Frąckow iak H. and Śmiełowski J. 1998. Cephalic arteries in the European beaver C astor fiber. Acta Theriologica 43: 2 1 9 -2 2 4 .Cephalic arteries of 17 European beavers Castor fiber Linnaeus, 1758 were ex am ined. A fter the common carotid arteries were injected with resin, the heads were biologically macerated. Differences between individual specimens as well as asym m etrical distribution of certain arteries were noted. It was found that in the European beaver the common carotid artery divided into external and internal carotid arteries. The internal carotid artery is well developed in C. fiber, whereas in some other rodents it m ay be obliterated. The examined beavers had no stapedial arteries. Departm ent of A n im al IntroductionIn the available literarure the descriptions of the arteries of the head in beavers (Castoridae) are infrequent. The cephalic arteries in the European beavers was generally described by Andreyeva (1954). Bugge (1971Bugge ( , 1974 described this arteries on the basis of two specimens. Also Guthrie (1963) desribed the arteries of the head in only one Canadian beaver Castor canadensis. Material and metods ResultsThe cephalic arterial system of the European beaver takes origin mainly from the common carotid arteries which further divide into external and internal carotid arteries. The internal carotid artery enters the cranial cavity where it continue into the rostral cerebral artery which, together with caudal communicating artery and caudal cerebral arteries, from the circulus arteriosus. The vertebral arteries fuse and form the basilar artery which supplies blood to the circulus arteriosus. Fig. 1 shovs the circulus arteriosus of the European beaver The external carotid artery, by means of its branches, supplies the organs of the facial region of the head (Fig. 2). The first branch which arises from external carotid artery is the occopita] arte ry. Then the lingual and facial arteries take origin. The lingual artery gives of the dorsal lin gual rami and sublingual artery. The facial artery gives off the submental artery and, berding, passes to on the lateral surface of the mandible and divides into inferior and superior labial arteries. The external carotid artery terminates by dividing into superficial temporal and maxil lary arteries. The superficial temporal artery gives off the caudal auricular artery and con tinues as the transverse facial artery.The m axillary artery is the main vessel forming the terminal portion of the external carotif system. Its barnches form three charac teristic groups: (1) caudal deep temporal artery, inferior alveolar artery, middle meningeal artery, and pterygoid ramus, (2) nasal deep temporal and external ophthalmic arteries, (3) greater palatine artery, buccal artery, musculoglandular branch, spheno palatine artery, and malar artery.In the investigated beavers variations and asymmetries in the course, division and connections of some arteries were found. In 7 beavers (in 4 bilaterally) the occipital artery originated from the interial carotid ar...

The authors examined the inheritance of the vertebral stripe in the progeny of F1,F2 and F3 generations of Rana rridibunda from Turkey. The female as unstriped and the male as striped. All F1, froglets were striped, in F2 froglets this colour pattern segregated according to MENDEL'S law 3:1 (95 frogs were striped and 29 unstriped). In F3 froglets which were received from unstriped parents, only unstriped individuals appeared. Numbers of females and males among individuals of both colour patterns were normal (1:1). The authors concluded that the vertebral stripe in R. ridibunda is controlled by an autosomic gene and that the allele responsible for the presence oflight stripe is dominant and its antagonistic one is recessive.

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The ghor-khar is a rare subspecies of onager, or Asiatic wild ass, and its habits are little known. The only known wild population inhabits the Little Rann of Kutch Desert in Gujarat State in western India and, after its numbers fell dramatically in the 1960s, it was declared a protected species. Conservation measures, including the establishment of a Wild Ass Sanctuary in 1973, have been so successful that the most recent census, in 1983, recorded nearly 2000 individuals, compared with 362 in 1967. The authors made four visits to Gujarat to study wild asses between 1984 and 1986.