268 Chronicles of Science. [ April, 
on the average 10 per cent. less in weight than the male. As the 
result of his investigations Dr. Davis gives a long list which is very 
interesting. He gives as an average 474 oz. for the English brain, 
454 oz. for the French; Italians, Lapps, Swedes, and Dutch 
nearly the same as English. As to the Germans, he has not got a 
satisfactory result. Hindoos have 44% oz. of brain, the aboriginal 
Khonds of India only 87% oz., whilst Chinese and Siamese have 
47 oz. Of African races, the more northern negroes have from 44 
to 46 oz. of brain, whilst in the south we find the greatest contrast 
of capacity known, for whilst the Bushmen range from 31 to 39 
oz. only, the Kafir has on an average over 48 oz., a greater 
weight of brain than has the average Englishman. ‘he bold and 
enterprising Malays present a high brain-weight (over 47 o0z.), as 
also do the supposed aboriginal inhabitants of the Western Pacific. 
Dr. Davis does not state what collection of skulls it is which he has 
used in making these calculations. From some of his remarks, it is 
evident that the collection is not a very large one, and thus the 
value of the results is diminished. Several hundred cases ought to 
be collated in each race to give a satisfactory result. 
Fur-seals and Hair-seals—Dr. J. i. Gray has been recently 
writing on these animals, which are not only matters of curiosity 
to the world at large, on account of their strange forms, and of 
interest to zoologists especially, but also have a very considerable 
commercial importance in respect of their skins and their fat. The 
Eared-seals (Otartad#) inhabit the colder parts of the southern 
hemisphere; they are also called “ Fur-seals ” by the sealers, because 
they have a soft under-fur between the roots of the longer and more 
rigid hairs. Some are called “ Hair-seals” because they have only 
rigid hairs, and are not worth making into “ seal-skins.” These 
are only hunted for their fat, the skins if used bemg only applied 
to common purposes, such as covering boxes, &c., as with the skins 
of the ordinary EHarless-seals. Though zoologists have had great 
difficulty about distinguishing the various species of Hared-seals, it 
is not so with the practical dealer in skins; he knows the difference 
between the various kinds of skin at a glance, just as the dealers in 
whalebone were in advance of scientific men in distinguishing the 
species of whale by their baleen. With regard to the Sea-bear 
which was lately exhibited in the Zoological Gardens in London, 
Dr. Gray decides that it is the Otaria jubata. ‘There has been 
great difference of opinion on this point, but Dr. Gray has exa- 
mined the skull of the animal. He is anxious to see the account of 
the anatomy of this specimen, which Dr. Murie is to publish. The 
French sailor, Leconte, who brought this Sea-bear to England from 
Cape Horn, has been sent by the Zoological Society to the Falk- 
land Islands, for the purpose of procuring some other seals of the 
southern hemisphere. 
