The Zoologist/4th series, vol 3 (1899)/Issue 699/Editorial Gleanings
EDITORIAL GLEANINGS.
It appears that a new fish may be added to our faunistic catalogues, if carefully sought. Mr. G.A. Boulenger, in this (September) number of the 'Annals and Magazine of Natural History,' gives the following particulars. "Last year in the Bay of Concarneau, and this year in the Gulf of St. Malo, my attention was attracted to a large Goby, growing to 10 inches, and most excellent eating, which appears to have been overlooked by all authors who have written on the fishes of the English Channel and the Bay of Biscay. This Goby I have ascertained to be Gobius capito, C. & V., a species believed to be restricted to the Mediterranean."
As it is highly probable that this species will be added to our British fauna, Mr. Boulenger has given the following diagnosis to assist our British ichthyologists:—"Habit particularly stout and heavy; depth of body 5 times in total length; length of head 32⁄3 times. Head a little broader than deep; snout 11⁄2 diameter of eye, which is 51⁄2 times in length of head, and a little exceeds interorbital width; strongly enlarged outer teeth in the jaws; maxillary extending to below posterior third of eye; head scaly only on the occipital and upper opercular regions. The distance between the eye and the dorsal equals the distance between the end of the snout and the preopercle. Dorsal VI, 15, the two portions very narrowly separated; the longest soft rays 1⁄2 length of head, a little longer than the rays of the first fin, the base of which measures 1⁄2 its distance from end of snout. Anal with 12 rays. Pectoral 3⁄4 length of head, with silk-like upper rays. Ventral not reaching vent, with well-developed anterior flap forming an obtusely pointed process on each side. Caudal rounded. Caudal peduncle as long as deep. 61 scales in a longitudinal series, 22 between dorsal and anal. Greenish to blackish olive, more or less spotted and marbled with black; dorsal and caudal fins spotted with black: ventral whitish; yellowish white beneath. Total length 19 centimetres.
"Of the two British species with which this Gobius may have been confounded, G. paganellus and G. niger differ in the larger scales, there not being more than 17 between the dorsal and the anterior rays of the anal and 55 in a lateral series, and in the absence of the antero-lateral lobe of the ventral disk."
We trust that we may soon receive an account of the capture of Gobius apito along our southern coasts.
"Our Obligations to Wild Animals" is the subject of a communication, by Sir Herbert Maxwell, to the August number of 'Blackwood's Magazine.' This article prompts much consideration, and is well worthy of the most careful perusal. Sir Herbert early starts with the postulate, "that animals, whatever we may feel to be our obligations towards them, have no rights, except such as human legislation has conferred upon them." All our anxiety for animal welfare is on this argument utilitarian. "It has been recognised that without song-birds this world would be a far less desirable place of abode; without insectivorous birds, a far less profitable place for farmers and gardeners; without birds of brilliant plumage or graceful form and flight, a much less interesting place to spend a holiday. Therefore the legislature has undertaken to protect Nightingales, as long as they do not forget their melody, and do not exchange a diet of caterpillars for one of wheat and strawberries; and Swallows, as long as they skim about in their own enchanting way, and confine their voracity to insect life.".... "The doctrine of Aristotle that 'animals have no rights,' has been reaffirmed lately under authority of the Church of Rome, and applied in a manner which makes every humane heart burn with indignation. The Pope, if he is correctly interpreted, has lent his official sanction to the abominable maxim that it is contrary to the principles of true religion to legislate for the well-being of animals, and an infringement of the rights of Christians." The writer, however, though no anti-vivisectionist, is a good sportsman, a class we thoroughly believe is "hardly ever indifferent to the welfare and comfort of the animals which serve him"; and, again, the contention seems thoroughly sound, that, "to deal rightly and considerately with animals, wild and domestic, the emotions must have their due influence; the heart must be tender, but it must not rule the head."
"On the Affinities of the Enterochromes" is the subject of a communication, by Marion J. Newbigin, in the 'Zoologischer Anzeiger' (No. 593). The authoress had previously suggested the name of Enterochrome for green pigments in Invertebrates, and had pointed out the difficulties in the way of the supposition that these pigments are identical with plant chlorophyll. Recently Dr. McNunn has also been re-investigating these pigments, and has come to the conclusion that they are derivatives of chlorophyll, and are produced by the action of the digestive ferments on the chlorophyll of the food. This prompted Miss Newbigin to renewed experiments, the results of which, taken in conjunction with the recent observations and conclusions of Dr. McNunn in the case of enterochlorophyll, and with the fact that that pigment occurs in the fæces of Patella, seem "to justify the conclusion that enterochlorophyll at least is an acid derivative of chlorophyll, produced by the action of the digestive juices on the chlorophyll of the food." This may seem dry reading, but it is highly important to grasp some of these technical facts before launching one's boat on the pleasant waters of theoretical speculation on the problem of animal colouration.
Invitations have been sent to the leading ornithologists of this country to attend a meeting at Serajevo in Bosnia at the end of September. This reunion of bird-lovers will take place under the auspices of the Austro-Hungarian Government, and is promoted by Dr. Herman, of Budapest, and Dr. Lorenz, the Custos of the ornithological collections in the Vienna Museum. "The Hungarian Central Bureau," of which Dr. Herman is president, occupies itself greatly with the study of the migration of birds, and every year it publishes a detailed account of the observations from a small army of ornithologists, who record the migration in the various districts of the Austrian Empire. The excursions arranged in connection with the congress are likely to be full of interest. The Second International Ornithological Congress, which was held in Budapest in 1891, was perhaps the most successful gathering of naturalists that has yet taken place.
At a meeting in Calcutta, of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, in June last, Mr. F. Finn exhibited a living soft-shelled Tortoise (Emyda sp.?), and read the following remarks by Mr. W.K. Dods:—
"I got the Turtle, exhibited, on the evening of April 1st, when out after Eld's Deer, on one of the grassy plains near the mouth of the Sittang River. Though dry and burnt up at the time of my visit, this ground is a swamp during at least seven months of the year, after which, when the water, even in the Buffalo-wallows, begins to disappear, the Turtles and Water-snakes bury themselves in the mud, and lie off, till the first monsoon rains soften the soil and release them for another season. This particular individual was under about two inches of soil, so dry and heated by the sun as to be most disagreeable to walk on even with the protection to one's feet afforded by a heavy pair of shooting-boots. Originally the ground had been covered by a thick growth of grass, but that had all been burnt off before by a jungle fire, exposing the cracked soil to the full rays of the sun, and the small round breathing hole to the sharp eyes of my Burman guide. It was quite lively when dug out, and has never to my knowledge eaten anything since. It seems equally indifferent whether its residence is in a bag, a basket, an empty cartridge-box, or a pail of water. I saw the shells of several others lying about, but whether they had met their end by jungle fires or other causes I could not find out."
In a recent issue of 'Ornis,' Count Ettore Arrigoni degli Oddi has published a Catalogue of his Collection of Italian Birds, which comprises many rare species. We are informed that the Couut wishes his collection to be known to English ornithologists who may visit Italy from time to time.
In the 'Proc. Linn. Soc. of New South Wales' (November, 1898), Mr. D.G. Stead has contributed some observations on the Crustacean genus Neptunus, founded upon specimens of N. pelagicus, "the principal edible Crab of the Sydney fish markets."
In this species the writer states "that up to a fairly large size, viewed dorsally, it is impossible to discriminate between males, females and sterile females. After this stage is passed, the chelipeds of the male become comparatively much larger, attaining considerable proportions. The sterile females do not become any larger, and, in comparative size of chelæ and a few other general characters, resemble the female, excepting that the female's body may reach as great a size as that of the largest male."
De Haan ('Fauna Japonica') figures several species which possess three types of pleon. He styles them—"Males, females, and 'spurious females.'"
Mr. Stead has only referred to the genus Neptunus, but he feels sure that others amongst Australian genera will be found to possess these sterile females. At present there are two species which he has good reason to believe agree in this manner with Neptunus, viz., Ozius truncatus and Platyonychus bipustulatus. "The former lives among loose stones in rocky situations, whilst the latter, though really pelagic, spends most of its time half-buried in the sand in shallow water."