31 G ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



When escaped from the egg the embryo has no means of 

 locomotion, but probably attaches itself to pebbles, roots, or 

 stems of aquatic plants, in which it awaits the larvae des- 

 tined to become its nurse. When the larvse of certain tip- 

 ulae were introduced into the water containing these worms, 

 they were seen to penetrate into the less -resisting integu- 

 ments by means of the cephalic armor, and to introduce the 

 head directly thereafter. As soon as this was well estab- 

 lished the animal remained immovable, and a gradually hard- 

 ening cyst formed around it. 6 B, Aug. 5, 1872, 363. 



PEOPLE USING THE BOOMERANG. 



Colonel Fox, in his address before the Anthropological Sub- 

 section of the British Association, refers to the use of the 

 boomerang in different countries, and remarks that he has 

 traced this primeval weapon of the Australians to the Dra- 

 vidian races of the Indian peninsula, and to the ancient Egyp- 

 tians; and he states that all these races have been referred 

 by Professor Huxley to the Australoid stock, and that a con- 

 nection between the Australian and Dravidian lano;uacres has 

 been suggested by various philologists. 



In reply to the objection that the Dravidian boomerang 

 does not return, like the Australian weapon, he states that 

 the return flight is not a matter of such primary importance 

 as to constitute a generic difference, the utility of the return 

 flight, due to the comparative thinness and lightness of the 

 Australian weapon, having been greatly exaggerated. The 

 essential principle of the boomerang consists in its bent and 

 flat form, by means of which it can be thrown with a rotary 

 movement, thereby increasing the range and velocity of the 

 trajectory. 



In this connection the recent discovery by Dr. Edward 

 Palmer of the use of the boomerang among the American 

 Indians possesses a high interest. This gentleman, in the 

 course of his explorations, found this to be the principal 

 weapon among the Moqui Indians of Northern Arizona and 

 New Mexico, replacing the gun and the bow and arrow. It 

 is used more especially in killing rabbits, the motion by which 

 it is thrown for this purpose being similar to that of a stone 

 made to skip on the surface of the water. At a distance of 

 twenty-five to thirty yards the rabbit is rarely missed, how- 



