ZOOLOGY. 295 



but the absence of ocular proof led most people to doubt them, and 

 it was pretty generally believed that either the blacks alluded to were 

 merely suffering from some cutaneous disorder, or the tale was one of 

 those bush ' yarns ' with which settlers think it no harm to hoax the 

 townsman. Yesterday, however, we had an opportunity of ascertaining 

 that all the statements were perfectly true. Mr. M'Kay, a gentleman 

 just arrived from the Balonne River, called at our office with one of 

 these natives. He is a young man, according to Mr. M'Kay's belief, 

 only about sixteen or seventeen years of age, but certainly looking 

 much older. His head is entirely destitute of hair, nor is there any 

 trace of hirsute honors on his body. There was a black, ingrained 

 appearance on the scalp as if the roots of hair remained, but Mr. 

 M'Kay states that this is merely the traces of a dirty cloth which he 

 was in the habit of wearing on his head. There needed not, how- 

 ever, this remarkable destitution of hair to show that the individual 

 before us was the type of a race utterly differing in physical peculiar- 

 ities from the ordinary aboriginals of Australia. The whole contour 

 of the face, form of the head, expression, color of skin, and listless, 

 almost sullen attitude, at once suggested the Mongolian. His physi- 

 cal development is far inferior to that of the healthy aboriginal found 

 in other parts of Australia. The large, rapid eye, thick lips, broadly- 

 spread nose, and deep brown skin, were all absent. The peculiarity 

 of the face was most evidently Chinese, and the eye confirmed this 

 impression. The skin of this interesting stranger is precisely of that 

 deep yellow-brown shade which might be expected in a descendant 

 from Chinese and aboriginal Australian parents. The party to whom 

 he belonged for there is no clear reason for calling it a tribe - 

 appeared to inhabit the country to the north-westward of the Upper 

 Warrego. Mr. M'Kay had not seen more than six or seven of them 

 at various times, one, at least, of whom was a woman, and one man 

 was much taller and more strongly proportioned than the specimen 

 brought to our office. The whole circumstances of the case render it 

 extremely probable that these remarkable people are the descendants 

 of Chinese fishermen, who, having, years ago, landed or been cast 

 away in the Gulf of Carpentaria, or on the Australian coast of the 

 Arafura Sea, have remained with the Australian aborigines, and 

 transmitted the physical peculiarities of their race to their de- 

 scendants." 



THE ZOOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF THE BRAIN AND LIMB CHAR- 

 ACTERS OF MAN. 



The following is a report of an interesting discussion on the rela- 

 tive position of man and monkeys which took place at the last meet- 

 ing of the British Association (1862), between several well-known 

 naturalists. Prof. Owen commenced the discussion by exhibiting and 

 contrasting the brain of a man and the brain of a gorilla. The differ- 

 ences between them he pointed out as follows : In the brain of man, 

 the posterior lobes of the cerebrum overlapped, to a considerable 

 extent, the small brain, or cerebellum; whereas in the gorilla the 

 posterior lobes of the cerebrum did not project beyond the lobes of 

 the cerebellum. The posterior lobes in the one were prominent and 



