170 NOTES AND COMMENTS [septembeb 



of the Somme, but wanting the characteristic flaking, were 

 found in the soils of the higher areas of the lower Tay 

 valley, but were entirely absent from those of the 50 -feet 

 and lower terraces." 



(2) " Similar stones found in Kaims and the most ancient river 



deposits, but more or less rolled or water- worn." 



(3) " These stones entirely absent, under ordinary circumstances, 



in recent river deposits ; if present, so completely water- 

 worn as to be practically unrecognisable." 



There exists, no doubt, a borderland, in which it would be difficult 

 to distinguish natural productions from the ruder works of man ; but 

 so long as this indefmiteness characterises Mr. Smith's specimens, no 

 archaeologist would be justified in concluding from them as to the 

 presence or absence of man in the district. Until this problem is 

 settled we need not inquire into the merits of the subsidiary one. 

 For the clear, methodical, and terse manner in which Mr. Smith has 

 laid the facts before the public he deserves a word of encouragement, 

 but we cannot say that he has proved his case. 



Insects and Tobacco. 



The Year-Book of the U.S. Department of Agriculture for 1898 con- 

 tains an interesting paper by Dr. L. 0. Howard on insects injurious to 

 the tobacco plant. It is remarkable that this plant, though native in 

 North America, is less subject to insect ravages than are cereals and 

 other imported crops. The most destructive, of the enemies mentioned 

 here is a small " flea-beetle," Epitrix parvula, which eats holes in the 

 leaves, and renders them liable to further damage through the entrance 

 of fungus-spores. The caterpillars of two large hawk-moths and of 

 several noctuids, including species so familiar to British entomologists 

 as Agrotis saucia and Heliothis armigera, are also noticed. Even when 

 prepared for consumption in another way by vertebrate admirers, 

 tobacco is still sought after by hungry arthropods ; the " cigarette 

 beetle," Lasioderma scrricorne, bores into all kinds of stored tobacco. 

 "An entomological acquaintance," writes Dr. Howard, "insists that 

 he buys infested 'short cut' by preference, both because he can 

 get it cheaper, and because the bodies of the insects impart a distinct 

 and not disagreeable flavour to the tobacco. He admits, however, 

 that it is a cultivated taste." 



