254 NATURAL SCIENCE. Oct., 



somewhat unfavourable conditions. In spite of fever, which has kept 

 him to his bed for half the time, Mr. Elliot has been able to get to 

 ii,ooo feet, where he found a violet and a tree heath. A deciduous 

 forest extends from 7,600 to nearly 9,000 feet, above which are 

 bamboos. The forest is damp to a degree, a cloud usually hanging 

 over it the whole day, making the processes of collecting and drying 

 rather difficult. 



The English Dialect Society is anxious to include the supplement 

 to the Dictionary of English Plant Names am.ong its publications for 

 1894. Those who have any additional names or notes are invited to 

 send them as soon as possible to Mr. James Britten, 18 West Square, 

 Southwark, London, S.E. 



A COLLECTION of twenty-three human skulls made by Dr. Machon 

 in the caves and old cemeteries of Patagonia, is the subject of a detailed 

 illustrated description by Dr. R. Verneau in the last number of 

 L' Anthropologic (vol. v., pp. 420-450), Seven specimens have been 

 presented to the Paris Museum of Natural History. Dr. Verneau 

 confirms the conclusion already arrived at by Dr. F. P. Moreno, that 

 several distinct races of men existed in Patagonia before the arrival 

 of Europeans. It is, however, still impossible to decide definitely 

 whether any or all of these races lived in the country simultaneously, 

 or whether they flourished successively at different periods. Some of 

 the artificially deformed skulls are curious. 



The members of the energetic Field Naturalists' Club of 

 Trinidad are continuing to publish valuable annotated lists of the 

 fauna and flora of the island. We have just received the latest of 

 these lists, dealing with the Reptiles and Batrachians, compiled by 

 Messrs. R. R. Mole and F. W. Urich, with the assistance of Dr. O. 

 Boettger and M. G. A. Boulenger. De Verteuil's work on Trinidad 

 enumerates twenty-six reptiles, but the species of most of these are 

 not to be recognised, except by the local names. Messrs. Mole and 

 Urich are more scientific, and the list before us is only preliminary, 

 to be followed by a series of notes on the life-history of the various 

 species. There are six tortoises, twenty-five lizards, thirty-three 

 snakes, and twelve batrachians, amounting in all to seventy-six 

 forms, of which twenty-one are recorded for the first time. Dr. 

 Boettger describes one new gecko {Sphirrodactylus molei) and^ a frog 

 {Hy lodes uric hi). 



Dr. W. H. Dall has been investigating the genus Gnathodon, 

 Gray, a series of bivalve mollusca inhabiting subtropical America in 

 the gulfs of California and Mexico, and preferring, like oysters. 



