1942: Zoology

Reports on Mammals.

The finding of two muskrats with fur of a peculiar wavy type has been reported by Dr. H. L. Dozier of the U. S. Fur Animal Field Station. He reports this as a rare occurrence and suggests that this condition may be hereditary. However, E. A. McIlhenny, a naturalist, later reports that numerous permanently waved specimens are found each year on his muskrat farm. This worker considers the wavy condition due to the rats having been scorched by fire. This problem might easily be settled by experimentally determining whether heredity or external environmental factors such as heat were the determining causes.

As a part of the program to further investigate reproduction in the muskrat, Dr. T. R. Forbes of the Fish and Wildlife Service, U. S. Department of the Interior, Swarthmore, Pa., has determined by histological study that the male muskrat in Maryland begins spermatogenesis in the middle of December and the female starts ovulation in the middle of February with seasonal gonadal activity terminating in both sexes approximately during the latter part of October.

David B. Cook, of the New York State Conservation Department, reported on the food habits of the beaver. It is generally recognized that beaver relish the bark on trees. However, it is also recognized now that these animals also feed on grass, roots, tubers, seed heads, and flowers.

The Forest Service reported that the Rocky Mountain goats, found only in the United States, and heretofore only in Washington, Idaho, and Montana, are now existing in the Black Hills of South Dakota. A few of these animals escaped while on exhibition in South Dakota and have adjusted themselves so well to this environment that the herd has now increased to twenty-five through the natural process of reproduction.

The Newfoundland Department of Natural Resources has completed a survey of the island with the thought of introducing either the American white-tail or the English red deer. At the present time only the black bear and the woodland caribou are native to Newfoundland and the moose has been the only large game animal which has been introduced and become established with any degree of success up to this time.

Prof. A. R. Shadle and W. R. Ploss of the University of Buffalo report what is believed to be only the second case on record of the birth of a porcupine in captivity. The young animal had its incisor teeth well developed and was able to exhibit regular porcupine defense reactions. The infant continued nursing until it was three and one-half months old. This is another instance in which zoologists are better able to obtain life history studies of animals when little of this sort has been reported heretofore.

British Columbia authorities report that experiments are now being conducted on the feeding of fur-bearing animals with sea-lions. The latter have heretofore been considered a major nuisance by West Coast fishermen because of the number of fish they consume. However, the problem of how to obtain these sea-lions in sufficient amounts for food at a low cost has not been worked out satisfactorily as yet.

Reports on Birds.

R. E. Danforth of Noank, Conn., reports that black-capped chickadees make a substantial part of their winter diet on 'jumping plant-lice' along the Connecticut shore. The plant-lice of two species, Calophya flavida and C. nigripennis were found upon sumacs in this region and the birds were observed eating, not only the fruit clusters, but also the lice from the stems.

Dr. W. S. Bullough of the University of Leeds reports that the starling may be a responsible carrier of hoof-and-mouth disease. Heretofore, authorities have succeeded in stamping out each outbreak of the disease soon after its discovery, but the origin of the disease has remained undiscovered. The migrating starling, as a carrier of the virus, now is considered a possibility and further studies will no doubt prove whether this is the case or not.

Drs. P. D. Dalke, W. K. Clark, Jr., and L. J. Korschgen of the Missouri Cooperative Wildlife Unit have shown that wild turkeys are great destroyers of harmful beetles. They have shown that turkeys in the Ozark region of Missouri feed on grasshoppers, stinkbugs, beetles, and ants for about 25 per cent of their diet while the other 75 per cent is made up of grass seeds, acorns, etc.

Aquatic Life.

C. N. Feast, director of the Colorado Game and Fish Commission, has discovered that trout raised in a hatchery can be distinguished from those that are hatched and grown in their native habitat by an examination of their dorsal fins. Mr. Feast states that trout grown to legal size in a hatchery have dorsal fins somewhat degenerated through crowding. When these fish are released in streams the fins develop, but malformations of various sorts are the usual case. Hence, this serves as a mark of identification which is generally sufficiently accurate to allow for observations on percentages in stream surveys.

C. E. Porter of Santiago, Chile, and W. L. Schmitt of Washington, D. C., report the identification of a free-living fresh water jellyfish from South America. Mr. Fick, an engineer, collected the specimen near Quilqué, a Province of Valparaíso, in March and sent it to the above authors for identification. This record is the first for the free-living fresh water medusae, Craspedacusta somerbii (Lankester), from South America.

Dr. Harvey Bassler of the American Museum of Natural History, New York, reports an account of an attack of a sting-ray on man. Authentic personal records of such occurrences are rare with none heretofore authentically reported from the Amazon Basin. From the brief account reported by the above author, it appears that the sting-ray's sting is definitely poisonous to man. While not fatal, evidently the sting is accompanied with almost unendurable pain.

Dr. Clarence R. Shoemaker of the U. S. National Museum Scientific staff has recently described a small crustacean animal and named it in honor of President Roosevelt. This new species known as Neomeganphopus roosevelti, is an important item in the diet of fish in Magdalena Bay on the coast of Lower California. It was collected on the 1938 Presidential cruise, by Dr. W. L. Schmitt of the Museum staff.

Extinct Fauna.

Another large mammal has recently been added to the extinct pre-tundra fauna known from Alaska. This mammal, a ground sloth known technically as representing a species of the Megalonyx, was found during extensive explorations of the Childs Frick Expedition in cooperation with the University of Alaska. The site of discovery, as reported by Chester Stock of the California Institute of Technology, occurs on Cripple Creek, approximately fifteen miles Southwest of Fairbanks. Heretofore, this genus has been associated with the Pleistocene forest faunas of the more southerly regions of North America. The occurrence in Alaska, therefore, extends the geographic range considerably to the north of its previously known distribution.

Fossils, mainly ancient relatives of crabs and crayfish known as trilobites, have been found in a series of limestone strata long thought to be barren of such evidences.

The strata, known as the Maryville formation and of the mid-Cambrian age occurs in many regions in the chain of Eastern Mountains. These fossils are related to similar forms found in the Rocky Mountains and present further evidence that life existed half a billion years ago in a region where the Appalachian Mountains are now located.

1941: Zoology

Reports on Aquatic Life.

Dr. A. Svihla of the University of Washington reports the occurrence of freshwater sponges on the Island of Oahu, one of the Hawaiian Islands. This is the first authentic report of these animals from this particular region.

A. M. Phillips and O. M. McCay of the New York State Conservation Department at Cornell University have shown, experimentally, that trout will develop an anemic condition if deprived of certain nutritional substances. Furthermore, they have also shown that fresh liver or liver extracts are effective in alleviating the symptoms. However, they announce that one of the best treatments for this anemia in fish is the feeding of the larvae of the ordinary housefly.

Dr. H. W. Fowler of the Philadelphia Academy of Sciences has described a shark, Isistius braziliensis, which is found in most tropical waters. In his description of this shark, he states that it is another of the common marine animal species which produces phosphorescent light. The luminous parts of its body are chiefly confined to the ventral body surface.

Dr. William Beebe of the New York Zoological Park describes the morphology of a young Pacific sailfish Istiophorus greyi. An interesting feature of the young sailfish is that in spite of its small size, it seems to be superficially very much like the full grown fish. He states that the greatly elongated upper jaw and pelvic fins as well as the enormous expanse of the dorsal fin are as characteristic of the 42 mm. specimen as they are of the adult, more than 60 times as long.

Dr. A. M. Banta reports more evidence to show that the angler fish (Lophius piscatorius), while obviously an inhabitant of the bottom, does make excursions to the surface for food. Upon examination, the specimen reported in this case, had eaten a herring gull. Dr. Banta states that, while a few records of the angler fish feeding upon birds are known, the few such American records give this report added interest.

Reports on Reptiles.

Mr. C. M. Bogert of the Department of Herpetology, American Museum of Natural History, reports some interesting observations obtained with rattlesnakes under experimental conditions. He reports that rattlesnakes detect their deadly enemy, the kingsnake, by odor rather than by sight. These experimental studies are of further interest in that they confirm the well-established idea that snakes use their tongues to pick up odoriferous particles and then deposit them into a specialized sense organ, known as Jacobson's organ.

In most textbooks which mention the breathing mechanism of turtles, the statement is usually made that turtles breathe air in a manner essentially similar to frogs. Dr. I. B. Hansen of George Washington University, has recently carried out a series of experiments which indicate that the movements of inhalation and exhalation are performed by distinct respiratory muscles in the body of the turtle and not by the throat.

Dr. F. M. McCutcheon of North Carolina State College has also repeated and supplemented the experiments of Dr. Hansen on turtles. He agrees in general with Dr. Hansen but differs in regard to some of the detailed points. Dr. McCutcheon states that the primary breathing mechanism in turtles is the movement of muscular diaphragms located at each leg pocket in the shell, together with the muscular closure of the opening in the glottis. Furthermore, the hyoid or characteristic throat movements appear, from existing records, to be definitely correlated with sensory rather than respiratory functions, and are almost certainly related to olfaction.

Another long-held zoological doctrine, printed in many books dealing with reproduction in snakes, has also been upset during the past year. The birth of a number of live young to a female ball python at the Hershey Estates Zoological Garden at Hershey, Pa., tends to upset the doctrine that all pythons are egg-laying snakes.

Reports on Birds and Bird Life.

Two male albatrosses were recently brought to the United States by the Mandel Expedition of the Field Museum of Natural History from the Galapagos Islands. These are believed to be the only living specimens of their kind in captivity at this time. This same expedition also brought back over 2,000 skins and preserved specimens representing the fish, reptile and bird faunas of 15 islands in this region.

Three Emperor penguins, large birds of over 4 feet in height, as well as four Gentoo penguins, two kelp gulls and one white giant fulmar were returned to the National Zoological Park from the Antarctica by the Admiral Byrd expedition.

Prof. C. G. Kadner of Loyola University has recently reported that pigeon malaria, for the first time, has been found to occur in California. This disease is transmitted through the bite of a bloodsucking fly and is distributed throughout the southern states and California. Pigeon malaria is capable of causing serious losses to commercial squab farms.

It is a well known fact that adult birds are grouped with mammals as homeothermic or warm-blooded. However, Dr. A. L. Romanoff of Cornell University has recently shown, by means of unique experiments, that the developing chick egg, although producing heat, at first behaves as a poikelothermic or 'cold-blooded' animal. In a few days of incubation the temperature of the egg increases above that of the temperature of the incubator, and the embryo gradually becomes a homeothermic or 'warm-blooded' animal. However, Dr. Romanoff states that the true homeothermy presumably is not acquired by the chick until the fourth or fifth day after hatching.

Reports on Animals and Animal Life.

An unusual discovery of the 1940 field season was an Oligocine rodent remarkable, not only as the largest known rodent of such antiquity, but also as a survivor of a group believed to have become extinct at about the end of the Eocene period. This discovery was also remarkable in that it was found in the White River region of Montana. This new genus and species of rodent was described by Dr. G. G. Simpson of the American Museum of Natural History.

S. E. Aldous of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service and J. Manweiler of the United States Soil Conservation Service have made a series of field studies on the diet of the short-tailed weasel in Northern Minnesota. Their figures, representing the contents of a large number of weasels' digestive organs, revealed that over 50 per cent of the food consisted of mice, about 40 per cent of shrews and the remaining 10 per cent included birds, rabbits, squirrels, porcupines and fish.

Dr. Arnold Pictet, a Swiss naturalist, has reported that deer, chamoix and hares found in the alus, show evidence of a goiterous condition. The affliction is brought about by a lack of iodine in the soil and hence a deficiency of the chemical in the animal's food. This worker also reports that the chamoix are often afflicted with another deficiency, namely, calcium and magnesium. This deficiency results in abnormal bone development. The author states that animals congregating in the lowlands escape this deficiency because of the greater abundance of lime in the soil water at the base of the mountains.

The superintendent of a monkey colony on Santiago Island off the coast of Puerto Rico reports that a young gibbon has been born. This is the fourth case on record where these monkeys have given birth to young in captivity after having been transported to the Western hemisphere from their native habitat, Thailand. At present, only one of the four young is alive. The successful increase in this species of monkeys is of special interest to scientists because of their close anatomical relationship to man. See also BIOLOGY.

1940: Zoology

Observations on Animals.

Most Ancient of Living Animals.

Rabbits and opossums are probably the most ancient of the living known mammals on our continent states. They date back to times some 30,000,000 to 40,000,000 years ago.

Food Habits of Sea Otter.

O. J. Murie of the U.S. Biological Survey has made an extensive study of the food habits of the sea otter of the Pacific coast. It has been known that these otters eat sea urchins and almost no fish in contrast to their fresh water relatives, the river otter. These otters also feed on various mollusks. Mr. Murie has observed the otters while they are opening the hard-shelled mollusks. This is accomplished by hammering the shelled creature on a stone until the shell is cracked.

Cancerous Growth in Grouse.

Dr. Ian Cowan of the Provincial Museum, Victoria, B.C. reported a malignant or cancerous growth which was attacking the grouse in British Columbia. This tumor has been examined and diagnosed as a papillary cinomata. Dr. Cowan stated that this disease is present in epidemic proportions in localized areas which suggests the possibility of it being contagious. This growth is probably due to a virus which is transmitted by flies.

Salmon Migration.

Doctor E. B. Powers of the University of Tennessee has advanced a physico chemical theory as to the reason for salmon migration. Ecologists have heretofore suggested the 'homing instinct' as a reason for this migration. Now, Dr. Powers states that these fish swim up the specific streams having the lowest concentration of carbon dioxide. River waters which flow into the sea lower the concentration of carbon dioxide and the fish find the river mouths by going toward the regions of carbon dioxide concentration. However, one may still postulate another theory as to why this migration only occurs periodically.

Black Duck Dives for Food.

H. L. Kutz of Cornell University has demonstrated experimentally that the common black duck can dive for food on the bottom of water as much as ten feet deep. This is of interest since the black ducks have not been considered as divers but as preferring to gather their food ashore. However, when corn was dropped into water at depths of five, seven and ten feet, the black duck competed successfully for it with mallards at depths of 5 and 7 feet and monopolized it at the 10 foot level.

Experimental Studies.

Prenatal Environmental Influence.

Doctor A. M. Cloudman, while working on cancer experiments with mice at the Jackson Memorial Laboratory at Bar Harbor, Maine, brought to light the possibility that some of the effects now attributed to heredity may be due to prenatal environmental influence. In these experiments, unfertilized eggs were transplanted from one female mouse to another. These mice, when born, were considered 'pseudo-hybrids' in that they reacted to transplanted tumors in part as their foster mothers and in part as their real mothers.

Blood Type of Cats and of Man.

J. L. Rowland and G. McElory of Central College have shown in their experiments that cats have only one blood type instead of four as in man. Hence, among cats, any other cat can be the blood donor, with no fear of consequences. In their early transfusion experiments some signs of shock were noted but the addition of a small amount of glucose solution with the donated blood relieved this condition. These investigators also discovered the curious fact that, whereas cat blood serum would not cause agglutination of human corpuscles, human serum would produce the agglutination effect on corpuscles in the cat blood. It was also stated that the specific gravity of cat and human blood was almost the same.

Vitamin B Deficiency in Silver Fox.

Professor R. G. Green of the University of Minnesota and C. A. Evans of the U. S. Biological Survey state that silver fox breeders who feed their foxes a diet containing 10 per cent or more of fish are apt to have a serious nervous ailment develop in their animals. Basically, the disease is a vitamin B deficiency which is similar in reaction to a like disease in humans. However, the human disease is not caused by an over-feeding of fish food.

X-Ray Treatment in Carbon Monoxide Poisoning.

Dr. J. A. Cameron of the University of Missouri has found that monkeys which were exposed to concentrations of carbon monoxide that would have normally been fatal, recovered rapidly when treated with moderate amounts of X-rays. On the basis of these results, X-ray treatments may be of critical value in speeding recovery from carbon monoxide poisoning. Dr. Cameron also found that young rats and rabbits could withstand from six to ten times as great exposures to carbon monoxide as could adult animals of the same species. However, no such variation in age resistance was found in guinea pigs or monkeys.

Growth and Maintenance of Endocrine Organs in Tissue Culture.

Drs. Levenstein, Gordon and Charipper of New York University have adopted the methods of Carrel and Parker in their attempts to grow and maintain endocrine organs in tissue culture. They used the organs and sera of young and adult rats, guinea pigs and rabbits. The best results were obtained with organs from guinea pigs and rabbits, and the thyroid and pituitary glands were the easiest to maintain in culture. The ovarian and testicular maintenance was inconsistent, and negative results were obtained with all cortices of adrenal glands. These researches are being continued and will no doubt help in an analysis of the complex relationships of the glands of internal secretion.

Three-Weeks Human Embryo Specimen.

Prof. John S. Latta of the University of Nebraska has added another human embryo to the small collection already at hand in various institutions. This embryo was obtained from a uterus surgically removed from a hospital patient. It was found upon histological section of a part of the uterine endometrium. This embryo is estimated to be approximately three weeks of age and is of special value in the study of human embryology.

Blood Pictures of Football Players.

Dr. Farris of the Wistar Institute of Anatomy and Biology at Philadelphia has reported some interesting observations on the blood pictures of football players. Samples of blood were taken from a number of players before and after games throughout the season and a study of the red and white corpuscles was made. In general the following results were obtained: (1) Until mid-season, there was an average decrease of 822,000 cells per cubic millimeter following each game. (2) From mid-season on, there was an average increase of 618,000 red cells per cubic millimeter. It was also found that physical exertion and emotional stress produced changes in white cell numbers.

Longevity in Mammals.

Major S. S. Flower, a British zoologist, has for some years collected data on the length of life of a number of animals, and he finds that man is the longest-lived mammalian form. He has an authentic record of a human reaching the age of 114 years. Elephants, which were supposed to live longer than man were found to live about 50 years. The rhinoceros and hippopotamus reach the ages of 40 to 41 years in some cases. It was also stated that the size of an animal was in no way correlated with the age length, for the lion, tiger and the domestic cat show ages from 25, 19, and 20 years respectively. Ages of 500 years or more, claimed for tortoises and turtles, were stated as exaggerations. There were some records of tortoises reaching ages of 125 to 150 years and turtles up to 123 years. However, other reptilian species did not seem to be extraordinarily long-lived. See also BIOLOGY.

1939: Zoology

In reviewing the researches in the field of zoology for the past year it is impossible to mention more than briefly a few of the studies which have held the attention of scientists. Both experimental and descriptive or observational studies have yielded some interesting discoveries.

Sexual Studies and Hormones.

In the specialized field of endocrinology the most outstanding researches seem to have been directly or indirectly concerned with the problems of sex and reproductive physiology. Doctors Bachmann, Cole and Wilds, chemists of the University of Michigan report the total synthesis of the female sex hormone equilenin. This name was originally given because it was first found in the urine of pregnant mares. This synthesis can be considered an important advancement in the study of sexual activity in the female.

Dr. R. T. Hill of the Indiana University Medical School reported an interesting case of sex reversion in the goat. The animal was obviously a female when born. Shortly after birth indications of an abnormality were present and at the age of 8 months the goat was found to have male sex glands developing in the region where anatomically the ovaries should be. This is another example of the relatively close relationships between the female and male sexes at an early developmental stage.

Doctors Gaunt and Hays of New York University and Princeton University have reported that crystalline progesterone, the hormone normally found in the ovary and primarily concerned with reproduction, is also capable of maintaining life of animals deficient in the hormone found in the adrenal glands or cortin. Workers from other institutions have also repeated and confirmed the above work during the past year. This observation is not so surprising when one considers the chemical analysis of these hormones from the ovaries and adrenals and finds them to be somewhat similar chemically.

Sex control at the will of the investigator has been demonstrated by Dr. W. A. Puckett of Princeton University. However, this control has been applied to amphibians and it is doubtful whether it could be extended to the higher vertebrates and especially the human. Nevertheless, the procedure worked out by Dr. Puckett has worked very well in the bullfrog. He subjected the young frog or tadpole to injections of female hormone, theelin, or the male hormone, testosterone, in combination with an extract from the pituitary gland and found that all tadpoles would be rushed to maturity and that the sex ratio of the injected group would depend directly on the number injected with either the male or the female sex hormone.

Experiments in Embryology.

In the field of experimental embryology several interesting experiments have been carried out. Dr. L. H. Hyman of the American Museum of Natural History has continued her work on the problem of regeneration in invertebrates. By her experiments she has shown that the ability to regenerate lost parts is very intimately associated with the nervous system and furthermore that there is an anterior-posterior gradient to regeneration. For example, the potentiality to form a new head is greatest when the worm is severed near the head region. However, the farther the cut is made posteriorly toward the tail the more difficult it becomes to form a head for the cut then comes to lie in the region which is tail-dominated. On the basis of this experiment one has to then consider also a posterior-anterior gradient for tail regeneration.

It is well known that most parasites go through a number of stages from the larval to the adult for the completion of their developmental cycle. However, it is sometimes difficult to secure all of the stages because a number of different hosts are sometimes needed to show the complete cycle and if some of the intermediate hosts are unknown the cycle is not complete. The past year Doctors R. W. Glaser and N. R. Stoll of the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research at Princeton, N. J., have reported successful in vitro cultivation of a parasitic worm of sheep. By raising these parasite eggs in a sterile culture medium in test tubes they were able to hatch and carry the worms through their two free-living stages. They have not as yet succeeded in finding a nutrient medium which will enable them to raise the adult worms but investigations are being continued in that direction. Nevertheless their work must be considered another step toward a better understanding of parasites harmful to man as well as animals.

Another interesting study which can also be considered embryological, is the successful grafting of the embryonic limb of a white leghorn chick onto the body of a turkey embryo. Dr. H. L. Eastlick of the University of Missouri carried out the above experiment which was intended to be a reciprocal grafting experiment where the turkey limb was also grafted to the leghorn chick body. However, the latter graft was unsuccessful. Nevertheless, the first part of the experiment resulted in the white leghorn engrafted limb assuming the host or turkey characteristics. This experiment is a further confirmation of the fact that host inducing properties can be acquired by the donor if environmental conditions are suitable.

Artificial Activation of the Ovum.

On studies concerned with the early development of the egg, Dr. G. Pincus of Clark University, who is already well recognized for his work on the artificial activation of the rabbit ovum, has continued his studies on the human egg or ovum. He is primarily interested in studying the early stages of development so that medical knowledge, which is now most incomplete for the early stages, will be bettered. He secures the eggs from ovaries which have been removed by surgical operation for other reasons, and attempts to stimulate them into starting on their initial developmental path.

Observations by Government Bureaus.

In the more strictly observational field of zoology a number of interesting studies have been made. Zoologists of the U. S. Department of Agriculture have reported that moles, which have often been blamed for eating plant roots and bulbs, are not, for the most part, vegetarians, but rather feed on underground insects and grubs. They report that the short-tailed pine mouse makes use of the mole runway and since these animals are true vegetarians, they should shoulder most of the blame for the destruction often attributed to the mole.

V. L. Loosanoff, of the U. S. Fisheries Biological Laboratories reports observations on the spawning of oysters which tends to break down an old doctrine in the oyster industry. It has always been thought that oysters would not spawn at water temperatures below 68° F. However, Mr. Loosanoff has found spawning activity in water with temperatures as low as 62° F. It is entirely possible that spawning may occur at even lower temperatures when other environmental conditions are suitable.

Changes in Habit Due to Environment.

It has been reported that American large-mouth black bass are very numerous in a lake in Kenya Colony, Africa. It has been found that they grow faster and reach a larger size than do similar fish of the same age taken from lakes in Illinois and Wisconsin. It has been suggested that this increase in growth and weight of the African series might possibly be due to the restricted competition for food known to exist in African lakes.

Studies in Genetics.

Studies in the field of genetics have continued with better cytological techniques being devised for the study of chromosomes and also of the genes or hereditary units in chromosomes in a number of animal forms. Dr. C. A. Berger of Woodstock College has described a most interesting condition in the cells lining the digestive tract of a mosquito larvae. He finds the chromosome complement of individual cells in this area increasing one to two hundred times the normal without any division of the cells being observed. Then, when the larvae prepare to change into the adult form, the cell divisions all occur simultaneously and the normal chromosome complement characteristic of the species is then brought back to the new cells.

While genes have usually been considered as the units which are influential in determining the eye color in Drosophila or fruit flies, Dr. E. L. Tatum of Stanford University has reported evidence which seems to indicate that bacteria are also able to change the eye color. He states that the change from white to brown color is brought about by a hormone produced by the bacteria. This hormone then works in conjunction with tryptophane, an amino-acid added to the diet of the fly. The bacterium producing this hormone has not as yet been described as a distinct species. See also BIOLOGY; ENTOMOLOGY.

1938: Zoology

Contributions have been numerous in both general branches of the zoological field, namely experimental and strictly observational. Both branches have yielded reports which deal with countless forms of animal life. In reviewing the advancements of the year, numerous species of animals from high vertebrates or mammals to lower vertebrates and invertebrates must be included.

Effects of Drinking Heavy Water.

Since 1935, when Dr. Urey, of the Chemistry Department, Columbia University, discovered the existence of heavy water (deuterium oxide), scientists have wondered what would happen if one drank this water instead of the ordinary kind. It has been difficult to perform experiments of such a kind until recently, because this substance was not produced on a large enough scale. However, this year Dr. Barbour, of Yale University School of Medicine, has reported a series of experiments where mice were administered variable doses of this heavy water. When mice were kept on only one-fifth saturated heavy water they were not poisoned; instead, their life processes were kept going at a more rapid rate. Chemists have hitherto theorized to the contrary because of the fact that chemical energy of heavy water is low. In these experiments the heavy water seems to stimulate the sympathetic nervous system. The hair of the animals becomes elevated as though they were frightened, and their eyes tend to protrude. Dr. Barbour reports that this effect is produced by the heavy water's reaction in preventing the rapid decomposition of adrenaline, which normally is secreted into the body but which also normally disappears too rapidly for the above effects to be sustained. His experiments demonstrate besides that the mice will survive for only about one week if all their natural drinking water is replaced by heavy water. We see from these experiments that, depending upon the amount of heavy water consumed, life goes on at a more rapid rate, or that even death may ensue if heavy water is used for drinking purposes.

Vitamins.

Vitamins also have been prominent in the field of research the past year. Vitamin E, called the fertility or anti-sterility vitamin because rats need it in order to bear young, has at last been identified chemically, reduced to a chemical formula, and manufactured in the laboratory. The chemical part of this work is reported by six or seven scientists from 3 or 4 institutions in this country. This synthetic Vitamin E, chemically termed alpha tocopherol, when fed to sterile female rats allows them to raise young as if they had never been deprived of the natural source of Vitamin E occurring in numerous kinds of foods. Dr. H. M. Evans discovered Vitamin E some sixteen years ago as the result of numerous nutritional investigations, and he has continued his investigations at the Institute of Experimental Biology at the University of California with this new synthetic Vitamin E, to compare its effect on animals with that of the natural occurring source. He finds the effects of the synthetic substance (alpha tocopherol) identical with those of the natural vitamin. However, he reports that other chemicals have also been obtained which have a Vitamin E-like effect. These results are more or less similar to those obtained with other vitamins where several chemical substances may function similarly; e.g., Vitamins A and D. Another group of scientists, working at the Iowa State College, has reported that this vitamin E, which is so essential for normal reproduction in rats, is apparently not a diet essential for farm animals. They fed mixtures deficient in Vitamin E to goats, rabbits, and sheep and found that these animals would reproduce normally through at least several generations, unhampered by the lack of this vitamin. It is possible that the same effects might be applied to man. At any rate it is quite apparent that the effects of special diets are not invariably the same in rat nutrition as they are in other types of animal nutrition. Here we have another instance where studies on one type of animal cannot always be applied to other animals or to man.

Other new vitamins have been discovered during the past year and, as has been the custom, they are given names from the letters of our alphabet, so that the vitamin alphabet now stretches from A to Z with only a few letters missing. Vitamin T is found in egg yolk and seems to increase blood platelets, which are important for the coagulation of blood. Vitamin P is another new one, which is found in lemon juice and red pepper. Its exact function is not known, but it probably helps the body to retain Vitamin C.

New Hormone.

Another new hormone has been added to our already long list. This hormone has been described by Dr. Collip, of McGill University. It has been called 'the specific metabolic principle' and is produced by the middle portion of the pituitary gland. According to Dr. Collip and his associates, this principle speeds up the rate at which the body converts food, fuel, and energy. It has long been demonstrated that this vital process, known as metabolism, is controlled by the thyroid gland, which receives its stimulus from the pituitary through another hormone known as the thyrotropic hormone. However, this new principle acts independently of the thyroid. This has been demonstrated by injecting the principle into thyroidectomized animals, and noting the increased metabolic rate. Along with the above effects, this hormone also seemed to produce other striking effects, such as neutralizing the effect of insulin and also exercising some control over the adrenal glands.

Electric Eel.

An interesting experiment was carried out by C. W. Coates, of the New York Aquarium, and Dr. R. T. Cox, a physicist, of New York University. They connected an electric eel, which normally inhabits the fresh waters of South America, with a cathode ray oscillograph. When the eel was irritated, it would light a two-watt neon lamp. Furthermore, when connected with outside currents, the eel would send a modifying current through a loud-speaker system, loud enough to be audible. These scientists state that this eel, which is over four feet in length and weighs about ten pounds, is capable of discharging on an open circuit a peak voltage of 500 volts.

Fish Out of Water: Cause of Death.

Dr. A. G. Huntsman, of the University of Toronto, reports that the death of fish out of water is probably due chiefly to their violent struggles rather than to their inability to obtain sufficient oxygen through their gills. In his examinations of the tissues of fish after death, he found these tissues to be low in glycogen, which is a substance known as the energy-yielding principle. He also found a high concentration of lactic acid in their blood. This substance is a chemical end-product of muscular exertion. Hence we have a picture of death from overexertion rather than suffocation.

Extinction of Wildlife.

Interesting data have been collected and observations made in the fields of zoology which cannot be termed experimental. Dr. Francis Harper, of the American Committee for Wildlife Protection, has reported that, since the beginning of the Christian era, some 72 species and sub-species of mammals from all over the world have become extinct. This extinction was primarily through the human agency. He reports that the North American record is especially bad. Here, in over 40 years, 24 forms have become extinct. In contrast to this he finds that the extinction record in South America, which is relatively sparsely settled, is zero. Island faunas, he writes, suffer especially. Here you have animals in a limited area, with nowhere to escape to, and hence liable to the attacks of man or certain pests introduced by man.

Communal Habits of the Woodpecker.

William Ritter, Professor Emeritus of Zoology at the University of California, has made a study of some of the habits of a particular species of woodpecker found on the West coast. He has collected his observations on these birds and placed them in book form with the title 'The California Woodpecker and I.' Some interesting observations were based on the sociology of this species. Dr. Ritter writes that this bird is an acorn-storer. It stores the nuts in holes it bores in trees, buildings, etc. However, this enterprise is a communal one, for the woodpeckers all store their acorns in one tree trunk and all help themselves to the same storeroom. They also act together in protecting this store from marauding squirrels. Also, in building nests and even in feeding young, they work in groups of threes and fours.

Revival of Frozen Fish.

A long-disputed notion as to whether fish frozen in liquid air can be revived again has possibly been solved by the experiments of Dr. B. Luyet, of St. Louis University. He immersed goldfish in liquid air for variable periods and then placed them in water at ordinary temperatures. Dr. Luyet found that goldfish completely frozen cannot be revived. However, he found that the ability of the fish to regain its activity depends on the degree of damage done to the tissues: if a fish is frozen only superficially or is only momentarily rigid, it will survive; but if the body walls are injured to any great extent, the fish dies.