The Zoologist/4th series, vol 4 (1900)/Issue 713/Editorial Gleanings

by editor W.L. Distant

 

EDITORIAL GLEANINGS.

 

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The recent Meeting of the British Association at Bradford, as usual, provided thought for the zoologist. Section D—Zoology—was presided over by Dr. Ramsay H. Traquair, and his address was devoted to the teachings of Palæontology, particularly as referring to fossil ichthyology. Dr. Traquair emphasized the necessary position of Palæontology in the domain of Biology, and pertinently remarked:—"As I have asked on a previous occasion, 'Does an animal cease to be an animal because it is preserved in stone instead of spirits? Is a skeleton any the less a skeleton because it has been excavated from the rock, instead of prepared in a macerating trough?' And I may now add—Do animals, because they have been extinct for it may be millions of years, thereby give up their place in the great chain of organic being, or do they cease to be of any importance to the evolutionist because their soft tissues, now no longer existing, cannot be imbedded in paraffin, and cut with a Cambridge microtome?"

 

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In this Section, Mr. Borchgrevink read a most interesting paper on the results obtained by the British Antarctic Expedition, organised by Sir George Newnes. On the coast of Victoria Land, and on an island which was discovered and named Duke of York Island, the Penguins literally covered the ground, their nests lying on the top of the guano deposits, and consisting of pebbles. From Oct. 15th one continual stream of Penguins waddled over the ice towards their summer residence; like so many people, they walked after one another. On sunny days the male bird stood erect in the old nest, his beak towards the zenith, and, while he moved his flippers backwards and forwards, he produced a hoarse suffocating sound. The female listened attentively to this antarctic love-song.

It was curious to see how some lazy Penguins picked those pebbles, which, through the care and work of years, had successfully been accumulated by one, when this one happened to turn his back; and the evident unconcern and innocent behaviour of these scoundrels when caught in the act was a source of great amusement. The rightful proprietor of the pebbles would pursue the culprit most energetically, running after it and hitting it with its flippers until both were quite exhausted and covered with blood. During these fights they generally seemed to remember the cause of the quarrel, but it was noticed that as a rule the one who first gave in walked off with the pebble, while the victorious one, blinded by success, was left with the honour. Generally they lay two eggs; very seldom are three found in one nest. Both male and female divide their time on the eggs for a month. In the summer of 1899 they sat from the beginning of November to the beginning of December. When the mother Penguin feeds the young one, the latter puts the whole of its head into the beak of its parent, and stuffs its beak right into the mother's throat, which by a shaking movement brings the food up. It was curious to see when a gale suddenly surprised the colony; they all lay down with their beaks to the south-east, from which direction came the strongest gales. They looked like soldiers bivouacking on a battle-field.

 

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The following extract recently appeared in the 'Standard,' creating some sensation among the other daily papers, and showing the drift of public interest in scientific theories as now recognized by journalism:—

"At the recent Congress of German anthropologists at Halle, Professor Klaatsch, of Heidelberg, read a paper on 'The Significance of the Bicephalous Muscle of the Upper Part of the Thigh,' in the course of which he argued that 'the hypothesis of the direct descent of man from Apes can no longer be maintained.' He based his belief on the following grounds: Man possesses a muscle on the upper part of the thigh, one strand of which proceeds from the pelvis, while the other, which is free and supplied with a special nerve, proceeds from the upper part of the thigh, and is attached to the fibula. After several years' investigation, Prof. Klaatsch came to the conclusion that the so-called 'short strand' is a rudimentary form of the biceps muscle, which is much more frequently found in mammals than has hitherto been assumed. Marsupials, Carnivora, many Rodents, and some American Monkeys have been found by the Professor to possess a thick ribbon-like muscle, supplied with the same nerve as the 'short strand.'

"A whole family of mammals appears to have possessed this muscle to a very large extent, and it is only in man, anthropoid Apes, and American prehensile-tailed Monkeys that it has been modified to the 'short strand' of the biceps muscle. It was originally supposed that the erect walking gait of once climbing animals was connected with this muscle modification. Many such climbing mammals, however, as well as all the Lemurs, &c, of the Old World, have completely lost the muscle, so that its preservation in the case of certain primates and man must be due to some other cause. This cause is made apparent on an examination of the forms of man and the higher primates, whose limbs more closely resemble the original mammalian form than is the case with the majority of other animals. The supposition therefore of a direct descent of man from the Ape is no longer tenable. The now existing Apes are for the most part degenerate forms. The connection of man and Apes is to be sought at the root of the common family tree."