378 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



those of the Parrebeate Indians, better 

 known as the Parrintintins, who inhabit the 

 land of the upper Tapajos. They are mostly 

 taken in war and kept as trophies, and are 

 preserved by smoke from a root which they 

 call carrocopowpow. " They are very much 

 as they appear in life, except that a cord is 

 put in the mouth to carry them by, and the 

 eyes are covered with a mass of wax. The 

 practice was current among the Mundurucu 

 tribe long since, but now appears to be prac- 

 tised only among the wild tribes which in- 

 habit the country near the sources of the 

 Tapajos and Hingu Rivers. The heads were 

 taken about two years ago." One of the 

 heads is that of a woman. Mr. Morris is 

 now on his way to the Amazon for further 

 exploration, and a part of the collection is 

 offered for sale in his interest ; the rest will 

 be placed in the museum of the Long Island 

 Historical Society. 



A New Japanese Fruit-Tiee. We have 

 received from Prof. R. H. Wildberger, of 

 the Kentucky Military Institute, some of the 

 fruit of the Guikgo biloba. This fruit was 

 matured on a tree growing in the institute 

 grounds, and is supposed to be the first 

 ever produced in the United States. In 

 a communication to the editor, Prof. Wild- 

 berger says that the tree is a native of 

 Japan, and has been largely introduced into 

 the United States and Europe, on account of 

 its ornamental appearance. The one in the 

 Military Institute flowered and fruited in 

 June ; in September the fruit began to turn 

 yellow, and, after one or two frosts in 

 October, to fall. This tree, which is about 

 thirty feet in height, stands about eighteen 

 feet from another of the same species which 

 bore no fruit. Being absent at the period 

 of flowering, our correspondent was unable 

 to determine whether the species is dioecious, 

 i. e., bearing pistillate flowers on one tree 

 and staminate on another. Of the fruit he 

 writes that it is a drupe or stone-fruit, about 

 the size of a common wild-plum, much re- 

 sembling it while green ; but when mature 

 it has a shriveled appearance, and is yellow 

 in color. The sarcocarp, or fleshy part, is 

 easily separable, disclosing the putamen, or 

 stone, which is smooth and thin-walled, con- 

 taining a kernel as large as a plum-stone, 

 which has a pleasant taste. The sarcocarp 



has an acid, astringent taste, and a rather 

 fetid odor. The kernel is said to be highly 

 prized in Japan, and to be served at all 

 banquets, being supposed to promote diges- 

 tion and prevent flatulence. 



New Order of Extinct Reptilia. The 



museum of Yale College lately received the 

 greater portion of a huge reptilian skel- 

 eton, found on the eastern flank of the 

 Rocky Mountains, in beds that have been 

 regarded by Prof. Marsh as corresponding 

 nearly to the Wealden of Europe, and which 

 may be classed as Upper Jurassic. Prof. 

 Marsh writes that the remains are well pre- 

 served, but imbedded in so hard a matrix 

 that considerable time and labor will be re- 

 quired to prepare them for a full descrip- 

 tion. The characters already determined 

 point to affinities with the Dinosaurs, Ple- 

 siosaurs, and more remotely with the Che- 

 lonians, and indicate a new order which 

 may be termed Stegosauria. The animal 

 was probably thirty feet long, and aquatic ; 

 the body was protected by la^ge bony der- 

 mal plates, which appear to have been in 

 part supported by the elongated neural 

 spines of the vertebra?. One of these der- 

 mal plates was over three feet in length. 



Origin of the Moral Sense. According to 

 Darwin's theory the moral sense, conscience, 

 is a development of the animal instinct of 

 self-preservation. The scope of this in- 

 stinct was at first confined within the indi- 

 vidual ; it was next extended to the group 

 of animals in which it lived. In a low stage 

 of human development, man would be bound 

 by the ties of moral obligation at the most 

 to those of his own tribe ; but as he ad- 

 vances in civilization, and small tribes are 

 united into larger communities, "the sim- 

 plest reason," says Darwin, " would tell 

 each individual that he ought to extend his 

 social instincts and sympathies to all the 

 members of the same nation. This point 

 once reached, there is only an artificial 

 barrier to prevent his sympathies extending 

 to the men of all nations and races." Moral 

 sense, in this theory, is an enlargement of 

 an animal instinct, illumined by the light of 

 reason. To many persons this way of ac- 

 counting for the origin of morality is an 

 abomination; it is supposed that thereby 



