The Zoologist/4th series, vol 4 (1900)/Issue 706/Editorial Gleanings
EDITORIAL GLEANINGS.
Mr. A. Smith Woodward, in this month's issue of the 'Annals and Magazine of Natural History,' has announced the discovery of an extinct Eel (Urenchelys anglicus) in the English Chalk. The writer observes:—"There is thus no doubt that the Apodal fishes date back to the Cretaceous period...... A well-preserved skull of a typical Eel from the Lower Chalk of Clayton, Sussex, is to be recognized in the Willett Collection in the Brighton Museum."
At a meeting of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, held at Calcutta in January last, Major Alcock exhibited some enlarged drawings of the well-known caterpillar of the Notodontid moth, Stauropus alternus, and remarked:—"These caterpillars, which can be found in Calcutta and its vicinity in the rainy season, are as extraordinary in look as they are in behaviour. When touched they turn the hinder end of the body over on to the back, in the manner of an enraged Scorpion, and then begin to tremble as if agitated by the most uncontrollable emotion. There are certain particularly irascible Ants that behave somewhat in the same way, and there can be little doubt that the suggestion which has been made that the attitude of the alarmed Stauropus caterpillar may be mistaken by its enemies for the offensive posture of an Ant of enormous dimensions is somewhere near the truth. The insects that accompany these drawings are common enough during the monsoon in Calcutta, and I recommend them to your further notice. No observer can watch their behaviour without admiration. Of their power to terrify creatures like birds, whose high æsthetic and emotional development cannot but be accompanied by at least the germs of superstition, there can be no uncertainty."
Mr. de Nicéville, in criticising these remarks, considered that, although perhaps the "scares" might frighten birds, their most important function was to terrify ichneumon-flies and parasitic Diptera, which were far the most active enemies that caterpillars had to contend against. For this reason he thought that the more commonly received idea that the Stauropus caterpillar, when irritated, resembled a Spider was nearer to the truth.
We have received the Report for the year 1899 relating to the Ghizeh Zoological Gardens, near Cairo, by the Director, Stanley S. Flower, F.Z.S. The mammals, birds, and reptiles contained in the collection on the 6th October, 1899, comprised 473 specimens and 132 species.
In addition to the above, there are many animals living at large in the Gardens, which form one of the chief attractions of the place. Great care is taken to encourage the wild birds, and their numbers seem to have increased considerably during 1899. The most noticeable of these birds are:—
- Song-Thrush (Turdus musicus).
- White Water-Wagtail (Motacilla alba).
- Grey-headed Yellow Water-Wagtail (Motacilla cinereocapilla).
- Common Sparrow (Passer domesticus).
- Hooded Crow (Corvus cornix).
- Kingfisher (Alcedo ispida).
- Pied Kingfisher (Ceryle rudis).
- Hoopoe (Upupa epops).
- Grey-headed Love Bird (Agapornis cana).
- Barn Owl (Strix flammea).
- Southern Little Owl (Carine meridionalis).
- Kestrel (Tinnunculus alaudarius).
- Egyptian Kite (Milvus ægyptius).
- Grey Heron (Ardea cinerea).
- Night Heron (Nycticorax griseus).
- Wild Duck (Anas boscas).
- Common Teal (Querquedula crecca).
- Turtle-Dove (Turtur senegalensis).
- Stone-Curlew (Œdicnemus crepitans).
Australian ornithologists—a body of students which, we believe, is increasing—will doubtless appreciate 'A Key to the Birds of Australia and Tasmania, with their Geographical Distribution in Australia,' by Robert Hall. A beginning is made with 767 known species, but assuredly many more are to be discovered in this wide, and in many parts little-worked, area. A short description is given of each species, and the value of the list would have been much enhanced if a reference to the publication of the original description had also been given. This publication is in convenient form for pocket reference, and we should have greatly valued a similar compilation when collecting in other parts of the world. It is published by Melville, Mullen & Slade at Melbourne, and by Dulau & Co., London.
Prof. C.O. Whitman has reprinted and issued in a separate form his lecture on "Animal Behaviour," delivered at the Marine Biological Laboratory, Wood's Holl, Mass., U.S.A. Some most valuable and interesting observations on the life-histories of Leeches (Clepsine) are detailed, though the publication is mostly of a philosophical character. Special emphasis is devoted to the view "that instincts are evolved, not improvised, and that their genealogy may be as complex and far-reaching as the history of their organic bases."
We have received from our contributor, Prof. J.H. Salter, a "List of the Birds of Aberystwyth and Neighbourhood," published by the University College of Wales Scientific Society. We need scarcely observe that such lists are highly valued by ornithologists, especially when compiled by competent authority, as is done in the present instance.
Mr. L. Upcott Gill has again produced his annual 'Naturalists' Directory.' The publication for 1900 is far in advance of its predecessors. We no longer notice the absence of so many well-known names, though we think a reference to our pages could increase the number of British zoologists. The List of Societies, Field Clubs, and Museums is a welcome feature of this inexpensive and very useful handbook.
The death is announced, in his eighty-sixth year, of Canon Atkinson, the well-known author of 'Forty Years in a Moorland Parish,' a delightful volume which was published some nine years ago. He had held the living of Danby-in-Cleveland for nearly three years over the half-century, and during his incumbency he calculated that he had walked 70,000 miles whilst engaged in clerical work. He was a naturalist, an antiquarian, and a sportsman.
We also regret to record the death of Dr. St. George Mivart, which occurred on April 1st, at the age of seventy-three. The deceased was a zoologist who was best known as a polemical writer, his 'Genesis of Species,' though anti-Darwinian, being recognized by Huxley as worthy of combat, and who described Mivart as "less of a Darwinian than Mr. Wallace, for he has less faith in the power of natural selection. But he is more of an evolutionist than Mr. Wallace, because Mr. Wallace thinks it necessary to call in an intelligent agent—a sort of supernatural Sir John Sebright—to produce even the animal frame of man; while Mr. Mivart requires no Divine assistance till he comes to man's soul." Dr. Mivart, as before mentioned, was an accomplished zoologist. To the "man in the street" he will be remembered by his recently published differences with the Roman Church, with which he had been long in communion.
This work was published before January 1, 1929, and is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.
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