog, when it squatted in the grass, the Dog running round it, wagging its tailand barking. After afew moments it started off again, but, after running about one hundred yards, again squatted, the Dog running round and barking at it as before; when the Rabbit, which was quite full-grown, allowed my daughter to pick it up, and she brought it to me. It seemed as if dazed, and made no attempt to escape.— Wm. Borrer (Cowfold, Horsham, Sussex). [There are many records, and from all parts of the world, of wild animals taking refuge with man when pursued by their enemies.— ED. | AVES. The So-called St. Kilda Wren.—In a review of one of Mr. C. Dixon’s publications—I fancy the title had something to do with vanishing birds — in the ‘Spectator’ of July 30th ult., the writer refers to Mr. C. Dixon as the discoverer of the St. Kilda Wren (Troglodytes hirtensis). Possibly some reader of ‘The Zoologist’ will correct me if I am in the wrong, though I have certainly long been under the impression that the St. Kilda Wren was “discovered” years before Mr. C. Dixon ever set foot on the island, and that every well-informed ornithologist was aware of—well, the fact. I gather from my researches that exactly two hundred years ago, in 1698, the possession of a Wren by St. Kilda was recorded by Martin, in his ‘ Voyage to St. Kilda’; that in Macaulay’s ‘ History of St. Kilda,’ 1764, the species is again mentioned; that in 1831 Atkinson paid a visit to the - island and identified the little bird; while, in June, 1883, Barrington like- Wise came across it on some half-dozen occasions, though he failed to secure aspecimen. As Mr. C. Dixon’s journey to St. Kilda was not undertaken till 1884, I fail to appreciate the validity of the claim put forward by the late Henry Seebohm on behalf of his understudy, and repeated by an anonymous reviewer in the ‘Spectator’ only so recently as last month 414 THE ZOOLOGIST. How far Troglodytes hirtensis, the Wren found on St. Kilda, is justified in being advanced to specific rank may be open to argument, though the best authorities appear to look with disfavour on such an advancement ; but, touching rightful pretensions to whatsoever éclat there may be asso- ciated with the discovery and re-discovery of the little bird on the island, there is surely no room for two opinions. — H. 8. Davenport (Melton Mowbray). Scoters in Summer.—Larly on the morning of June 7th, when a few miles off Southerness, hundreds of Scoters were flying round the yacht. Four Velvet Scoters (Gidemia fusca) were detected, and no doubt there were others. In July, when sailing over the same spot, I observed the birds again, and I have often seen numbers of them in summer in the same locality. On the evening of June 138th, whilst fishing in Wigton Bay, a pair of Red-throated Divers (Colymbus septentrionalis) were seen. The birds were in full summer plumage, being apparently paired, and from their manners, had I been a little further north, I should have had no doubt as to the existence of a nest not far off. I visited several old nesting places of the Chough on the Kirkcudbrightshire coast, but not a bird of the species was to be seen, and | fear they have gone, never to return. Talking to an old fisherman, who was a close observer of birds, I gathered that fifty or sixty years ago they were common in several localities. Latterly they seem to have been driven away by the J ackdaws, which have increased in numbers.—J. J. ARMIsT“ZAD (Solway Fishery, Dumfries). Ivory Gull on the Solway.—On Aug. 3rd, when riding at anchor in the Solway Firth, I had the gratification of observing one of these rare birds (Pagophila eburnea) from my yacht. We had just had tea, and the scraps had been thrown overboard for the birds, which soon came round the yacht in considerable numbers. ‘They were a mixed lot, by far the largest pro- portion being of the Black-headed species, interspersed with a few Common Gulls, and also some representatives of the Herring and Lesser Black- backed kinds. One bird of a creamy-white colour attracted my attention, and as it came round for the third time, I distinctly saw that it had black feet; its bill was dusky, as far as I could see. Something suddenly alarmed the birds, and they retired to a distance and settled on the water, and I had not another good opportunity of observing the stranger that day. Next morning, however, on turning out early to weigh anchor, I saw it again. ‘This time it was feeding on the ooze, in company with some Black- headed Gulls, about one hundred and fifty yards away. It bore a striking resemblance to a white Pigeon, and a novice would have had the impression that one of these birds was feeding amongst the Gulls. — J. J. ARMISTEAD (Solway Fishery, Dumfries). NOTES AND QUERIES. 415 Birdsnesting in August.—For the last two years I have noted in ‘ The Zoologist’ a list of nests with eggs and young found on Bank Holiday in Cambridgeshire. This year I was in the same district, but searched mostly in a different direction, and the following were my discoveries :—One nest of Bullfinch, with one naked young and four eggs hatching ; three nests of Thrush, with eggs stale, apparently deserted; one nest of Turtle Dove, with two eggs; one nest of Wood Pigeon, with two eggs; two nests of Meadow Pipits, with four and five eggs respectively, all apparently fresh ; two nests of common Whitethroat, with young; eight nests of Yellowhammer, with eggs, mostly fresh ; two ditto, with young; one nest of Tree Sparrow, with two eggs deserted; two nests of Linnet, with eggs; one ditto, with young ; six nests of Greenfinch, with eggs, half of them fresh; two ditto, with young; one nest of Hedgesparrow, with one egg in hatched-out nest; two nests of Blackbird, with eggs deserted; one of these contained one hand- some egg of deep spotless blue, with a rich zone of brown at the large end. This does not include new nests of Wood Pigeon, House Sparrow, Swallow, and House Martin, which I did not examine.—Roserr H. Reap (7, South Parade, Bedford Park, W.). Coition of Birds in the Air.—Readers of ‘ The Zoologist’ have doubt- less been interested in some remarks that have lately appeared on this sub- ject in the pages of that Journal. I therefore send you a short account of a personal observation. Whilst passing along one of the roads skirting Clifton Downs, about the middle of June last, I noticed some six or eight pairs of House Martins (Hirundo urbica) engaged in collecting mud from the road. Suddenly a pair alighted within three or four yards of me, where I could see them quite plainly. Immediately they dropped into the road the male bird jumped on the back of the female, and appeared to attempt copulation. In an instant, however, the hen slipped from under him, and flew toward me, pursued by the cock bird, uttering loud cries. When quite close, I distinctly saw the male bird (whilst both were in the air) resume his position on the back of the female, and complete the act of copulation. They did not appear to take the least notice of my presence. —W. Barrett Rovs (Cliften, Bristol). Parasites in Birds.—A most interesting although serious epidemic in the form of Tape and Round Worms infests every Thrush and Blackbird in this immediate neighbourhood. All through last year it was prevalent, and at present seems to be on the increase. During the last two months I have examined some forty to fifty examples of T’urdus musicus and T. merula, also two of T’. viscivorus, that have been netted or shot from the fruit. In every case the intestine, and in a few the entire length of the alimentary canal, was full of a small Tapeworm, of about an inch in length, 416 | THE ZOOLOGIST. intermixed with afew Round Worms. I cannot understand why every bird should be thus infested. One young Blackbird, caught by my dog, which could only have been out of the nest some few hours, was equally full. There are great numbers of these birds about this year, and at present they are feeding out in-the fields. This seems to be most injurious, as” dogs, horses, and cattle are thus exposed to the parasites. I enclose specimens taken from various Blackbirds and Thrushes, and should be very interested to know to which family of the Tenie¢ they belong.* Ihave examined a few Starlings and small birds, but in no instance have found them infested. If any readers of ‘The Zoologist’ have come across a similar occurrence I should be glad to hear of it, also if there is any means of reducing it.— J. L. Newman (Mill Hill, Middlesex). * We have not, as yet, had an opportunity of having the specimens identified.— Ep. THE ZOOLOGIST No. 688.—October, 1898. NOTES own tot SOUTH AFRICAN SOCIAL SPIDERS (STHEGODYPHUS). By Guy A. K. Marsuatut, F.Z.S. In one of his interesting papers on the zoological features of the Transvaal (Zool. ante, 157), Mr. W. L. Distant makes refer- ence to our curious little Social Spiders (Stegodyphus gregarius, Camb.), and perhaps a few further remarks on them may not be out of place. Mr. Distant has raised the question as to the size of the nests constructed by this species. This is of course largely dependent on the age of the colony, the structure being gradually enlarged to accommodate the increasing progeny. In the spring months I have often found single chambers, about the size of a shilling, containing a solitary female, the snare consisting of two small, irregular but closely woven screens diverging on either side of the chamber. From this simple structure a graduated series may be traced up to the fully developed nest. I have seen many hundreds of these nests both in Natal and Mashonaland, and, so far as my experience goes, I should say that the one reproduced in Mr. Distant’s excellent photograph is well below the average of a fully developed nest, which I should estimate to be at least twice the size, though they are sometimes notably larger. In this country there is a larger and paler species of the same genus, which I do not remember to have met with in Natal, and its nests are often built on a still larger scale, attaining the size of a man’s head. Zool. 4th ser. vol. II., October, 1898. 2F 418 THE ZOOLOGIST. The nest itself is composed of a compact mass of closely felted glutinous silk traversed irregularly throughout with tubular passages, sometimes terminating in small chambers. In these latter the egg cocoons are often placed, but by no means always, for there seems to be no organised nursery, as with the social Hymenoptera. The surrounding foliage is worked in with the nest (but I doubt whether this is for protective purposes), the exterior being overlaid with a coating of very adhesive silk, which is likewise used for making the snares, these being highly irregular both in size and shape, but usually taking the form of vertical screens. : I may here digress to express my belief that the nests of some of our Sunbirds, viz. Cinnyris gutturalis, L., C. chalybeus, L., Anthodieta collaris, V., &c., are built expressly to resemble the nests of Stegodyphus for protective purposes. I have watched - the construction in the case of these three species, and the nests are ali built in a practically similar manner. No attempt is made at concealment, and they hang suspended from the outer- most twigs of bushes or low trees at no great distance from the ground—positions which are equally affected by the Social Spider. The ground work of the dome-shaped nest with its small porch is composed of interwoven grass, and the exterior is covered with leaves, twigs, &c., bound on with cobwebs, the structure when finished having a generally unkempt appearance eminently suggestive of the abode of Stegodyphus; and indeed 1 have been deceived myself in this respect more than once. I have observed A. collaris and C. chalybeus collecting web from the snares of the large Nephile Spiders in Natal; but a pair of C. gutturalis, which built within a few feet of the door of one of my huts on the Umfali river, used only the web of Stegodyphus. The food of the Social Spiders consists principally of Coleo- ptera, for the capture of which their strong glutinous snares are admirably adapted. Their chief victims are the Melolonthide, such as Anomala, T'rochalus, Adoretus,. &c., which positively swarm round trees and bushes on the warm spring evenings after the early rains. Among the larger diurnal beetles, the handsome Buprestids of the genus Psiloptera fall a frequent prey to their wiles, and it seems strange how such securely armour-plated insects can afford sustenance to the weak little Spiders; especially b SOUTH AFRICAN SOCIAL SPIDERS. 419 when one thinks that an intelligent insect like the Bee is appar- ently unable to find a weak spot in the less efficient armour of the Cetoniid Hoplostomus fuligineus, Ol., when it enters her hive to rifle the honey. But it would take quite a long list to enumerate all the species of Coleoptera which I have found dead in the nests of these rapacious creatures, for in truth “all is fish that comes to their net,’ even though it be the evil-smelling Lycus or the caustic Mylabris. To illustrate the strength of the silk, I might mention the capture of such powerful Beetles as Copris, Catharsius, and the large Bolboceras panza, Pér.; more- over, our large Migratory Locust (Acridium purpuriferum, Walk.) is, I am pleased to say, occasionally to be found in the larder, and anyone who has received a kick on the finger from the spiny leg of this objectionable insect will realise that it would take something pretty strong in the way of Spider’s silk to secure him. | At onetime I had thought these Spiders never entirely nocturnal in their habits, and so far as the construction of their snares is concerned they are no doubt crepuscular, like most Spiders of procryptic colouring. But I find they are by no means loth to emerge in broad daylight to capture their prey; and when a luckless Beetle becomes enmeshed, two or three rapidly rush out and tackle it, keeping as much beneath it as possible, apparently to prevent any attack from above. Should the insect be too large for them, other Spiders come out to assist, and it 1s hauled off with all speed under shelter, no attempt being made to bind it up in any way as the geometric Spiders do. Judging by the position of the dead bodies of their prey, it is probable that at night many are devoured in situ, but even then the majority must be carried inside the nest. The eggs are usually laid about February or March, being placed in small flat circular cocoons of a yellow colour. The young Spiders are much more rotund in appearance than their parents, and of a yellow colour. In the early winter the nests may be noticed to fall considerably into disrepair, and the damaged snares_are no longer mended, and eventually disappear. On investigation I found this to be due to the fact that about this time the older generation dies off entirely, the nests then being found to contain only young Spiders. The dead bodies of 2F 2 420 THE ZOOLOGIST. the parents may be seen lying about in the passages amidst the débris of deceased Beetles. Whether the older Spiders are actu- ally killed and devoured by their own progeny, I have not so far sufficient evidence to decide. For the present, however, I incline to this view, for otherwise I can see no reason why the parents should suddenly die off as they appear to do. It is true that at this period their food supply almost comes to a standstill, for during the winter months Coleoptera cease almost entirely to venture out on the wing; but this would affect the young ones equally, if not more. Even if this supposition be correct, it is difficult to understand how the young subsist through the winter, for, so far as I have seen, they do not emerge:at all from the nest, and they certainly construct no snares during that season for the capture of insects. One of the most interesting features in the economy of these creatures has yet to be dealt with. In the winter of 1895 I examined a number of deserted nests along the Umfali river in hopes of finding Coleoptera harbouring therein, and I was surprised to find in several instances large balls of grass, wild cotton, or even feathers, right in the middle of the nest. I was quite at a loss to understand how or why the Spiders should accumulate these materials, and I did not find the solution until early in the present year. It happened thus. On one of my entomological rambles some miles from Salisbury, I found myself suddenly enveloped in a regular winding-sheet of sticky Spiders’ silk, which was evidently that of my friend Stegodyphus. I therefore walked a short dis- tance up wind to find whence it came, and soon descried a bush on a termite heap, on the summit of which were some hundreds of these Spiders, apparently engaged in constructing a new nest, and evidently in a great state of perturbation. It at once struck me as very curious that these wary creatures should be thus exposing themselves wholesale in broad daylight, and I therefore proceeded to search for the disturbing element. The bush was placed on the side of the termite heap, and was connected by several strands of about four feet long with a bush on the top, on which was a smaller lot of some fifty Spiders. These were again connected with another shrub about six feet away on the far side of the ant heap. Here was found the original nest, and there SOUTH AFRICAN SOCIAL SPIDERS. 421 were still one or two Spiders on the outside of it. Within a foot of the nest was an open bird’s nest, apparently that of a finch, containing two eggs, with which, however, I was unacquainted, they being very similar in appearance to those of the European Bullfinch. It seemed hardly probable that this could be the cause of the commotion, and so it proved, for the eggs were clearly deserted, being quite cold and hard set. I then examined the Spiders’ nest, and was surprised to hear sundry squeaks inside, so, placing my butterfly-net beneath it, I tore the nest open, and out dropped four little Dormice (Myoxus nanus, De Wint.). Here, then, was the cause of this twofold domestic tragedy! Here, too, was the explanation of the facts I had observed on the Umfali, for in the centre of the nest was a chamber lined with soft grassheads, feathery flower-seeds, and one or two feathers. Subsequent observation has convinced me that this is a normal habit on the part of the Mashona Dormouse, for I have since found two full-grown specimens in similar posi- tions, and, besides, a large proportion of disused nests show clear signs of having been thus occupied. I expect the primary attraction will be found to be the Beetles caught in the Spiders’ web, the Dormice having gradually learnt to utilise these snares for their own purposes, and finally evicting the inhabitants. Whether they usually occupy deserted nests, or themselves oust the lawful proprietors, cannot yet be decided for certain; but the above instance clearly demonstrates that the latter method is sometimes employed, and from the evidence before me I am inclined to believe that this is the usual course. It is pretty clear that in this case the mother Dormouse must have brought her young to the nest, for they were fully a week old, and perhaps more, and the condition of the nest showed that it had been occupied only for a short time. Likewise it seems probable that the Spiders resisted the invasion for some time, as it was evident that they could only have evacuated a few hours before, whereas it must have taken the Dormouse some little time to construct her nest and bring her young there. To return to the victims—they were busying themselves all this while in setting their house in order, though a large propor- tion were apparently of opinion that it was desirable to put a still greater distance between them and their persecutors; for 422 THE ZOOLOGIST. some fifty of them were standing together with abdomen in air pouring forth a regular stream of silk in hopes of connecting with another tree. In one case a few threads caught on to a tree fully twelve feet away; the near ends were then promptly fastened down, and a Spider would advance cautiously along, strengthening the thread and hauling in the slack as she went, but in every case the thread broke. After many attempts to thus retreat further they gave it up, and went on with the work of making a new nest. The foundations of this were made by forming a dome-shaped canopy some eighteen inches in diameter over the top of the bush, the Spiders running backwards and forwards in all directions laying down the silk. I presume that eventually the edges of this canopy would be drawn together to form the outer shell of the nest, but unfortunateiy I was unable to remain longer to watch the process, and as I never found an opportunity to revisit the spot, I never learnt the sequel of this interesting chapter in the life-history of Stegodyphus. In conclusion, I may mention that I have recently discovered a singular messmate of the Social Spiders. This is none other than one of the Micro-Lepidoptera! The larve in their frass- covered cases reside among the débris of dead insects, on which I presume they feed. [have not yet reared the imago, but hope to do so before long. In a nest I opened yesterday I found six empty pupa-cases, from which the moths had evidently emerged; how — they managed to escape right from the heart of the nest seems little short of a marvel. Truly these venturesome insects pass their lives in the very jaws of death, and the struggle for existence must be keen indeed to compel them to resort to such an abode. ( 423 ) ZLOOLOGICAL NOMENCLATURE. REMARKS ON THE PROPOSED INTERNATIONAL CODE. By Rev. Tuomas R. R. Sreppine, M.A., F.R.S., F.L.S., F.Z.S. Many of the proposals of the International Commission* on this subject are so admirably drawn that they have a fair chance of commanding universal acceptance. On some of them public opinion is authorized to differ, since the members of the Com- mission are themselves not unanimous. By a singular policy at Cambridge the Report was submitted to the Zoological Congress, and in the same breath withdrawn from discussion. Debate was closured before it had begun. This tantalizing course was due apparently to some dread of starting an interminable controversy. It is easy no doubt to have too much of a good thing, but nothing is an unintellectual alternative to too much. The proposals are divided into rules and recommendations. Nevertheless several recommendations are interpolated among the rules. On the eighth rule of section I. the members of the Com- mission are divided. Three of them say, “All grammatical errors must be corrected; at the same time hybrid names are to be retained without emendation.”’ For example, they “ correct ”’ Cuterebra to Cutiterebra, Glossiphonia to Glossosiphonia. But two of the members propose the following form for this rule: ‘“‘ Barbarisms and solecisms shall be construed (under B. § 3 k) as arbitrary combinations of letters, and cannot be rejected or emended because of faulty construction. Hybrid names are to be avoided, but when once published are not to be rejected.”’ The minority, it will be seen, include in their rule a recom- mendation. Apart from that, theirs is by far the more desirable * See the ‘Annals and Magazine of Natural History,’ ser. 7, vol. ii. p- 181 (1898), and the Report submitted to the International Zoological Congress at Cambridge last August, 424 THE ZOOLOGIST. form. It should surely be the object of an International Code to interfere with individual liberty as little as possible, and to pro- tect accepted names from any change that can be avoided. But in correcting names which may be considered to offend against grammar or philology, more inconvenience than advantage is likely to arise. A longer name, as in the examples quoted, will often have to be substituted for a shorter one. The practical nuisance of this will be well understood by those who have to write labels for small bottles and glass slips. It is also contrary to the tendency of language, which is constantly condensing instead of expanding its forms—reducing, for instance, the five syllables of “ Mea domina” to the monosyllabic ‘“‘ Ma’am,” or “Mum,” or “M’m.” The zoologist need not encourage the geographer to change back Brighton into Brighthelmstone. By correction a name will sometimes receive a different initial, as in the change of Oplophorus to Hoplophorus or of Upogebia to Hypogebia, which is apt to be very confusing when an index has to be consulted. The principle of priority is weakened when the original form of a name is relinquished not in the interests of science, but of scholarship. On the other hand, it is so easy to let the names alone, carrying with them their small but interesting touches of autobiography, and no possible harm is done if we do - leave to the polished scholar some little occasion for chuckling over us untutored sons of science. In section III., the second rule begins by declaring that ‘‘ Specific names are of three kinds: a. Adjectives which must agree grammatically with the generic name.” On this it may be diffidently asked whether it would not be simpler to regard all generic names in zoology as masculine? This would avoid any necessity for changing the termination of a specific name on its transfer from one genus to another. It would put an end to a frequent confusion arising between Latin feminine and Greek neuter forms which happen to have the same vowel-ending. The most sensitive ear need not be offended, since Agricola, Aurelia, Cyphostoma, under the present rule, require an adjective re- spectively in the masculine, the feminine, the neuter. An animal does not become more one gender than another because of its name, and the grammar of the Greeks has wisely recognized what is called ‘‘ the construction according to the sense,” ~ ; th | , i pe ZOOLOGICAL NOMENCLATURE. 425 The third kind of specific names is said to be: ‘‘c. Sub- stantives: in the genitive, such as those given in dedication to persons or groups of persons.” ‘To this is appended the remark, ** The genitive is formed by adding an 2 to the exact name of the - person, if a man; an @ in case the person is a woman.” Without further explanation, therefore, we might have two such species as Felis Johnsoni and Felis Johnsone. But this can scarcely be intended. — A The third rule of this section, according to three members of ‘the Commission, should read thus: ‘‘ While it is desirable to avoid the repetition of the generic name as a specific name (Perdix perdix, Trutta trutta), such repetition is not sufficient grounds for rejecting or changing either the generic or the specific name. ‘The same principle applies to the repetition of the specific name as subspecific or varietal name.” The minority say, ‘ Specific names, when used as generic, must be changed.” The following form is offered as an alternative: In future, _ specific names within a genus may not be used for namimg its subdivisions ; as regards the past, the name of the species which has supplied a generic name shall be that which was given to it by the author who placed it in the new genus to which its specific . name was applied. For example, if T'etrao perdix, Linn., at the institution of the genus Perdix had been called Perdix perdia, that would be the name to be retained; but as it was in fact called Perdix cinerea, the very name used by Aldrovandi and other pre-Linnean authors, that name will happily prevail. This rule, if accepted, will keep us from tinkering at the work of our predecessors by ex post facto regulations. In section IV., rule 8 finds the Commission once more divided, on the question of defining who is the author of a species. For the paragraph in dispute, the following form is suggested :— The author of a species shall be that person who—a. First publishes the description of the species, with names in con- formity with Rule 1. Should the description and names be at first publication incorporated in the work of another writer, such writer will himself be deemed author of the species unless he attests that he is quoting the description as well as the names from another authority. Paragraphs b, c,d would follow as in the proposal of the majority, 426 THE ZOOLOGIST. On the one hand, the man who has had the trouble of examining and describing a species has much more right to be regarded as the “‘author”’ than one who has merely suggested a name. On the other hand, an author should not be deprived of his credit because his work happens to be incorporated in another man’s publication. The majority of the Commission append a recommendation—for it can scarcely be intended for a rule—that the name of the author should follow the specific name “ without the interposition of a comma.” There is nothing to be said against this except that sometimes an author’s name may come into a ludicrous combination with an uncomplimentary remark intended for the Snake, or the Cockroach, or some other low- minded species. Another recommendation, posing as a rule, prescribes the use of italics for distinguishing between the names of the species and the name of the author. It would be better to proscribe italics than to prescribe them. They are less legible than many other forms of type, and, as old books show, they are the worst 1n wear. Coming now to the recommendations, specified as such, the third deals at great length with words which may be taken as generic names, and mentions first: “a. Greek substantives, for which the rules of Latin transcription should be followed.” Many examples are given. In regard to transcription, a word may be said in behalf of the English-speaking peoples. Our pronunciation vividly accentuates the difference between a long vowel and a short one, yet we have but one symbol for both sounds throughout our vowel system. There is nothing in the form of the letters to prevent a man’s saying Amphibola, Hydrophilus, or Hippopotamus. How much the young have suffered through false quantities is an untold sum of human misery. But they harass not boys alone. Of university men who acted classical plays in his day, Milton says bluntly, ‘“‘They mispronounced, and I misliked; and, to make up the atticism, they were out, and I hissed.” The men he derided were victims to tortures of the tongue, which, as far as speakers are concerned, “The bad affright, afflict the best.” Long ago an absurdly simple remedy was proposed for appli- cation to scientific names. It directed that the penultimate syllable of a name should be accented when that syllable is long, ZOOLOGICAL NOMENCLATURE. 427 and the ante-penultimate when the penultimate is short. The International Commission would do a thankworthy act by giving the sanction of their authority to this ancient but much neglected proposal. In the transcription of Greek diphthongs it would, as many think, be far better to retain ei, al, and 01; ei because there at least the quantity could no longer be doubtful, but ai and o1 because the italic printing of @ and @ causes constant confusion. Thus, for example, waipa, the bright sparkle, is confounded with woipa, gloomy fate. Pareiasaurus, the lizard with a cheek, is a complete linguistic puzzle when written Pariasaurus. The ending id@, in names of zoological families, is often pronounced with a long penultimate, asif from the Greek «n;, as in Atreides. But here a misconception has evidently crept in. The penulti- mate is only long in such words as Atreides because it is a contraction of two short syllables into one long one. In AXacides from AXacus and in similar forms the penultimate is short. But knowledge of what is right, and uniformity in usage can never become general until in these matters we are assisted by the art of the printer. Among consonants the transcription of k into c appears very undesirable, as it inevitably results in mispronunciation, xaguivos, for instance, being changed vocally into Carsinus. Some minor points of criticism may be left over to a future opportunity. But, before concluding, I shall venture to submit one or two questions to the learned authors of these recom- mendations. Is it quite fair to expect those whom they will concern in all parts of the world to be acquainted either with ‘“‘the rules adopted by the Geographical Society of Paris,” or with the geography of the Romans and of Latin writers of the Middle Ages? Why, too, should any notice be taken, in so important a document, of the trivial economy aimed at in abbreviations of authors’ names? ‘These absurd curtailments remind one of the time when the sayings and doings of Pitt and Fox were recorded as: the words and deeds of Mr. P-tt and Mr. F-x, and when “‘ the” was “‘y°,” with other teasing stinginesses in printing. In the interests of this useless system the zoologist is invited to carry about a list of abbreviations proposed in one country, enlarged in another, imperfect at its birth, and with 428 THE ZOOLOGIST. every year of its existence bound to become more so, and this, forsooth, in order that the printer may make Lesson Less., ~ make A. Mull. of Auguste Muller, turn Sowerby into Sow., and make Stingelin Sting. As illustrating the difficulty of the whole subject, it is inter- esting to note that the five distinguished men on the Commission failed to come to an agreement on three topics, and that on each occasion the majority was differently composed. ( 429 ) NOTES AND QUERIES. MAMMALIA. The Mammalia of Hampshire.—I am collecting information concerning the Mammalia of Hampshire, and should be grateful to any of your corre- spondents who could help me, especially with regard to the Bats, of which we claim eleven species, and the Cetacea (eight species), the Polecat, Marten, Black Rat, and Roebuck. — J. E. Ketsauu (Milton Rectory, Lymington). Ao a Ss Swallow v. Flycatcher’s Peculiar Nesting Site.—Whilst searching a certain portion of the Mendip Hills for eggs of the Corn Bunting on June 2Uth last, I chanced to pass close to one of the well-like excavations which are numerous in this particular locality, and perhaps date back to 1506, when these hills were searched for lead, &. -On walking round this circular excavation in the earth, edged entirely with tall bracken, I was surprised to see a Swallow (Hirundo rustica) fly up from the depths below; so, having procured from the near woods a long stout fir-pole, I slid one end down, and firmly ledged it on an opposite rock. After half an hour’s steady and laborious work in 100° Fahr., I found myself eighteen feet below the surface, and not altogether in an agreeable position or condition. After closely examining my landing stage, I commenced a hasty search for the nest of my little friend the Swallow; I found it close in reach, perhaps fourteen feet from the top, fixed against the rock, and built in the ordinary way of mud, and lined with hay and feathers, and containing five young ones. The nest appeared to be one of former years, only freshly lined. Personally, I have never found a Swallow’s nest in such a queer situation before. On July 19th, having to visit a Greater Spotted Woodpecker’s nest close by, I again walked to the gruff-hole; getting my pole once more into position, I was much quicker at the bottom of it than on the previous occasion. Now for the surprise: a little brown bird was sitting on the Swallow’s nest. I reached my hand towards her, and she disappeared out of the hole above; 1 immediately recognized the Spotted Flycatcher. A pair of these birds had evidently taken possession of the Swallow’s nest, 430 THE ZOOLOGIST. and built a compact little nest inside, containing four eggs of the ordinary colour. The young of this species have since flown.—StanLtEy Lewis (Mount Pleasant, Wells, Somerset). A Cuckoo’s Economy in Question.—Ornithologists of a speculative turn of mind may be interested to learn that during the last week of May, in 1896, I found a Meadow Pipit’s (Anthus pratensis) nest on the lower slopes of Aran, a well-known mountain in North Wales. In addition to one solitary egg belonging to the lawful owners, the nest contained a Cuckoo’s egg. The former I left in situ; the latter I appropriated for reasons which need not here be specified, despite the fact that egg-collecting then as a hobby was with mea thing of the past. On retracing my steps some six hours later, I turned aside to have another look at the nest in question, and was surprised to find that the Meadow Pipit’s egg had been hatched in the interim, the callow youngster lying dead in the nest. I say “surprised ” advisedly, for though I had not examined the commoner egg at all critically in the morning, I had nevertheless satisfied myself before abstracting it that the Cuckoo’s egg was absolutely fresh, and such was subsequently proved to be the case. Now the main points of interest are as follows: What agency had been instrumental in removing the other eggs, which it is quite legitimate to assume had been originally laid? A Meadow Pipit’s almost invariable clutch, I may observe, is four to six; not one odd egg. | Again, admitting for the sake of argument that sundry eggs had been removed, what was the motive underlying their removal, assuming the Cuckoo to have been the culprit? Oologists of experience will not need to be told that when Voles plunder little birds’ nests, they usually make a clean sweep—in time and by degrees—of all the eggs; while there are but few birds which will allow themselves to be robbed of every egg but one, yet still continue sitting, and to this category, in my experience, Meadow Pipits do certainly not belong. Another interesting point, too, is this: a perfectly fresh Cuckoo’s egg is found side by side with a Meadow Pipit’s egg on the point of hatching; what then becomes of the alleged prescience, or intelligence, or instinct, or inherited memory on the part of the Cuckoo in always arranging things so adroitly that no hitch shall occur in the due incubation of its eggs if left unmolested by the foster-parents? For in this particular instance, had there been no interference on my part, the young Meadow Pipit, in the event of all having gone well with it, would have been fledged and away before the Cuckoo’s egg was hatched, even supposing the foster-parent to have “sat” pretty assiduously--which I doubt—after its own young one had emerged from the shell! Howsoever the facts are to be accounted for, I do not disguise my per- sonal conviction that the Cuckoo herself abstracted the surplus eggs of the NOTES AND QUERIES. 431 Meadow Pipit, and that she had some excellent though recondite motive for so doing. To others I leave the responsibility of explaining away an apparently singular aberration on the part of a species which, according to some people, is “‘ knowing ” even to the extent of being able to diversify the colouring of its eggs to suit the exigencies of each recurring situation ! But, apart from all speculation on the issues raised, it is impossible not to recognize that the discovery of a perfectly fresh Cuckoo’s egg alongside a Meadow Pipit’s egg on the very point of hatching must bea matter of no small interest to scientific ornithologists, since, so far as I am aware, nothing of the kind has ever been before recorded ; while far from tending to elucidate anything in connection with the economy of the species, the incident, if not to be dismissed as a lapsus on the part of an undiscerning Cuckoo, seems to me to involve a most perplexing economy in still deeper mystery.—H. 8. Davenport (Melton Mowbray). Cuckoos in 1898.—It seems clear that some peculiarity exists at the present time here connected with calls upon the services of the Mountain Linnet (Linota flavirostris) as foster-birds. Following up my observations since my last communication, I observed another young Cuckoo on an adjoining moor on July 30th. I was attracted to it by the peculiar “cheep” of this young bird, which of course was away from the nest. Its entreaties were evidently directed towards its foster-parents, and on changing its position from the sloping ground where it was when it first saw me to the branch of a willow bush, where it clung tenaciously, the Mountain Linnets were both promptly in attendance. We may assume that they were the foster-birds, and their interest in the young Cuckoo was equal to anything which I have observed by these birds in that direction when looking after their own young after these have left the nest. These three were seen near the same place in similar form on Aug. 8th. Another young one made its appearance on my hay-field on Aug. 6th; the peculiar ‘‘cheep” drew attention to it, and it seemed to have just recently taken to flight. It was not the rufous one mentioned in my last communi- cation, being of a dark blue colour. This bird may be thus considered another of this year, and had the same species of birds for foster- parents. As hay-making operations were being executed at the time, ample opportunities occurred for observing the movements of this indi- vidual, which was seen daily up to Aug. 12th; sometimes being under cover, sometimes appearing in graceful flight, perching on an adjoining bush, the fences of the field, or on the implements. It seemed to become acquainted with our movements, and it occurred to me that the nature of the flies and such like was the attraction which kept this one so closely amongst us. We neither saw it taking food itself, nor being fed by the foster-parents, but the latter were always in attendance; and a 432 THE ZOOLOGIST. peculiar sight it was to see this pretty specimen of a bird courting care from the little Twites. One could not wish to see a better sight than the graceful form of its flight during the latter part of the time. It improved in flying during the week. A Kestrel soaring nearly caused some little hubbub on one occasion, the Cuckoo’s cries, evidently showing that it wanted protection from its little guardians, drawing our attention to the matter, which was interesting to us. The last appearance of this bird was on Aug. 15th, by which time the peculiar “ cheep ” of its voice had changed to a sort of croak. It had become a beautiful specimen of its kind, and attained the power of a most graceful flight. ‘The foster-birds were still in attendance. Three were seen on a moor in the neighbourhood on Aug. 12th. One being seemingly larger than the others, there were some grounds for supposing that the former was an old one, the latter young ones. That is all that I know as to the latest date of their presence or waygoing. The season being late, they would probably have been here at a later date than usual; their de- parture being a mystery to me. Whether the young have instinctive powers to lead them the proper course of themselves, or the old wait in whole or in part—that is, parents wait on offspring, or casual stragglers pick up young right and left—this year at least the old birds hed generally disappeared before these young ones referred to were able to follow. How far they may go at first is also worthy of notice, as they may only remove in stages of a few miles at a time from this part, seeing that they appear much later in the milder parts of the kingdom. Then, as they do not pair, as is believed, would the males move away before the females? The latter might be kept waiting for or with their young, but—and as others who are polygamous have males which show more or less interest in the offspring of their species —we cannot conclude that the males do not equal in interest the females. In short, the point being debated whether the old take any interest after depositing the egg, it is just possible that the males would equal the females in showing attention, which latter has been proved to have been shown to young at various times. When the attachment continues so long towards the foster-birds, it would be interesting to know how they parted company. Would the youngster by a long flight leave behind such foster-birds as those we have been speaking of, who live in small space, or would the latter shake the former off in due time? There is also the point, would one of the old Cuckoos appear in due course, or is the whole thing a matter of mere accident ? Then I have to say about the clearing away of the eggs or young of the foster-birds. In the two cases this year it is pretty clear that neither was done by the young Cuckoos—one being impossible, the other most im- probable. It must have been either the old Cuckoo or the foster: birds that nad cleared away the young in one case, the eggs in another, to make room NOTES AND QUERIES. 433 for the favoured one. J for one must lead myself on to the debatable ground, and say that the vigilant eye of the parent Cuckoo, in my opinion, must have led her to clear out the impediments to the proper care of her progeny. It being concluded that the Cuckoo about the time which she deposits an egg in a nest habitually does extract an egg of the bird’s, but not always, we may reason that she may more or less habitually clear out the latter’s offspring. Failing: in the latter, the young Cuckoo can do so for itself in due course. Whether dead young birds would be carried away by her is more doubtful; probably, as in some cases at least where the young one expels, the foster-birds clear away.— Ww. Witson (Alford, Aberdeen). Date of Arrival of the House Martin.—I am glad that Mr. Warde Fowler has called attention (ante, p. 267) to the apparent alteration in the date of arrival of the House Martin (Chelidon urbica), as it has much puzzled me to account for its having been so late in its spring appearance in South Devon since 1891. Previous to that year I had always seen the first House Martin in April, and in the year before that (1890) as early as the 9th of that month. Since then I have never cbserved it before May, except in 1894, when April 20th was the date of its arrival at Exmouth. Although in 1891 I did not see any in Exeter till May 14th (when there were a few only to be seen), it was observed at Swanage, in Dorset, on April 1th, and at Kingsbridge, in South Devon, on April 24th. Again, in 1897 I did not notice any at Chagford, Devon, till May 3rd; but House Martins had been seen by the Rev. Murray A. Mathew at Buckland Dinham, Somerset, on April 6th. This year I saw none till June 19th at Topsham, and-at Chagford, at the end of the month, there were very few in the streets, though it is usually a very abundant species there. One, however, was seen by Mr. Mathew at Buckland Dinham on April 26th, and it appears to have been as numerous as usual there. In this neigh- bourhood it has been very scarce all the summer. It would appear from the late Mr. T. R. Archer Briggs’s notes that the House Martin is always later in arriving in the Plymouth district than about Exeter, and the late Mr. J. Gatcombe observed some arriving with a northerly wind on May 3rd, 1873, although near Topsham it arrived in large numbers from the south on April 16th. In ‘ The Zoologist’ for 1845, pp. 1189 and 1890, are some observations on the arrival of spring migrants at Devonport by W. Harris Row, who gives the following dates of arrival for the House Martin :— 1841, May 3rd; 1842, May 9th; 1844, May 2nd; 1845, May 5th. In 1895 I observed House Martins at Bovey Tracey, Devon, on May Ist; and when Mr. Mathew and myself were at Slapton Ley, on the south coast, on May 9th, House Martins were in great numbers perched on the Zool. 4th ser. vol. II., October, 1898. 2G 434 THE ZOOLOGIST. telegraph-wires which run along the sands, and had evidently just arrived from seaward; but none were seen at Exmouth till May 12th. The observations in ‘ Birds of Devon,’ alluded to by Mr. Warde Fowler, were made by myself, and I append records for thirty-four out of the forty- six years between 1852 and 1897 from my own note-books (made princi- pally in Exeter or its neighbourhood, and at Exmouth); and also notes made by the late Mr. T. R. Archer Briggs at Fursdon, Egg Buckland, Devon, which were very kindly put into my hands by his brother, Colonel Briggs. My observations were unfortunately not continuous, as I was absent from England between 1856 and 1862, and between 1884 and 1888, and from 1867 to 1870, and in a few other years I was too much occupied to record any observations. It is curious to notice that whereas the dates of arrival in this neighbourhood used to be much earlier than those recorded by Mr. O. V. Aplin near Banbury, of late years they are later. 1852, JApril Tul ss. se0nt- athe tes cetera aes 1858, April @ 2th seat, Gnec ates April 20th, T. R. A. B. 1855, April Q5th.......sccss00000. April 27th, T.R. A.B. TOGO, Agiril 14g coc one sennesenrae aan PGBS Va cece ae saenncweenten cers LO 5) Fa eeetrecay tue aseneanelest April 22nd, T. R.A. B. 18625 April ards timadccar aeessee un April 24th, T. R. A. B. L865, April 28tie.ncs.ccnceanessacknnes 1864, April 24th....cccscsssegeeseeees EBC Ge), | he sev tee ro sic ctespinees April 27th, T. R. A. B. 1866, April Gta wn i cases esseg nesses T8677, April (4G. cocci scewasls cases swe’ April 27th, T. R. A. B. DGS i oiintihce avec dues incites Ee eine ie NC Ot coon LOTO, . ——— et cess sees teaeee tiene Sit, April [Opts «cewstsecs aerenes April 28th, T.R. A. B.; oe 17th, Totnes, J. H.G, 1872, April 21st (April 28rd, Tor- reLoT ea ges lg © 25 ME are 1875, Aprill6th (inlargenumbers) April 30th, T. R. A.B.; May 3rd, JG 1874, April 2nd and dth ............ April 27th, T. R. A. B. 1875, April 10th and 18th ......... L876, April Oth, (many)... seencsse-+ LOT PADRE COGN sscentwanen dy eadene May 4th (Plympton). VS7 By AED US i ce cucskencavde trains LTO acess vosvins nena onaneines April 25th, T. R. A. B. LE80, AmPil2at hn: ....ic.. #eec 6336 44 6380 OTT 12 289 The Director, Mr. W. L. Sclater, reports :— The general state of the collections is satisfactory. The new cases are completely dust-proof, and, as far as can be seen at present, seem to be quite insect proof; any incipient attacks of museum pests can be easily dealt with by the introduction of a saucer of carbon bisulphide into the case, the fumes of which at once destroy any living matter.” In Mr. L. Péringuey’s report on the Department of Entomology we read:—‘‘ The most interesting discoveries of the year have been the existence of a representative of the curious family Embiide of the order Neuroptera (gen. ? Oligotoma) not before recorded in South Africa; and the curious parallelism of some coleopterous forms inhabiting the Cape and the Canary Islands, as exemplified by captures made by Mons. A. Raffray EDITORIAL GLEHANINGS. 447 in the immediate vicinity of Cape Town. He has lately discovered a species of Metophthalmus (family Lathridide), three species of which are represented in the Canary Islands; he has also discovered an eyeless species of weevil (nov. gen.) and another (gen. ? Pentatemenus), the eyes of which have only six facets. These insects belonging to the subfamily Cossonine are very closely allied to similar ones occurring in the Canary Islands, and which are also found in the extreme South of Europe. Wollaston, as far back as 1861, described a Colydid (gen. Cossyphodes) from the Cape belonging to a genus known at the time as occurring only at Madeira. Another species was later on discovered in Abyssinia. It is a singular coincidence that both Cossyphodes and Metophthalmus should be discovered in such opposite directions. The true explanation is that the minute insects of Africa have not yet been properly collected, and that the genera mentioned above will be found to have a larger area of distribution than at first imagined.” Another very interesting record is found in Mr. Gilchrist’s report on Marine Invertebrates :—‘‘ The specimen identified as Astacus capensis is of special interest, particularly as it is the only known representative of the European Lobster in South Africa. It is described by Herbst as being found in the rivers of the Colony, and as having all five pairs of legs chelate. The specimen procured was, however, found in a salt-water rock pool (at Sea Point), and others in the museum collection are described as from Algoa Bay. Moreover, all the legs are not chelate in these specimens. These points will receive special attention, as there is evidently an error somewhere.” Tur following extracts are taken from an article “By a South Sea Trader ” in the ‘ Pall Mall Gazette’ of July 12th:— Twofold Bay, a magnificent deep-water harbour on the southern coast of New South Wales, is a fisherman’s paradise, though its fame is but local, or known only to outsiders who may have spent a day there when travelling from Sydney to Tasmania in the fine steamers of the Union Company, which occasionally put in there to ship cattle from the little township of Eden. But the chief point of interest about T'wofold Bay is that it is the rendezvous of the famous ‘“ Killers” (Orca gladiator), the deadly foes of the whole race of Cetaceans other than themselves, and the most extraordinary and sagacious creatures that inhabit the ocean’s depths. From July to November two “schools” of Killers may be seen every day, either cruising to and fro across the entrance of the bay, or engaged in a Titanic combat with a Whale—a “ Right” Whale, a “‘ Humpback,” or the long, swift “ Finback.” But they have never been known to tackle the great Sperm Whale, except when the great creature has been wounded by 448 THE ZOOLOGIST. his human enemies. And to witness one of these mighty struggles is worth travelling many a thousand miles to see; it is terrible, awe-inspiring, and wonderful. The Killer ranges in length from 10 ft. to 25 ft. (whalemen have told me that one was seen stranded on the Great Barrier Reef in 1862 which measured 387 ft.). They spout, ‘ breach,” and “sound” like other Ceta- ceans, and are of the same migratory habits as the two “schools” which haunt ‘l'wofold Bay, always leave there about November 28th to cruise in other seas, returning to their headquarters early in July, when the Humpback and Finback Whales make their appearance on the coast of New South Wales, travelling northwards to the breeding-grounds on the Brampton Shoals, the coast of New Guinea, and the Moluccas. The whaling station at Twofold Bay is the only one in the Colony—the last remnant of a once great and thriving industry. It is carried on by a family named Davidson, father and sons, in conjunction with the Killers. And for more than twenty years this business partnership has existed between the humans and the Cetaceans, and the utmost rectitude and solicitude for each other’s interests has always been maintained—Orca gladiator seizes the Whale for Davidson, and holds him until the deadly lance is plunged into his “life,” and Davidson lets Orca carry the carcass to the bottom, and take his tithe of luscious blubber. This is the literal truth ; and grizzled old Davidson or any one of the stalwart sons who man his two boats will tell you that but for the Killers, who do half of the work, whaling would not pay with oil only worth from £18 to £24 a tun. When the men have done their part, comes the curious and yet absolutely truly described part that the Killers play in this ocean tragedy. The Killers, the moment the Whale is dead, close round him, and fastening their teeth into his body, bear him to the bottom. Here they tear out his tongue, and eat about one-third of his blubber. In about thirty-six to forty hours the carcass will rise again to the surface, and as the spot where he was taken down has been marked by a buoy, the boats are ready waiting to tow him ashore to the trying-out works. The Killers accompany the boats to the heads of the bay, and keep off the Sharks, which otherwise would strip off all the remaining blubber before the body had reached the shore. The Killers never hurt a man. Time after time have boats been stove in or smashed into splinters by a Whale and the crew left struggling in the water to be rescued by the ‘pick-up ” boat; and the Killers swim up to them, look at—ay, and smell them—but never touch them. And wherever the Killers are, the Sharks are not, for Jack Shark dreads a Killer as the devil dreads holy water. ‘Jack ” will rush in and rip off a piece of blubber if he can, but he will watch his chance to do so. EDITORIAL GLEANINGS. 449 Sometimes when a pack of Killers set out Whale-hunting they will be joined by a Thresher—the Fox Shark (Alopias vulpes), and then while the Killers bite and tear the unfortunate Cetacean, the Thresher deals him fearful blows with his scythe-like tail. The master of a whaling vessel told me that off the north end of New Caledonia there was a pack of nine Killers which were always attended by two Threshers and a Swordfish. Not only he but many other whaling skippers had seen this particular Swordfish year after year joining in attacks upon Whales. The cruising ground of this pack extended for thirty miles, and the nine creatures and their associates were individually known to hundreds of whalemen. And no doubt these combats, witnessed from a merchant ship, have led to many Sea Serpent stories; for when a Thresher stands his long twenty feet of slender body straight up on end like a pole, he presents a strange sight. But any American sperm-whaling captain will wink the other eye when you say “Sea Serpent.” Some Smelts have been caught in the Thames at Kew and Richmond. They were taken by anglers fishing with gentles for Roach and Dace. Last year Smelts worked as high up the Thames, and their presence there is of considerable interest, as it testifies to the increasing purity of the river.— Westminster Gazette, August 15th. A society with the title of the Zoological Society of Edinburgh is being formed for the purpose of establishing a zoological garden. A public meeting was to be held early in October. To protect the water-fowl and wild birds at Hampstead Heath some very pretty plantations have been made by the County Council near the ponds, and fenced in so as to keep the public from them. One result of this additional security is that there are now several broods of Cygnets, Wild Ducks, and Moorhens in the ponds. According to the keepers the wild fowl have trebled in number during the present year. Mr. Lionext E. Apams has contributed “A Plea for Owls and Kestrels ” in the ‘ Journ. Northamptonshire Nat. Hist. Soc.’ for June last. The author rightly observes :— The simple and direct test is the analysis of the ‘ pellets” which these birds cast up. Many people (including a keeper that a friend of mine recently interviewed) are not aware that Owls, Hawks, and many other Zool. 4th ser. vol. Ii., October, 1898. 2H 450 THE ZOOLOGIST. birds swallow their prey whole if small enough, or in lumps—fur, bones, feathers, everything together ; and that after the flesh and nutritious juices have passed into the system, the indigestible bones, é&c., are disgorged in masses usually known as “ pellets.” In Northamptonshire they are termed “quids,” in Staffordshire, Derbyshire, and Cheshire “ cuds,” in Cambridge- shire “ plugs,” and in Lancashire and Cheshire they sometimes go by the suggestive name “ boggart muck.” This curious term doubtless originated from the fact that pellets are sometimes found in church towers and churchyards, and the mysterious hootings and screechings heard at night in these places give colour to the notion that “ boggarts” (ghosts) are. engaged upon their unhallowed feast! These pellets contain, as stated, the bones of the animals preyed upon, usually in an almost perfect condition, the little skulls being perfectly easy to identify by a competent osteologist. It is still less generally known that many other birds eject similar pellets, e. g. the Swallow tribe, Herons, Gulls (and probably most sea-birds), Flycatchers, and Rooks. Rooks’ pellets, by the way, may be found beneath the nests while the young are being fed, and never, I think, at other times, and I fancy they are com- posed of the indigestible portions of the food which the parent Rooks prepare for their young in a way similar to that peculiar to Pigeons. I have carefully analysed and kept a record of many hundreds of Owls’ pellets from or close to estates where game is reared, and from many parts of England and Ireland, at the time of year when Pheasants and Partridges are young and least able to take care of themselves; and I can positively assert that tm no case have I ever found the remains of any game bird, chicken, or duckling. I once mentioned my experience to the late Lord Lilford, and that great authority informed me that his experience entirely tallied with mine. It is impossible for us with due regard to our space to give the whole of Mr. Adams’s statistics; the following are examples :— If not molested, Owls will take up their abode near a farm and keep the Rats and Mice under much more effectively and cheaply than a professional Rat-catcher. Only last spring, close to a Derbyshire farm, I found within a fortnight fresh pellets containing:—Brown Rats, 62 ; Long-tailed Field Mice, 88; Common Shrews, 16; Short-tailed Field Mice, 5; Bank Voles, 10; Water Voles, 2; Frogs, 6; Toads, 2; Beetles, several: total, 141. And all this was due to (I think) a single pair of. Long-eared Owls. The first two of the following analyses are from pellets in old deserted Pigeon cotes in farm buildings near Stafford. In both cases the farmers protected and encouraged the birds. The third is from a nest in a hollow oak in Rockingham Park, Northants :— EDITORIAL GLEANINGS. 451 J BS, So vu E ‘® 2° ES BOA Ge leh edly | AB fa 2 | | ists |e] 3 Ss/sls Mele Locality. 2 s Tle la As at SEIS | Elau wl BIS 2 S fy| 8 /S/S/o2/2) 2 eo (SS|n/B/ Ses lale es - Iesx| & n | a2\53| 6 |08 a) le olel|# glaiqie-sa OS NOP Sle efic!| s Ss Sis Slnlialas|Sisio a Zio WEEMS a BS elamniek#onlioRmd Kinvaston Hall.. | 260/—/113) 4) 5) 219|7| 41) 241 |63) 1 /—| 1/13} — |—/12| 720 St. Thomas’ Farm | 520|1)| 87 |12)12} 252) 8|100)| 259} 9| 7 |—| 2 135} 18 | 4 |33] 839 Rockingham Park |}135|1] 77/|10) 4100/5) 40|190|32)}2/1/1/ 4; 1 |—| 3/472 Rockingham Parkes) ) SQ 067 | ha So Peds 194 23|—|— Bele 7 late el == Dire The analysis of the Kestrels’ pellets likewise determines its usual food, though, as these pellets are not found in quantities together, like those of Owls, but here and there sparingly, the same amount of certainty cannot be guaranteed. Most of those that have come under my personal notice have been composed entirely of the wing-cases of all sorts of beetles and the wings of flies, and sometimes the remains of a small Vole or Mouse, but I have never discovered the remains of birds or Rabbits. Indeed the bird is hardly large enough to attack the latter successfully, though a gamekeeper giving evidence before the Vole Plague Committee says :—“ I have also seen one lift a young Rabbit.” Whether “lift” is used in the Scotch sense of ‘carry off,” or merely to “raise from the ground,” does not appear; but the fact is unimportant in any case, and the Committee rightly came to the conclusion that ‘‘the food of this bird is known to consist almost exclusively of Mice, Grasshoppers, coleopterous insects and their larvee.” Pror. ALEXANDER AGassiz, after serving the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Cambridge, Massachusetts, for thirty-five years, has resigned his position as Director and Curator. Dr. W. McM. Woodworth has been appointed Assistant in charge of the Museum.—Atheneum. THE Society for the Biological Exploration of the Dutch Colonies has organized a scientific expedition to Java, which is to start next October under the direction of Dr. Max Weber, Professor of Zoology at Amsterdam. The object of the expedition, which is to last about a year, is the zoologi- cal, botanical, and oceanographical exploration of the seas of the Indian Archipelago. Mr. F. G. Arato, writing to the ‘ Times’ from Mevagissey, Cornwall (August), states :— Sharks positively swarm just now in the 20-fathom water between Plymouth and the Land’s End. I have been catching both the Blue and 452 THE ZOOLOGIST. Por-beagle up to 40-lb. weight, and have lately had the former species round my boat to a length of close on 5 ft., a dangerous size. I am, however, induced to publish this warning by the fact that on Wednesday a young fisherman of this place, dangling his hand over the side in manipu- lating his Mackerel lines, had the sleeve of his shirt torn to the elbow by one of these surface prowlers. Folk who acquire most of their knowledge of sea-fish in the metropolis are given to doubt the presence of true Sharks in the Channel, preferring to regard them as Dog-fish. May I give them my assurance, for what it is worth, that these are but two of several true British Sharks; that they are, as proved by the aforementioned episodes, both large and aggressive, and that they are most in evidence on those | calm hot days that chiefly attract the bather. Fw zoologists are unfamiliar with the name of the publisher, John Van Voorst, who died on the 24th July, after a long and successful life, having been born as early as February 15th, 1804. He belonged to an ancient Dutch family which had settled in England several generations ago. He was apprenticed to Richard Nicholls, of Wakefield, somewhere about 1820, and, after passing some years with the Longmans, began business on his own account in 1835, in Paternoster Row. After publishing fine illustrated editions of such works as Gray’s ‘ Elegy,’ Goldsmith’s ‘Vicar of Wakefield,’ &c., he turned his attention to the union of artistic execution with scientific publications, and 1835 saw the-commencement of Yarrell’s ‘British Fishes,’ followed by Bell’s ‘ British Quadrupeds’ in 1836, Yarrell’s ‘ British Birds’ in 1837, and a series of recognized classics on British Crustaceans, Zoophytes, Starfishes, &. As specimens of wood-engraving, the cuts by Sam Williams and John Thompson in Selby’s ‘British Forest Trees ’ (1842) show the perfection attained in an art now less practised ; while the illustrations to Yarrell’s ‘ British Birds,’ including the vignettes, show how nearly black-and-white can indicate colour. After a long and prosperous career, Van Voorst retired from business in favour of his assistants, Messrs. Gurney & Jackson, in 1886; but his genial interest in old friends and a younger generation of naturalists never flagged until, on the completion of his ninety-fourth year, the exhaustion of natural forces began to make itself apparent. For many of the above facts we are indebted to the obituary notice which appeared in the ‘ Atheneum.’ THE ZOOLOGIST No. 689.—November, 1898. BIOLOGICAL SUGGESTIONS. ASSIMILATIVE COLOURATION. By W. L. Distant. (Continued from p. 409.) ‘Parr II. FisH appear to vary in colour and in an assimilative manner to the hue of the water in which they are confined.* According to Frank Buckland, ‘‘ this is the case particularly with Minnows, Sticklebats, and Trout. Mr. Grove, the fishmonger at Charing Cross, will tell you where a Trout comes from by its colour. The Trout which live in peat-coloured water are sometimes nearly black ; those from fine running streams, such as the clear chalk * The action of the environment on fishes does not appear to be confined to colour alone, According to Prof. Seeley, ‘“‘there are local races of many fishes which, under the changed conditions of physical geography, which from time to time affect the distribution of life on the earth, have become isolated from the rest of the race, so as to live on table-lands or low plains, in cold mountain lakes or in shallow swamps, in sluggish waters or rapid torrents, and thus, differently circumstanced, have developed into varieties distinguished by size, form, colour, and certain internal and external differences in the organs and proportions of the body” (‘The Fresh-water Fishes of Europe,’ p. 3). Leuciscus muticellus has all the fins “‘ transparent and unspotted in Austrian specimens, but in examples from the Neckar the fins of the lower part of the body are yellow at the base, and this colour is occasionally seen in the dorsal and caudal. Bavarian fish have much black pigment in spots on the dorsal and caudal fins” (ib¢d. p. 178). Zool. 4th ser. vol. II., November, 1898. 21 454 THE ZOOLOGIST. streams about Winchester, are of a beautiful silvery colour. Gudgeons placed in a glass bowl will become very white, and lose the beautiful brown colour on their backs.” “A fishmonger at Billingsgate Market told me he generally knew from what part of the coast fish came by the colour of them. This observation was a propos to a quantity of Dutch Jack that were displayed on his slab; and which looked very dingy and dark-coloured, as though they had lived in stagnant and dirty water; very different from a clean and bright-coloured Thames Jack.” ‘‘Sticklebacks are wonderful fish to change their colour. I have seen Sticklebacks at the tail of a mill pond at Islip of the most beautiful iridescent colour; the bottom was composed of clean white gravel stones. Again, there is a ditch running round Christchurch meadow at Oxford ; here the water is black and dirty, and the Sticklebacks are of a brown and almost black colour.” * The same author considers that ‘‘the Black-backed Salmon” of the Galway river ‘are fish which have spent most of their lives in dark bog-coloured water, and hence they have assumed the peculiar dark appearance they present, for, as we all know, the colour of the fish is wonderfully influenced by the colour of the water in which it lives.” + There is a well-known rock on the coast of Cornwall, about five leagues from the land, and standing up from the plain ground which spreads to a large distance round it. The top of the rock is full of gullies shaded with weeds, and Congers which are caught on it are always black, while close to its base these fish are always white.{ From Great Yarmouth it is reported that Flounders (Pleuronectes flesus) when sea-caught are lighter hued than those taken on a muddy bottom. ‘The Sunfish (Labrus auritus, Linn.) caught in the deep waters of Green River in Kentucky exhibit a depth of olive brown quite different from the general tint of those caught in the colourless waters of the * * Curiosities Nat. Hist.,’ pop. edit., Ist ser., pp. 285-7, 289. } Ibid. 4th ser., p. 271. This last conclusion seems scarcely borne out in a previous remark by the same naturalist that ‘white Trout prefer streams which contain bog water.” . . . ‘On the east side of Lough Corrib no white Trout are found—there is but very little bog water; but they are found on the west side, where the feeders of the lake run through a country abounding with bogs”’ (ibid. 4th ser., p. 258). { Jon. Couch, ‘ Hist. Fishes Brit. Islands,’ vol. iv. p. 842. § A. Patterson, ‘ Zoologist,’ 4th ser. vol. i. p. 557. ASSIMILATIVE COLOURATION. 455 Ohio or Schuylkill; those of the reddish-coloured waters of the bayous of the Louisiana swamps look as if covered with a coppery tarnish; and, lastly, those met with in streams that glide beneath cedars or other firs have a pale and sallow complexion.”’* A no less authority than Dr. Gunther states: ‘‘ Trout with intense ocellated spots are generally found in clear rapid rivers, and in small open alpine pools; in the large lakes with pebbly bottom the fish are bright silvery, and the ocellated spots are mixed with or replaced by X-shaped black spots; in pools or parts of lakes with muddy or peaty bottom the Trout are of a darker colour generally, and when enclosed in caves or holes they may assume an, almost uniform blackish colouration.” + ‘‘ Minnows have the power common to most fishes of rapidly assimilating to the varying colour of the stream. They change from brown to gold, from goid to brown.’ { The Paradise-fish (Polyacanthus sp.), a pet kept in confinement throughout China, has a colour in dark or muddy waters of a ‘‘dull uniform brown; and it is only when living in clear water, exposed to the sunlight, that the golden hue and red transverse bands make their appearance.” ‘‘Cod from the British seas and German Ocean are usually greenish or brownish olive in colour, with a number of yellowish or brown spots; but more to the north darker, and often uniformly coloured Specimens are more common; while in the race from Greenland, Scandinavia, and northern Norway, there is frequently a large irregular black patch on each side of the body.” § In the South Atlantic Mr. Cunningham secured by the aid of the towing-net a bright blue Isopodous crustacean (Idotea annulata), and states that, according to Spence Bate, “‘the blue colour appears to be a peculiarity of pelagic species.”’|| Entomologists have long noticed the effects of assimilative colouration, even in our own country. Mr. Dale, of Glanvilles Wootton, has truly remarked: ‘‘ Where do we find whitish or brilliant-coloured species of Lepidoptera, such as Melanargia galatea, Lycena corydon, L. adonis, Hubolia bipunctaria, Mela- * Audubon and his Journals,’ vol. ii. p. 519. + ‘Introd. Study Fishes,’ p. 632. t Watson, ‘Sketches of Brit. Sport. Fishes,’ p. 77. § Lydekker, ‘Roy. Nat. Hist.,’ vol. v. pp. 412, 483. || ‘ Notes Nat. Hist. Strait of Magellan,’ p..42. 212 456 THE ZOOLOGIST. nippe procellata, and the light variety of Gnophos obscuraria, &c. ? Why, on the white and light-coloured soils of the south of England, i.e. chalk and limestone. On the other hand, we find the dark variety of G. obscuraria, and various dark-coloured species, on black peaty soils.”’* A noctuid moth, Agrotis lucernea, not uncommon in Britain, when found on the chalk downs in the Isle of Wight has been thus described: ‘It rests in chinks on the ground, and is of a soft silky grey colour, and covered with such thick and long scales as to give it a furry appearance. Although abundant enough by night, it requires a long search to find a single specimen by day, so difficult is it to distinguish in its native haunts, the long pale silky hairs resembling exactly the rough surface of the chalk dusted with the darker atoms of the soil above.” This moth has also been caught by the same entomologist on the east coast of Scotland, and then thus differently described: ‘On black rocks, sometimes reeking with moisture, and which were as black as the rocks on which they rested.” Mr. Tutt, to whom we are indebted for these notes and observations, ascribes the colouration in each case as due to the action of natural selection. We may at least say in respect to other instances he has adduced that this explanation is not so apparent. Noctua glareosa “‘is of a pale dove-coloured grey, sometimes tinged with rosy,” and with three dark spots. ‘‘ The Sligo specimens are very white,—Scotch specimens more slaty ; the Shetland specimens are of a rich blackish brown colour.” Epunda lichenea ‘‘is a mottled greenish grey or greenish ochreous species, which is confined to a few coast districts. The Portland specimens are greenish white; the Teignmouth specimens dark greenish ochreous, mottled with red. The moths from these two localities have quite a different appearance, owing to the different kind of rocks on which they rest at these places.” Amphidasys betularia, a Geometrid moth, “as it rests on a trunk in our southern woods, is not at all conspicuous, and looks like a natural splash or scar, or a piece of lichen”; but near our large towns, where there are factories, and where vast quantities of soot are * «Hntomologist,’ vol. xxvi. p. 855. Mr. Wallace considers that the original colour of butterflies was a greyish or brownish neutral tint (‘ Dar- winism,’ p. 274); and the same opinion is held by Dr. Dixey in his study of the phylogeny of the Pierine (‘Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond.,’ 1894, p. 290). ee ee = ASSIMILATIVE COLOURATION. 457 day by day poured out from countless chimneys, this moth “has during the last fifty years undergone a remarkable change. The white has entirely disappeared, and the wings have become totally black, so black that it has obtained the cognomen ‘negro’ from naturalists.” * The dipterous insect Ce@lopa frigida undergoes its transformations in the black sea-weed cast up by the spring tides. The flies and also the pupe are black.t In a revision of the American orthopterous genus Spharageomon, Mr. Morse states: “‘ Variation in colour in this genus, in common with other Ciidipodine, counts for very little; the same species or race may be of all shades from a general dark fuscous to a pale buff or even a bright reddish brown, even in specimens from the same spot, yet it is probable that the general tint of a large series will be found to agree with the colour of the soil of the locality, or other peculiarity of environment. Specimens of different species from different localities in Colorado show a striking reddish almost rosaceous colouration due to some such cause.’ { Of course this can only apply to the insects when at rest, otherwise their more gaily-coloured under wings would contradict the view advocated. A previous American writer, Mr. Brunner, had pro- posed that climatic differences had accounted for the varied colouration of the wings of some North American Locusts.§ Eimer has some excellent observations on this point, and with these insects :—‘‘ The Grasshopper with red hinder wings banded with black, which is so common with us (in Germany) in summer, Acridium germanicum (Cidipodea germanica), when it occurs on the reddish brown Triassic clay of Tubingen, resembles this ground so closely with its wings folded that it cannot be distin- guished from it. A little above the clay on the hills of this neighbourhood there occurs a whitish sandstone, sometimes only for the breadth of a path or in somewhat larger surfaces, fre- quently surrounded by the former. On these small patches of lighter ground I find regularly only Grasshoppers with quite light upper wings, so that they can scarcely be distinguished from the soil. And I have elsewhere observed the same remarkable * Tutt, ‘ British Moths,’ pp. 144, 149, 179, 305. + Miall, ‘Nat. Hist. Aquat. Ins.,’ p. 373. t ‘Psyche,’ vol. vii. p. 288. § ‘Science,’ 1893, p. 133, 458 THE ZOOLOGIST. adaptation. One of my friends who is not usually accustomed to pay special attention to such animals, told me that he had been much surprised to notice that on the two banks of a brook on which the soil was of different colours, the Grasshoppers were in each case exceedingly like the ground in colour. Without doubt these were Acridiwm germanicum or A. cerulescens,—the latter species appears to show the same adaptation.” * Canon Tristram in his North African travels met with an area of the limestone conglomerate with earlier pebbles, in which a fine white flint, not previously observed, predominated. Here, to use his own words, “‘ we found only two living things through the whole day—a curious white Scorpion, and a Desert Lark (Annomanes regulus, Bp.).” + In Kamschatka, where the ground is so long covered with snow, Mr. Guillemard, in comparing the Great and Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers, the Capercailzie, and the Marsh Tit, with the forms found in Europe, remarks: ‘‘In all these the differences consist for the most part in the greater predominance of white in the plumage, and this tendency to albidism is notice- able, as I have already mentioned, in other animals besides the birds ; the Dogs and Horses likewise showing it in a marked degree.” | Sometimes the effect may be very sudden and of an artificial character. It is difficult to explain the process as described by C. J. Andersson in South Africa:—‘‘In the course of the first day’s journey, we traversed an immense hollow, called Etosha, covered with saline incrustations, and having wooded and well-defined borders. Such places are in Africa designated ‘salt-pans.’ The surface consisted of a soft greenish yellow * ‘Organic Evolution,’ Eng. transl., p. 146. Sometimes we have records of environmental changes in the colours of insects without corresponding particulars being given. These are still suggestive. Thus Gerard states in the ‘Dictionnaire d’Histoire naturelle’ of D’Orbigny (article ‘‘ Esyéce”’), ‘that when the small brown Honey-bees from High Burgundy are trans- ported into Bresse—although not very distant—they soon become larger, and assume a yellow colour; this happens even in the second generation ” (cf. Varigny, ibid. p. 53). Again, M. d’ Apchier de Pruns (‘ Revue Horticole,’ 1883, p. 316) has recorded that “‘at Brasse les Mines, in Central France, white Oxen become of lighter hue, and Pheasants, Pigeons, Ducks, &c., have more or less white feathers; plants with variegated leaves soon become uniformly green” (cf. Varigny, ibid. p. 54). + ‘The Great Sahara,’ p. 214. { ‘Cruise of the Marchesa,’ 2nd edit., p. 84, ———— eee ASSIMILATIVE COLOURATION. 459 clay soil, strewed with fragments of small sandstone, of a purple tint. Strange to relate, we had scarcely been ten minutes on this ground when the lower extremities of ourselves and cattle became of the same purple colour.” * | One of the most explicit observations bearing on this phase of animal colouration has been contributed by the late Mr. J. J. Monteiro. In Angola he found that in the districts where indi- cations of copper were found, ‘“‘the ‘ Plantain-eaters’ are also most abundant, more so than in any other part of Angola I have been in’; ... “the most singular circumstance connected with this bird is the fact that the gorgeous blood-red colour of its wing feathers is soluble, especially in weak solution of ammonia, and that this soluble colouring matter contains a considerable quantity of copper, to which its colour may very probably be due. My attention was first called to this extremely curious and unexpected fact by Prof. Church’s paper in the ‘ Phil. Trans.’ for 1869; and on my last voyage home from the coast, I purchased a large bunch of the red wing feathers in the market at Sierra Leone, with which my brother-in-law, Mr. Hy. Bassett, F.C.S., has verified Prof. Church’s results conclusively, and has found even a larger proportion of copper in the colouring matter extracted from these feathers.” f This colour, however, as we might surmise, was sufficiently independent of the copper to have become constant, for Mr. Monteiro kept two birds in confinement in England, during which time they moulted regularly every year, **and reproduced the splendidly coloured feathers, of the same brightness, without the possibility of getting any copper, except what might have entered into the composition of their food, which was most varied, consisting of every ripe fruit in season, cooked -vegetables and roots, rice, bread, biscuits, dried fruit, &c.” On the other hand, Dr. Bowdler Sharpe was informed by the late African traveller, Jules Verreaux, “‘that the bird often gets caught in violent showers during the rainy season, when the whole of this brilliant red colour in the wing feathers gets washed out, and the quills become pinky white, and after two or three days the colour is renewed, and the wing resumes its former * ¢ Lake Ngami,’ p. 187. + ‘Angola,’ vol. 11. p. 75, 460. THE ZOOLOGIST. beauty.” * This cannot be taken as an instance of pure but only partial assimilative colouration, but is sufficient to prove that colour may be largely derived from the mineral constituents of the earth’s surface, and in this way can scarcely be altogether ascribed to the action of ‘“‘ natural selection.” These bright wing feathers may have subsequently served the purpose of ‘‘ recogni- tion markings” ?, but seem certainly not derived directly for that purpose. A better example may be found in the Red Hartebeest (Alcelaphus cokei). Sir H. H. Johnston narrates of this species : ‘Being a deep red-brown in colour, and standing one by one stock-still at the approach of the caravan, it was really most difficult and puzzling sometimes to know which was Hartebeest and which was ant-hill; for the long grass hiding the Antelope’s legs left merely a red-humped mass, which, until it moved, might well be the mound of red earth constructed by the white termites. The unconscious mimicry was rendered the more ludicrously exact sometimes by the sharply-pointed flag-like leaves of a kind of squill—a liliaceous plant—which frequently crowned the summit of the ant-hill or grew at its base, thus suggesting the horns of an Antelope, rather with the head erect, or browsing low down. The assimilation cannot have been fancied on my part, for it deceived even the sharp eyes of my men; and again and again a Hartebeest would start into motion at twenty yards distance, and gallop off, while I was patiently stalking an ant-hill, and crawling on my stomach through thorns and aloes, only to find the supposed Antelope an irregular mass of red clay.” t This would seem to be almost an instance of acquired or active mimicry on the part of this animal. Here the whole question to be considered is what was the original home of this Red Harte- beest? Is it a creature of these red-earthed plains, the character of which is so prominently shown in these gigantic ant-hills ? * ¢Cassell’s Nat. Hist.,’ vol. iii. p. 380. Dr. Sharpe has subsequently expressed further doubt on the suggested cause of this colouration: ‘The Touracous are birds which live in trees, and do not apparently descend to the ground, while the red feathers have been assumed by specimens in captivity, some of which moulted more than once” (‘ Roy. Nat. Hist.,’ vol. iv. p. 18). + ‘The Kilima-Njaro Expedition,’ p. 65, ASSIMILATIVE COLOURATION. 461 Dr. Hans Meyer remarks that “‘ every observer must be struck with the general similarity in colour and partly aiso in form of the larger African mammals to the prevailing colours and features of the regions they frequent. At a distance it is scarcely possible to tell a Hartebeest at rest from one of the reddish ant-heaps which everywhere abound; the long-legged, long-necked Giraffe might easily pass for a dead mimosa, the Rhinoceros for a fallen trunk, the grey-brown Zebra for a clump of grass or thorn scrub. It is only their movements that betray their real character.” * The Lichtenstein Hartebeest (Bubalis lichtensteini) is also of a more or less uniform colour, “saffron, with a golden tinge throughout’’; while the more common Hartebeest (Bubalis caama), which has a wider distribution, is also in general colour of a ‘reddish brown, with violet tinge throughout”; and Messrs. Nicolls and Eglington, who have been quoted as to the colour of both these animals, describing the habits of the last, write :— “The Hartebeest is never met with in very thick bush, or hilly country, but frequents either the bare open flats or plains sparsely covered with camel-thorn trees (Acacia giraffe), and where there are treeless glades to be met with.” f It may have possibly struck the reader by this time that the surmise of the writer is that, in tne first instance, and in the long past, animals were uniformly and assimilatively coloured in connection with their principal surroundings, and that as they migrated through scarcity of food owing to excessive multiplication or other causes, or through the alteration of climatic condition, their changed environment placed them under altogether different conditions, and the modifying in- fluence of natural selection then became a magician’s wand in the evolution of diverse colours and markings, but it was not the sole agency. The tendency to explain all problems by the theory of natural selection is to-day greatly retarding the study of bionomics. It is not one whit removed from the proferred explanation of the old teleologists, and represents as little ** “Across Hast African Glaciers,’ p.79.—Other travellers in South Africa have noticed an absence of game among ant-hills. Thus Andrew Steedman states: ‘‘We remarked that, where they most abounded, Antelopes and other species of gregarious animals were seldom to be met with” (‘ Wand, and Advent. in Int. 8. Africa,’ vol. i. p. 172). + ‘The Sportsman in South Africa,’ p. 46, 462 THE ZO0LOGIST. thinking. This has naturally not escaped the thoughtful con- sideration of Mr. Wallace, though he seems inclined to ascribe the early uniform colouration to a protective origin, * whereas it is difficult to see that the same hue was equally protective to friend and foe, to the devourer and devoured. A fact, however, which very strongly stands against the view of original assimilative colouration here assumed is found in the markings of the young of all the unicolorous cats,—Lion, Puma, &c.,—which are more or less indistinctly spotted or striped, and as many allied species, both young and old, are similarly marked, Darwin has observed that ‘‘no believer in evolution will doubt that the progenitor of the Lion and Puma was a striped animal, and that the young have retained vestiges of the stripes, like the kittens of black Cats, which are not in the least striped when grown up. Many species of Deer, which when mature are not spotted, are whilst young covered with white spots, as are like- wise some few species in the adult state.” + If this was a concrete fact, it would be fatal to the suggestion here made, but the evidence is not all one way, for, according to the late Prof. Kitchen Parker, in the Hunting Leopard (Cynelurus jubatus) the young ‘‘are covered with soft brown hair, without spots, quite reversing the usual order of things’’{; and Col. Pollok states the same thing.§ However, per contra, Mr. Lydekker observes: ‘It is stated that if a cub in this state be clipped, the under fur will exhibit distinct spotting.”’|| In the Lion the markings are also foetal, for Steedman, quoting the particulars of a Lion hunt from the pages of the ‘ United Service Journal’ (August, 1834), * The fundamental or ground colours of animals are, as has been shown in preceding chapters, very largely protective, and it is not im- probable that the primitive colours of all animals were so. During the long course of animal development other modes of protection than concealment by harmony of colour arose, and thenceforth the normal development of colour due to the complex chemical and structural changes ever going on in the organism had full play; and the colours thus produced were again and again modified by natural selection for purposes of warning, recognition, mimicry, or special protection” (‘ Darwinism,’ p. 288). + ‘The Descent of Man,’ 2nd edit., p. 464. { ‘Cassell’s Nat. Hist.,’ vol. ii. p. 78. § ‘ Zoologist,’ 4th ser. vol. ii. p. 163. || ‘Roy. Nat. Hist.,’ vol, i. pp. 443-4. ASSIMILATIVE COLOURATION. 463 relates of a Lioness that was killed, ‘‘she had four unborn whelps, with downy skins, striped like the Tiger.” * It still appears that the young of many unicolorous animals are spotted. ‘‘ Pigs and Tapirs are banded and spotted when young; an imported young specimen of T'apirus bairdi was covered with white spots in longitudinal rows, here and there forming short stripes. Even the Horse, which Darwin supposes to be descended from a striped animal, is often spotted, as in dappled Horses; and great numbers show a tendency to spottiness, especially on the haunches.” fF Similar markings are to be found in the young of many fishes. Larval Cod have black transverse bars, ‘‘the stellate black chromatophores arranged in bands are clearly indicated.” { Young Ling (Molua molva), when grown to a length of seven inches, pass through a very distinct barred stage.} The young of all the Salmonide are barred; ‘‘and this is so constantly the case that it may be used as a generic, or even as a family character, not being peculiar to Salmo alone, but also common to Thymallus, and probably to Coregonus.’ || When the fry have attained a length of some four inches, they are known by the name of “ parr,’ and “bear conspicuously on their bodies transverse marks or bars, which are common to the young of every member of the Salmon family.”’{_ Even as regards the colouring of British land and freshwater Mollusca, the view has been held that Helix cantiana, H. cartusiana, &c., were once banded species.** Taking the cases of the Lion, Puma, and Cheetah, we see that the two first, unicolorous in their adult stage, apparently show by their spotted young a derivation from a similarly coloured ancestor, whilst the spotted Cheetah, from the apparent evidence of its unicolorous young, would point to a totally different con- clusion. But the cumulative opinion of evolutionists is that all * “Wand. and Advent. in Int. 8. Africa,’ vol. i. p. 220. + A. R. Wallace, ‘ Darwinism,’ p. 290. {| McIntosh and Masterman, ‘ Life-histories Brit. Marine Food Fishes,’ p. 238. § Ibid. p. 33, fig. 8, and p. 281. || ‘Roy. Nat. Hist.,’ vol. v. p. 494. {] Ibid. p. 497. ** Cf. “Val. Address,” ‘Journ. Conch.,’ April, 1888; and Boycott, ‘Zoologist,’ 3rd ser, vol. xx. p. 62, 464 THE ZOOLOGIST. spots, stripes, and other prominent markings, have been intensi- fied, preserved, or made permanent by a selective process, and have become, and are, of the greatest utility to the animals which possess them. Eimer, on the contrary, from the evidence of the markings on Cats and Dogs, is inclined to ascribe such markings as ‘“‘due to external conditions and an internal direction of evolution, and can be acquired and inherited in spite of all pammixes ’*—cessation of selection, or the present non-impor- tance of such characters in the struggle for existence. Mr. A. Tylor’s views (‘Colouration of Animals and Plants’), as sum- marized by Mr. Wallace, were that the primitive form of orna- mentation consisted of spots, the confluence of these in certain directions forming lines or bands; and these again sometimes coalescing into blotches, or into more or less uniform tints covering a large portion of the surface of the body.t It seems, however, more in consonance with present knowledge and opinion to consider that spots, though primitive, were not original, and succeeded, not preceded, unicolorous ornamentation, which has survived only where it has been more or less in unison with the creature’s environment, and so afforded ‘‘ aggressive protection,” as in the case of the Lion. Some of the best observations on this point are often made by travellers who know little of the subject, are not zoologists, have no preconceived ideas, but possess a clear mind with which to observe common facts. Such an observation on the colour of the Lion is to be found in a recent book written by two ladies recounting their experiences in Mashonaland :—“ His coat was soft and bright, and of a tawny colour—not unlike that of a mastiff—with black points. 'I'his colour is so like that of the sun-dried grass, that it can with difficulty be distinguished from it.” { If, however, it may be considered as rash to speculate on an original unicolorous or * Organic Evolution,’ pp. 115-16. + ‘Darwinism,’ p. 289. Among the Weasels (Mustelide), ‘there is a tendency for the different colours to arrange themselves in longitudinal lines or patches, so as to make the whole of the upper surface of the body light, and its under surface dark; and in no case are there either spots or trans- verse bands of colour, while equally noteworthy is the entire absence of alternating dark and light rings of colour in the tail’’ (Lydekker, ‘ Roy. Nat. Hist.,’ vol. ii. p. 47). { ‘Advent, in Mashonaland by two Hospital Nurses’ (Col. Hdit.), p. 277, ASSIMILATIVE COLOURATION. 465 assimilative colouration, it seems even more opposed to evolu- tionary ideas to predicate that because a mammal, as we know it at the present time, has a striped coat, it had also the same appearance in past geological epochs. Yet this seems to have been the method of Prof. Heilprin, who has written so excellently on the distribution of animals, considered geologically as well as geographically. Thus we read:—‘ The striped Hyena may be traced back to the older (Pliocene) H. arvennensis of Central France, and the brown form not improbably to the Miocene (or Pliocene) H. exima of Pikermi, Greece.”’* At the present day we have brown, spotted, and striped Hyenas (H. brunnea, H. crocuta, and H. striata) all found in, though not confined to, the continent of Africa, and however they may differ osteologically, and however distinctly these differences may be detected in fossil forms, yet surely we are not warranted in concluding that identity of colouration has survived from the geological past. But speculating on the generally accepted conclusion that spots and stripes succeeded a uniform or concolorous decoration, and re- membering that the three forms of markings referred to can almost be found at the present time, it seems we ought to be very cautious, as evolutionists, in concluding that the Hyena had developed either spots, or stripes, in Miocene or Pliocene times. Remembering the numerous remains of the genus found in the Pleistocene deposits of Europe, and that, as Prof. Heilprin remarks, it was from these north temperate regions ‘‘ the Ethio- pian realm has drawn much of its existing distinctive fauna,” and that the widely distributed Cave Hyena (H. spelea), if not identical with the present spotted form (H. crocuta), was ‘“‘ without doubt its direct ancestor,” it remains a suggestion as to what the original colouration was, altogether apart from structural specific distinction. Among the fossils of Pikermi, Gaudry found the successive stages by which the ancient Civets passed into the more modern Hyenas. t * ‘Geograph. and Geolog. Distrib. Animals,’ p.386. Prof. Boyd Dawkins likewise includes the ‘‘ Spotted Hyena” (H. spel@a) in his list of mammalia occurring in Great Britain in association with Paleolithic implements in the Pleistocene river deposits and the caves” (‘Journ. Anthrop. Instit.,’ vol. xvili. p. 243). + Huxley, ‘Collected Essays,’ vol. ii. p. 241. 466 THE ZOOLOGIST. If the view of original assimilative colouration is reasonable and probable, then it should receive support from the generally understood derivation of spots and stripes by a process of “natural selection,” though, as we suggest, and as will be explained later on, natural selection must be regarded as a permitting and perpetuating force, rather than as a creative agency.* ‘I'wo instances will here suffice for a consideration of this point in colouration, and are both based on the observations of two competent and excellent observers. The first relates to that prominently striped animal the Zebra, and was made by Mr. F. Galton :—‘‘ No more conspicuous animal can well be conceived, according to common idea, than a Zebra; but on a bright starlight night the breathing of one may be heard close by you, and yet you will be positively unable to see the animal. If the black stripes were more numerous he would be seen as a black mass ; if the white, as a white one; but their proportion is such as exactly to match the pale tint which arid ground possesses when seen by moon-light.” ¢ The second observation was made by that renowned sportsman, General Douglas Hamilton, and relates to the Spotted Deer and Tiger in India:—“ For example, the Axis, or Spotted Deer as it is generally called, is something hike the Fallow Deer in colour, only the white spots and markings are more distinct, and the body is a brighter red; one would imagine such a conspicuous animal could be easily distinguished in the forest, but the spots and colour so amalgamate with the broken lights and shades that I have often taken a shot at which I thought was a solitary Spotted Deer, and have been astonished to see ten or twelve dash away. The Tiger, again, with his bright body, black stripes, and white markings, is most difficult to see in the forest, and even on the open hill side; at three hundred or four hundred yards distant not a stripe is distinguishable. More than once I have mistaken a Tiger for a light-coloured hind Sambur, until I have brought the telescope to bear and seen my mistake.” { General Kinloch, as quoted by Lydekker, referring * “The origin of protective colours is to be sought in fortuitous variation preserved by selection”’ (Dr. Hart Merriam,—Balt. Meet. Am. Soc. Nat.,— vide ‘ Science,’ new ser. vol. i. p. 38). + ‘Narr. Explor. in Trop. §. Africa’ (Minerva Lib. Edit.), p. 187. {| ‘Records of Sport in Southern India,’ p. 41. ASSIMILATIVE COLOURATION. 467 to the Spotted Deer, says, ‘‘ unless it moves, few beasts are more difficult to see; the colour of the skin harmonizes with the dead leaves and grass, while the white spots are indistinguishable from the little flecks of light caused by the sunshine passing through the leafy branches.” * These observations have the great merit of being neither the result of preconceived opinion, nor the effort to support a theory. Mr. Galton’s journey was made during the years 1850-2, before the advent of that epoch-making work the ‘Origin of Species,’ which at once rivetted attention on all these phenomena. General Douglas Hamilton simply recorded the impressions of a sportsman with thirty-five years’ experience in India. Such testimony cannot be gainsaid, and though numerous other illustrations could readily be compiled, and from the pens of capable observers, those here given will suffice as regards the standard of competence and accuracy. On the other hand, I was surprised, in reading the ‘Travels and Adventures in South East Africa’ of that celebrated and experienced hunter, Mr. P. C. Selous, that he seemed to have no similar observations to record. In reference to the above instances of spots and stripes affording concealment, the explanation of ‘‘ active mimicry,” as I hope to advocate subsequently, might be applied; but then it must be remembered that the same phenomenon is found in other animals who live under very different conditions. Thus the Zebra Shark (Stegostoma tigrinum) is marked with black or brown transverse bars or round spots. Again, in Australia, according to Prof. Strong, the Rabbit is not only often parti-coloured, but numerous instances occur not only of white and black Rabbits, but of Rabbits “ with beautifully striped skins.” t The origin of spots and stripes is shrouded in obscurity. In domesticated animals, such as Dogs, Cats, cattle, and Horses, unsymmetrical markings constantly occur. According to Mr. Wallace, “‘Such markings never occur in wild races, or if they occur in individual cases they never increase; and I have given * Roy. Nat. Hist.,’ vol. ii. p. 8355.—Livingstone seems inclined to the opinion that such animals take refuge in the forest to escape from the hunters: ‘‘ But here, where they are killed by the arrows of the Balonda, they select for safety the densest forest, where the arrow cannot be easily shot” (‘ Missionary Travels and Researches in South Africa,’ p. 280). + ‘ Zoologist,’ 3rd ser., vol. xvili. p. 406. 468 THE ZOOLOGIST. reasons for thinking that symmetrical colour and marking is kept up in nature for facility of recognition, a factor essential to preservation and to the formation of new species.”* Mr. Bateson combats the view that variability of domestic animals is markedly in excess of that seen in wild forms. He adduces the great variability of the teeth of the large Anthropoids compared with the rarity of variations in the teeth of other Old World Monkeys, and the comparative rarity of great variations even in man:—‘“ If the Seals or Anthropoids had been domesticated animals, it is possible that some persons would have seen in their variability a consequence of domestication.” | As regards colour, the same author is more emphatic. To use his own example :—“1 go into the fields of the north of Kent in early August, and sweep the Ladybirds off the thistles and nettles of waste places. Hundreds, sometimes thousands, may be taken in a few hours. They are mostly of two species, the small Coccinella decempunctata or variabilis and the larger C. septempunctata. Both are exceedingly common, feeding on Aphides on the same plants in the same places at the same time. The former—C. decempunctata—shows an excessive variation both in colours and in pattern of colours, red-brown, yellow-brown, orange, red, yellowish white, and black in countless shades, mottled or dotted upon each other in various ways. The colours of Pigeons or of cattle are scarcely more variable. Yet the colour of the larger C. septempunctata is almost absolutely constant, having the same black spots on the same red ground. ‘The slightest difference in the size of the black spots is all the variation to be seen. (It has not even that dark form in which the black spreads over the elytra until only two red spots remain, which is to be seen in C. bipunctata.) ‘To be asked to believe that the colour of C. septempunctata is con- stant because it matters to the species, and that the colour of C. decempunctata is variable because it does not matter, is to be asked to abrogate reason.” | If we consult Mr. Gladstone’s ‘Impregnable Rock of Holy Scripture,’ we shall be induced to believe that such markings may have arisen by a partial or further process of assimilative * § Nature,’ vol. u. p. 197. + ‘Materials for the Study of Variation,’ p. 266. { Ibid. p. 572. “ek > . ASSIMILATIVE COLOURATION. 469 colouration. According to the Biblical narrative, the astute Jacob in his negotiations with Laban increased the number of “ringstraked, speckled, and spotted” cattle by the following ingenious method. He ‘“‘took him rods of green poplar, and of the hazel and chestnut tree; and pitted white strakes in them, | and made the white appear which was in the rods. And he set the rods which he had pitted before the flocks in the gutters in the watering troughs when the flocks came to drink, that they should conceive when they came to drink. And the flocks con- ceived before the rods, and brought forth cattle ringstraked, speckled, and spotted.”* This narrative might be used as a theological argument for the theory that wild animals may have acquired their spots and stripes in a similar manner, as the Tiger in his bamboo jungle, &c., and it seems strange in these plentiful days of theory that no clerical evolutionist has advanced such a view. Canon Tristram, however, by his observations in the Sahara, does not advocate this suggestion, for in these desert plains he described sheep in which ‘‘Jacob’s ringstraked and speckled, dappled with white, and especially light brown predominated.” t+ Another suggestion, to which allusion has already been made, is that of the late Alfred Tylor, who starts with the premiss that it “‘seems most probable that the fundamental or primitive colouration is arranged in spots,’ { and that these are capable of being coalesced into bands, stripes, and blotches, and are structural in affinity. ‘‘If we take highly decorated species, that is, animals marked by alternate light and dark bands, or spots, such as the Zebra, some Deer, or the carnivora, we find first that the region of the spinal column is marked by a dark stripe; secondly, that the regions of the appendages, or limbs, are differently marked; thirdly, that the flanks are striped or spotted along or between the regions of the lines of the ribs; fourthly, that the shoulder and hip regions are marked by curved lines; fifthly, that the pattern changes, and the direction of the lines, or spots, at the head, neck, and every joint of the limbs; and lastly, that the tips of the ears, nose, tail, and feet, and the eye * Genesis, chap. xxx. verses 37-9. In the following chapter—xxxi. verses 10-138—this is altogether attributed to the favour of the God of Bethel. + ‘The Great Sahara,’ p. 61. t *Colouration in Animals and Plants,’ p. 23. Zool. 4th ser. vol. II., November, 1898. 2K 470 THE ZOOLOGIST. are emphasized in colour. In spotted animals the greatest length of the spot is generally in the direction of the largest development of the skeleton.” * Mr. Tylor had assuredly not read an African observation made by the late Dr. Livingstone, or he would have as certainly incorporated it in his essay as evidence for his theory, and which it may be almost said to have partly antici- pated. Dr. Livingstone writes:—‘‘ The Poodle Dog Chitané is rapidly changing the colour of its hair. All the parts corre- sponding to the ribs and neck are rapidly becoming red; the majority of country Dogs are of this colour.” + Emin Pasha does not corroborate this statement of Livingstone respecting the markings of Central African Dogs. He describes them as “usually of a buff colour.” { As regards the reddish colour of the Central African Dogs as described by Livingstone, it must be remembered that many domesticated Dogs are considered to have been the result of taming different wild species of Canide, and that the Black-backed Jackal (Canis mesomelas), which is found from Nubia to the Cape, has a light red skin with a black dorsal stripe. According to Lydekker, in the Prairie Wolf of North America (Canis latrans), ‘‘the colour varies considerably at different seasons of the year, being of a bright fulvous-brown in summer, and grey or greyish in winter; this ground colour at both seasons being overlaid with a shading of black, which tends to form stripes along the back and across the shoulders and loins.” § Another peculiarity in African Dogs has been recorded by Blumen- bach :—‘‘ The Guinea Dog (which Linnezus calls C. egyptius—I do not know why) is, like the men of that climate, distinguished for the velvety softness of his smooth skin, and the great and nearly specific cutaneous perspiration.” || Darwin, discussing the animals under consideration, is inclined to ascribe spots and stripes as due to his theory of “sexual selection,” the ornamentation having firstly been acquired by the males, and then transmitted equally, or almost equally, to both sexes. He adds: ‘‘ After having studied to the best of my ability the sexual differences of animals * Colouration in Animals and Plants,’ p. 92. + ‘Livingstone’s Last Journals,’ vol. i. p. 95. {| ‘Emin Pasha in Central Africa,’ p. 80. § ‘Roy. Nat. Hist.,’ vol. i. p. 501. || ‘ Anthropological Treatises,’ Eng. transl. p. 191. ASSIMILATIVE COLOURATION. 471 belonging to all classes, I cannot avoid the conclusion that the curiously-arranged colours of many Antelopes, though common to both sexes, are the result of sexual selection primarily applied to the male.” * And he subsequently remarks: ‘ Nevertheless, he who attributes the white and dark vertical stripes on the flanks of various Antelopes to this process will probably extend the same view to the royal Tiger and beautiful Zebra.” + Mr. Wallace estimates the derivative process of spots and stripes as a purely protective one:—‘‘ In mammalia we notice the frequency of rounded spots on forest or tree-haunting animals of large size, as the forest Deer and the forest Cats; while those that frequent reedy or grassy places are striped vertically, as the Marsh Ante- lopes and the Tiger.” And again: ‘‘It is the black shadows of the vegetation that assimilate with the black stripes of the Tiger; and in like manner, the spotted shadows of leaves in the forest so harmonize with the spots of Ocelots, Jaguars, Tiger-cats, and Spotted Deer, as to afford them a very perfect concealment.” f This last view seems borne out by all the facts at our disposal, and as adaptation implies a previous state of variation, which again predicates a more or less stable condition from which variation arose, we come to the conclusion that the pre-variable condition was a unicolorous one, and from the data—scanty indeed—at our disposal, are inclined to suggest that the uni- colorous hue was originally due to assimilative colouration. The wild Horse of Asia is said to be of a dun colour, while those of South America are described as commonly chestnut or bay coloured.§ Why is this ?—the question bristles with present difficulties. In the writings of pre- and anti-Darwinian naturalists are often found remarks and statements unconsciously supportive of the future theory. Thus Charles Waterton, in describing the faunistic features of the Demerara forest, writes: ‘‘ The naturalist may exclaim that nature has not known where to stop in forming new species, and painting her requisite shades ’”’||; while Frank Buckland from a teleological point of view had pointed out that the striped coat of the Tiger was ‘‘ most suited” to his environ- * Descent of Man,’ 2nd edit. p. 544. + Ibid. p. 546. } ‘Darwinism,’ pp. 199, 200. § Huxley, ‘Collected Essays,’ vol. ii. p. 426. || ‘ Wanderings,’ Wood’s edit. p. 94. 2K2 472 THE ZOOLOGIST. ment, and “when skulking through the dark shade, either of corinda or jungle, it would be almost impossible to make out his huge cat-like carcass creeping along like a silent shadow.” * Eimer also observes :—‘‘I have permitted myself to express the Supposition (Varuren, &c.) that the fact of the original prevalence of longitudinal striping might be connected with the original predominance of the monocotyledonous plants whose linear organs and linear shadows would have corresponded with the linear stripes of the animals; and further, that the conversion of the striping into a spot-marking might be connected with the development of a vegetation which cast spotted shadows. Itisa fact that several indications exist that in earlier periods the animal kingdom contained many more striped forms than is the case to-day.’ + To even fancy the appearance of animal and plant life in past geologic epochs, apart from structure as revealed by paleontology, is left to sober scientific imagination. We know there was a flowerless age, but even then animal life existed. Is it to be argued that such animal life had reached its development in colouration? Can we not more easily imagine that animals assimilated in colour with the monotonous and semi-sombre hues of their then environment; but as they multiplied and the struggle for existence caused migration, the same inherent tendency to assimilative colouration prompted assimilative varia- tion in response to the difference in surrounding conditions, and when this variation became adaptive and protective, the process of natural selection accentuated and perpetuated whatever was advantageous to the creature’s existence. The late Andrew Murray, in a paper read before the British Association in 1859, and just before or coincident with the appearance of Darwin’s ‘Origin of Species,’ appears to have held a similar impression, though not reaching the explanation of “natural selection.” His words well serve to conclude this discursive suggestion of original and universal assimilative colouration :—‘‘ We have seen that in all the instances to which I have referred, the external appearance of the animal bears definite relation to the appearance of the soil on which it lives, or the objects which surround it. It would appear as if there * ‘Curiosities of Natural History,’ Pop. Edit., 8rd ser., p. 256. + ‘Organic Evolution,’ Eng. transl. p. 57. . ASSIMILATIVE COLOURATION. 473 were a genius loci, whose subtle and pervading essence spread itself around, penetrating and impregnating the denizens of the place with its facies,—possibly only affecting some, the conditions of whose entry on existence render them more liable to receive its impression than others; more probably affecting all, some more and some less,” &c.* It may, however, be suggested that this adaptive colouration was due to an assimilative process in early times,+ and that the ‘‘ genius loct”’ is a pseudonym of tbat operation. It is at least probable that where we have protective resemblance in a unicolorous condition, it is a survival of original assimilative colouration, and is not a direct product of “natural selection”; but is ratified and perpetuated by that agency as agreeing altogether with its conditions. Unchanged it has survived as the fittest.{ It must have been in the original head-quarters or centre of evolution before migration took place, and a uni- or concolorous hue prevailed. Such a centre for Anthropoids, paleontology proves to have once existed in India. In the words of Mr. Lydekker :—‘‘ We have decisive proof that at a former epoch of the earth’s history such an assembly of Primates was gathered together on the plains of India at a time when the Himalaya did not exist as has been seen nowhere else beyond the walls of a menagerie. Side by side with Langurs and Macaques closely resembling those now found in that region were Chimpanzees and Baboons as nearly related to those of modern. Africa, whilst the extinct Indian Orang recalls the exist- ing species of Borneo and Sumatra. India, therefore, in the Pliocene period, seems to have been the central point whence the main groups of Old World Primates dispersed themselves to their far distant homes.” * * Discuises in Nature,” vide ‘Edinburgh New Philosoph. Journ.,’ January, 1860. + Eimer proposes a theory of colour-photography: ‘‘ The colours of the environment of an animal may be reflected in the colours of its skin” (‘Organic Evolution,’ Eng. transl. p. 145). | A different argument, propounded on somewhat similar grounds, was advanced by Agassiz in his “ Natural Relations between Animals and the Elements in which they live,” to prove that marine animals were less specialised in structure than those inhabiting the land areas (vide Silliman’s ‘Amer, Journ. Sci. and Arts,’ May, 1850). 474 THE ZOOLOGIST. THE BIRDS OF THE RIFFELALP, CANTON VALAIS, SWITZERLAND. By *P. LL. Souater, MA., Ph.D:., F-R.S: Last September I passed eight very pleasant days, in splendid weather, at the excellent hotel on the Riffelalp, Zermatt, at a height of 7300 ft. above the sea-level. The hotel is situated close to a large grove of mixed larches and arolla pines (Pinus cembra), and just opposite the Matterhorn. It is well known as one of the most popular mountain resorts in Switzerland, and has been now rendered very accessible by the new electric railway, which puts you-down atits door. I cannot truly say that bird- life is abundant on the Riffelalp, or, in fact, in any other part of the Swiss Alps that I know of. But there are several birds there not to be seen in life in the British Islands, and of special interest to the student of Kuropean ornithology. You cannot go very far into the pine forest adjoining the hotel without meeting with the Nutcracker (Nucifraga caryocatactes). A harsh croak is heard, and a blackish brown Jay-like bird with a conspicuous white tail-end tumbles out of a tree and flies hurriedly into another, often followed by one or more com- panions. They seem specially fond of the arollas or arvens (Pinus cembra), upon the seeds of which they habitually feed, picking the cones into fragments in search of them. I have also seen them on the larch and on the spruce, and occasionally on the open moor. The Nutcracker is certainly the most charac- teristic bird of the higher forests in Switzerland—that is, from 8000 to 10,000 ft.—and seems to be met with in nearly all the pine forests of that elevation. Another attractive bird of the Alps is the Alpine Chough (Pyrrhocorax alpinus), which may be seen in flocks in many of the precipitous cliffs of the higher mountains. ‘There is a large company of them on the Gornergrat above the Riffelalp (alt. 10,200 ft.), where they inhabit the southern face of the jagged BIRDS OF THE RIFFELALP, SWITZERLAND. 475 rocks overlooking the Gérner Glacier. They are continually on the move, uttering as they fly about a sort of subdued cackle, and making elegant evolutions in the air. At times they retreat into the ragged rocks, in the holes of which they no doubt build their nests. Another smaller company of this Chough inhabits the steep cliff between the Riffelaly inn and the Riffelhaus. There was a pair of Ravens on the Gornergrat during one of my visits, which seemed to be on the best of terms with the Choughs, and headed them in their evolutions as they flew about. A third delightful little bird of the Riffelalp is the Alpine Accentor (Accentor alpinus), which is hardly known as a “ British bird,” but may be easily recognized by those who trouble to look for it among the highest ranges in Switzerland. Although it is unquestionably allied to our so-called ‘ Hedge-sparrow,” its habits are quite different, and are more like those of the Pipits or Stonechats. I have always seen it in pairs or small flocks, or sometimes singly, picking about on the ground amongst large stones, or perching on rocks and running over their surfaces. On one occasion I found a family party of six or seven within two hundred yards of the Riffelalp hotel. They are usually rather shy, and it 1s difficult to get one’s glasses well fixed on them, so lively are their movements; but when you get a good side light on them the spotted throat and rufous tinge on the flanks render them easily distinguishable. The. Snow-finch (Montifringilla nivalis) is also a cherie istic bird of the high Alps from 8000 to 10,000 ft. I have seen small flocks of them on the Furka Pass and elsewhere. On the Riffelalp this year I only identified a single bird with certainty ; this was on the outskirts of the pine wood near the hotel. But another flock of finches which I saw in the same neighbourhood near Findelen Glacier was, I believe, of this species. In the open parts of the highest pastures on the Riffelalp the Water Pipit (Anthus spinoletta) is by no means rare. They are always seen on the ground, taking a short flight when disturbed, and then settling again in the herbage. Their habits appeared to me to be much the same as those of our Meadow Pipit (A. pratensis). The Black Redstart (Ruticilla tithys), common all over Switzerland, is also to be found on the Riffelalp, but does not 476 THE ZOOLOGIST. seem to range quite so high as the five species previously men- tioned. It is usually met with in the vicinity of the huts and hay-barns, under the eaves of which it often breeds. Thus it will be observed that there are at least six most interesting alpine birds to be met with on the Riffelalp, even by one who pays merely a few days’ visit to that most inviting health resort in one of the worst months of the year as regards bird-life. I have no doubt that all these species would be found breeding therein the spring. Besides these, I noticed Chaffinches, flocks of Tits in the pine woods (Parus lugubris and P. cristatus), and other well-known birds which it is not necessary to mention. Birds of prey, however, seemed to be unusually scarce. I heard rumours of an Hagle (?), but only saw a single Sparrowhawk. ( 477 ) NOTES AND QUERIKES. MAMMALIA. RODENTIA. Large Bank Vole in Kent.—On Oct. 5th, Mr. Oxenden Hammond, of St. Alban’s Court, Wingham, very kindly sent me the largest specimen of Microtus glareolus that I have ever seen. It was a female, and without any undue stretching measured 63 in. from tip of nose to tip of tail; length of head and body, 44 in.; length of tail, 2 in. Bell gives the length of the head and body of the female as 3°40 in., and of the tail 1:50 in. Un- fortunately when it reached me it was much too far gone for preservation ; it was evidently suckling young, and this would hasten on decomposition. —OxLEY GRaBHAM (Heworth, York). AVES. Economy of the Cuckoo.—There are one or two points in Mr. H. 8. Davenport’s interesting notes on the economy of the Cuckoo on which I should like to make a few remarks. During the last eight seasons I have myself taken from the nests in which they were deposited thirty eggs of the Cuckoo, but in no case was there any material difference in the period of incubation of the Cuckoo’s egg and those of the foster-parent. I never found more than one Cuckoo’s egg in a nest; three were with five eggs of the owner, ten with four, six with three, five with two, and four with one. One was in a nest with two flourishing young Hedge-sparrows, the young Cuckoo being dead and partly decomposed in the shell, and one was found with no other egg under somewhat exceptional circumstances. About the middle of June, 1895, I saw a Cuckoo very near an ivy wall in our garden, from which an egg had been taken with a clutch of Pied Wagtail about a fortnight before, and, happening to have a Greenfinch’s nest with fresh eggs by me, I carefully placed this nest with three eggs in it in the ivy. About two days after I found two of the eggs were gone, one of which lay broken on the ground below; and on the following day the last egg had been removed, a Cuckoo’s egg being left in its stead. I have tried the same experiment since, but without success. Of the thirty eggs referred to above, nine were from nests of the Sedge Warbler, seven from Pied Wagtail, six from Hedge-sparrow, one each from Thrush, Robin, Blackeap, White- 478 THE ZOOLOGIST. throat, Spotted Flycatcher, Reed Bunting, and Greenfinch, the thirtieth being the one from the nest put up. We have no Meadow Pipits here, and though I have seen im situ more than twenty nests of its congener, the Tree Pipit, not one has contained a Cuckoo’s egg or young. Last year, on July 8th, a farm-lad brought me a Cuckoo’s egg, and, on asking him where the other eggs in the nest were, he told me there were two lately-hatched young Hedge-sparrows in the nest, which he had not disturbed. If his story were true (and I have no reason to doubt it), this Cuckoo’s egg was deposited after the incubation of the other eggs had begun. It was within two or three days of hatching. Aa inspection of our series of Cuckoo’s eggs here would, I think, go some way to prove that the same hen Cuckoo does not always lay in the nests of the same species, as we have eggs apparently of the same bird from the nests of the Hedge-sparrow and the Thrush ; of another from the Hedge-sparrow and the Sedge Warbler; of another from the Hedge-sparrow and the Whitethroat, taken from the same ditch on the same day; and of another from the Sedge Warbler and the Reed Bunting. In each instance the resemblance of the eggs is very close, the date approximate, and the locality the same. I have recently met with an . undoubted case of removal of one or more eggs while watching a Sedge Warbler’s nest in a locality where Cuckoos abound. When I found the nest it was empty; on June 22nd it contained two eggs of the owner, aud on June 25th only one egg of the owner and one of the Cuckoo. In con- clusion, I may add that it seems to me impossible to ascertain the number of eggs laid by one of these erratic birds in the course of a season; but this year I have had five saved for me, all from nests of the Hedge-sparrow, and all undoubtedly laid by the same bird within an area of two square miles. The first was taken quite fresh on May 11th or 12th, and the last (also fresh) on June 5th.—Jutian G. Tuck (Tostock Rectory, Suffolk). Economy of the Cuckoo.—Mr. H. 8. Davenport may be interested to hear, in connection with the above, that I had brought to me a Meadow Pipit’s nest taken on June 30th on one of our Yorkshire moors, where Cuckoos and Meadow Pipits swarm, and that the nest contained a perfectly fresh egg of the Cuckoo; but the Pipit’s eggs were so much incubated that I only succeeded in blowing one of them.—OxLEY GRABHAM. The Cirl Bunting in Breconshire.—At the present time the Cirl Bunting (Hmberiza cirlus) is a firmly established resident in this county, and is to be found in at least five or six localities. Mr. Howard Saunders, in his ‘ Manual of British Birds,’ states that this species, he believes, was unknown in Wales until Mr. E. C. Phillips obtained one on March 15th, 1888, near Brecon; and, as most of our bird books describe it as being rare except in the South of England, perhaps a few notes as to its status in thiscounty may be NOTES AND QUERIES. 479 of interest. I first observed it on a hill-side named Sunnybank, which rises from the back of myjhouse, on June 4th, 1890, when I found a nest con- taining four eggs, at the same time identifying the sitting bird as a Cirl Bunting. A few days afterwards I heard two male birds of the same species in song near the site of the nest. One of these I shot, and it is now in my collection. Since that date it has become resident on the above- named bank, where it nests yearly, and where I hear its song almost daily during the summer. Since that year it has also been gradually spreading over the county, and nearly every summer its song is to be heard in some fresh locality. It seems partial to hill-sides furnished with gorse and isolated elm and oak trees. The following are some of the places where it occurs, and probably nests: High Grove, Tallylyn, Sennybridge, and Glanusk. I have obtained several specimens for myself and friends ; a pair in my collection are in full adult plumage, and a bird which I obtained for the Hereford Museum is an immature male with breast colour bands not well marked. Of four Cirl Buntings’ nests I have found here two were in gorse bushes, one on a bank among coarse herbage, and one in a bramble. The eggs in my collection, which I took here from three nests, are all of the same type, and have a greenish white ground, boldly marked with blackish streaks and spots. They are distinct, and could not well be mis- taken for eggs of any other of our birds. The Cirl Bunting is one of our most persistent songsters ; its monotonous metallic trill is to be heard from about the first week in April to the middle of August. When I first heard it the trill seemed to me rather like that of the Lesser Whitethroat; I am of the opinion now, however, that the song of the latter is more musical and softer. Singing as it does generally near the top of a tree and often out of sight, it is. much more easily recognized by the ear than the eye.—K. A. Swainson (Woodlands, Brecon). Spotted Crake in Furness.—The Spotted Crake (Porzana maruetta) is perhaps sufficiently rare in that portion of Lakeland known as Furness to thake the occurrence of a couple in the Rusland Valley worthy of record in ‘ The Zoologist.’ I have searched for this species for a dozen years or more here, where Water Rails may frequently be seen, in the confident expectation of finding the rarer bird sooner or later. On Sept. 8th I saw two, which were shot. They proved on dissection to be male and female, and from the orange-red on the bills are no doubt old birds (¢f. Stevenson, ‘ Birds of Nor- folk,’ vol. 11. p. 395). Both birds, flushed separately from aquatic herbage, took short flights, and were shot as they were just dropping into thick cover. The food consisted of several small seeds and finely divided vegetable matter. On the wing they do not resemble Water Rails, but are much more like tiny Moorhens, and they fly rather fast. Since writing the above, another Spotted Crake nas been shot, on Oct, 10th, in exactly the same place, It 4 480 THE ZOOLOGIST. is a young bird, readily distinguished from the adults by the absence of © bright orange-red on the beak. It is thus not beyond the bounds of possi- bility that a brood was reared in the immediate vicinity.—CuHarues F: ARCHIBALD (Rusland Hall, Ulverston). Pectoral Sandpiper in Kent.—I had the pleasure of exhibiting, at the - last meeting of the British Ornithologists’ Club, the first Kentish specimen of the Pectoral Sandpiper (T’ringa maculata). The bird was shot, from a flock of Dunlin, on Aug. 2nd last, along the seashore between Lydd and Rye Harbour ; it is an adult male, and its dimensions agree almost exactly with those of Mr. Gurney’s Norfolk specimen given in Stevenson’s ‘ Birds of Norfolk,’ vol. 11. p. 870. The bird is the property of Mr. Whiteman, of Rye, to whom I am indebted for allowing me to examine and exhibit it.— N. F. Ticenurst (Winstowe, St. Leonards-on-Sea). Notes on the Nesting of the Nuthatch. —In this district at all seasons of the year the Nuthatch (Sitta c@sia) is tolerably abundant, and for years past I have annually, and in some instances accidentally, discovered the nests of from twelve (minimum) to twenty or more of this species ; the past breeding season I paid more attention to the loud “ twit twit” of this bird as it darted rapidly from branch to branch, resting occasionally to peep at the bold intruder who ventured so near the favoured breeding place. By remaining perfectly still for a short time, the nest was in most cases easily discovered, and I can safely and unmistakably assert that the Nuthatch (Sitta cesia) does not in every instance, as is generally supposed, fill up the selected natural cavity, whether in tree or wall, with clay and stones; out of nineteen nests found by me this year, situated from three to twenty feet from the ground, only two possessed the clay ; one of these had, in addition to the clay, a quantity of small particles of stone plastered against the bole surrounding the nesting hole. All the others had not the slightest sign of mud, clay, or stones. The eggs, removed by the aid of a specially con- structed spoon, were again replaced upon the loose nesting material, and occasionally resembled boldly blotched specimens of Parus major. At every nest I identified one or the other of the parent birds. Sometimes by gently tapping near a suspicious-looking hole, the sitting bird would quickly leave its nest and call its mate, hitherto unheard, with that unmistakable and quickly repeated ‘‘ twit twit” of the species. At one nest visited late in the evening, and containing young, both parent birds entered the nesting hole, and, after remaining quietly until long after the Nightjar had commenced his evening “churr,” I retired from the spot, concluding that in this instance at least the Nuthatch had not gone to roost back down- wards.—STanLey Lewis (Mount Pleasant, Wells). Irregular Nesting Sites,—In corroboration of Mr. Stanley Lewis's NOTES AND QUERIES, 481 note in the October issue of ‘ The Zoologist,’ there is at times an undoubted tendency on the part of sundry birds to appropriate for breeding purposes nests to which they have no rightful claim, though I do not say that such tendency is possessed by very many species, nor that it is illustrated with undue frequency. At p. 74 of ‘The Vertebrate Animals of Leicestershire and Rutland’ will be found a note having reference to a Spotted Flycatcher (Musctcapa grisola) which reared two successive broods in a Chaffinch’s (Fringilla celebs) nest at Ashlands, in this county, in the spring of 1883; while in the same work, at p. 65, I have given a brief account of a Blue Tit’s (Parus ceruleus) nest, found in June of the same year, which contained nine eggs, and was placed inside the ancient habitation of a Song Thrush (Turdus musicus). In the former instance the Spotted Flycatcher had merely usurped a forsaken nest, utilising it just as it came to hand. It was otherwise, however, in the case of the Blue Titmouse. Perhaps the most unusual incident of the kind that ever came under my notice was in connection with a brand-new nest built by a pair of Mag- pies (Pica rustica), and on which, just when it was ready for eggs, a pair of Kestrels (Falco tinnunculus) set envious eyes. By sheer good fortune I chanced to arrive on the scene one morning just as it was light, and was an eye-witness of a regular pitched battle between the opposing species. The Magpies were eventually worsted, and some ten days later I scaled the tree, a tall larch in a secluded spinney near to Skeffington, and possessed myself of a truly lovely clutch of eggs belonging to the victors. The incident is chiefly interesting from the fact that Kestrels are popularly supposed to appropriate—when they have need so to do—old nests only. May I be allowed to take this opportunity—of pen in hand—of informing many bird-loving correspondents who have written to me privately, as well as others who may be interested, that circumstances have necessi- tated my abandoning—at any rate for the present—all hope of publishing my ‘Original Sketches of British Birds’? The work, dealing with the experiences of half a life-time spent, I may say, uninterruptedly amidst birds in their native and varying haunts, and completed so long ago as 1895, has been found altogether too costly to produce at the author’s private expense. I am emboldened to seek the privilege of giving the foregoing statement publicity through the medium of ‘ The Zoologist’ in the hope that any possible misunderstanding in the future will thereby be averted, seeing that extracts from the manuscript have already appeared, to wit, in the late Mr. F. Poynting’s beautiful work entitled ‘ Eggs of British Birds”; while the author, in publicly acknowledging his indebtedness, alluded to the ‘ Sketches ’ as on the eve of publication—a statement which I had reason at the time to believe was eminently justifiable—H. S. Davenport (Melton Mowbray). 482 THE ZOOLOGIST. The So-called St. Kilda Wren.—After reading Mr. H. S. Davenport’s note (ante, p. 413), I turned to Mr. C. Dixon’s book, ‘ Lost and Vanishing Birds,’ where I find the following statement :—* Perhaps we [i. e. Mr. C. Dixon] may be forgiven for taking exceptional interest in the fate of this bird ; for we had the pleasure of ascertaining that it differed in certain respects from the Wren found in other parts of the British Islands. In 1884, when we brought the first known specimen from St. Kilda, the bird was common enough on all the islands of the group, and its cheery song could be heard everywhere.” In the face of this distinct assertion the - writer in the ‘ Spectator’ may be excused for speaking of Mr. CO. Dixon as the discoverer of the St. Kilda Wren. I will not enter upon the question whether T'roglodytes hirtensis is entitled to specific or subspecific rank, though nearly all the authorities, I think, incline to the latter opinion. Mr. Davenport is doubtless right in saying that in 1698 Martin and many other writers since have recorded the existence of a Wren on St. Kilda. But the question is whether Seebohm (Zool. 1884, p. 383) and Mr. Dixon (‘ Ibis,’ 1885, p. 80) were the first to point out that the Wren obtained by Mr. ©. Dixon on St. Kilda differed from the Common Wren of the United Kingdom (T’roglodytes parvulus). If Mr. O. Dixon was the first to discover this fact, would he not deserve the title of ‘‘ the discoverer of the St. Kilda Wren,” to which Mr. Davenport appears to take exception ?—H. RussELL (Shere, Guildford). Varieties of Green Plover, &c.— We have about here a white-green Plover, a cream Starling, and a grey Sparrow (House). Varieties are much scarcer, at any rate in Notts, than they used to be, and I only hear and see one now and again.—J. WaiTakeER (Rainworth Lodge, Mansfield, Notts). Scoters in Notts.— Five Scoters (Common) were seen on Lamb Close on Aug. 22nd last. ‘There was one on one of the ponds here about same date.—J. WuiTakeER (Rainworth Lodge, Mansfield, Notts). Crossbills in South-western Hampshire in 1898. — Last year I recorded (Zool. 1897, p. 428) the occurrence of this peculiar species in July in the neighbourhood of Bournemouth. During August last I again visited the same locality, and, strange to say, I saw several of the birds not a hundred yards from the trees where I had detected them the previous season. Amongst the ornamental shrubs and trees planted in the grounds of many of the recently erected “ villa” residences, the mountain ash was rather conspicuous from its pretty foliage and the fast ripening bunches of scarlet berries. One morning soon after daybreak I heard quite a ‘chat- tering ” and apparent commotion with some birds not far from my bedroom, and, having got to the window, I saw that a number of Missel Thrushes, taking advantage of the quiet time and absence of man, were disputing in a NOTES AND QUERIES. 483 most vigorous manuer the possession of the ripest berrics with sorae smaller species of bird, which latter seemed quite capable and willing to offer battle to its more bulky antagonist. At first it was scarcely light enough to see what the smaller birds were, and the object of the Thrushes seemed to be to drive them from the neighbourhood, as they chased them from one tree to another, and by so doing they flew almost close to the window, when I saw they were Crossbills. I sat and watched them for some time, and eventually both Thrushes and Crossbills got their breakfast. ‘This con- tinued for several mornings, until the trees were stripped of their berries, and as long as the feast lasted both Thrushes and Crossbills were in evidence during the early hours of the day ; but a curious fact connected with it is that, although a few Thrushes occasionally made a stealthy visit — to the trees during the bright sunshine, I did not see a Crossbill anywhere in the neighbourhood at noontide, except one day when the cat belonging to the house brought in one, an immature bird in the yellow and red plumage; but it had been dead for some time. An elder tree, the fruit of which was also ripening, was a great attraction to a number of Starlings, but the right of appropriation of the berries was often a disputed point between them and the Thrushes. I did not see the Crossbills attempt to touch the berries, but I suppose it was only a natural sequence, as they prefer the seed-like kernels to the pulp, and is said sometimes to be destructive in orchards by splitting open the apples for the sake of the kernels. ‘This, however, I have never been able to verify from personal observation. Referring to the occurrence of Crossbills in the neighbourhood of Ringwood, I may say that I am not prepared to establish the fact of the species nesting, but I can positively assert that the species put in an appearance from various places, and all points of the compass, from January to the present time (Nov. 8th); and now I understand there are numbers of them in the locality ; but it must be borne in mind that their much-loved coniferous trees are comparatively common both east and west of the Avon valley. In the early part of the year I saw several, and heard of many others in and about the neighbourhood of the New Forest; I think they often frequent that locality in the winter, but in April they were still to be found there. During March numbers of them were observed at Parley, near Christchurch, and other places at no great distance, and in June one was sent me from Fordingbridge: it was in a putrid condition, having been picked up; at the same time I heard of others in Kast Dorset. In connec- tion with the occurrence of the species, I may relate an incident that occurred, I believe, in May or beginning of June, but I foolishly did not note the date. A labouring man asked me if the cock Greenfinch ever had any red about it, as he had seen a hen feeding two or three young ones on the branch of a fir tree not far from his house, and sometimes they were 484 THE ZOOLOGIST. accompanied by another bird which he was sure had red about its plumage: This occurred within two miles of Ringwood, on the west side of the Avon, and near some young fir woods. I paid very little attention to the man’s story at the time, as I often have some extraordinary tales brought about birds ; but, as the Crossbills have put in au appearance both before and since, there is a possibility it was that species the man had observed. I give the story for what it is worth; and I may further mention that, especially in September, the birds were comparatively common in the same locality, and the man brought me a very brightly coloured male, and said he believed it was the same sort of bird he had seen in the summer. As the female Crossbill is of a greenish yellow colour, there is.a possibility— per- haps very vague, some would say—of the man being correct about the species nesting in the trees near his house. I regret I did not investigate the matter at the time. Several of the birds I have seen were very brightly plumaged—one in particular was almost uniformly of a very handsome orange-red from head to tail ; others were in various stages of dull greenish yellow and pink, and a few were darkly streaked upon the breast. Many people who saw the birds noted the well-known characteristic of the species, in that they were so ‘‘tame” and comparatively unsuspicious of danger ; in some instances they were caught and caged, and amused their captors by the odd antics and dexterous manner in which they secured the seeds of the fir-cones; within a very short time of their capture fearlessly feeding in sight of any person, and curiously twisting their incurved beaks in and out the wires of their prison. Some specimens fell to the catapults of the roving schoolboys, who took advantage of the docility of the species and their Tit-like habits as they hung and swayed upon the branches where food was to be obtained. With regard to the curvature of the beak, in the largest half of the birds I saw the upper mandible was curved to the right ; but this only proves how indiscriminately this ‘“ crossing ” occurs, for on a former occasion, on examination of a number of specimens, I observed just the reverse; but any person examining the head and neck cannot fail to note the apparent bulk of these parts, and on dissection of same must be struck with the strength of muscles which enables the mandibles to be worked with such extraordinary lateral power. ‘The fleshy protuberances on the sides of the skull remind one of the head of the Hawfinch.—G. C. CorBIn (Ringwood, Hants). Heron Nest of Wire.—Sir Harry Bromley has given me that wonderful Heron nest made the greater part of wire. ‘There must be yards and yards of it. How the bird got it and where I do not know, and how it ever got it through the trees and twisted it into shape. Many naturalists have seen it, and all think it the most wonderful nest they ever saw.—J. WHITAKER (Rainworth Lodge, Manstield, Notts). —————— = NOTES AND QUERIES. 485 Great Skua in Notts.—A Great Skua was flying over lake at Lamb Close for some time on Aug. 22nd. It made several dashes at Green Plovers, and also at a Heron. After a time it flew away north.—J. WHITAKER (Rainworth Lodge, Mausfield, Notts). Late Nesting of the Corn Bunting.—This bird is notably a late breeder. Personally I never found eggs till the middle of June; but this year, when shooting down in Holderness, I was shown two nests that had been mown over in the corn-fields—one on Sept. 2nd, containing eggs which were slightly incubated, and the other on Sept. 5th, containing perfectly fresh eggs.— OXLEY GRARHAM. Late Stay of Swift.—A Swift (Cypselus apus) was observed by me this afternoon (Oct. 12th) flying round this house for some time. I see by the ‘Field’ that Swifts are staying late this season, but perhaps you may con- sider my observation of sufficient interest to chronicle-—H. MarMaDUKE LANGDALE (Royal Cliff, Sandown, Isle of Wight). RHP PLEA, Adder Swallowing its Young.—lI have had the pleasure of meeting here to-day (Aug. ]5th, 1898) Mr. J. W. Kimber, of Tracey, Torquay, and formerly of Tracey Farm, Great Tew, Oxfordshire. He tells me that just about the date of the Crimean War, he, with his woodman, Richard Kcles, were walking down a woodland path in Minoten Woods, near Witney, on a warm morning about the end of May, when an Adder struck at the wood- man’s gaiter. ‘The woodman called out to stop Mr. Kimber, saying, ‘‘ She would not have done that unless she had got young ones.” After waiting a short time, he called out again, “‘ Now, sir, come on, and you will see something worth your notice.” Mr. Kimber and the woodman then watched, and saw the young ones (four in number) crawl into the old Adder’s mouth, she lying at full length with her mouth open to receive them. The woodman then struck the Adder with his stick, and killed her. Ina few minutes the young ones crawled out through the wounded mouth of the mother, and of course met the same fate. At the time Mr. Kimber was not aware that the fact he and the woodman had together witnessed was a disputed one, or steps would at the time have been taken to inform naturalists of so well-authenticated an instance. Mrs. Kimber, who is here also with her husband, well remembers his relating the fact to her on his return home on the day on which it occurred. Mr. Kimber, being seventy-five years of age, is desirous that the above statement should be recorded, in the interests of natural history, while opportunity remains. The writer and Mr. and Mrs. Kimber append below their signatures to this Zool, 4th ser. vol. II., November, 1898. 2L 486 THE ZOOLOGIST. statement.— Apam J. Corriz, J. W. Kimper, M. A. Kiwper (Lans- down Grove Hotel, Bath). [We publish the foregoing as received. We are informed by Mr. Tegetmeier that the proprietors of the ‘ Field’ have for very many years offered a reward of £1, and for the last three years of £5, for a Viper seen to swallow its young and received dead with the young inside; but the reward has not yet been claimed. The young Vipers burst from the egg with all their powers perfect, and escape rapidly into the grass directly they are disturbed, so rapidly that the bystander concludes they must have dis- appeared down the mother’s throat. No case of Vipers swallowing young has ever been observed at the Zoological Gardens at Regent’s Park.— Ep.] AMPHIBIA. Abnormal Eyes of Hyla arborea and Bombinator igneus.—I recently purchased a small Tree Frog (Hyla arborea), and sent it toa friend who was interested in batrachians. A few days later he informed me that the Frog was blind in one eye. A strong light having been thrown into the eye, I carefully examined the interior of the diseased organ with a powerful lens. The iris was widely dilated, normal in colour. The whole of the interior of the eye was transparent like glass, and behind this was a greyish surface, showing no trace of blood-vessels. The affected eye was twice the size of the normal one, and the animal was continually closing the eyelid over it. ‘The increase in size of the eye was most marked in the portion nearer the ear. I have similarly examined a normal Tree Frog, but merely obtained an image of the light reflected from the anterior surface of the cornea, the interior of the eye appearing black with no transparency. The nature of the disease in the Frog’s eye isa puzzle to me. From a careful dissection of a Toad’s eye it would seem that the greyish appearance seen in the diseased eye was the normal retina, so that the anterior portion — of the eye seems to be at fault. The Frog is lively, and takes flies readily. — As a contrast to the above, I may mention a specimen of Bombinator igneus which I kept for some time, in which one eye was curiously small, much smaller than the other. I attributed this to arrest in the normal development of the eye.—Granam RensHaw (Sale Bridge House, Sale, Manchester). 1 ( 487 ) EDITORIAL GLEANINGS. Amonc the more important acquisitions to the British Museum by pur- chase during the year special mention may be made of the Whitehead Collection of Birds and Mammals from the Philippines ; the second instal- ment of the Bates Collection of Heteromerous Coleoptera (13,798 speci- mens); a fine stuffed Lion from Machako’s, British Kast Africa, shot by Mr. S. L. Hinde; the Savin collection of fossil vertebrate remains from the Norfolk Forest-bed series of deposits; a series of fossil remains from the Oxford Clay of Fletton, selected from the collection of Mr. A. N. Leeds ; and a fine set cf specimens of American Paleozoic Bryozoa. The number of separate presents reported as having been received during the year by the several Departments of the Museum amounted to 1622, as against 1518 in the preceding year. The following are of special interest :—From Messrs. F. Du Cane Godman and Osbert Salvin: Further portions of their collection of the Coleoptera of Central America, comprising 5468 specimens ; the first instalment of their collection of New World Lepidoptera of the family Danaine, comprising 486 specimens ; and 2586 specimens of Heterocerous Lepidoptera of various orders from Central America. From Colonel John Biddulph: A fine collection of birds from Gilgit, consisting of 3886 skins of nearly 250 species.. From Dr. John Anderson, F.R.S.: A large and valuable collection of Reptiles and Batra- chians made by him in Egypt and Nubia between the years 1891 and 1895, and forming the basis of a large work, which he has now published. From Mr. F. C. Selous: An interesting series of South African Mammals, including a Springbok, and pairs each of Bontebok, Blesbok, Gnu, and Inyala Antelopes. From Mr. 8. L. Hinde, Resident Medical Officer at Machako’s, British East Africa: An interesting and valuable series of Natural History specimens (chiefly Mammals, Birds, and Insects) collected by him in British East Africa, and including specimens of species hitherto unrepresented in the Museum Oollection. From Capt. KH. O. Wathem : The skeleton and skin of a Gavial (Gavialis gangeticus) from near M uttra, in the North-west Provinces of India. From Miss A. M. R. Stevens: A very fine specimen of the same reptile from Behar. From the Canadian Department of Marine and Fisheries: A stuffed Seal (Phoca grenlandica) from the Gulf of St. Lawrence. From Mr. Thorpe, of St. Helena (through the Colonial Office): The shell of a large Land Tortoise (Testudo elephan- tina), which died at St. Helena about twenty years ago. From the Hon. 488 THE ZOOLOGIST. Walter Rothschild: A life-size photograph of a very large Tortoise (Testudo daudinii). From the President of the American Museum of Natural History, New York: A series of thirteen large photographs of skeletons and restorations of extinct Tertiary Mammalia. For the past two years Prof. Dendy, of Canterbury College, New Zealand, has been minutely investigating the development of the Tuatara Lizard (Sphenodon punctatus), declared to be the most remarkable reptile now living in New Zealand ; and a detailed account of the results of his researches has just arrived in England, and will shortly be published. Although the Lizard in question is said to be the oldest existing type of reptile up to the present, little has been known of its life-history, as it is very rare, and shy and retiring in its habits. The Tuatara Lizard was first mentioned in a diary kept by Mr. Anderson, the companion of Captain Cook; but the first really detailed account of the reptile was given by Dieffenbach in 18438,* when he said :—“ I had been apprised of the existence of a large Lizard which the natives call Tuatéra, or Narara, and of which they are much afraid.” Owing to the rarity of the Tuatara Lizard, the New Zealand Government passed an Act to prohibit the taking or slaying of the reptile, but, as usual, forgot one of the most important points, namely, the insertion of a clause forbidding the collecting of the eggs. Fortunately for the Tuatara, however, Mr. P. Henaghan, the principal keeper on Stephen’s Island, appears at present to be the only man who knows where to look for them, although it is stated that two German collectors have been lately making vigorous but vain efforts to obtain specimens of the eggs. Prof. Dendy had permission granted him by the Government to collect both eggs and adults, and with the help of Mr. Henaghan has been so successful in his investigations of the life-history of the interesting reptile, that many new and important facts will now be made known to the scientific world. The adult animal has a spotted skin, and a crest of separate white flat sharp spines, and is possessed of three sets of teeth. On Stephen’s Island the eggs of the Lizard are found to be laid in November, and the embryo pass the winter in a state of hybernation unknown to any other vertebrate embryo, and do not emerge from the egg until nearly thirteen months have elapsed. One curious fact that has come to light is that in the latter stages of its development the skin of the young animal has a strongly marked pattern of longitudinal and transverse stripes, which disappear before hatching, giving place to the spotted skin of the adult animal. This Lizard is particularly interesting, owing to the fact of its being allied to the extinct reptiles of the Triassic age.—Daily Mail. * Dieffenbach, ‘ Travels in New Zealand,’ ii. p. 204, EDITORIAL GLEANINGS. 489 It is interesting to hear that a specimen of Scutigera coleoptrata, a South Kuropean centipede, was recently captured at Colchester. This is the second time that its occurrence in Great Britain has been recorded. The first time it was introduced among a quantity of old rags into a paper- mill near Aberdeen, where, being protected by heat, it bred and has become established. A FISH discovered in the stomach of a Cachalot by the Prince of Monaco during one of his expeditions has been determined as indis- tinguishable from the common Fel, and this points with great emphasis to the fact that this form, whose habits are so obscure, must at times take to the open sea. THE nature of the water supply being of immense importance to the welfare of humanity, especially of that portion living in communities, it may be well to refer toa paper written by Mr. Geo. W. Rafter, “ On Some Recent Advances in Water Analysis and the Use of the Microscope for the Detection of Sewage,” though published as long ago as 1898 in the ‘American Monthly Microscopical Journal,’ and which was read before the Buffalo, N. Y., Microscopical Club :— The complete details of these various studies are too extensive to be given at length, and we may merely refer to some of the results at Hemlock Lake, where plant forms have been identified as follows :— Chlorophycez, 20; Cyanophycee, 15; Desmidiw, 14; and Diatomacem, 41—making a totai of plant forms of 90. The maximum quantities of some of these minute plants per 100 cubic centimetres are—Protococcus, 2000 ; Anabeena, 20,000; Ceelospherium, 34,000; Asterionella, 40,000 ; Cyclotella, 60,000; Fragillaria, 25,000; Stephanodiscus, 60,000. The total number of animal forms is 92, of which 8 are classed as Spongide, 10 as Rhizopoda, 29 as Infusoria, 2 as Hydroida, 14 as Rotifera, 3 as Polyzoa, 21 as Entomostraca, 1 as Malacostraca, and 10 as insect larve. As to maximum quantities of animal forms observed, we find among In- fusoria—Dinobryon, 12,000; Glenodinium, 25,000; and Vorticella, 9600. The quantities of minute life present in Hemlock Lake, while appar- ently large, are in reality quite small, as will be readily appreciated by reference to a statement of the number present in Ludlow reservoir, Springfield, Massachusetts, where the following maximum quantities per 100 cubic centimetres have been observed :—-of the Diatoms, Asterionella and Melosira, 405,600 in April, 1890; Ccelospherium, 157,600 in August, 1889; Chlorococcus, 322,400 in October, 1889: of animal forms the infusorian Dinobryon showed 364,400 per 100 cubic centimetres in February, 1890. But even the large quantities of minute life found at 490 THE ZOOLOGIST. Springfield are dwarfed into comparative insignificance by the results of a series of examinations of the water supply of Newport, R. I., as given by Dr. Drown in a recent report, from which it appears that on August 31st, 1891, there were present in EKaston’s Pond, one of the sources of supply for Newport, the large number of grass-green Algee (Chlorophyces) of 677,750 per 100 cubic centimetres ; on September 11th, 1891, there were found 927,400; on October 8th the number had fallen to 675,700, but subsequently again rose until the enormous maximum was attained on January 18th, 1892, of 1,428,600 per 100 cubic centimetres. Diatoms were present on the same date to the amount of 200,700 per 100 cubic centimetres, giving a total of Diatoms and grass-green Alge of 1,629,300. In the July number of the ‘Home University’ is an interesting note “On Temporary Museums,” which we here reproduce :— We desire strongly to recommend as a very efficient aid to education the formation of Temporary Museums. These are especially suitable for places of summer resort at the seaside, or elsewhere, but they might also be attempted with success in almost any town. A museum of this kind was organised last summer at the pleasant little town of Hunstanton on the Norfolk coast, and it is upon the experience there obtained that our suggestions and advice to others who may be encouraged to attempt the like will be based. At Hunstanton the Museum was open five weeks, that is, during almost the whole time that the Board-School-rooms were at liberty. ‘The school-rooms were rented for a nominal sum, and were fitted up with boards laid across the desks, upon which objects were displayed. A Committee of Organisation and Management, composed partly of resi- deuts and partly of visitors, was, of course, extemporised, and appeals were made for the loan of objects of interest. It is scarcely to be doubted that in almost any town there would be found those who for such a purpose would be willing to lend pictures, cases of stuffed birds, insects, fossils, and miscellaneous curios. With objects of this kind to make the chief display, the members of Committee would easily supply the rest. A few books of reference should be borrowed—if possible a copy of the ‘ Encyclopedia Britannica ’—and an energetic Sub-Committee to name and label the objects should commence its labours a week or two before the opening, and continue them throughout. Those thus engaged would find their reward in the acquisition of much knowledge, for more is to be learned in the act of making and arranging museums than can be got by visiting those already in good order. AT a recent meeting of the Linnean Society at Burlington House, a series of interesting photographs of a fine hen Buzzard, of the common EDITORIAL GLEANINGS. 491 species, amicably, not to say affectionately, living with a larygish chicken in Mr. Alan Crossman’s aviary. The story of this strange companionship is not along one. The Buzzard desired to sit, and hen’s eggs were given it to brood over. On the first occasion a chicken was hatched and dis- appeared—ask not where; on the second, two left the eggs, but only one lived, and became the foster-child of the Buzzard, which brought it up, and still continues to treat it in the light of a relation, though now nearly full grown. In this case two instincts of the Buzzard came into collision—that of killing weaker birds to live upon, and a natural desire to bring up young. Taking into consideration that instincts do not always give rise to stereo- typed actions, but are to a certain extent modified by circumstances, and again, that the raptorial bird had had no necessity for some time to seek its prey, it is not so surprising perhaps that the maternal instinct proved itself the stronger.—Daily Mail. The above is by no means the first occasion that a Buzzard has been known to bring up chickens. Yarrell, in his first edition of his ‘ British Birds,’ vol. i. p. 78 (1843), says :—“* The extreme partiality of the Common Buzzard to the seasonal task of incubation and rearing young birds has been exemplified in various instances. A few years back a female Buzzard, kept in the garden of the ‘ Chequers Inn’ at Uxbridge, showed an inclina- tion to sit by collecting and bending all the loose sticks she could obtain possession of. Her owner, noticing her actions, supplied her with materials; she completed her nest, and sat on two hen’s eggs, which she hatched, and afterwards reared the young. Since then she has hatched and brought up a brood of chickens every year.” Tue following particulars concerning the expedition which has left England for the purpose of visiting the almost unexplored island of Socotra, situated about one hundred and fifty miles east-north-east of Cape Guardafui, have been given in the ‘Times.’ The staff consists of Mr. W. R. Ogilvie Grant, of the department of Zoology in the British Museum; Dr. H. O. Forbes, the director of the Liverpool Museums; and Mr. Cutmore, taxidermist attached to the latter institutions. The Royal Society, the Royal Geographical Society, and the British Associa- tion have provided part of the funds for the undertaking. The expedition has sailed for Aden, proceeding thence to Socotra by the Indian Marine guardship ‘ Elphinstone,’ which, in compliance with a request made by the authorities of the British Museum, has been placed at the disposal of Mr. Grant and Dr. Forbes for the purpose of conveying them to the island and back to Aden on the termination of their stay. The main object of the expedition is to investigate thoroughly the fauna of the island, and make large and complete collections in every branch of Zoology. 492 THE ZOOLOGIST. In a special Antarctic number of the ‘ Scottish Geographical Magazine,’ Sir John Murray urges the need of a British Antarctic Expedition. The importance of such an expedition has been insisted upon more than once, and we hope that Sir John Murray’s efforts will-assist in impressing the mind of the Government. Our maps are a feeble blank concerning Antarctica, and the information we possess as to its fauna and flora is nconspicuous. 0 ~~ £) t ‘a, w1S* soe Cees by W.Ls.Distant. if WEST, NEWMAN &C9? 54 Hatton Garden. ~ Simpxin, MaRSHALL& Co Limited. N.B.—23, REGENT STREET, _ Naturalis 7 DEALER IN BRITISH BIRDS’ SKINS, NESTS AND EGGS; BRITISH AND FOREIGN LEPIDOPTERA. All Specimens with thoroughly reliable data. ENTOMOLOGIOCAL and other APPARATUS. Specially made SETTING-BOARDS to suit the improved style of English setting :—14 in. long: 8 in., 1s. 2d.; 2h in., 1s.; 2 in., 10d.; 14 in., 8d.; 1 in., 6d. Other sizes to order. SPECIALITE :—The highest class Mounting of Birds, Mammals, dc., Skins carefully made up for the Cabinet. Heads, Horns, Pads, éc., Mounted. LEPIDOPTERA for SALE.—All good specirnens in finest condition.—M. Castanea, — 2s. Gd.; Obsoleta, 5s.; Pudorina, 6d.; Neurica, 3s. 6d.; Hellmanni, 1s.; Ulva, 6s. ; Ophiogramma, 2s.; Chryson, 3s. 6d. ; Festuce, 8d.; Miniosa, 6d.; Trabealis, 1s.; Argen- | tula, 6d.; Unca, 8d.; Griseata, 1s. 6d. ; (each) &e. Fine healthy - pupee of D. Tenegulanlag | 10s. ; ; Sagittata, 5S. > (per dozen) &c. Liberal reduction on large orders. . A. LIONEL CLARKE, NATURAL-HISTORY AGENT, BARTON STREET, GLOUCESTER, Anbar Collectors with every kind of apparatus for the various branches of Natural History: Cabinets, Store Boxes, Butterfly Nets, &c. BIRDS’ EGGS, SKINS, LEPIDOPTERA and COL EOE be, kept in stock in large quantities. The largest stock of Eaas in England to select from, including many very rare species. List of clutches sent if desired. Large buyers liberally dealt with. NEW AND SECOND-HAND BOOKS. a TaxipERMY. Birds skinned and prepared for Cabinets, or mounted by skilled - assistants. . a Full general Catalogue and Special List of Ecas and Sxrns, post free. N.B.—No agents, and only one address as above. THE PRACTICAL CABINET MAKERS. J. T, CROCKETT & SON, (Established. 1847,) ol MAKERS of every Description and Size of Cabinets, Cases, Stor“’-Boxes, APPARATUS and APPLIANCES, and Dealers in all kinds on SPEcIMENS for ENToMoLoaIsts, BoTANISTS, ORNITHOLOGISTS, GEOLOGISTS, MINER- ALOGISTS, NUMISMATISTS, ConcHooaisrs, &c., and for the use of Lecturers, Scienoa”l Teachers, Colleges, Students, &c. Museums fitted and arranged. Specially made — Capiner for Brrps’ Haas and Skins. The Drawers graduate in depth and are all a wnterchangeable. Attu Best WorK. ESTIMATES GIVEN. - All goods at Store Prices. Great advantages in dealing direct with Makers, 5 Send for full detailed Prick List before ordering elsewhere. — - 7a, PRINCES STREET, CAVENDISH SQUARE, LONDON, “a Factories: 34, Riding House Street and Ogle Street, W. a : HERBERT W. MARSDEN, E NATURAL HISTORY AGENT AND BOOKSELLER 40, TRIANGLE West, CLIFTON, BRISTOL. . = Cabinets and Apparatus. Entomological Pins. Waxed Leaves and Glass Eyes. Store Boxes, Nets, &c. Taxidermists’ Tools. Walking Stick and Air Guns. fl 4 The most reliable stock of BIRDS’ SKINS and BIRDS’ EGGS in Britain. British, European, and Exotic Lepidoptera, Coleoptera, &c. S— New and Second-hand Books. Exchange and Label Lists. | Kap Taxidermy of the highest class. Birds or Animals skinned, stuffed, and cased. Heads, Horns, &c., mounted for trophies. Rugs made up, &c. Send stamped wrapper for Ornithological Catalogue, Oct. 1897; Shell Catalogue, 1895, wo. N.B.—Mr. Marsden’s business was entirely removed from Gloucester in TSS, Sa on ie Fee de? ae ay Fa ae * AYP » {Cee hy! ahd . ba ual tel ee of Re On the Ist of every ‘Month, price ¢ SIXPENCE. oo ENTOMOLOGIST \n Illustrated Journal of General Entomology — q - EDITED BY RICHARD SOUTH, F.E.S. _ CONTENTS of JANUARY Number.—drgynnis euphrosyne, ab. (with illustration), by W. Parxtnson Curtis. Notes on Aquatic Rhynchota, No. 1, by G. W. Kirxaupy. The Asiatic Distribution of British Geometridae. A Catalogue of the Lepidoptera of Ireland, by W. F. vz Visuzs Kane. A List of the Hymenoptera-Aculeata of the Ipswich District, | by Craupz Morzny. Notes and Observations. Captures and Field Reports. Societies, ecent Literature. On the 1st of every Moth price 1s. 8d., THE ee NOL OF BOTANY ‘BRITISH AND FOREIGN. Epitep By JAMES BRITTEN, F.L.S. — CONTENTS of JANUARY Number.—Lluphrasia canadensis, nov. sp., by FrepERIcK ’ Townsenp, M.A., F.L.S. (with Plate). New Somali-land Polypetale, by Epmunp G. BakER, pt .L.S. Two new forms of Hieracium, by Rev. Aveustin Ley. On Primary Characters in + ’ Cerastium, by Frevertc N. Wiutiams, F.L.S. The Flora of Wales. Decades Plantarum | Novarum Austro-Africanarum, Decas VII., auctore R. Scuumcurer. New Plants from Somali-land, by A. B. Renpuz, M.A., F.L.8. Short Notes. Notices of Books. Book- Notes, News, &c. : Pee NATURE Mm WEEKLY ILLUSTRATED JOURNAL OF SCIENCE. “To the solid ground Of Nature trusts the mind which builds for aye.”—WoRDSWORTH. NE of the leading objects of this periodical is to awaken in the public mind a - more lively interest in Science. With this end in view it provides original \4 Articles and Reviews, written by scientific men of the highest distinction in their various departments, expounding in a popular and yet authentic manner the GRAND | Resu.ts or Screntiric RESEARCH, discussing the most recent scientific discoveries, | and pointing out the bearing of Science upon civilization and progress and its claims to more general recognition, as well as to a higher place in the educational ‘system of the country. i Published every Thursday, price 6d. Yearly subscription, 28s.; half-yearly ' ditto, 148. 6d.; quarterly ditto, 7s. 6d. To all places abroad: Yearly subscription, a2! 10s. 6d. ; half. yearly ditto, ‘LBs. 6d.; quarterly ditto, 8s. Money Orders to be made payable at Bedford Street, Covent Garden, W.C. MACMILLAN é& CO., Ltd., St. Martin’s Street, W.C. Established 1851. BIiRE BECK BAN EX Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, London. ; TWO- AND-A-HALF per CENT. INTEREST allowed on DEPOSITS, repayable on demand. ; ode per CENT. on CURRENT ACCOUNTS, on the minimum monthly balances, when not drawn de ow £10 STOCKS, SHARES, and ANNUITIES purchased and sold. SAVINGS DEPARTMENT. id the encouragement of Thrift the Bank receives small sums on depontts and allows Interest ‘monthly, on each completed £1. ‘ciaiella za = iii Siena cag a FEET = oe Tee , ‘ Birkbeck Building spelen: . Birkbeck Freehold Land Society. . How to Purchase a House for £2 28. per Month. How to Purchase a.Plot of Land for 5s, per Month, THE BIRKBECK ALMANACK, with full particulars, post-free. WRANCIS BAVENSCVORT, Managers = Tae. Be Vi es er” ~ BY. 32. gine eS ee ae tS a kok? atin yg : r Bea "CONTEND Ae Ge Indian Wild Cattle : the Tsine and the Gaur (miscalled Bison), | Colonel Pollok Be) a The Voice-Registers of Birds, Charles A. Witchell, 11. Ke. — Stridulation in some African Spiders (illustrated), R. I. Pocook, 14, whe a | Notes AND QUERIES :— : a Mammaria.—Polecat in Suffolk, Rev. Julian G. Pushes M. uh 22. The Indian } Hispid Hare (Lepus hispidus), F’. T. Pollok, 22. ‘ Aves.—Pale-coloured Dipper, Wm. Boulsover, 23. Experiments on the Colours | of the Nonpareil Finch, Graham Renshaw, 23. Brood of Young Starlings — in mid-November, Ff. Coburn, 24. Common Roller in Sussex, George W. Bradshaw, 24. Montagu’s Harrier breeding in Ireland, © Correction, John Ff. Teesdale, 24. Nesting of the Hobby in Hants, C. By Horsbrugh, 24, Brent Goose in Warwickshire, 24; Ferruginous Duck in Ireland, 25 ; Cima crake in December, 25; F. Coburn. Pectoral Sandpiper in Norfolk, J. Tie Newman, 25. Variety. of Common Guillemot, J. Morley,25. On the reported Summer Appearance of two Species of Birds in Lapland, R. Collett, 25. 9 Winter Notes from Haddiscoe, Last C. Farman, 26. ps a Fallacies, H. S. Davenport, a7. ites PISCEs. Notes from Scarborough, W. J. Clarke, 28. a el red Insrcta.—Spider versus Wasp, “Guy A. ‘A. Marshall, 29. Notices »0r New Books, 32-38. OE EDITORIAL GLEANINGS, 39-48. . pce. " Subseyiptions to ‘ THE Redon for 1898 (128. niet free) are now due, and may be sent to the Publishers, West, Newman & Co., “yo 54, Hatton Garden, London. Payment is preferred in unerossed Postal Orders. : Rese i All Articles and Communications intended for cubileatien: on Booked and Pamphlets for review, should be addressed “The Editor of ‘The Zoologist’ c/o West, Newman & Co., 54, Hatton Garden, London ;” or e: direct to the Editor, W. L. Distant, Westbourne Terrace, Lower Addis BURG, Surrey. ANTED. — FLEAS pe the Budser: ‘Fox, and| House Mouse, in dilute spirit, with data. Will give cash or Lepidoptera. Apply to | - CHARLES ROTHSCHILD, nee Herts. a Ee Sue BIRD SKINS. _— Private Golleation of about Nine Hundred Specimens for Sale in one Lot. Splendid” condition. or particulars address the owner, E. A. BROWN, Burton-on-Trent. TO NATURALISTS, ENTOMOLOGISTS, BOTANISTS, bo BUY OF THE MAKER. Srore Boxzs, 10x 8, 2/2; 129, 2/10; 14x10, 3/6; 16x11, 4/4; 174x 12, 5/3. Woop CoLLEcTING Boxes, 5d., Td., 10d.; and 1/3—usual prices, 6d., 9d. 1/-, and 1/6. cas Zinc ditto 8d., 10d., 1/3, 1/8, 2/6 ditto 9d., 1/-, 1/6, 2/-, and B/-. aa Larvz# Breepine Cagzs, 2/2; double, 4/3. , Ditto with tanks for keeping food fresh, 3/—: double, 5/9. - (An improved shape. Much better than ordinary make.) ; Nets, Serrina Boarps, Dryrna Houses, Exurerrion Casss, and all other goods at equally low prices for cash. ; Bp REVISED PRICE LIST FREE BY POST FOR 43d, STAMP. a All goods warranted perfect. Liberal terms to the trade. Postage should be remitted with all orders to be sent by post. Five oh eee: discount ot all order of 20s. and upwards. G. A. TOPP (Taxidermist), 19, London Street, Reading, Berks af ; 3° February 15th, 1808. —No. 680. AA Monthly Journal — OF. : wo, NATURAL History, ) 30 / Edited by W.Le.Distant. — : on on: , | | | | a WeST, NEWMAN &CO9 54 Hatton Garden. .) Simpekin, MarsHaLex Ce Limited. | PRICE ONE SHILLING. Se aoe etal gS bifeyit 4 in Catia History Speen AL BA RGAI NS thing else are readily secured throu { ~ The BAZAAR, EXCHANGE and MART ~ Newspaper, which is used by Private Persons for disposing of things they no. longer require, and for which therefore they take a reasonable BY Price. THE Paper for Buying, Selling, and Exchanging. TELEGRAMS: ** BAZAAR, LONDON.” Od. At BOOKSTALLS. 2d. At NEWSAGENTS. By Post ror Turse Stamps. Orrice: 170, STRAND, LONDON. a ON NATURAL HISTORY and every ies Sub- | ADVIC ject may be obtained on application to The BAZAAR, EXCHANGE and MART, which has the — largest Staff of Eminent Experts of any paper in the Kingdom; and these © Experts freely place their services at the disposal of its readers. THE © Paper for Amateurs and Professionals. | BOOKS FOR NATURALISTS. Aquaria, Book of. A Practical Guide to the Construction, Arrangement, _ and Management of Freshwater and Marine Aquaria ; containing Full Information as to the Plants, Weeds, Fish, Molluses, Insects, &c., How and Where to Obtain Them, ~ and How to Keep Them i in Health. Tilustrated. By Rey. Grecory C. Bateman, A.K. C., 4 and Recinaup A. R. Benner, B.A. In cloth gilt, price 5s. 6d., by post 5s. 10d. if Aquaria, Freshwater: Their Construction, Arrangement, Stocking, and Management. Fully Ilustrated. By Rev. G. C. Bateman, A.K.C. In cloth gilt price 3s. 6d., by post 3s. 10d. z Aquaria, Marine: Their Construction, Arrangement, and Management. Fully Illustrated. By R. A. R. Bennett, B.A. In cloth gilt, price 2s. 6d., by post 2s. 9d. Butterflies, The Book of British: A Practical Manual for Collectors « and Natur alists. Splendidly Illustrated throughout with very accurate Engravings of the . Caterpillars, Chrysalids, and Butterflies, both upper and under sides, from drawings by the Author or direct from Nature. By W. J. Lucas, B.A. Price 3s. 6d., by post 3s. 9d. Butterfly and Moth Collecting : Where to Search, and What to Do. B, G. KE. Simms. Illustrated. In paper, price 1s., by post 1s. 2d. oa Hawk Moths, Book of British. A Popular and Practical Manual for a al Lepidopterists. Copiously illustrated in black and white from the Author’s ow! - exquisite drawiugs from Nature. By W. J. Lucas, B.A. In cloth, Bugs 3s. 6d., post 3s. 9d. Bi Naturalist’s Directory, The, for 1898 (fourth year of issue). Invaluable le. to all Students and Collectors. In paper, price 1s., by post Is. 1d. : Snakes, Marsupials, and Birds. A Charming Book of Anecdotes, Ad- ventures, and Zoological Notes. A capital Book for Boys. By Arruur Nicoxs, F. GY Se, F.R.G.S., &c. Llustrated. In cloth gilt, price 3s. 6d., by post 3s. 10d. “4 London: L. UPCOTT GILL, 170, Strand, W.C. a ~ WILLIAM FARREN, Naturalist. -—-sNN.B.23, REGENT STREET, CAMBRIDGE. \EALER IN BRITISH BIRDS’ SKINS, NESTS AND EGGS; Meroughly reliable data. ENTOMOLOGICAL and other APPARATUS. Specially made SeTTING-BoarDs to suit the improved style of English setting :—14 in. long: ; in., 1s. 2d.; 24 in., 1s.; 2in., 10d.; 13 in., 8d.; 1in., 6d. Other sizes to order. SPECIALITE : The highest class Mounting of Birds, Mammals, &c., Skins _ carefully made up for the Cabinet. Heads, Horns, Pads, &c., Mounted. _ LEPIDOPTERA for SALE.—AIl good specimens in finest condition.—M. Castanea, 2s. 6d.; Obsoleta, 5s.; Pudorina, 6d.; Neurica, 3s. 6d.; Hellmanni, 1s.; Ulva, 6s. ; shiogramma, 28%: Chryson, 3s. 6d.; Festuce, 8d. ; Miniosa, 6d. ; Trabealis, 1s.; Argen- e 6d.; Unca, 8d.; Griseata, 1s. 6d. ; (each) &c. Fine healthy - pupe of D. Trregularis, f . Sagittata, Bes - ‘(per dozen) &ce. Liberal reduction on large orders. em LIONEL CLARKE, 4 NATURAL-HISTORY AGENT, BARTON STREET, GLOUCESTER, J UPPLIES Collectors with every kind of apparatus for the various branches of — s Natural History: Cabinets, Store Boxes, Butterfly Nets, &c. 4 BIRDS’ EGGS, SKINS, LEPIDOPTERA and COLEOPTERA, &c., kept n stock i in large quantities. The largest stock of Eaas in England to select from, including many very rare x pecies. List of clutches sent if desired. Large buyers liberally dealt with. NEW AND SECOND-HAND BOOKS. _ TaxipErmy. Birds skinned and prepared for Cabinets, or mounted by skilled Boictants. _ Full general Catalogue and Special List of Eeas and Sxins, post free. N.B.—No agents, and only one address as above. THE PRACTICAL CABINET MAKERS. J. T, CROCKETT & SON, _ (Established 1847,) AKERS of every Description and Size of Cabinets, Cases, Store-Boxes, APPARATUS and APPLIANCES, and Dealers in all kinds of SPECIMENS for ENTOMOLOGISTS, BoTANISTS, ORNITHOLOGISTS, GEOLOGISTS, MINER- LoGists, NUMISMATISTS, ConcHouoaists, &c., and for the use of Lecturers, Science Teachers, Colleges, Students, &c. Museumis fitted and arranged. Specially made ABINET for Birps’ Eaas and Skins. The Drawers eraduate in depth and are all — nierchangeable. Au Best Work. ESTIMATES GIVEN. All goods at Store Prices. Great advantages in dealing direct with Makers. ‘ q Send for full detailed Prick List before ordering elsewhere. TA, PRINCES STREET, CAVENDISH. SQUARE, LONDON, W. b ' Factories: 34, Riding House Street and Ogle Street, W. HERBERT W. MARSDEN, ATURAL HISTORY AGENT AND BOOKSELLER, 40, TRIANGLE West, CLIFTON, BRISTOL. Cabinets and Apparatus. Entomological Pins. Waxed Leaves and Glass Eyes. Store Boxes, Nets, &c. Taxidermists’ Tools. Walking Stick and Air Guns. ‘The most yeliable stock of BIRDS’ SKINS and BIRDS’ EGGS in Britain. British, Kuropean, and Exotic Lepidoptera, Coleoptera, &c. New and Second-hand Books. Exchange and Label Lists. tiny of the highest class. Birds or Animals skinned, stuffed, and cased. . Heads, Horns, &c., mounted for inne 6 Rugs made Ep &C. Pa peg et BRITISH AND FOREIGN LEPIDOPTERA. All Specimens with ¥; CONTENTS. On Zebra-Horse Hybrids (with three Plates), J. C. Hwart, F.R.S.,49. Notes on the Seal and Whale Fishery, 1897, Thomas Southwell, F.Z. S., 69. The Insect Visitors of Flowers in New Mexico. —I., 7. D. A. Cockerell, 78. Norms AND QUERIES :— mk Aves.—Wagtails eating Trout, J. J. Armistead, 82. The Kinefisher i: in Surrey, q Harold Russell, 82. Hobby nesting in Hants, J. J. Armistead, 88. The Sanderling in Australia, Thomas Carter, 88. Eggs of the Roseate Tern Ei. G. Potter, 83. On the reported Summer Appearance of two Species of | Birds in Lapland, Herbert C. Playne, 84. At what Hour of the Day do) Birds most usually lay their Eggs? J. W. Payne, 84. Popular Fallacies 3 concerning thé Cuckoo, George Bolam, 85. Cuckoos sucking Eggs, Hi. S. Davenport, 87. | Pisces.—Fishes of Great Yarmouth, George Sim, 88. Notices oF New Books, 89-90. EDITORIAL GLEANINGS, 91-96. . Subeerigtions to ‘ THE Zoonoaise ’ for 1898 (12s. post free) are now due, and may be sent to the Publishers, West, Newman & Co., 54, Hatton Garden, London. Payment is preferred im uncrossed Postal Orders. ( 3 All Articies and Communications intended for publication, and Boo $ and Pamphlets for review, should be addressed “The Editor of ‘The Zoologist’ c/o West, Newman & Co., 54, Hatton Garden, London;” or} direct to the Editor, W. L. Distant, "Westbourne ic Lower Att 5: com lp ere Latest Publications of the Zoological Society of London 4 PRE Vol. XIV. Part 5. Containing a Paper ‘“ On tHe MorpHoLtocy or THE SKULL IN THE PARAGUAYAl 2 LEPIDOSIREN, AND IN OTHER Dripnorps.” By Professor T. W. Brive, Se.D. F.Z.S. With Two Plates. Price to Fellows, 6s.; to the Public, 8s. — 4 To be obtained at the Society’s Office.(8, Hanover Squarz, W. ; 01 through any Bookseller. i BRITISH BIRD SKINS. — Private Collection about Nine Hundred Specimens for Sale in one Lot. Splendl condition. For particulars address the owner, a E. A. BROWN, Burton-on- Trent. ss T0 NATURALISTS, ENTOMOLOGISTS, BOTANISTS, ut. BUY OF THE MAKER. Store Boxus, 10x 8, 2/2; 12x9, 2/10; 14x10, 3/6; 16x11, 4/4; 174x 12, 5/8. 4 Woop CoLLEcTING Boxss, 5d., Td., 10d., and 1/3—usual prices, 6d., 9d. 1/-,and 1/6. Zinc ditto 8d., 10d., 1/3, 1/8, 2/6 ditto 9d., 1/-, 1/6, 2/-, and 3/- Larvz Breepine Caazs, 2/2; double, 4/3. at Ditto with tanks for keeping food fresh, 3/—; double, 5/9. oe (An improved shape. Much better than ordinary make.) $ 4 Ners, Serrmne Boarps, Dryrne Houses, Exursrrion Cases, and all other goods at equa a. low prices for cash. REVISED PRICE LIST FREE BY POST FOR $d. STAMP. All goods warranted perfect. Liberal terms to the trade. Postage should be remitted with all orders to be sent by post. Five per cent. discount off all orde of 20s. and upwards. a G. A. TOPP (Taxidermist), 19, London Street, Readiae Be «dl Pe: ‘aa ' 3 Prt Series: ‘" ae ee i ‘ + Ore .11., No. 15.) No. 681. : sy « a noe Edited by W. Le. Distant. : Me 7 | West, NEWMAN &C9 54 Hatton Garden, — Simekin, MARSHALL& Ce? Limited. Daas te aaa PRICE ONE SHILLING. WILLIAM. FARREN, Naturalist. N.B.—23, REGENT sTRER CAMBRIDGE. " “P)EALER IN BRITISH BIRDS’ SKINS, NESTS AND EGGS; BRITISH AND. FOREIGN LEPIDOPTERA. All Specimens with thoroughly reliable data. ENTOMOLOGICAL and other APPARATUS. Specially _ made SELTING-BOARDS to suit the improved style of English setting :—14 in. long: 8 in., 1s. 2d.; 2h in., 1s,; 2in., 10d.; 1} in., 8d.; lin., 6d. Other sizes to order. SPECIALITE :—The highest class Mounting of Birds, Mammals, déc., Skins 1 carefully made up for the Cabinet. Heads, Horns, Pads, dc. Mounted. LEPIDOPTERA for SALE.—AIl good. specimens in finest condition.—M. Castanea, 2s. fid.; Obsoleta, 5s.; Pudorina, 6d.; Neurica, 3s.6d.; Hellmanni, 1s.; Ulve, 6s. ; Ophiogramma, 2s. ; Chryson, 3s. 6d. ; Festuce, 8d.; Miniosa,. 6d.; Trabealis, 1s.; Argen- _ tula, 6d.; Unea, 8d. ; Griseata, 1s. 6d. ; (each) &c. Fine healthy pupe of D. Specie 10s. ; Sagittata, 58. 5 (per dozen) &c. Liberal reduction on large orders. of A. LIONEL CLARKE, NATURAL-HISTORY AGENT, BARTON STREET, GLOUCESTER, Sih Collectors with every kind of apparatus for the various branches of Natural History: Cabinets, Store Boxes, Butterfly Nets, &c. BIRDS’ EGGS, SKINS, LEPIDOPTERA and COLEOPTERA, he. ss ect ; in stock in large quantities. re: The largest stock of Eees in England to select from, including many very rare species. List of clutches sent if desired. Large buyers liberally dealt with. Sa NEW AND SECOND-HAND BOOKS. 4 TaxiDERMY. Birds skinned and prepared for Cabinets, or mounted by skilled assistants. , re Full general Catalogue and Special List of Eees and Sxrns, post free. _ ‘ 4 N.B.—No agents, and only one address as above. 5 4 THE PRACTICAL [ae MAKERS. (Establiched 1847,) ae MAKERS of every Description and Size of Cabinets; Casco Stor«-Boxes, APPARATUS and APPLIANCES, and Dealers in all kinds of SpEcIMENS for ENToMoLoGiIsts, BoTaNIsts, ORNITHOLOGISTS, GEOLOGIsTs, MINER- ~~ ALOGISTS; NUMISMATISTS, CONCHOLOGISTS, &e., and for the use of Lecturers, Science Teachers, Colleges, Students, &c. Museums fitted and arranged. Specially made Casinet for Brrps’ Eeas and Sxins. The Drawers graduate in depth and are all interchangeable. Aut Best WorK. ESTIMATES GIVEN. All goods at Store Prices. Great advantages in dealing direct with Makers. Send for full detailed Pricz List before ordering elsewhere. i 7a,. PRINCES STREET, CAVENDISH SQUARE, LONDON, Woe Factories: 34, Riding House Street and Ogle Street, W. NATURAL HISTORY AGENT AND BOOKSELLER, . 40, TRIANGLE West, CLIFTON, BRISTOL. Cabinets and Apparatus. Entomological Pins. Waxed Leaves and Glass Kyes. Store Boxes, Nets, &c. Taxidermists’ Tools. Walking Stick and Air Guns. The most reliable stock of BIRDS’ SKINS and BIRDS’ EGGS in Britain. British, European, and Exotic Lepidoptera, Coleoptera, &c. New and Second-hand Books. Exchange and Label Lists. | Taxidermy of the highest class. Birds or Animals skinned, stuffed, and cased. Heads, Horns, &c., mounted for trophies. Rugs made up, &e. * Send stamped wrapper for Ornithological Catalogue, Oct. 1897 ; Shell Catalogue, 1895, &e. ; N.B.—Mr. Marsden’s business was entirely removed from Gloucester in 1889. pe “Ta TS On the Ist if every: Month, price Sixpence. ‘THE ENTOMOLOGIST An Illustrated | Journal of General Entomology ’ E EDITED BY RICHARD “SOUTH, F.E.S. CONTENTS of MARCH Number.—Interesting Earwigs (with Plate), by Ww. J. Lucas. 0 a Gynandromorphous Specimen of Adopea thaumas, Hufn. (with illustration), by JAMES Epwarps. Descriptions of some new Species of Doryphora, by Marrin Jacosy. Notes on the Season of 1897, by Russztn E. James. A Catalogue of the Lepidoptera of Ireland, by W. F.. pr Vismes Kane. Two new Scale Insects, by T. D. A. CockERELu. h Notes and Observations. ‘Captures and Field Reports. Societies. Recent Literature. On the 1st of every Month, price 1s. 8d., oho ue JOURNAL OF BOTANY BRITISH AND FOREIGN. Epitep By JAMES BRITTEN, F.L.S. - CONTENTS of MARCH Number.—Notes on some British Sedges, by the Rev. E. S. M arsHat, M.A., F.L.S. (with Plate). Watson’s Climatic Zones, by Symers M. Macvicar. In the Rubi ‘and Rosse of the Channel Islands, by the Rev. W. Moytz Rocesrs, F.L.S., and A. Rocrmrs. The Fifty Years’ Limit in Nomenclature, by the Eprror. A New British Notes on Asarum, by James Britten, F.L.S., and Eymunp G. Baxsr, F.L.S. Biographical Index of British and Irish Botanists, by James Britten, F.L.S., and G. §. Bouterr, F.L.S.; First Supplement (1893-97). Short Notes. Notice of Book. Articles n Journals. Book- ‘Notes, News, &c. . WEST, NEWMAN ¢ CO., 54, Hatton Garden, E.C. NATURE A WEEKLY ILLUSTRATED JOURNAL OF SCIENCE. “To the solid ground : Of Nature trusts the mind which builds for aye.”—WoRDSWORTH. ( NE) of the leading objects of this periodical is to awaken in the public mind a see lively interest in Science. With this end in view it provides original: Articles and Reviews, written by scientific men of the highest distinction in their arious departments, éxpounding in a popular and yet authentic manner the GRAND > RESULTS OF SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH, discussing the most recent scientific discoveries, and pointing out the bearing of Science upon civilization and progress and its slaims to more general recognition, as well as to a higher place in the educational ystem of the country. 4 Published every Thursday, price 6d. . Yearly subscription, 28s.; half-yearly litto, 14s. 6d.; quarterly ditto, 7s. 6d. To all places abroad: Yearly -subscription, ¢ £1 10s. 6d. ; half. yearly ditto, 15s. 6d.; quarterly ditto, 8s. Money Orders to be nade payable at Bedford Street, Covent Garden, W.C. adel & CO.., Ltd., St. Martin’s Street. W.C. - : Estabiished 1851. BIREBECE BAN E= Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, London. TWO-AND-A-HALF per CENT. INTEREST allowed on DEPOSITS, repayable on demand. re. ee per CENT. on CURRENT ACCUUNTS, on the minimum monthly balances, when not drawn JC OW £ d . _ STOCKS, SHARES, and ANNUITIES purchased and sold. ‘SAVINGS DEPARTMENT. For the encouragement of Thrift the Bank receives small sums on deposit, and allows Interest [ 4 onthly, on each completed £1. Birkbeck Building Society. Birkbeck Freehold Land Society. sos to Purchase a House for £2 2s. per Month. |! How to Purchase a Plot of Land for 5s. per Month. ‘hers BIRKBECK ALMANACE, with full particulars, post-free. ®RANCIS RAVENSCOORT, Manager. O'R GAS eer | “2 a NSS ach Oe, ae a ; wy eee ' C O N TT: K) N TS OA ET, Lie ye Ge eS es cae e FOr MAY Ree Mia Ue ro ; Mali adh vet et The Technical Names of British Mammals, Oldfield Thomas, F.Z.S., 97. Seta On Sexual Differences in the Feathering of the Wing of the Sky, Lark ine arvensis), Arthur G. Butler, Ph.D.,. &e., 104. ~ Ornithological Notes from Norfolk for 1897, J. Gurney, F.L.S., suk A hitherto overlooked British Bird, Ernst Hartert, ie Notes on British Annelids, Rev. Hilderic Friend, 119. ati “4 NoTEs AND QUERIES :— | ‘F MamMatia.—Stoats turning White in Winter, G. BE. H. Barrett- Hamilton: 122. @ Polecats in Suffolk; Black Water Vole in Suffolk; Julian G: Tuck, 122. © AvrEs.—Tree Pipit in J anuary, W. Warde Fowler, 122, Early nesting of the House Sparrow in the present mild Season, H. S. B. Goldsmith, 123. The | Brambling in Hants, G. B. Corbin, 123. Abundance: of Grossbills in the Severn Valley, R. H. Ramsbotham, 124. Rooks and Buttercup Bulbs, W. 7) Warde Fowler, 124. Rough-legged Buzzard near Ringwood, G. B. Corbin, 124. Nesting of the Hobby in Hants, G. B. Corbin, 125. ‘Little Bustard in Norfolk, Lieut.-Col. EH. A. Butler, 125. “Varieties of the Red. Grouse, Rev. H. A. Macpherson, 125. Ornithological Notes from Mid Hants : Autumn and Winter, 1897, G. W. Smith, 126. pay % Piscrs.—Malformed Codfish, A. Patterson,. 130. CrustacEa.—The Struggle for Existence among Hermit Crabs, P. Rufford, 181. Notices or NEw Booxs, ‘132-187. ‘yo | EDITORIAL GLEANINGS, 138-144. “a | _ All Articles and Communications intended for publication, and Books and Pamphlets for review, should be addressed ‘‘The Editor of. oe Zoologist’ c/o West, Newman & Co., 54, Hatton Garden, London;” or direct to the Editor, W. L. Distant, "Westbourne Terrace, Lower Addis~ recs Surrey. Just Published. a A TEXT- BOOK OF ZOOLOGY. By r, JErFER RY Parker, D.Sc., F.R.S., Professor of Biology in the. University « of Otago, Dunedin, N.Z., and Wim A. Haswetn, M.A., D. Se., F.R.& S., Professor of Biology in the University of Sydney, N.S. W. With 1 numerou 1s illustrations. Two Volumes. Medium 8vo. 36s. net. | a as Undoubtedly one of the most admirable of zoological ae banka extant. .... A very sound knowledge of zoology should result from the careful reading of this book k, accompanied, of course, by the dissection of such of ote animals selected as is Possiblesg oe . Doty Chronicle. “ag wits p as Yaruectp yee 28 é& CO., Ltd., London. es > TO NATURALISTS, ENTOMOLOGISTS, BOTANISTS, ba BUY OF THE MAKER. Storr Boxus, 10 x8, 2/2; 12x9, 2/10; 14x 10, 3/6; 16x11, 4/4; 174x 12, 5/8. Woop Couxtectine Boxes, 5d., 7d., 10d., and 1/3—usual prices, 6d:, 9d. 1/-,and 1/6. ZINC ditto 8d., 10d., 1/3, 1/8, 2/6 ditto 9d., 1/-, 1/6, 2/-, and 3/- Larv# Brerpine Caaes, 2/2; double, 4/3. Ditto with tanks for keeping food fresh, 3/-; double, 5/9. (An improved shape. Much better than ordinary make.) . Bt Nets, Serrine Boarps, Dryine Houses, Exursirion CasEs, and all other goods at eque low prices for cash. Bath a REVISED PRICE LIST FREE BY POST FOR 3d. STAMP. _ ae All goods warranted perfect. Liberal terms to the trade. Postage shoul remitted with all orders to be sent by post. Five per cent. discount off all order of 20s. and upwards. " kane: G. A. TOPP (Taxidermist), 19, London Street, Reading, Be n g. oe a. “a 2 on Go N Eokdon.: 2 ReEAg: West, NEWMAN RC? 54 Hattori: Garden. Sime xin, MARSHALL& C2? Limited. ae PRICE ONE SHILLING. WILLIAM FARREN, Naturalist. | N.B.—23, REGENT ae CAMBRIDGE. PEALER IN BRITISH BIRDS’ SKINS, NESTS AND EGGS; BRITISH AND FOREIGN LEPIDOPTERA. All Specimens with | thoroughly reliable data. ENTOMOLOGICAL and other APPARATUS. Specially — made SETTING-BOARDS to suit the improved style of English setting :—14 in, long: 3 in., ls. 2d.; 2h in., 1s.; 2in., 10d.; 14in., 8d.; lin., 6d. Other sizes to order. SPECIALITE :—The highest class Mounting of Birds, Mammals, éc., Skins. carefully made up for the Cabinet. Heads, Horns, Pads, éc., Mounted. LEPIDOPTERA for SALE.—All good specimens in finest condition.—M. Castanea, % 2s. 6d.; Obsoleta, 5s.; Pudorina, 6d.; Neurica, 3s. 6d.; Hellmanni, 1s.; Ulvm, 6s.;_ Ophiogramma, 2s.; Chryson, 3s. 6d. ; Festuce, 8d. ; Miniosa, 6d.; Trabealis, 1s.; Argen- tula, 6d.; Unca, 8d.; Griseata, 1s. 6d. ; (each) &c. Fine healthy - pup# of D. brett ; 10s. ; Sagittata, ‘Bs. ; ‘(per dozen) &c. Liberal reduction on large orders. 7 A. LIONEL CLARKE, NATURAL-HISTORY AGENT, BARTON STREET, GLOUCESTER, 7 reece Collectors with every kind of apparatus for the various branches of Natural History: Cabinets, Store Boxes, Butterfly Nets, &c. : BIRDS’ EGGS, SKINS, LEPIDOPTERA and COLEOPTERA, &o., kept . in stock in large quantities. 3 The largest stock of Haas in England to select from, including many very rare ca species. List of clutches sent if desired. Large buyers liberally dealt with. NEW AND SECOND-HAND BOOKS. TAXIDERMY. Birds skinned and prepared for Cabinets, or mounted by ckilled ‘ assistants. Full general Catalogue and Special List of Eaas and Skins, post free. i eS N.B.—No agents, and only one address as above. q THE PRACTICAL CABINET MAKERS. J, T, CROCKETT & SON, . (Establighed 1847,) a MAKERS of every Description and Size of Cabinets, Caseh Srore-Boxes, Apparatus and APPLIANCES, and Dealers in all kinds of ~ Specimens for ENToMoLoGIsTS, BOTANISTS, ORNITHOLOGISTS, GEOLOGISTS, MINER- — ALoGistTs, NUMISMATISTS, CoNcHOLOGISTS, &c., and for the use of Lecturers, Science ~ Teachers, Colleges, Students, &c. Museums fitted and arranged. Specially made — CaBineT for Birnps’ Eaas and Sxins. The Drawers graduate in depth and are all interchangeable. Aut Brest Work. ESTIMATES GIVEN. aa All goods at Store Prices. Great advantages in dealing direct with Makers, Send for full detailed Pricr List before ordering elsewhere. “a 7a, PRINCES STREET, CAVENDISH SQUARE, LONDON, W. — Factories: 34, Riding House Street and Ogle Street, W. 1. hes +i _ HERBERT W. MARSDEN, NATURAL HISTORY AGENT AND BOOKSELLER, | 40, TRIANGLE West, CLIFTON, BRISTOL. | Cabinets and Apparatus. Entomological Pins. Waxed Leaves and Glass Eyes. | Store Boxes, Nets, &c. Taxidermists’ Tools. Walking Stick and Air Guns. ‘wa The most reliable stock of BIRDS’ SKINS and BIRDS’ EGGS in Britain. British, European, and Exotic Lepidoptera, Coleoptera, &c. ~~ me New and Second-hand Books. Exchange and Label Lists. a ia Taxidermy of the highest class. Birds or Animals skinned, stuffed, and cased. - Heads, Horns, &c., mounted for trophies. Rugs made up, &e. . Send stamped wrapper for Ornithological Catalogue, Oct. 1897; Shell Catalogue, 1895, he. N.B.—Mr. Marsden’s business was entirely removed from. Gloucester in 1889. WATKINS & DONCASTER, ‘ Manufacturers of Natural History Apparatus, | Cabinets, Store-Boxes, &c. | A large stock of Insects, Birds’ Eggs, &c. (British, European and Exotic). List of clutches on application. Climbing Irons, best steel, with straps complete, 5s. 6d. per pair. Brass Blowpipes, 4d. and 64d. each. Drills, 2d., 3d., and 1s. each. Label Lists of every description. New Preservative Soap, non-poisonous, 1s. per box; 3s. 6d. per lb. Taxidermists’ Tools, _ Artificial Eyes, Leaves, Grass, &c. ‘Taxidermy in all its branches. Price «List ee pp.) post free. 36, STRAND, LONDON, W.C. (only address): To NATURALISTS, ENTOMOLOGISTS, BOTANISTS, &c. BUY _ OF THE MAKER. Sront Boxzs, 10 x 8, 2/2; 12x9, 2/10; 14x10, 3/6; 16x11, 4/4; 174x 12, 5/38. Woop ConLEctina Boxzs, 5d., Td., 10d., and 1/3—usual prices, 6d., 9d. 1/-, and 1/6. ee ee eee ‘Zrxo ditto 8d., 10d., 1/3, 1/8, 2/6 ditto 9d., 1/-, 1/6, 2/-, and 3/-. _ Lanve Brzepine Caezs, 2/2; double, 4/3. Ditto with tanks for keeping food fresh, 3/—; double, 5/9. (An improved shape. Much better than ordinary make.) Nurs, ‘Surrrna Boarps, Drymve Houszs, Exureirion Caszs, and all other goods at equally low prices for cash. REVISED PRICE LIST FREE BY POST FOR 3d. STAMP. | All goods warranted perfect. Liberal terms to the trade. Postage should be ‘remitted with all orders to be sent by post. Five per cent. discount off all orders of 208. and upwards. G. A. TOPP (Taxidermist), 19, London Street, Reading, Berks. On the Ist of every Month, price SIXPENCE. THE. ENTOMOLOGIST An Illustrated Journal of General Entomology EDITED “BY es accne iin SOUTH, F.E.S. On the 1st of every Month, price 1s. 8d., THE “JOURNAL OF BOTANY ; ; BRITISH AND FOREIGN. : . a Epirep sy JAMES BRITTEN, F.L.S. Sali NEWMAN ¢ CO., 54, Hatton Garden, E.C. Established 1851. . BIinRKkBeHck BAN FEF Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, London. TWO-AND-A-HALF per CENT. INTEREST allowed on DEPOSITS, repayable on demand. aye per CENT. on CURRENT ACCOUNTS, on the minimeam monthly balances, when not drawp - below 4 STOCKS, SHARES, and ANNUITIES purchased and ‘sold. i SAVINGS DEPARTMENT. For the encouragement of Thrift the Bank receives small sums on deposit, and allows Interest ‘Monthly, on each completed £1. “Birkbeck Building Society. Birkbeck Freehold Land Society. How to Purchase a House for £2 2s. per Month. How to Purchase a Plot of Land for 5s. per Month. THE har ine Bees with aus particulars, post-free. FRANCIS RAVENSRONT, Manager. The Wretham Meres, W. G..Olarke, 145. rithe (oleate ui a A Chat about Indian Wild Beasts, Colonel F. T. Pollok, 154, Some Notes on the Stalk-eyed Crustacea of Great Yarmouth, A, metab ng ig 178. NoTEs AND QUERIES :— Mammatia. — Stoats (Mustela erminea) turning White in. Winter, Lieut. Col. E. A. Butler, 187. Stoats turning White in Winter, W. G.. Clarke, 187. Aves.—Water Pipit in Carnarvonshire, G. H. Caton Haigh, 187. phere 4 match,” a name for the Red-backed Shrike, O. V. Aplin, 188. Hawfinch — near Reigate Railway Station, Alfred T. Comber, 188. Hybrid Finches at ‘ the Crystal Palace Show, A. Holte Macpherson, 188. Chickens reared ° Partridges, G. 7’. Rope, 189. Birds which nest in London, C. M. King, 189. ~ Pisces.— Yarrell’s Blenny and the Two-spotted Goby at Scarborough, W. G. 4 Clarke, 191. Mot.ivusca.—Abnormal Scalariformity in Shells, P. Rufford, 191. All Articles and Communications intended for publication, and Books © and Pamphlets for review, should be addressed ‘The Editor of ‘The - Zoologist’ c/o West, Newman & Co., 54, Hatton Garden, London;” or — direct to the Editor, | W. L. Distant, Westbourne. era Lower Addis. 7 - combe, Surrey. a ~~ ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON. 4 A COURSE of Ten POPULAR LECTURES. ‘on AMPHIBIANS and REPTILES will be delivered in the Lecture Room in the Society’s Gardens, Regent’s Park, on Thursdays, ab 5 p.m., commencing April 21st, by Mr. F. E. BEDDARD, M.A.; F.B:S:, Prosector to the Society. . a Tickets for the whole Course, including entrance to the: Gardens, 10s. each, or ls. each Lecture, not including entrance, can be obtained on application to the Secretary, 8, Hanover Square, W.; the Shilling Ticke cqgn also be had of the Clerk at the Kiosk in the Gavaboee _ Fellows are admitted free. ag Latest Publication of the Zoological scity of London. PROCEEDINGS of the ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY of LONDON. 1897. Part IV. Containing Papers read at the Scientific Meetings held in November and’ December, 1897. With a a Plates. Price to Fellows, 9s.; to the Public, 12s. To be obtained at the Society’s Office (3, Hanover posse Wa on through any Bookseller. ASS a NATURE A WEEKLY ILLUSTRATED JOURNAL OF SCIEN CK. ** To the solid ground Of Nature trusts the mind which builds for aye.” WORDSWORTH, Published every Thursday, price 6d. Yearly subscription, 28s. ; half-yes rly ditto, 14s. 6d.; quarterly ditto, 7s. 6d. To all places abroad: Yearly subscripti £1 10s. 6d. ; half. -yearly ditto, 15s. 6d.; quarterly ditto, 8s. Money Orders to made payable at Bedford Street, Covent Garden, W.C. coe MACMILLAN & CO., Litd., St. Martin’s Street, W.C. Ls ee ee oe ee? we < ad ¢ , , on : . Oe) a s A + es. May 16th, 1898. =———No.. 683. JATURAL: HISTORY, | Edited by W. Le. Dis TANT. A Monthly Journal. _ West, NEWMAN &C?9 54 Hatton Garden. | Simekin, MaRSHALL& C9 Limited. iL PRICE ONE SHILLING. -Macmillan & Co’ 'S. New Books. q A TEXT=-BOOK OF ZOOLOGY. By a Weaan: : Parker, D.Sc., F.R.S., Professor of Biology in the University of © Otago, Dunedin, N.Z., and Witt A. Haswexn, M.A., D.Se., F.R.S., — Professor of Biology in the University of Sydney, N.S.W. In Two Vols. With numerous Illustfations. Medium 8vo, 36s. net. “The appearance of this important work, for which many of us have been eagerly | waiting, will be hailed with pleasure. . . . When we consider the difficulties under which _ these authors laboured, one in New Zealand, the other in Sydney, the printers, publishers, and artists in England, one can only marvel ‘at the splendid work they have produced, one that will be useful both to the elementary and advanced student as well as to the : teacher.’’—Science Progress. | BY SIR WILLIAM HENRY FLOWER, K.C.B. SSAYS ON MUSEUMS and OTHER SUBJECTS | CONNECTED with NATURAL HISTORY. By Sir Wittiam — Henry Fowzer, K.C.B., D.C.L., D. Be LL.D., P.Z.8., ke, Demy 8vo,. | 12s. net. : «There is, in short, a large mass of interesting and solid information in the volume ; and we think that Sir William Flower has been well advised in collecting together these several fugitive articles and addresses. They cannot fail to interest and instruct a wide public.’’—Daily Chronicle. ti Sati a. ; : r ’ 4 sae S — on a. Oe, + ST a = MACMILLAN & CO., Ltd., London. cae THE FAUNA OF BRITISH INDIA, INCLUDING CEYLON AND BURMAH. Published under the authori of the Secretary of State for Tne m Counsil. Edited by W. T. Buanrorp. Medium 8vo. With numerous Woodeuts. a ’ “fl COMPLETION OF THE VERTEBRATES. MAMMALIA. By W. T.. Branrorp, F.R.S. 1 Vola complete. Price £1. ; FISHES. ByF: Day, C.1.E., LL.D. 2 Vols. Price £1 ouch : BIRDS. By Eveune W. Oarne, F.Z.8. Vol. 1.; price: Liga ».)- Vol. TL, tba “Vols. TEE and Ty. By W. T. Buanrorp, ER.S. Prides 15s. each. Sei REPTILIA and BATRACHIA. ByG.A. BouLENGER,) : 1 vol., complete. Price £1. | 4 MOTHS. By Sir G. F, " Hawson, Bart. 4 Vols. Price” £1 each. a HYMENOPTERA. Vol. I. Waspsand Bees. By Lieut. fh Col. C. T. Brycnam. Price £1. With four Coloured ae | oa London: TAYLOR & FRANCIS, Red Lion Court, Fleet Street. ie. BS _ Calcutta: THACKER, SPINK & CO, Bombay: THACKER & CO., Limited. ; Berlin: R. FRIEDLANDER & SOHN, Carlstrasse II. i WILLIAM” FARREN, ‘Naturalist. N.B.—23, REGENT SAS CAMBRIDGE. DEALER IN BRITISH BIRDS’ SKINS, NESTS AND EGGS; BRITISH AND FOREIGN LEPIDOPTERA. All. Specimens with thoroughly reliable data. ENTOMOLOGICAL and other APPARATUS. Specially - made SETTING-BoarRDs to suit the improved style of English setting :—14 in. long:. 3in., 1s. 2d.; 22 in., 1s.; 2in., 10d.; 14 in., 8d.; I in., 6d. Other sizes to order. - SPECIALITE : ‘—The highest class Mounting of Birds, Mammals, éc., Skins carefully made up for the Cabinet. Heads, Horns, Pads, dc., Mounted. _ LEPIDOPTERA for SALE.—All good specimens in finest condition.—M. Castanea, 2s. 6d.; Obsoleta, 5s.; Pudorina, 6d.; Neurica, 3s. 6d.; Hellmanni, 1s.; Ulve, 6s. ; Ophiogramma, 26, : Chryson, os. 6025 Festuce, 8d. ; Miniosa, 6d. ; Trabealis, Esse Argen- -tula, 6d.; Unea, 8d. : ; Griseata, 1s. 6d. : (each) &e. Fine healthy - pupe of D. Ivregularis, - 10s..; Sagittata, 5s. ; > (per dozen) &ce. Liberal reduction on large orders. Pe LIONEL CLARKE, : _ NATURAL-HISTORY AGENT, BARTON STREET, GLOUCESTER, Let ataed Collectors with every kind of apparatus for the various branches of : Natural History: Cabinets, Store Boxes, Butterfly Nets, &c. BIRDS’ EGGS, SKINS, LEPIDOPTERA and COLEOPTERA, &e., kept _ in stock in large quantities. The largest stock of Eacs in England to select es including many very rare Beer cee: List of clutches sent if desired. Large buyers liberally dealt with. * Naty ~NEW AND SECOND-HAND BOOKS. ‘Taxipermy. Birds skinned and prepared for Cabinets, or mounted by skilled | assistants. Full general Catalogue and Special List of Eacs and SKINS, post frog: Sg eee N.B.—No agents, and only one address as above. THE PRACTICAL CABINET MAKERS. J. 1 CROCKETT & SON, (Established 1847,) _MAKers ‘of. every Description and Size of Cabinets, Gases: Store#-Boxes, Apparatus and AppLIANcES, and Dealers in all kinds of _ SrEcurENs for ENromonoatsts, Botanists, ORNITHOLOGISTS, GEOLOGISTS, MINER- _ ALoGIsTs, NUMISMATISTS, CONCHOLOGISTs, &e., and for the use of Lecturers, Science _ Teachers, Colleges, Students, &c. Museums fitted and arranged. Specially made } Canrner for Brrps’ Eas and Skins. The Drawers graduate in depth and are all .. arable. Aut Best Work. ESTIMATES GIVEN. : ‘All goods at Store Prices. Great advantages in dealing reek with Moker) ‘ ‘Send for full detailed Price Lrsr before ordering elsewhere. ' “PRINCES STREET, CAVENDISH SQUARE, LONDON, W.. . Factories: 34, Riding House Street and eke Btreet, W. a NATURAL HISTORY AGENT AND BOOKSELLER, 40, TRIANGLE West, CLIFTON, BRISTOL. "Cabinets and. Apparatus. _Entomological Pins. Waxed Leaves and Glass ye Store Boxes, Nets, &e. Taxidermists’ Tools. Walking Stick and Air Guns, The most reliable stock of BIRDS’ SKINS and BIRDS’ EGGS in Britain. a British, European, and Exotic Lepidoptera, Coleoptera, &c. New and Second-hand Books. Exchange and Label Lists. eddermy of the highest class. Birds or Animals skinned, stuffed,-and cased. Heads, Horns, &c., mounted for trophies. Rugs made up, &ce. fh iSénd stamped wrapper for Ornithological Catalogue, Oct..1897; Shell Catalogue, 1895, &c. - oa N.B.—Mr. Marsden’s business was entirely removed from Gloucester in 1889. Stoats turning White in Winter, O. V. Aplin, F.L.S., M.B.0.U., 198, Notes on the Breeding of the Chaffinch, Charles A. Witcheli, 195. Ornithological Notes from Mid- Wales, J. H. Salter, 198. Notes on “the Habits of some of the Australian Malacostracous Crustacea, David G. Stead, 202. : any NorTes AND QUERIES :— a MAMMALIA. — Stoats turning White in Winter, F’. Coburn, 218. Badgers’ near - Searborough, W. J. Clarke, 213. Existing Specimens of Equus quagga, Graham Renshaw. 138, Aves.—Breeding Sites of Chiffchaff and Willow Warbler, H. 8S. Davenport, 214. Meadow Pipits perching on Trees, #'. Coburn, 214. Food of the Barn Owl, % John Cordeaux, 215. Rare Partridges in Leadenhall Market, H. H. Dresser, : 215. Canada Goose near Dungeness, George W. Bradshaw, 216. Little * Gull in Kent, Boyd Alexander, 216. Birds which nest in London, William — E. de Winton; 216. Some Notes on the Nestor notabilis, or Kea Parrot, of — New Zealand, F. R. Godfrey, 216. Sagacity among Birds, D, Le Souéf, © 217. Ornithological Notes at Alum Bay, Isle of Wight, Bernard fiyotere, 5 218. Ornithological Notes from Scarborough, W. J. Clarke, 219. 2: a Pisces.—Notes from Great Yarmouth, A. Patterson, 219. . 1 a : CrustacEA.—Meristie Variation in the Edible Crab, A. Patterson, 220. d Notices oF New Books, 221-228. EDITORIAL GLEANINGS, 229-240. All Articles and Communications intended for nablicaten and Books: 4 and Pamphlets for review, should be addressed ‘‘The Editor of ‘The Zoologist’ c/o West, Newman & Co., 54, Hatton Garden, London ;” or direct to the Editor, W. L. Distant, Westbourne Terrace, Lower eee ; combe, aie R. FRIEDLANDER & SOHN, Berun, N.W. 7 a af To be published in the month of May, 1898, — A. B. MEYER and L. W. WIGLESWORTH THE BIRDS OF CELEBES. AND THE NEIGHBOURING ISLANDS’ | a (Sane1, Tataut, Suna, Toeran, &c.) a Two Volumes, comprising forty-two Plates, carefully soles by hand | (Figures of seventy-three species), three plain Plates (Tails of four species) ~ and seven coloured Maps [three Maps: Geographical Distribution of Lori- : culus, Cacatua, Bucerotide in the Indian Archipelago ; one Map of Celebes; one Map of Celebes and neighbouring islands; two Meteorological Maps = (Winds and Rains of the Indian Archipelago)], with letterpress of more thai a 1100 pages. In Royal Quarto. | Price of Subscription £10. Will be raised considerably after publication. — S$ '< tS Just owt. 188 pages, Demy 8vo. Price 10s. 6d. nett. iam THe MAMMALS, REPTILES, and FISHES of ESSEX: A Con- tribution to the Natural History of the County. By Henry Lavur, F.L.S., F.S.A., &c. With eight full-page and two half-page Illustrations. Forming Vol. III. of the « Special Memoirs” of the Essex Fietp Cuv bs, and being a Companion to Mr. Mmuer Curisty’s ‘ Birds of Essex,’ 1891. London: SIMPKIN MARSHALL & CO. | Chelmsford: EDMUND DURRANT & CO. June 15th, 1898. No. 684. er, ARR WEST, NEWMAN &C9 54 Hatton Garden. - Simekin, MARSHALL & Co Limited. Bee) : PRICE ONE SHILLING. WILLIAM FARREN, Natura ns N.B.—23, REGENT oO Ey CAMBRIDGE. __ DEALER IN BRITISH BIRDS’ SKINS, NESTS AND EGGS; BRITISH AND FOREIGN LEPIDOPTERA. All Specimens with thoroughly reliable data. ENTOMOLOGICAL and other APPARATUS. Specially made SETTING-BOARDS to suit the improved style of English setting :—14 in. long: 8 in., 1s. 2d.; 24 in., 1s.; 2 in., 10d.; 14 in., 8d.; 1 in., 6d. Other sizes to order. SPECIALITE :—The highest class Mounting of Birds, Mammals, éc., Skins | carefully made up for the Cabinet. Heads, Horns, Pads, éc., Mounted. © LEPIDOPTERA for SALE.—All good specimens in finest condition.—M. Castanea, y 2s. 6d.; Obsoleta, 5s.; Pudorina, 6d.; Neurica, 3s. 6d.; Hellmanni, 1s.; Ulve, 6s. ;_ Ophiogramma, 2s.; Chryson, 3s. 6d.; Festuce, 8d.; Miniosa, 6d.; Trabealis, 1s.; Argen-— tula, 6d.; Unca, 8d.; Griseata, 1s. 6d. ; (each) &c. Fine healthy. pupe of D. Trregularis, 10s. ; ; Sagittata, 5s. ; ‘(per dozen) &c. Liberal reduction on large orders. A. LIONEL CLARKE, NATURAL-HISTORY AGENT, BARTON STREET, GLOUCESTER, oy a te Collectors with every kind of apparatus for the various branches of — , Natural History: Cabinets, Store Boxes, Butterfly Nets, &e. BIRDS’ EGGS, SKINS, LEPIDOPTERA and COLEOPTERA, &o., 5 kept in stock in large quantities. The largest stock of Eacs in England to select font, including many very rare species. List of clutches sent if desired. Large buyers liberally dealt with. . NEW AND SECOND-HAND BOOKS. TaxipERMY. Birds skinned and prepared for Cabinets, or a by skilled | assistants. Full general Catalogue and Special List of Eaas and Sxrns, oe free, N.B.—No agents, and only one address as above. THE PRACTICAL CABINET MAKERS. J. T: CROCKETT & SON, © (Established 1847,) ‘az MAKERS of every Description and Size of Cabinets, Cases, Store-Boxes, APPARATUS and APPLIANCES, and Dealers in all kinds of — SPECIMENS for ENTOMOLOGISTS, BOTANISTS, ORNITHOLOGISTS, GEOLOGISTS, MINER- — ALOGISTS, NUMISMATISTS, CoNCHOLOGISTS, &c., and for the use of Lecturers, Scions Teachers, Colleges, Students, &. Museums fitted and arranged. Specially made — CaBINET for Brrps’ Eaas and Sxins. The Drawers graduate in depth and are all interchangeable. Aut Brest Work. ESTIMATES GIVEN. All goods at Store Prices. Great advantages in dealing direct with Makera: : z. | Send for full detailed Pricz List before ordering elsewhere. ‘x 7a, PRINCES STREET, CAVENDISH SQUARE, LONDON, Ww a Factories: 34, Riding House Street and Ogle Street, W. HERBERT W. MARSDEN, NATURAL HISTORY AGENT AND BOOKSELLER, 40, TRIANGLE West, CLIFTON, BRISTOL. re Cabinets and Apparatus. Entomological Pins. Waxed Leaves and Glass Eyes. ag Store Boxes, Nets, &c. Taxidermists’ Tools. Walking Stick and Air Guns. a The most reliable stock of BIRDS’ SKINS and BIRDS’ EGGS in Britain. British, European, and Exotic Lepidoptera, Coleoptera, &c. New and Second-hand Books. Exchange and Label Lists. a Taxidermy of the highest class. Birds or Animals skinned, stuffed, and cased. ‘" Heads, Horns, &c., mounted for trophies. Rugs made up, &c, “a Send stamped wrapper for Ornithological Catalogue, Oct. 1897; Shell Catalogue, 1895, &e. oe e | Re: iG ru uaa eee N.B.—Mr. Marsden’s business was entirely removed from Gloucester in 1889. Pee > Se ro Latest Publications: of the Zoological Society of London. "PROCEEDINGS of the ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY of LONDON. 1898. Part I. Containing: Papers _ ‘read at, the Scientific Meetings held in January and Pebruaty:; 1898. With Highteen Plates. Price to Fellows, 9s.; to the Public, As. TRANSACTIONS. Vol. XIV. ‘Part 6. Containing a Paper ‘‘On the Mammals obtained by Mr. John Whitehead during b hie recent Expedition to the Philippines.” By Otprmnp Tuomas, With Field Notes by the Collector. With Seven Plates. Price to Fellows, 18s. ; to the Public, 24s. To be obtained at the Society’s Office (8, Hanover Square, W.); “through any Bookseller. WATKINS & DONCASTER, Manufacturers of Natural History Apparatus, Cabinets, Store-Boxes, &c. A large stock of Insects, Birds’ Eggs, &c. (British, Huropean and Exotic). List of clutches on application. Climbing Irons, best. steel, with straps complete, 5s. 6d. per pair. Brass Blowpipes, 4d. and 6d. each. Drills, 2d., od., and 1s. each. Label Lists of every description. New Preservative Soap, non-poisonous, ls. per box; 3s. 6d. per lb. Taxidermists’ Tools, Artificial Kyes, Leaves, Grass, &c. Taxidermy in all its branches. Price List (66 pp.) post free. 36, STRAND, LONDON, W.C. (only address). TO NATURALISTS, ENTOMOLOGISTS, BOTANISTS, &c. BUY OF THE MAKER. _Storz Boxzs, 10x8, 2/2; 12x9, 2/10; 14x10, 3/6; 16x11, 4/4; 174x 12, 5/3. Woop Coniectine Boxzs, 5d., 7d., 10d., and 1/3—usual prices, 6d., 9d. 1/-, and 1/6. ZIno ditto 8d., 10d., 1/3, 1/8, 2/6 ditto 9d., 1/-, 1/6, 2/-, and as _ Larva Breepine Caazs, 2/2; double, 4/3. Ditto with tanks for keeping food fresh, 3/-; double, 5/9. S (An improved shape. _ Much better than ordinary make.) _ NEvs, Surrina Boanps, Drying Houses, Exarsrrion Casus, and all other goods at equally low prices for cash. REVISED PRICE LIST FREE BY POST FOR 4d. STAMP, All goods warranted perfect. Liberal terms to the trade. Postage should be xemitted with all orders to be sent by post. Five per cent. discount off all orders of 20s. and upwards. G. A. TOPP (Taxidermist), 19, London Street, Reading, Berks. Established 1851. RIREBECE BAN EX Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, London. DWO-AND-A-HALF per CENT. INTEREST allowed on DEPOSITS, repayable on demand. a te, per CENT. on CURRENT ACCOUNTS, on the minimum monthly balances, when not drawp ow STOCKS, SHARES, and ANNUITIES purchased and sold. SAVINGS DEPARTMENT. For the encouragement of Thrift the Bank receives small sums on deposit, and allows Interest - Monthly, on each completed £1. , Birkbeck Building Society. Birkbeck Freehold Land Society. . How to Purchase a House for £2 2s. per Month, How to Purchase a Plot of Land Sor 5s. per Months ' THE BIRKBECK ALMANACEK, with fall particulars, post-free. @RANCIS RAVENSCROFT, Manager, CONTENTS. — oul: On the First Primary in certain Passerine Birds (with Illustration), Arthur Gard diner Butler, Ph.D., and Arthur George Butler, M.B. Lond., 241. = White Wagtail (Motacilla alba) i in Ireland, Robert Warren, 245. a Zoological “Rambles in the Transvaal (with Illustration), W. L. Distant, 249. a a NoTEs AND QUERIES :— | a Mammatia.—Albinic Example of Long-eared Bat, Hon. A. H. Baring, 261. Stoats. turning White in Winter, G. B. Corbin, 261. Otters in South-western — Hampshire, G. B. Corbin, 262. The Scientific Names of the Badger and the Common Vole, Oldfield Thomas, 263. The Insectivora and Rodentia of Northumberland, John H. Teesdale, 264. AVES. — Immigration of the Song Thrush, Rev. O. Pickard-Cambridge, 264. Melodious Warblers in South-east Devon, Rev. Murray A. Mathew, 265. Meadow Pipits perching on Trees, G. H. Caton Haigh, 266. ‘ Horsey 4 match,’”’ a Name for the Red-backed Shrike (Lanius collurio), John A. Bucknill, 266. Woodchat Shrike in Sussex, G. W. Bradshaw, 267. On the Date of the Arrival of the House Martin, W. Warde Fowler, 267. The Song of the Chaffinch, Rev. Charles W. Benson, LL.D., 269. Notes on the — Chaffinch, W. 7’. Page, 270. Rooks feeding on Elvers, Wm. T. Crawshay, 270. Cuckoo Questions, W. Wilson, 270. Kites in Wales, T. Vaughan — Roberts, 271. Disappearance of the Lapwing in North Lincolnshire, John Cordeaux, 272. Birds which Nest in London, A. Holte Macpherson, H. Ratcliff Kidner, 272. Birds in London, W. T. Page, 2738. ruts Oe Cee Notes from Sark, F. L. Blathwayt, 274. Ornithological Notes from Corsica. Correction, Herbert C. Playne, 275. Appearance of Migrants in Aberdeen- ; shire, 1898, W. Wilson, 275. Insecta.—Cicada attacked by Mantis, Ed., 275. Southerly Extension of te East African Butterfly Fauna, Hd., 276. . Notices oF New Books, 277-282. EDITORIAL GLEANINGS, 283-288. as | y ia u All Articles and Communications intended for publication, and Books — and Pamphlets for review, should be addressed ‘‘The Editor of ‘The Zoologist’ c/o West, Newman & Co., 54, Hatton Garden, London ;” or direct to the Editor, W. L. Distant, Westbourne pas Lower Addis pombe, Surrey. a ‘This fe is published, Post 8vo, Cloth, 4s. 6d. ACKWORTH ae Being a List of Birds of the District of Ackworth, Yorkshire. 2 By Major WALTER B. ARUNDEL, ‘Late 2nd Vol. Batt. York & Lane. Regiment. | GURNEY & JACKSON, 1, Paternoster Row. | (Mr. Van Voorst’s Successors). yest’ ie NEW WORK BY MR. W. H. HUDSON. BIRDS IN LONDON. By W. H. HUDSON, F.Z.S., &c. i With Seventeen Plates and Fifteen Illustrations in the Text, by Baya N Hoox, A. D. McCormicx, and from Photographs from Nature by R. Lopez. 8vo, 12s. “To the fascination of his subject, Mr. Hudson adds the fascination. of a style a method which proclaim him of the kindred of Gilbert White.”—Times. ha London: LONGMANS, GREEN & CO. ~— July 15th, 1898. No. 685. West, NEWMAN &C9 54 Hatton Garden. a Simkin, MarRSHALL& C9 Limited. ‘a PRICE ONE SHILLING. WILLIAM FARREN, Naturee a N.B.—23, REGENT STREET, CAMBRIDGE. © DEALER IN BRITISH BIRDS’ SKINS, NESTS” AND. EGGS; a BRITISH AND. FOREIGN LEPIDOPTERA. All Specimens with. thoroughly reliable data. ENTOMOLOGICAL and other APPARATUS. Specially a made SETTING-BOARDS to suit the improved style of English setting:—14 in. long: © 8 in., 1s. 2d.; 2} in., 1s.; 2 in., 10d.; 14 in., 8d.; 1 in., 6d. Other sizes to order. SPECIALITE :—The highest class Mounting of Birds, Mammals, &c., Skins a carefully made up for the Cabinet. Heads, Horns, Pads, &c., Mounted, _ LEPIDOPTERA for SALE.—AlIl good specimens in finest condition. ane Castanea, a 2s. 6d.; Obsoleta, 5s.; Pudorina, 6d.; Neurica, 3s. 6d.; Hellmanni, 1s.; Ulva, 6s.; Ophiogramma, 2s. ; Chryson, 3s. 6d. ; Festuce, 8d. ; ; Miniosa, 6d.; Trabealis, 1s.; Argen- — tula, 6d.; Uncea, 8d. ; ; Griseata, 1s. 6d. ; (each) &e. ’ Fine healthy pupe of D. iereatnely : 10s. ; Sagittata, 5s. 5 ‘(per dozen) &c. Liberal reduction on large orders. AS Por O Nabe Tae CLARKE, NATURAL-HISTORY AGENT, BARTON STREET, GLOUCESTER, ae Suen Collectors with every kind of apparatus for the various branches of 4 Natural History: Cabinets, Store Boxes, Butterfly Nets, &c. ay BIRDS’ EGGS, SKINS, LEPIDOPTERA and COLEOPTERA, fi0, kept in stock in large quantities. 3 The largest stock of Eacs in England to select from, including many very rare 4 species. List of clutches sent if desired. Large buyers liberally dealt with. ‘2 NEW AND SECOND-HAND BOOKS. TaXIDERMY. Birds skinned and prepared for Cabinets, or mounted by skilled a assistants. | Sa Full general Catalogue and Special List of Eaes and Sxrns, post free. N.B.—No agents, and only one address as above. THE PRACTICAL CABINET MAKERS, J. T. CROCKETT & SON, (Establiched 1847,) = WMUAKERS of every Description and Size of Cabinets, Cases, | q Stor«-Boxes, APPARATUS and APPLIANCES, and Dealers in all kinds of | Specimens for HNTomMoLoGIstTs, BoTaNIsTs, ORNITHOLOGISTS, GEOLOGISTS, MINER- Y ALOGISTS, NUMISMATISTS, ConcHoLoaists, &e., and for the use of Lecturers, Science — Teachers, Colleges, Students, &c. Museums fitted and arranged. Specially made CaBiner for Brrps’ Eees and Sxins. The' Drawers graduate in depth ape are. all interchangeable. Aut Brest Work. ESTIMATES GIVEN. i All goods at Store Prices. Great advantages in dealing direct with Makers. a Send for full detailed Price Lisr before ordering elsewhere. ae 7A, PRINCES STREET, CAVENDISH SQUARE, LONDON, W. \~ Factories: 34, Riding House Street and Ogle Street, W. a ee. HERBERT W. MARSDEN, NATURAL HISTORY AGENT AND BOOKSELLER, ” 40, TRIANGLE West, CLIFTON, BRISTOL. ui = Cabinets and Apparatus. Entomological Pins. Waxed Leaves and Glass Eyes. ~~ Store Boxes, Nets, &c. Taxidermists’ Tools. Walking Stick and Air Guns. \ pei The most reliable stock of BIRDS’ SKINS and BIRDS’ EGGS in Britain, =~ British, European, and Exotic Lepidoptera, Coleoptera, &c. A New and Second-hand Books. Exchange and Label Lists. a se Taxidermy of the highest class. Birds or Animals skinned, stuffed, and cased. a Heads, Horns, &c., mounted for trophies. Rugs made up, &. Send stamped wrapper for Ornithological Catalogue, Oct. 1897; Shell Catalogue, 1895, fe, N.B.—Mr. Marsden’s business was entirely removed from Gloucester in 1889. . _ e F te si On the Ist of every Month, price S1xpEncz. rt THE ENTOMOLOGIST E An Illustrated Journal of General Entomology, EDITED BY RICHARD SOUTH, F.E.S. CONTENTS of JULY Number. — Hybridization. New Species of Syntomis from China, by J. H. Lezcu. Some Changes in the Nomenclature and Arrangement of British Lepidoptera-Heterocera. Descriptions of Hight New Species of South American Chryso- melide, by Martin Jacopy. Synopsis of the North American Bees of the Genus Stelis, by T. D. A. Cockrrety. Notes and Observations. Captures and Field Reports. Societies. Obituary. — ‘ > i eee On the ae of every Month, price 1s. 8d., LHe JOURNAL OF. BO LANY BRITISH AND FOREIGN. Hpitep By JAMES BRITTEN, F.L.S. CONTENTS of JULY NUMBER. — Plagiothecium Miillerianum Schimp. in Britain, _ by H.N. Drxon, M.A., F.L.S. (with Plate). Notes on Cambridgeshire Plants, by W. Wzst, Jun., B.A. The N omenclature of some Senecios, by JAMES Brrrren, F.L.S.. Some County Lists of Mosses, by H. N. Drxon, M.A., F.L.S. Bibliographical Notes: Gronovius’s ‘ Flora _ Virginica,’ by James Brirren, F.L.S. Biographical Index of British and Irish Botanists, _ by Jas. Brrrren, F.L.S.,and G. 8. Bounesr, F.L.S. First Supplement (1893-97). James B eae Short Notes. Notices of Books. Articles in Journals. Book-Notes, News, &c. “HE INSECT HUNTER’S COMPANION. | Instruc- tions for collecting and preserving Butterflies and Moths, Beetles, Bees, lies, &e. By the Rev. JosepH Greene, M.A.—Fourth Edition, revised and D cictdod: -by A. B. Farn. The Chapter on Coleoptera. by Epwarp NEwMAN; on Hymenoptera by FrepERick SuiTH ; on Breeding Gall-flies by Epwarp A. Fircu. Where to find moths and butterflies ; how to catch; how to bring home without injury; how to kill; how to set; how to find the caterpillars; how to manage ; _how to feed; how to breed the perfect insects ; and numerous similar subjects. Price Is, | _BIRDSNESTING & BIRD-SKINNING. A Complete : Description of the Nests and Eggs of Birds which Breed in Britain, ‘by Epwarp Nerwman.—Seconp Epirion, with Directions for Collecting and ‘Preservation; a Chapter on Bird-skinning; and Description and Woodeuts of the Instruments necessary to the Collector. By MILter Curisty. Cloth extra. Feap 8vo. Price 1s. _ London: WEST, NEWMAN ¢€& CO., 54, Hatton Garden. + Magapiched 1851. BIREKBECE = IN Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, London. TWO-AND-A-HALF per CENT. INTEREST allowed on DEPOSITS, repayable on demand. » : TWO per CENT. on CURRENT ACCOUNTS, on the minimum monthly balances, when not drawo pelow £100. ; . STOCKS, SHARES; and ANNUITIES purchased and sold, SAVINGS DEPARTMENT. oe For the encouragement of Thrift the Bank receives small sums on deposit, and allows Interest - monthly, on each completed £1, , Birkbeck Building Society. Birkbeck Freehold Land Society. How to Purchase a House for £2 2s. per Month. How to Purchase a Plot of Land for 5s. per Month, _ . HE BIRKBECK ALMANACK, with full pastiouliy?, post-free. oad MRANCIS RAVENSCROET, Manager - nye a C ON uh E NT 8. ” fs f Matin: ee a Moths and their Classification, E. Meyrick, B.A., F.Z.8., F.E.S., 289. The Mammalia of Great Yarmouth and its Immediate Neighbourhood, Arthur | Patterson, 299. The Insect Visitors of Flowers in New Mexico.—II., 7. D. A. Cooker ell, 811. OsiTuAry.—Osbert Salvin, 315. NOTES AND QUERIES :— MammaiA.—Daubenton’s Bat in the Conway Valley, Chas. Oldham, 817. Aves. — Nightingale Nesting at Wells, Somerset, Stanley Lewis, 317. When does the House Martin arrive?, F’. D. Power, 317. Nesting of the Greater — Spotted Woodpecker near Bath, C. B. Horsbrugh, 318; at Wells, Somerset, — Stanley Lewis, 319. Breeding of the Gannet, RR. J. Balston, 319. Scaup i in Bedfordshire, Alan Fairfax Crossman, 319. Alleged Kentish Plover in Bedfordshire, Alan Fairfax Crossman, 320. Iceland Gull in Co. Sligo in Summer, Robert Warren, 320. Note on the Petrel, Oceanodroma seed (Harcourt), W. Ruskin Butterfield, 320. Notes from the Isle of Man, 1897, P. Ralfe, 321. Birds singing during Thunderstorm, C. B. Horsbrugh, 322. The Protection of Wild Birds and their Eggs, H. S. Devonport, 322. AmpuHisia.—Toad attacked by a Frog, Ed., 823. Notices oF New Books, 324-329. EDITORIAL GLEANINGS, 330-336. All Articles and Communications intended for publication, and Books” and Pamphlets for review, should be addressed ‘“‘The Editor of ‘The Zoologist’ c/o West, Newman & Co., 54, Hatton Garden, London ;” or direct to the Editor, W. L. Distant, Westbourne Terrace, Lower Addis- combe, Surrey. a ‘ar Oy SS —————00000°0—0—0S— SSS SS WATKINS & DONCASTER, Manufacturers of Natural History Apparatus, 7 Cabinets, Store-Boxes, &c. A large stock of Insects, Birds’ Eggs, &c. (British, European and Exotio).. List of clutches on application. Climbing Irons, best steel, with straps complete, 5s. 6d. per pair. Brass Blowpipes, 4d. and 6d. each. Drills, Ae 3d., and 1s. each. Label Lists of every description. New Preservative Soap, non-poisonous, ls. per box; 3s. 6d. per lb. Taxidermists’ Tools, Artificial Eyes, Leaves, Grass, &c. ete in all its branches. a =] List (66 pp.) post free. 36, STRAND, LONDON, W.C. (only address). T0 NATURALISTS, ENTOMOLOGISTS, BOTANISTS, io BUY OF THE MAKER. StorE Boxus, 10x 8, 2/2; 12x9, 2/10; 14x10, 3/6; 16x11, 4/4; 174x 12, 5/8. Woon Coutzcrina Boxes, 5d., 7d., 10d., and 1/3—usual prices, 6d., 9d. 1/-, and 1/6. Zinc ditto 8d., 104., 1/3, 1/8, 2/6 ditto 9d., 1/-, 1/6, 2/-, and a 5 Larvm Brerpine Caaes, 2/2; double, 4/3. . Ditto with tanks for keeping food fresh, 3/—; double, 5/9. (An improved shape. Much better than ordinary make.) Nzts, Szrrine Boarps, Dryine Houses, Exursirion Cases, and all other goods at equal lly low prices for cash. “ he | REVISED PRICE LIST FREE BY POST FOR 3d. STAMP. : a All goods warranted perfect. Liberal terms to the trade. Postage should e cemitted with all orders to be sent by post. Five per cent. discount off all orders of 208. and upwards, G. A. TOPP (Taxidermist), 19, London Street, Reading, Berks. a Se = ~~ 3S purth Series. ) ‘ol. II., No. 20. 5 pe ane 4 West, NEWMAN &C? 54 Hatton Garden. e, % Simekin, MaRSHALL& C9 Limited. 3 i ( i ie PRICE ONE SHILLING. " * WILLIAM FARREN, Naturalist. N.B.—23, REGENT rena CAMBRIDGE. | : DP EFALER IN BRITISH BIRDS’ SKINS, NESTS AND EGGS; — BRITISH AND FOREIGN LEPIDOPTERA. All Specimens with > thoroughly reliable data. ENTOMOLOGICAL and other APPARATUS. Specially made SETTING-BOARDS to suit the improved style of English setting :—14 in. long: 3 in., 1s. 2d.; 2h in., 1s.; 2 in.,.10d.; 14.in., 8d.; 1 in., 6d. Other sizes to order. SPECIALITE :—The highest class Mounting of Birds, Mammals, é&c., Skins carefully made up for the Cabinet. Heads, Horns, Pads, éc., Mounted. LEPIDOPTERA for SALE.—AlIl good specimens in finest condition.—M. Castanea, 2s. 6d.; Obsoleta, 5s.; Pudorina, 6d.; Neurica, 3s. 6d.; Hellmanni, ls.; Ulva, 6s. ; Ophiogramma, 28. ; Chryson, 3s, 6d. ; Festuce, 8d. ; Miniosa, 6d.; Trabealis, 1s.; Argen- tula, 6d.; Unca, 8d.; Griseata, 1s. Gd. ; (each) &c. Fine healthy - pupe of D. ae 10s. ; ; Sagittata, 5s. ; : (per dozen) &c. Liberal reduction on large orders. A. LIONEL CLARKE, NATURAL-HISTORY AGENT, BARTON STREET, GLOUCESTER, oR Collectors with every kind of apparatus for the various branches of Natural History: Cabinets, Store Boxes, Butterfly Nets, &ec. every Month, price 1s. 8d., JOURNAL OF BOTANY BRITISH AND FOREIGN. = Epitep By JAMES BRITTEN, F.L.S. _ CONTENTS of AUGUST Number.—Two New Genera of Composite, by W. P. Hiry, ‘M.A., F.L.S. (with Plates). Botrychiwm matricariefolium A. Br. and B. lanceolatum Angst. in Britain, by Wu. Wurrwett, F.L.S. (with Plate). Smith’s Georgian Plants, by Jamzs Britren, F.L.S. The Mosses of Cheshire, by J. A. WuHrtpon. Thomas Clark and Somerset Plants, by Haroup Stuart Tompson. Decades Plantarum Novarum Austro- Africanum, Decas VIII., auctore B. ScuiecuterR. Short Notes. Notices of Books. Articles in Journals. Book-Notes, News, &c. Ta a On the Ist of every Month, price S1xPENCE. Poke ANTOMOLOGIST An IIlustrated Journal of General Entomology, EDITED BY RICHARD SOUTH, F.E.S. CONTENTS of AUGUST Number.—A Guide to the Study of British Waterbugs “(Aquatic Rhynchota), by G. W. Kirxaupy. Some Changes in the Nomenclature and _ Arrangement of British Lepidoptera- Heterocera. The North American Bees of the Genus Prosapis, by T. D. A. Cockerrnn. A New Species of Charaxes from Siam, by Prrcy I. Latay. Among the Butterflies and Flowers of Norway, by R. S. Sranpew. Notes and OE gy las Captures and Field Reports. Societies. THe INSECT HUNTER’S COMPANION. _ Instruc- tions for collecting and preserving Butterflies and Moths, Beetles, Bees, Flies, &. By the Rev. JoszepH GreEnr, M.A.—Fourth Edition, revised and extended by A. B. Farn. The Chapter on Coleoptera by Epwarp Newman; on Hymenoptera by FrepDERIcK SmiTH; on Breeding Gall-flies by Epwarp A. Fitcu. _ Where to find moths and butterflies; how to catch; how to bring home without ‘injury; how to kill; how to set; how to find the caterpillars ; how to manage 3; how to feed; how to breed the perfect insects; and numerous similar subjects. Price Is. _BRIRDSNESTING & BIRD-SKINNING. A Complete Description of the Nests and Eggs of Birds which Breed in Britain, by Epwarp Newman.—Sxconp Epition, with Directions for Collecting and Preservation; a Chapter on Bird-skinning; and Description and Woodcuts of the Instruments necessary to the Collector. By Mititer Curisty. Cloth extra. /Foap 8vo. Price 1s. meet, NEWMAN ¢& CO., 54, Hatton Garden, E.C. Established 1881. BIRR BEC KX BAN E Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, London. “TWwo- AND-A-HALF per CENT. INTEREST allowed on DEPOSITS, repayable on demand. 5 bel Ein per CENT. on CURRENT ACCOUNTS, on the minimum monthly balances, when not drawn ow £ ie STOCKS, aes and ANNUITIES purchased and sold. SAVINGS DEPARTMENT. : For the encouragement of Thrift the Bank receives small sums on deposit, and allows Lirverest | ; Monthly, on each completed £1. Bs Birkbeck Building Society. Birkbeck Freehold Land Society. ne ow to Purchase a House for £2 2s. per Month. How to Purchase a Plot of Land for 5s. per Month, THE BIRKBECK ALMANACK with full particulars, post-free. FRANCIS RAVENSOROFT, Manager. . nay + ae : ee, -, William Turner, the Father of British Zoology, Rev. H. * Maapnseen M "IS 1, 887. Migration at the Spurn Lighthouse in 1897-98, John Cordeaux, F. R. G. Sina M.B.O.U., 845. a Rough Nesting Notes from Yorkshire, Oxley Grabham, M.A., M.B.O. U., 349. p NovEs AND QuErIns: — ~~ Aves.— The Whinchat in Co. Dublin, Charles W. Benson, LL.D., 356. The Marsh Warbler in Oxfordshire, W. Warde Fowler, 356. On tlie Nesting of the-Spotted Flycatcher, J. Steele-Hiliott, 358. Spotless Eggs of the Spotted | Flycatcher, H. S. Davenport, 359. Cuckoos recently observed in Aberdeen, — W. Wilson, 359. Mallard and Pintai] interbreeding in Captivity, Rev. H. A. Macpherson, 861. Breeding Range of the Scaup-Duck, J. W. Payne, 361. | Occurrence of the Fork-tailed Petrel on the Yorkshire Coast, John Condeauat,. ¥ 862. Bird Notes from the Northern Cairngorms, F. L. Blathwayf, 362. a Pisces. — Centrolophus pomphilus on the Norfolk Coast, Thomas Soumavenn 7 F.L.S., 364. Notes from Great Yarmouth, A. Patterson, 364. Sea Lamprey in Cumberland, Rev. H. A. Macpherson, 365. ' AmpuHisia.—Notes on Batrachians: Frog attacking Toad, Graham Renshaw, 365. J Myriopopa.—Mode of Progression among Millipedes, A. Duncan, 365. PRESERVATION OF ZOOLOGICAL SPECIMENS, C. B. Horsbrugh, 366. Notices or New Books, 369-872. EDITORIAL GLEANINGS, 373-876. All Articles and Communications intended for publication, and Books — and Pamphlets for review, should be addressed ‘‘The Editor of ‘The Zoologist’ c/o West, Newman & Co., 54, Hatton Garden, London;” or direct to the Editor, W. L. Distant, Westbourne Terrace, Lower Addis: 4 combe, Surrey. a \* WATKINS & DONCASTER, __ Manufacturers of Natural History Apparatus, e Cabinets, Store-Boxes, &c. ¥ q A large stock of Insects, Birds’ Eggs, &c. (British, European and Exotic). List of clutches on application. Climbing Irons, best steel, with. straps. complete, 5s. 6d. per pair. Brass Blowpipes, 4d. and 6d. each. ‘Drills, 2d., 8d., and 1s. each. Label Lists of every description. New Preservative Soap, non-poisonous, 1s. per box; 3s. 6d. per lb. Taxidermists’ Tools Artificial Eyes, Leaves, Grass, &c. Taxidermy in all its branches. Price oy List (66 pp.) post free. | | - 36, STRAND, LONDON, W.C. (only address). BOTANICAL. DRYING Pagel For Drying Flowering Plants, Ferns, & Sea-weeds. Preserves Form and Colour, and seldom, if ever, requires a change of sheets. S. Durable and economical. Used by the Naturalists on board the Arctic ships and on ‘ Challenger’ expedition, and at various public Herbaria. ; PRICES ACCORDING TO SIZE. ea When folded, Ream. Quire. When folded. Ream. - Quire. 16 by TOdties sinses I5Ssiecaces IS. 30. 20 by 12 iM. .eeeee 235s waceee 15a Qde 18 by 11 in. ...... BOSE a diese Is. 4d. 20 by 16 in. «2.444305. e+ +00 25. 20, MOUNTING PAPER.—Tuick WuiTE: sizes, when folded—x15 by Io in., 20s. Rm., 1s. 3d. Qr.; 174 by 11 in., 24s. Rm., 1s. 6d. Qr.; 20 by 123 in., 32s. Rm., 2s. Qr. ; 20 by 15 in., 40s. Rm., 2s. 6d. Qr. Mepium THICK : White or Buff, for Wrappering or Mount 15 by ro in., 11s. Rm. . 9d. Qr.; 174 by 11 in., 15s. Rm., 1s. Qr.; 20 by 124 in, 18s. I Is. 3d. Qr.; 20 by 15 in., 22s. Rm., 1s. 6d. Qr. f A few quires may be sent by parcels post if the distance is great, the postage b 4d. extra for one quire, and 1d. each additional quire. As the paper is hooey a carrier is generally a more economical mode of conveyance. WEST, NEWMAN 4& CO., 54, Hatton Garden, EO. Sa a ' ~ I P " past sae September 15th, 1898. No. 087. , No. ot ea ee es ee JATURAL: HISTORY, Edited by W. Le. Distant. . spa NEWMAN & C9 54 Hatton Garden. ; | Simexin, MaARSHALL& C? Limited. | a. . PRICE ONE SHILLING. ie alia it OE OP a) eee di Macmillan & Co.’s Bog cS Che Cambridge Natural Sister Edited by S. F. HARMER, M.A., Fellow of King’s College, Cambridge. — Superintendent of the University Museum of Zoology; and A. EH. — SHIPLEY, M.A., Fellow of Christ's College, Cambridge, University Lecturer on the Morphology of Invertebrates. To be completed in Ten Volumes. 8yo. Price 17s. net each. NOW READY. WORMS, LEECHES, &c. Volume II. FLATWORMS. By F. W. Gamstz, M.Sc., Vict., Owens College. NEMERTINES. By Miss L. SHELDON, Newnham College, Cambridge. THREAD-WORMS, &c. By A. E. Surrrey, M.A., Fellow of Christ’s College, Cambridge. ROTIFERS. By Marcus Hartoc, M.A., Trinity College, Cambridge, D.Sc. Lond., Professor of Natural History in the Queen’ s College, Cork. POLYCHAET WORMS. By W. Buaxtanp Brenuam, D.Se. Lond., Hon. M.A. Oxon., Aldrichian Demonstrator of Comparative Anatomy in the University of Oxford. EARTHWORMS AND LEECHES. By F. E. Bepparp, M.A. Oxon., F.R.S., Prosector to the Zoological Society, London. GEPHYREA, &c. By A. E. Surertey, M.A., Fellow of Christ’s College, Cambridge. POLYZOA. By S. F. Hanmer, M.A., Fellow of King’s College, Cambridge. 7 NATURE.—“ Taken as a whole the book is fully worthy of its place in this stieabane } series.”’ a SHELLS. Volume III. : MOLLUSCS AND BRACHIOPODS. By the Rev. A. H. Cooxr, M.A., A. E. Suiprey, M.A., and F. R. C. Rerep, M.A. 4 FIELD.—‘ We know of no book available to the general reader ahiail affords such a a vast fund of information on the structure and habits of molluscs.” INSECTS AND CENTIPEDES. Volume V. PERIPATUS. By Anam Srpewicr, M.A., F.R.S. MYRIAPODS. By F. G. Srvcrarr, M.A. INSECTS. PartI. By Davip SHarp, M.A. Cantab., M.B: Edin., F.B.S. ATHEN2#UM.—“ This book will find a place in the library of most ave tneancieed prove a welcome boon to weak brethren who are compelled to lecture—docendo discimus— and occupy by the side of Westwood’ s ‘Modern Classification’ and Burmester’s ‘Manual’ ie : a niche that has long been empty.”’ pe BIRDS. Volume Ix, . By A. H. EVANS. [Ready Shortly. *.* The next Volume to appear will be the completion of Dr. SHarp’s admirable — treatise on INSECTS, This may be looked for not later than January. ‘ uy a A TEXT-BOOK OF ZOOLOGY. By T. Jzrreny Parker, D.Sc., F.R.S., Professor of Biology in the University of Otago, Dunedin, N.Z., and WILLIAM A. HasweELt, M.A., D.Sce., F.R.S., Professor of Biology in the University of Sydney, N.S.W. In Two Vols. With Illustrations. Medium 8vo, 36s. net. BRITISH MEDICAL JOURNAL.—“ We are specially glad to have the privilege of ag welcoming a sound and scientific zoological treatise not ‘made in Germany.’”’ A TEXT-BOOK OF ENTOMOLOGY, including ~ the Anatomy, Physiology, Embryology, and Metamorphoses of Insects, for use in — ei Agricultural and Technical Schools and Colleges, as well as by the working Entomo- logist. By AupHeus 8. Packxarp, M.D., Ph.D., Professor of Zoology and Geology es; Brown University. Medium 8vo, 18s. net. LITERATURE.—* Dr. A. S. Packard has attempted no easy task, but his thin ae years’ study of the huge class of insects qualifies him to accomplish it, and he is to i : ia congratulated on his work.”’ ri a Pie MACMILLAN AND CO., Liurtzep, LONDON. * oan a “9 WILLIAM FARREN, Naturalist. |. -N.BW—23, REGENT STREET, CAMBRIDGE. | DEALER IN BRITISH BIRDS’ SKINS, NESTS AND EGGS; | BRITISH AND FOREIGN LEPIDOPTERA. All Specimens with thoroughly reliable data. HNTOMOLOGICAL and other APPARATUS. Specially ;made SerTrTine- BOARDS to suit the improved style of English setting :—14 in. long: (8 in., 1s. 2d.; *2 in., 1s.; 2in., 10d.; 1} in., 8d.; 1 in., 6d. Other sizes to order. 'SPECIALIT —The highest class Mounting of Birds, Mammals, éc., Skins | carefully nade up for the Cabinet. Heads, Horns, Pads, é&c., Mounted. | LEPIDOPTERA for SALE.—All good specimens in finest condition.—M. Castanea, 2s. 6d.; Obsoleta, 5s.; Pudorina,; 6d.; Neurica, 3s. 6d.; Hellmanni, ls.; Ulva, 6s.; Ophiogramma, Seu Chryson, 3s. 6d.; Festuce, 8d.; Miniosa, 6d.; Trabealis, 1s.; Argen- itula, 6d.; Unca, 8d.; Griseata, 1s. 6d. : (each) &c. Fine healthy - pupe of D. Irregulars, 110s. ; ; Sagittata, 5S. ; > (per dozen) &ce. Liberal reduction on large orders. | oe IITONEL CLARKE, NATURAL-HISTORY AGENT, BARTON STREET, GLOUCESTER, | QUPPLIES Collectors with every kind of apparatus for the various branches of Natural History: Cabinets, Store Boxes, Butterfly Nets, &c. BIRDS’ EGGS, SKINS, LEPIDOPTERA and COLEOPTERA, &e., kept in stock in large quantities. }_ The largest stock of Eaes in England to select from, including many very rare species. List of clutches sent if desired. Large buyers liberally dealt with. NEW AND SECOND-HAND BOOKS. _ Taxipermy. Birds skinned and prepared for Cabinets, or mounted by skilled assistants. ; _ Full general Catalogue and Special List of Eaas and Sxrns, vost free. N.B.—No agents, and only one address as above. THE PRACTICAL CABINET MAKERS. J. T; CROCKETT & SON, (Established 1847,) | MAKERS of every Description and Size of Cabinets, Cases, | STor“-Boxes, Apparatus and APPLIANCES, and Dealers in all kinds of \Specimens for ENtomoxoaists, BoraNIsts, ORNITHOLOGISTS, GEOLOGISTS, MINER- ALOGISTS, Numismartists, ConcHoLoeists, &c., and for the use of Lecturers, Science | Teachers, Colleges, Students, &e. Museums fitted and arranged. Specially made Cazinet for Birps’ Eas and Sxrxs. The Drawers graduate in depth and are all | wmierchangeable. ALL Best Work. ESTIMATES GIVEN. All _00ds at Store Prices. Great advantages in dealing direct with Makers. Wiseman” Send for full detailed Pricz List before ordering elsewhere. } 7a, PRINCES STREET, CAVENDISH SQUARE, LONDON, W. Bee Factories: 34, Riding House Street and Ogle Street; W. HERBERT W. MARSDEN, larunat HISTORY AGENT AND BOOKSELLER, : 40, TRIANGLE West, CLIFTON, BRISTOL. Cabinets and Apparatus. Entomological Pins. Waxed Leaves and Glass Eyes. , Store Boxes, Nets, &c. Taxidermists’ Tools. Walking Stick and Air Guns. _ The most reliable stock of BIRDS’ SKINS and BIRDS’ EGGS in Britain. British, European, and Exotic Lepidoptera, Coleoptera, &c. New and Second-hand Books. Exchange and Label Lists. ‘Taxidermy of the highest class. Birds or Animals skinned, stuffed, and cased. aa \ Heads, Horns, &c., mounted for trophies. Rugs made up, &c. send stamped wrapper for Ornithological Catalogue, Oct. 1897; Shell Catalogue, 1895, &e. N.B.—Mr. Marsden’s business was entirely removed from Gloucester in 1889. 4 £>:.4 ’ Th? 4 vi ae RC ‘gil ae. ys ia et rm | Pama Settle CONTENDS. > =m Biological Suggestions. Assimilative Colouration. Part I.. W. Baier 3 be. The Autumn Song of Birds, Charles H. Witchell, 410. | ie NoTes AND QUERIES :— Mammaria.—Conduct of a Rabbit when pursued by Dog, Wm. fines 418. 4a Aves. — The so-called St. Kilda Wren, H. S. Davenport, 413. Scoters in Summer; Ivory Gull on the Solway, J. J. Armistead, 414. Birdsnesting in August, Robert H, Reed, 415. Coition of Birds in the Air, W. Barrett Roué, M.D., 415. Parasites in Birds, J. L. Newman, 415. ety” ‘a All Articles and Communications intended for publication, ne Books and Pamphlets for review, should be addressed ‘The Editor of ‘The | Zoologist’ c/o West, Newman & Co., 54, Hatton Garden, London;” or direct to the Editor, Ww. L. Distant, Westbourne Terrace, Lower Addis- eis Surrey. | WATKINS & DONCASTER, Manufacturers of Natural History Apparatus, 4 Cabinets, Store-Boxes, &c. b A large stock of Insects, Birds’ Kggs, &c. (British, European and Bxotic). List of clutches on application. Climbing Irons, best steel, with straps complete, 5s. 6d. per pair. Brass Blowpipes, 4d. and 6d. each. Drills, 2d., 3d., and 1s. each. Label Lists of every description. New Preservative Soap, non-poisonous, 1s. per box; 3s. 6d. per lb. Taxidermists’ Tools, Artificial Eyes, Leaves, Grass, &e. Basen Wad in all its branches. Price List (66 pp.) post free. | 36, STRAND, LONDON, W.C. (only address). On the Ist of every Month, price StxpENcE. Wy EE: ENTOMOLOGIST. An Illustrated Journal of General Entomology, EDITED BY RICHARD SOUTH, E.E.S. . CONTENTS of SEPTEMBER Wambo “ushedeanione Hhoteuaehea (with illus tion), by H. Guarp Kwaces. A Guide to the Study of British Waterbugs (Aqui Rhynchota), by G. W. Krrxaupy. “A Catalogue of the Lepidoptera of Ireland, by W. F. pe Vismes Kane. Among the Butterflies and Flowers of Norway, by R. s. STANDEN. The North American Bees of the Genus Prosapis,.by T. D. A. CockerELn. Notes ant Observations. Captures and Field Reports. Societies. Recent Literature. WEST, NEWMAN & CO., 54, Hatton Garden, H.C. Established 1851. BIRKBECK BANE Sov HAMPT N BuinpINGs, CHANCERY LANE, Lonpon, W.C. Invested Funds... ... _ £10,000,000. Number of ‘Accounts, 85,094. | TWO-AND-A-HALF per CENT. INTEREST allowed on DEPOSITS, repayable on demand. a as 50. CENT. on CURRENT ACCOUNTS, on the minimum monthly balances, when not dra below : STOCKS, SHARES, and ANNUITIES purchased and sold for customers. SAVINGS DEPARTMENT. Small deposits received, and Interest allowed monthly on each completed £1. the BIRKBECK ALMANACK, with full particulars, post-free. A FRAN cIs RAVEN ett Mage gi er ee) Telephone No. 5 Holborn Telegraphic Address: “ BIRKBECK, Lonpon.” urth Se eri AA Monthly Journal ~/ ” NATURAL HISTORY, Edited by W. Le. Distant, | WEST, NEWMAN & Ce 54 Hatton Garden. -Simpxin, MARSHALL & Ce? Limited. PRICE ONE SHILLING. NATURAL-HISTORY AGENT. “BARTON STREET, GLOUCESTER, ne ak ea Collectors with every kind of apparatus for the various branches of Natural History: Cabinets, Store Boxes, Butterfly Nets, &e. BIRDS’ EGGS, SKINS, LEPIDOPTERA and COLEOPTERA, &e., top in stock in large quantities. The largest stock of Eees in England to select from, including many very rare | species. List of clutches sent if desired. Large buyers Aneel dealt with. NEW AND SECOND-HAND BOOKS. “4 TaxiDERMY, Birds skinned and prepared for Cabinets, or mounted mye skilled 4 assistants. Full general Catalogue and Special List of Eaas and Sittiva, post free. N.B.—No agents, and only one address as above. WILLIAM FARREN, Natu malige) N.B.—23, REGENT Se CAMBRIDGE. [PEALER IN BRITISH BIRDS’ SKINS, NESTS AND EGGS: BRITISH AND FOREIGN LEPIDOPTERA. All Specimens with@ thoroughly reliable data. ENTOMOLOGICAL and other APPARATUS. Specially | ; made SETTING-BOARDS to suit the improved style of English setting :—14 in. long: — 3 in., ls. 2d.; 24 in., 1s.; 2in., 10d.; 14 ins, 8d.; 1 in., 6d. Other sizes to orde: a” SPECIALITE:: ees highest class Mounting of Birds, Mammals, éc.,. Skin carefully made up for the Cabinet. Heads, Horns, Pads, éc., Mounted, ~~ LEPIDOPTERA for SALE.—All good specimens in finest condition.—M. Castanea, 2s. 6d.; Obsoleta, 5s.; Pudorina, 6d.; Neurica, 3s. 6d.; Hellmanni, 1s.; Ulva, 6s. ; Ophiogramma, 2s. ; Chryson, 3s. 6d. ; Festuce, 8d. ; Miniosa, 6d.; Trabealis, 1s. ; Argen- tula, 6d.; Unea, 8d.; Griseata, 1s. 6d. : (each) &c. Fine healthy - pupe of D. Trregularis,, 10s. ; Sagittata, 5s. ; ‘(per dozen) &e. Liberal reduction on large orders. nt THE PRACTICAL CABINET MAKERS. J. T. CROCKETT & SON, (Established 1847,) a MAKERS of every Description and Size of Cabinets, Cases.) 4 STore-Boxes, APPARATUS and APPLIANCES, and Dealers in all kinds o q SpecIMENS for ENTomMoLoaists, BoTANISTS, ORNITHOLOGISTS, GEOLOGISTS, MINER- 4 ALOGISTS, NUMISMATISTS, CONCHOLOGISTS, &c., and for the use of Lecturers, Science — Teachers, Colleges, Students, &e. Museums fitted and arranged. Specially aap e Casiner for Brrps’ Eacs and Sxins. The Drawers graduate in depth and are all interchangeable. ALL Brest Work. ESTIMATES GIVEN. ae All goods at Store Prices. Great advantages in dealing direct with Makers: § a Send for full detailed Prick List before ordering elsewhere. a 7a, PRINCES STREET, CAVENDISH SQUARE, LONDON, Factories: 34, Riding House Street and Ogle Street, W. WATKINS & DONCASTER, Manufacturers of Natural History Apparatus Cabinets, Store-Boxes, &c. A large stock of Insects, Birds’ Eggs, &c. (British, Huropean and Exotie ) List of clutches on application. Climbing Irons, best steel, with straps complete, 5s. 6d. per pair. Brass Blowpipes, 4d. and 6d. each. Drills, 2d., 3d., and 1s. each. Label Lists of every description. New Preservative Soap, non-poisonous, 1s. per box; 8s. 6d. per lb. Taxidermists’ Tools, Artificial Kyes, Leaves, Grass, &e. Taxidermy in all its branches. Price List (66 pp.) post free. ye 36, STRAND, LONDON, W.C. (only address), re Pid On the 1st of every Month, price 1s. 8d., THE | JOURNAL ‘Ol ae BOTANY BRITISH AND FOREIGN. KipireD BY JAMES BRITTEN, F.L.S. CONTENTS of OCTOBER Number. — New Species of Crassula, by S. Scuénuanp, M.A., Ph.D., F.L.8., and Epmunp G. Baxer, F.L.S. Decades Plantarum Novarum Austro- _Africanarum, Decas 1X, auctore R. ScHLECHTER. Mycetozoa of Antigua, by ArTHUR LISTER, F.R.S. Notes on the Flora of Shropshire, by ArtHUR Bennett, F.L.8. Critical Notes on some Species of Cerastium, by Freprric N. Wiuu1aMs, F.1i.8. The Flowering Plants of Novaya Zemlya, &c., by Colonel H. W. Frernpen. Biographical Notes:—XVI. Fabricius’ ‘ Knumeratio Plantarum Horti Helmstadiensis,’ by James Brirren, F.L.S. Short Notes. Notices of Books. Articles i in Journals. Book-Notes, News, &c. On the ist of every Month, price S1xpEncn. roe ENTOMOLOGIST An Illustrated Journal of General Entomology, EDITED BY RICHARD SOUTH, F.E.S. CONTENTS of OCTOBER Number. — Hippobosca equina, Linn., at Ystalyfera, _ Glamorganshire (with illustration), by Enzuanor A.OrmERop. To be obtained at the Society’ s Office (3, Hanover Square, W.); or. Z through any Bookseller. i Forthcoming Work by Miss Ormerod, Shortly will be published, Demy 8vo, 800 pp., Cloth extra, price 3s. 6d. ANDBOOK OF INSECTS INJURIOUS TO” ORCHARD AND BUSH FRUITS, with Means of Prevention — ; and Remedy. By Exeanor A. Ormerop, F. R. Met. Soc., F.E.S., Additional — ey Examiner in Agriculture at the University of Edinburgh. a WEST, NEWMAN & CO., 54, Hatton: Garden, E.c. aN SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, HAMILTON, KENT & CO., Liirep. HERBERT W. MARSDEN, a: NATURAL HISTORY AGENT AND BOOKSELLER, 4 40, TRIANGLE West, CLIFTON, BRISTOL. J 9 Cabinets and Apparatus. Entomological Pins. Waxed Leaves and Glass Eyes. Store Boxes, Nets, &c. Taxidermists’ Tools, Walking Stick and Air Guns. The most reliable stock of BIRDS’ SKINS and BIRDS’ EGGS in Britain. British, European, and Exotic Lepidoptera, Coleoptera, &c. . New and Second-hand Books. Exchange and Label Lists. tl Taxidermy of the highest class. Birds or Animals skinned, stuffed, and cased. ae Heads, Horns, &c., mounted for trophies. Rugs made up, &¢. Re Send stamped wrapper for Ornithological Catalogue, Oct. 1897; Shell Catalogue, 1895, &c. ee. N.B.—Mr. Marsden’s business was entirely removed from Gloucester in 1889. Je ay hae November 15th, 1808. JATURAL: HISTORY, S Sy Edited by W. Lt. Distant. \ J CAMBRIDGE TE ee during the years 1895, 1896, and 1897. By Anieroe Wuey, D.Sc. Lond a Hon. M.A. Cantab., Balfour Student of the University of Gambridges A Part I., with 11 Plates, demy 8vo,12s. 6d. Part II. ready shortly. ) CAMBRIDGE NATURAL SCIENCE MANUALS. Biological Series. New Volumes. ¥ General Editor—A. E. Suretey, M.A., Fellow and Tutor of Christ’s College. = 8 8 OUTLINES of VERTEBRATE PALAONTO.- — LOGY for STUDENTS of ZOOLOGY. By A. 5. Woopwarp, ~ Assistant Keeper of the Department of Geology in the British Museum. | Demy 8vo, 14s. oe Atheneum.—‘ Mr. Woodward, in studying vertebrate taser for the purpose of this — volume, takes the biological view, ‘and has designed his work primarily for the assistance _ of students of vertebrate morphology and zoology. Mindful, however, of the geological _ side of the subject, he has introduced a chapter on the succession of the vertebrate faunas, Ny offering a brief but convenient summary, of the distribution of vertebrate life throughout 4 THE VERTEBRATE SKELETON. ByS. H. Rov , notps, M.A., Trinity College. Crown 8vo, 12s. 6d. British Medical Journal.— A volume which will certainly take its place Sanat the : , standard text- books of the day.’ : , ae geologic time. The author is to be congratulated on having produced a work of aac: value, dealing with a difficult subject in a thoroughly sound manner.’ London: C. J. CLAY & SONS, Cambridge University Press ies eae Ave Maria Lane. a A. delO-N BE CLARKE, NATURAL-HISTORY AGENT, BARTON STREET, GLOUCESTER, © GQ UPPLIES Collectors with every kind of apparatus for the various peaches of ‘ Natural History: Cabinets, Store Boxes, Butterfly Nets, &. BIRDS’ EGGS, SKINS, LEPIDOPTERA and COLEOPTERA, te, bent in stock in-large quantities. 3 The largest stock of Haas in England to select from, including many very rare « species. List of clutches sent if desired. Large buyers liberally dealt with. Ee . NEW AND SECOND-HAND BOOKS. Taxipermy. Birds skinned and prepared for Oabinets, or mounted by siled S: assistants. Full general Catalogue and Special List of Eaas and Sxrvs, post free. N.B.—No agents, and only one address as above. THE PRACTICAL CABINET MAKERS. J. T; CROCKETT & SON, (Established 1847,) — MAKERS of every Description and Size of Cabinets, Cages, — Store-Boxes, APPARATUS and APPLIANCES, and Dealers in all kinds of ~ Specimens for ENTOMOLOGISTS, BOTANISTS, ORNITHOLOGISTS, GEOLOGISTS, MINER. os ALoGists, NumIsMATISTS, CoNcHOLOGISsTS, &c., and for the use of Lecturers, Science Teachers, Colleges, Students, &&. Museums ‘fitted and arranged. Specially made CanineT for Birps’ Haas and Sxins. The Drawers graduate in depth and are au ‘ interchangeable. Att Brest Work. ESTIMATES GIVEN. jet All goods at Store Prices. Great advantages in dealing direct with Makera, 5 Send for full detailed Prick List before ordering elsewhere. : & ” 7a, PRINCES STREET, CAVENDISH SQUARE, LONDON, : WwW. ng Factories: 34, Riding House Street and Ogle Street, W. \ tie ; 4 au he, Viel ee Sh oes Caan ie } Pte ete tt : ban A ‘HERBERT w. MARSDEN, NATURAL HISTORY AGENT AND BOOKSELLER, 40, TRIANGLE West, CLIFTON, BRISTOL. - Cabinets and Apparatus. Entomological Pins. Waxed Leaves and Glass Eyes, Store Boxes, Nets, &c. Taxidermists’ Tools. Walking Stick and Air Guns. The most reliable stock of BIRDS’ SKINS and BIRDS’ EGGS in Britain. British, Kuropean, and Exotic Lepidoptera, Coleoptera, &c. New and Second-hand Books. Exchange and Label Lists. 4 Taxidermy of the highest class. Birds or Animals skinned, stuffed, and cased. Heads, Horns, &c., mounted for trophies. Rugs made up, &e. : Send stamped wrapper for Ornithological Catalogue, Oct. 1897; Shell Catalogue, 1895, &c. _ N.B.—Mr. Marsden’s business was entirely is from Gloucester in 1889. On the Ist of every Month, price 1s. 8d., aed Oil = “JOURNAL OF BOTANY BRITISH AND FORHIGN. BAY ee: Epirep By JAMES BRITTEN, F.L.S. CONTENTS of NOVEMBER Number. — Notes on British Characee, 1895-98, by H. & J. Grovus, F.L.S. (with Plates). Notes on Hoya, by James Brirren, F.L.8. The Flowering Plants of Noyaya Zemlya, &c.; by Colonel H. W. Freripen. Habenaria viridis var. bracteata, by James Britten, F.L.S. Sixty Years of British Mycology. Biographical Index of British and Irish Botanists, by Jas. Brirren, F.L.S., and G. S. Bounesr, F.L.S.: First Supplement (1893-97). Short Notes. Notices of Books. Articles in Journals. Book-Notes, News, &c. On the Ist of every Month, price Sixpence. HE ENTOMOLOGIST ait: IHustrated Journal of General Entomology. EDITED BY RICHARD SOUTH, F.E.S. “CONTENTS of NOVEMBER Number.—On the Specific Distinctness of Corixa carinata and C. germari, and the Restoration of the latter to the List of British Rhyn- _ ghota; On the Nomenclature of the European subgenera of Corixa, Geoftr. (Rhynchota) ; Bs by: G. 'W. KrrKatpy. Collecting in the Fens, by R. E. JAmEes. Notes on Lepidoptera in Re 1898, by C. A. Pyzertr. . Two New Coccide from Lagos, W. Africa, by T. D. A. CockERELL. “a Notes. and Observations, Captures and Field Reports. Societies. Recent Literature. WEE 9S Sap Ve EST: NEWMAN é CO., 54, Hatton Garden, E.C. Hecebliahad 1851. BInREBEECE BANE Sou! HAMPTON BUILDINGS, CHANCERY LANE, LonDoN,, W.C. Invested Funds... ... £10,000, 000. a Number of ‘Accounts, 85,094. “TWO- AND- A-HALF per CENT. INTEREST allowed on DEPOSITS, repayable on demand. is TWO per CENT. on CURRENT ACCOUNTS, on the minimum monthly balances, when not drawn low £100. ee SHARES, and ANNUITIES purchased and sold for customers. SAVINGS DEPARTMENT. ‘Small deposits received, and Interest allowed monthly on each completed £1. The BIRKBECK ALMANACK, with fall papmeueras post-free. FRANCIS RAVENSCROFT, Manager. Telephone No. 5 Holborn. Telegraphic Address: * Sra ee eee Lonpon.” sae | AL bile and Eotumnieakions intended for publication, and Bodke and Pamphlets for review, should be addressed ‘‘The Editor of ‘The ; Zoologist’ c/o West, Newman & Co., 54, Hatton Garden, London;” or direct to the Editor, W. ie DSN, Westbourne Terrane, aed Addis- 4 | combe, Surrey. Re ne Red ert eae eee ae Ra | CONTENTS. Oe ae 4 Biological Suggestions. Assimilative Colouration. Part IL W. L. ie : The Birds of the Riffelalp, Canton Valais, Switzerland, P. L. Sclater, F : NovTEs AND QUERIES :— Mammaria.—Large Bank Vole in Kent, Oxley Grabham, M. ae ‘M.B.O. U., 41% 6 ame Aves.—Economy of the Cuckoo, Julian G. Tuck, 477; Oxley Grabham, ‘478. z The Cirl Bunting in Breconshire, Capt. E. A. Swainson, 478, Spotted . Crake in Furness, Charles F'. Archibald, 479. Pectoral Sandpiper i in Kent, N. F. Ticehurst, F.Z.S., 480. Notes on the Nesting of the Nuthateh, ag Stanley Lewis, 480. Irregular Nesting Sites, H. S. Davenport, 480. The — So-called St, Kilda Wren, eae Russell, 482. Varieties of Green Plover, &.; Scoters in Notts; J. Whitaker, 482. Crossbills in South-western Hamp- — shire in 1898, G. C. Corbin, 482. Heron Nest of Wire, 484; Great Skua in Notts, 485; J. Whitaker. Late Nesting of the Corn Bunting, Oxley — Grabham, 485. Late Stay of Swift, Rev. H. Marmaduke Langdale, 485. 4n Reprit1a.—Adder Swallowing its Young, Adam J. Corrie, éc., 485. f AmpuipsiA.—Abnormal Eyes of Hyla arborea and Bombinator igneus, Graham — Renshaw, 486. EDITORIAL GLEANINGS, 487-492. Just Published. With 252 Illustrations. &vo, price 25s. net. THE STRUCTURE ul CLASSIFICATION Of BIRDS, 4 FRANK E. BEDDARD, M. A., F. R. Ss. | Prosector and Vice- si big) of the Zoological Society of London. LONGMANS, GREEN & CO., 39, Paternoster Row, London New York did atria 23, REGENT cae CAMBRIDGE. FOR SALE. Three xood Specimens of HYDRILLA PALUSTRIS, _ : taken June, 1898, in the Cambridge Fens. — Canne (bred), 5s.; Obsoleta (a few only), 5s.; Neurica (very fine), 8s. 6d. a Chryson (bred), 3s. 6d. each; Argentula, 4s.; Senex, 4s.; and Luctuosa, — 6s. per dozen. | Be WATKINS & DONCASTER, Maa atictanens of Natural History Apparatus, | Cabinets, Store-Boxes, &c. A large stock of Insects, Birds’ Eggs, &c. (British, Huropean and Exotic) Je List of clutches on application. Climbing Irons, best steel, with straps complete, 5s. 6d. per pair. Brass Blowpipes, 4d. and 6d. each. Drills, 2 3d., and 1s. each. Label Lists of every description. New Preserva Soap, non-poisonous, 1s. per box; 8s. 6d. per lb. Taxidermists’ To Artificial Eyes, Leaves, Grass, &c. ‘Taxidermy in all its branches. List (66 pp.) post free. 36, STRAND, LONDON, W.C. (only address). y '¢ > December 15th, 1898. = ~—'No. 690. IA Pes » NATURAL reese ioe Ediled by W. Le. DistaNT. \ \fondon: WEST, NEWMAN & CoO 54 Hatton Garden. _ Simexin, MARSHALL& C° Limited. i” baie Aiea seein sihol( PRICE, ONE. SHELL UR LEE eee > ARs Librairie C. REINWALD— SCHLEICHER Faunss, Hi PARIS—15, RUE DES SAINTS. PERES, 15—PARIS. L’ANNEE BIOLOGIQUE > COMPTES RENDUS ANNUELS DES TRAVAUX DE : te a Apne st BIOLOGIE GENERALE PUBLIES SOUS LA fram in DE 4 3 YVES DELAGE Professeur a la Sorbonne. AVEC LA COLLABORATION DE MM. Barartion, Beaurecarp, Bepot, Breranecx, Berrranp, Bounausiom, hy Buxtot, Cantacuzine, Capri, Onarrin, Couracne, Cutnot, Dantan Davenport, Drrrance, Detace (M.), Demoor, Denixer, Fuorentin, Gots a smitH (Mlle.), Hecur, Henngecuy, Hirovarp, Jaccarp, Joyrux- LaFrFurE, Lasst, Lacuresse, Mattivre, Mann, Marcuat, Marnier, Massart, Mz N- DELSsoHN, Méntcaux, Mercunixorr, Percens, Perrrr, Parnisert, Paisantx, Prenant, Pruvot, Saint-Remy, Simon, Szozawinska (Mlle.), Terre, THOMSON, pE Varieny, VascHipE, VUILLEMIN et WavuTHy. Scéréidéte de la Redaction : GEORGES POIRAULT Docteur és-sciences. DEUXIEME ANNEE 1896 On fort volume grand in-8 de xxxvi-808 pages, avec figures . . 20 fr. | WILL BE PUBLISHED SHORTLY BY SUBSCRIPTION THE MAMMALS, REPTILES AND FISHES OF ESSEX :- A CONTRIBUTION TO~ She Matural History of Be County. HENRY LAVER, M.R.C.S., F.L.S., F.S.A., ETC., Of Colchester ; Vice-President of the Essex Field Club, and Senior Surgeon Zo the Essex and Colchester Hospital, Colchester. WITH EIGHT FULL-PAGE AND TWO HALF-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS. 22% HE Council of the Essex Field Club has pleasure in announcing that it has arranged with Dr. HENRY LAVER, of Colchester, Vice- President of the Club, to publish immediately by Subscription a volume by that gentleman, and with the above title. The work will form Volume III. of the “ Special Memoirs” of the Club. Taken in conjunction with Mr. MILLER CHRISTY’S “Birds of Essex,” issued in 1891 as Volume II. of the Club’s “Special Memoirs,” ite will afford a complete and valuable guide to the Vertebrate Fauna of the County of Essex. Dr. HENRY LAVER has for many years made a special study of this subject. He has compiled this work with great care and after extensive research. The Council of the Club confidently believes that the volume will take rank beside CLARKE and ROEBUCK’S “ Vertebrata of York- shire,” MACPHERSON’S “Lakeland,” and other leading county faunas. The “(Mammafe, Reptifes, and Fishes of Esser ” will be published in demy octavo form (uniform with the other publications of the Club), well printed on very superior paper, and handsomely bound in scarlet cloth. It will extend to about 150 pages. The Illustrations, which constitute a prominent feature of the work, are from original drawings by Major BALE, of Colchester, and Mr. H. A. COLE, of Buckhurst Hill. They represent some of the more interesting species and their haunts in the county. After publication (which will be effected through Messrs. DURRANT. & Co., of Chelmsford, as well as through the Club) the price of the volume will be 10/6 nett; but subscribers who send in their names on the accompanying subscription form before publication will be entitled to receive it for 7/6. Each Ricmber of Ae Hosex Field Cinb will be. entitled to subscribe for a single copy of the work at a special reduced price. A list of the names and addresses of Subscribers will appear in the work. After publication, the price will be immediately raised to 10/6 nett per copy. The Council of the Club appeals to the general public to support it in its endeavour to produce a work of con- siderable local interest and value by subscribing for at least one copy. It is impossible to publish works of the kind, of mainly local interest, however valuable, without pecuniary loss, unless all those interested in Natural Science respond liberally to such appeals as this. As only a very limited edition will be printed, immediate application for the work is particularly requested from intending subscribers. An Order Form accompanies this Prospectus, SPECIAL NOTICE.—By arrangement with Messrs. DURRANT & Co., of Chelmsford, the publishers of Mr. MILLER CHRISTY’s “ Birds of Essex” (310 pages, demy 8vo; profusely illustrated ; price 15s. nett), each subscriber will be entitled to purchase also at the same time a single copy of this valuable companion work at the special reduced price of 7s. 6d. nett. ESSEX FIEID CLUB, SPECIAL MEMOIRS, VOL. J. “REPORT ON THE EAST ANGLIAN EARTHQUAKE, OF APRIL 22wnp, 1884.” By Prof. RapHAEL MELpota, F.R.S., F.C.S., F.R.A.S., M.A.D., &c. ; and WILLIAM WHiTtE, F.E.S., Member of Geologists’ Association. Price, neatly bound in cloth, 3s, 6d. This Report forms a handsome Volume of about 230 pages (uniform with the “Transactions ” of the Essex Field Club), illustrated with 19 engravings and 4 maps. It gives in a clear and scientific form all the details which a careful investigation enabled the authors to collect of the most serious phenomenon of the kind which has happened in Britain for at least four centuries, together with a popular exposi- tion of the main principles of seismological observation. The volume will be of permanent interest and value to the scientific student and general reader, and forms an interesting contribution to the Joca/ history of the County. ESSEX FIEID CLUB, SPECIAL MEMOIRS VOL. I. “THE BIRDS OF ESSEX. A CONTRIBUTION TO THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE COUNTY.” By MiILiter Curisty, F.L.S. (Author of ‘The Handbook of Essex,” “The Trade Signs of Essex,” &c., &c.). | Demy 8vo. Price I5s. The book (for which the author was collecting materials for over 15 years) is printed in the best style on superior toned antique paper, and handsomely bound in scarlet cloth. It extends to 300 pages, and more than 160 illustrations of birds are inserted, together with two plans and a frontispiece. . MEMBERS OF THE CLUB may obtain from the Club single copies at the specta/ price of Ios. 6d., post free. “TRANSACTIONS AND PROCEEDINGS OF THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB.” Edited by WILLIAM COLE. This series consists of 5 Volumes, containing all Papers and Proceedings of the Club from its foundation, in 1880, to 1887, when the ‘Essex Naturalist” was established. Complete set (5 vols.) £2 16s., unbound. “THE ESSEX NATURALIST.” Edited by Witiiam Cote, F.L.S., F.E.S. , This is the organ of the Club, and is published quarterly. It contains papers and memoirs on scientific and antiquarian subjects especially relating to Essex; in it are reported all Meetings of the Club; and numerous short notes are given on the Natural History, Geology, Prehistoric Archeology, &c., of the County. Subscription : Free to Members elected after January 1st, 1893 ; Non-Members 6s. per annum, post free. All communications should be addressed to the Editor, Mr. W. Cole, Hon. Secretary, 7, Knighton Villas, Buckhurst Hill. Latest Publications of the Zoological Society of London. “RANSACTIONS. Vol. XIV. Part 8. Containing _ * a Paper “On New or Imperfectly Known Species of Ostracoda, chiefly from New Zealand,” by Dr. G. Stewarpson Brapy, F.R.S. With Five Plates and Title and Index to the Volume. Price to Fellows, 9s.; to the Public, 12s. And Vol. XV. Part I., containing a ‘‘ Report on the Collection of Fishes made by Mr. J. EK. 8. Moore in Lake Tanganyika,” by G. A. Bouteneer, F.R.S., with an Appendix by J. KE. 8. Moorz. With Two Coloured and Six Uncoloured Plates. Price to Fellows, 15s. 9d.; to the Public, £1 1s. HE ZOOLOGICAL RECORD. Vol. 34. Being Records of Zoological Literature relating chiefly to the Year 1897. Hdited (for the Zoological Society of London) by Davin Suarp, M.A., F.R.S., F.Z.8., &c. London, 1898. 8vo, price 80s. . To be obtained at the Society’s Offices (8, Hanover Square, W.); or through any Bookseller. WILLIAM FARREN, Naturalist. N.B.—23, REGENT STREET, CAMBRIDGE. PDEALER IN BRITISH BIRDS’ SKINS, NESTS AND EGGS; Ms BRITISH AND FOREIGN LEPIDOPTERA. All Specimens with _ thoroughly reliable data. ENTOMOLOGICAL and other APPARATUS. Specially made SETTING-BOARDS to suit the improved style of English setting :—14 in. long: 8 in., 1s. 2d.; 22in., 1s.; 2in., 10d.; 14 in., 8d.; 1 in., 6d. Other sizes to order. SPECIALITE :—The highest class Mounting of Birds, Mammals, éc., Skins _ carefully made up for the Cabinet. Heads, Horns, Pads, éc., Mounted. _ LEPIDOPTERA for SALE.—AlIl good specimens in finest condition.—M. Castanea, 2s. 6d.; Obsoleta, 5s.; Pudorina, 6d.; Neurica, 3s. 6d.; Hellmanni, 1s.; Ulvs, 6s.; Ophiogramma, 2s.; Chryson, 3s. 6d.; Festuce, 8d.; Miniosa, 6d.; Trabealis, 1s.; Argen- tula, 6d.; Unca, 8d.; Griseata, 1s. 6d.; (each) &c. Fine healthy pups of D. Irregularis, 10s.; Sagittata, 5s.; (per dozen) &c. Liberal reduction on large orders. ‘A. LIONEL CLARKE, _ NATURAL-HISTORY AGENT, BARTON STREET, GLOUCESTER, S PPLIES Collectors with every kind of apparatus for the various branches of _ Natural History: Cabinets, Store Boxes, Butterfly Nets, &c. _ BIRDS’ EGGS, SKINS, LEPIDOPTERA and COLEOPTERA, &c., kept in stock in large quantities. ‘The largest stock of Eeas in England to select from, including many very rare species. List of clutches sent if desired. Large buyers liberally dealt with. NEW AND SECOND-HAND BOOKS. _ ‘Taxipermy, Birds skinned and prepared for Cabinets, or mounted by skilled assistants. _ Fall general Catalogue and Special List of Eaas and Sxrns, post free. N.B.—No agents, and only one address as above. Feap 8v0, 1s. Gd. THE INSECT HUNTERS : or, First Lessons in Entomology. Soe By EDWARD NEWMAN. “ Unriyalled as a First-Book in Entomology.”—The late W. Spence. » “We know of no book that contains so much information in so small a compass on the habits and economy of insects.”—Natural History Review. Lonpon: WEST, NEWMAN & CO., 54, Harton GARDEN. ag a, Sey wee eT S. ee CONTENTS, Occurrence of Natterer’s Bat in N, Wales (with Plate), J. Backhouse, F.L. 8. 498, Varying Fecundity in Birds, Basil Davies, 495. “The Leathery Turtle” (Dermochelys coriacea), (with Plate), W. L. Distant, 500. NoOTEs AND QUERIES !— Mammaria.—Polecats in Suffolk, Julian G. Tuck, 508. Notes on the Baul Vola G. T. Rope, 508. Porpoises at Great Yarmouth, A. Patterson, 504, Aves.—Food of the Redwing, Owley Grabham, M. A. M.B.O.U., 504. Baned Warbler in Lincolnshire, G. H. Caton Haigh, 504. Crossbills in Hants, — A. Bankes, 505. The Cirl Bunting in Wales, Howard Saunders, 505. Owls and Kestrels, Julian G. Tuck, 505. Scoters in Hants and Isle of Wight, W. Percival-Westell, 505, Phasianus colchicus in Yorkshire, Oxley Grab- ham, 505. Nesting Habits of the Moor-Hen, William Hewett, 506. The Birds of the Riffelalp, Charles W. Benson, LL.D., 506. Birds of Hertford- shire, Alan Fairfax Crossman, 506. List of Birds observed in the District of Moffat, Dumfriesshire, from October, 1896, to Pebraaae 1897, Bruce Campbell, 507. Pisces.— Notes from Great Yarmouth, A. Patterson, 508. DISTRIBUTION OF SPECIES. —Involuntary Migration, iiianaaks 509. Norices or New Books, 510-515. EprroriAL GLEANINGS, 516-520. Pad Subscriptions to ‘Tue Zoonoaist’ for 1899 (12s. post free) are now due, and may be sent to the Publishers, West, Nuwman & Co., 54, Hatton Garden, London. Payment is preferred wm uncrossed Postal Orders. : | . All Articles and Communications intended for publication, and Books and Pamphlets for review, should be addressed “‘The Editor of ‘The Zoologist,’ c/o West, Newman & Co., 54, Hatton Garden, London;” or direct to the Editor, W. L. Distant, Westbourne ies Lower Addis- combe, Partey, BIRD ‘STUDIES: an Account of the Land Birds of Eastern North America. By Witt1am EH. D. Scorr. With 166 Ilus- — trations from Original Photographs. 4to, half-roan, gilt top, 21s. net. CAMPING IN THE CANADIAN ROCKIES. An Account of Camp Life in the wilder parts of the Canadian Rocky Moun- tains, together with a description of the Region about Banff, Lake Louise, and Glacier, and a Sketch of the Early Explorations. By W. D. Witoox. With 25 full-page photogravures and many text illustrations from photographs by the author. Second edition, with Map, 8vo, cloth extra, gilt top, 15s. net. JHE WILDERNESS HUNTER. With an Account of the Big Game of the United States, and its Chase with Horse, Hound, and Rifle. By Tueopore Roosevert. With 24 full-page Illustra- — tions by Remington, Frost, Sandham, and others. 8vo, cloth, 15s. ie G. P. PUTNAM’S SONS’, 24, Bedford St., Strand, London ; and New York. FOR SALE, at a Reasonable Price, my entire Private Collection of ; NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. For particulars, address—WILLOUGHBY P. LOWE, ‘The ee Throwleigh, Okehampton, Devon. + 4 - * iy ae > > Pg De P yp Yr > Ae JP 2 > Zz. ee PSN FN ox do 2 i» Sa A alan NAD at \ oo