394 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



will be remembered that great interest has recently been 

 displayed in the living Tarsier of the East Indies, owing 

 to its supposed special relationship to man. Even if one is 

 critical — as I am disposed to be critical — of the new theory 

 which divorces man and the higher apes, the interest of 

 the Tarsier as a primitive member of the Primates remains 

 very great. Now in the Eocene both of North America and 

 Europe there are a number of lemuroids, which are placed 

 in the family Anaptomorphidce, which is considered to be 

 nearer to the Tarsier than to the true lemurs of the family 

 Lemuridce. The type genus Anaptomorphns — which is also the 

 oldest genuS — is North American, but there are several others 

 found in the later Eocene of France. It is with these genera 

 that de Chardin deals. He discusses all the representatives of 

 this interesting little group of fossils, such as Pseudoloris, Necro- 

 lenmr, and Microchcerus, and describes one new genus, to which 

 the name Anchomomys is given. A feature of the paper is 

 the good illustrations. The reader may perhaps be reminded 

 that in addition to this Tarsier group, other Lemuroidea, more 

 closely related to the true lemurs, are found in the Eocene. 

 Other papers to be noted are : 



In the Proceedings of the Royal Society, Series B, vol. xcii., No. B. 645 

 (June, 1921) ; firstly, " A Remarkable Flint Implement from Selsey Bill," by- 

 Sir Ray Lankester ; and, secondly, " Preliminary Report of the Mackie 

 Ethnological Expedition to Central Africa," by the Rev. J. Roscoe. 



In Biometrika, vol. xiii., Pts. 2 and 3, " A First Study of the Burmese 

 Skull," by Miss M. L. Tildesley. And in Man : (i) " A Series of Rostro- 

 Carinete Implements not hitherto described," by J. Reid Moir (August) ; 



(2) " The Cornish Fisherman Type," by T. H. Andrew (September) ; and 



(3) " Egyptian Palaeoliths," by Prof. Flinders Petrie (September). 



MEDICINE. By R. M. Wilson, M.B.. Ch.B. 



Sir Thomas Lewis and his co-workers at University College 

 have recently made an important contribution to the study 

 of abnormal rhythms of the heart. Sir Thomas, some time 

 ago, drew sharp distinction between ordinary abnormal 

 rhythms, e.g. palpitation, and what he called " heterogeneous 

 rhythms." 



The latter include the extra-systole auricular fibrillation and 

 auricular flutter. In thinking of these it is necessary to perceive 

 a departure from the ordinary method of initiation of the heart- 

 beat. Sir Thomas Lewis uses the illustration of a prairie fire. 

 The fire can advance only over areas of the ground which have 

 not yet been burnt out, where, in fact, there is a sufficiency of 

 grass. If the grass has been burned in advance in any region 

 the fire will be sta3''ed when that region is reached. Nor can 

 the fire return until new grass has grown up. 



