Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 3 (1899).djvu/71

Rh we read:—A hundred years ago, we are told, lands were not so well cultivated and drained as they are to-day. Then, when the rains came, the mosses soaked up the water, which formed itself into shallow lochs and pools. These gave out their contents slowly and gradually, and when the rivers were flooded they ran full for a long time. Now all this is changed. The hills are well drained, as well as all lands available for cultivation; and when the rain falls heavily the water rushes off at once to the rivers, which rise with wonderful rapidity, and then rush off with tremendous violence to the sea, tearing up the gravel, often altering its channel, and damaging the banks. The subsidence of the flood is as rapid as its rise. The damage which is done to the ova of Salmon when a flood of this nature occurs during or immediately following upon the spawning season, will be apparent to anyone. We have often seen whole banks of gravel washed away during such times, and of course, where these have been used for spawning-beds by the Salmon, the chances are that the greater proportion of the ova or undeveloped fry will be silted over and destroyed. The establishment of sufficiently large hatcheries where the ova and fry would be protected until the latter had reached a suitable age for returning into the river would counteract to a great extent these many adverse influences.

to a note in a late issue of the 'Daily Chronicle,' the recent practice of feeding the Lion in the Lincoln Park Zoo, in Chicago, with live Dogs has created something of a disturbance, the President of the Humane Society denouncing the practice, even though this method of feeding has been undertaken from a medical point of view. The Lion which has been thus fed is a big African specimen, which is afflicted with rickets, due, it is believed, to improper diet. During the past ten years twenty-seven African Lions, representing a loss of more than £2000, have died in this way, although hitherto the disease has been diagnosed as paralysis, and it is in the hope of preventing further loss that the Dogs, which were taken from the pound, were given to the Lion for food.

death of Mr. Christopher Sykes took place on Dec. 15th. This gentleman will not alone be remembered as the "grave young man of 'Lothair,'" and the friend of Princes, but, by British ornithologists, as one to whose untiring exertions we owe the Sea Birds' Protection Act.

a successful career of over thirty years, 'Science Gossip,' the favourite journal for amateurs devoted to Natural, Physical, and Applied Sciences, has just entered upon independent offices at 110, Strand. The editorial management is still under the control of Mr. John T. Carrington, assisted by Miss F. Winstone.