summer from September to March, after which date they are seen no longer, but are supposed to retreat northwards, to somewhere in Central Africa, for the southern winter.
We are glad to see that Mr. Herbert Goss has published a second edition, revised, of his 'Geological Antiquity of Insects.' Mr. Goss is thus doing in Britain a similar work to Scudder in America, and entomology, like other branches of zoology, is falling into line in the rejection of the idea that animal life is, or can be, only studied under present appearances. Zittel's 'Grundzüge der Palaeontologie,' which can now be consulted in an English translation, has the Insecta instalment naturally abridged. Mr. Goss has provided a much fuller essay on the subject, which is published at a small cost by Gurney and Jackson. Twenty years have elapsed between the appearance of these two editions, and the author, having put his hand to the plough, should not draw back, but give us a still fuller and more comprehensive work on the subject which he seems to have really made his own in this country.
On the Wheatears (Saxicola) occurring in North America—this question is discussed by Leonhard Stejneger in the 'Proceedings' of the United States National Museum (vol. xxiii. pp. 473-81). The common European Wheatear (Saxicola œnanthe) is a regular breeder in the United States, and Mr. Stejneger, following Degland (1849), Baird(1864), Gould ('Birds of Great Britain'), and more especially Lord Clifton ('Ibis,' 1879), not only recognizes two forms—a larger and smaller—both in Europe and America, but also applies a distinctive name, Saxicola œnanthe leucorhoa, Gmel., to the larger form of the species, which he thus diagnoses:—"Larger than Saxicola œnanthe, the length of wing varying between 100 and 108 millimetres; colour similar, but the rufous tints more bright on the average."
The artificial incubation of Alligator eggs is described by Albert M. Reese in the March number of 'The American Naturalist' (p. 193). The Florida Alligator lays her eggs, about thirty in number, in a so-called nest, which she constructs of sticks, leaves, earth, &c., on the banks of the pond or stream in which she lives. The eggs are laid in the cavity of the nest, and are carefully covered, and allowed to incubate by the heat of the sun. When the young Alligators are about ready to hatch they make a curious squeaking noise, which attracts the mother's attention, and she uncovers the eggs so that the young Alligators may not be smothered in the nest after they escape from the eggs. This fact was confirmed by the artificial batching of a few eggs in an incubator at a temperature of 37° C. On
