November io, 1923] 



NA TURE 



703 



Research Items. 



Indian Villages in the Eastern United States. 

 — Various writers during the eighteenth century 

 mentioned the Indian tribes in the Upper Missouri 

 Valley, but their accounts are vague, and little was 

 known of these tribes until the transfer of Louisiana 

 to the United States. The condition and structure 

 of their abandoned villages have been examined by 

 -Mr. D. I. Bushnell in Bulletin No. 77 of the American 

 Bureau of Ethnology. Natural environment influ- 

 enced the various types of structure. Thus in the 

 densely timbered country to the north, about the 

 head- waters of the Mississippi and far beyond, the 

 mat- and bark-covered wigwams were developed and 

 employed practically to the exclusion of all other 

 forms of dwelling. But in the plains, and in the 

 regions bordering on the great buffalo ranges, the 

 skin-covered tipis predominated, though other forms 

 were sometimes constructed by the same people. 

 The earth lodges erected by the tribes in the Missouri 

 \'alley were the most interesting structures east of 

 the Rocky Mountains, and these at once suggest the 

 rotundas, or great council-houses, once built by the 

 Cherokees and Creeks east of the Mississippi. The 

 discussion of these various types of habitation is most 

 instructive, and, as is the case with other publications 

 of the Bureau, the monograph is fully illustrated by 

 admirable photographs. 



Purposive or Mechanical Psychology. — In the 

 Psychological Review (Vol. 30, No. 4) Prof. Wm. 

 McDougall gives a very clear and interesting account 

 of the rival theories of purposive and mechanical 

 psychology. Some years ago, in his well-known book, 

 " Body and Mind," he reviewed the position as it 

 stood then from the historical and modern point of 

 view ; in this paper he reaffirms his belief in purposive 

 psychology and considers that form of mechanistic 

 psychology which is popular now, namely, that of 

 iK'havourism. He admits that there is no logical 

 reason why behaviourists should necessarily be 

 mechanists, but shows that actually very many of 

 tliem are. For certain very limited purposes 

 mechanical psychology may have value as providing 

 a convenient terminology ; but as soon as a study of 

 personalities is required, then the student is im- 

 mediately concerned with energy, persistence, 

 ambition, etc., qualities which the mechanistic 

 psychology cannot explain. If a psychology is 

 required which shall be able to explain the life of man 

 in society or to aid those in mental distress, or to 

 direct education, or to further the problems of ethics, 

 politics, or economics, then that psychology must 

 take into account purposes and motives ; mechanical 

 psychology as such can know nothing and teach 

 nothing about human motives. 



Nitrogen-fixing Bacteria in Leaf Nodules. 

 — L. A. Boodle, in an interesting note in the Kew 

 Bulletin (No. 9, for 1923, p. 346), directs attention 

 to the little-known phenomenon of nodules contain- 

 ing nitrogen-fixing bacteria occurring as a rule upon 

 the leaves of some of the tropical Rubiaceic. The 

 l>acteria occur in the seed, between the embryo and 

 ■ iidosperm, so that the seedling is infected on germina- 

 'lon. The bacteria then establish themselves in the 

 leaf-buds, in a gummy secretion within the stipular 

 sheath, and from thence enter the young leaves 

 through stomata. The nitrogen-fixing capacity of 

 these bacteria has been experimentally established 

 by von Faber ; Rao in India recently confirming 

 this fact. It is interesting to learn that native 

 practice in India and Ceylon values highly the leaves 



of species of Pavetta and Chomelia, which bear 

 nodules harbouring these bacteria, for use as green 

 manure. 



New Plants. — Part iv. of the new volume (148) of 

 Curtis's Botanical Magazine contains several plants 

 of especial systematic interest. Clethra Delavayi, 

 Franch, belongs to a genus regarded as having 

 Ericoid affinities, although with free petals. Reasons 

 have also been given for placing Clethra with the 

 Theaceae and Dilleniacea; among the more primitive 

 Parietales, but Dr. Stapf argues that our respect for 

 the taxonomic value of gamopetaly must make us 

 resist a recent suggestion to bring the Ericaceae also- 

 over to the side of the Theaceae. Carmichaelia 

 australis, R. Br., is a plant belonging to a remarkable 

 genus, almost confined to New Zealand, not before 

 illustrated in this work. Cheeseman terms the genus 

 the most difficult in the New Zealand flora for the 

 systematist ; " everything but the pods seems to be in 

 a state of flux." Rhododendron sinogrande, Balf. f. et 

 W. W. Smith, was regarded by Sir I. Bailey Balfour 

 as the Chinese representative of the Himalayan 

 7?. grande, Wall. It is described as having " the finest 

 leaves of any evergreen yet seen in this country." 

 Admiral H. Lynes is quoted for an admirable descrip- 

 tion of the habitat on the Lake Chad-Nile divide 

 where the brilliantly coloured Ho'tnanthus Lynesii^ 

 Stapf, was first discovered. The new species is 

 illustrated from one of the last plants sent in to Kew 

 by the late Mr. Elwes from his garden at Colesborne 

 Park. Wattakaka sinensis, Stapf, is a climbing 

 Asclepiad, which has figured under many generic 

 names, but Dr. Stapf agrees with recent systematic 

 reports that the Chinese species must go with its- 

 Malayan fellow, W. volubilis, into a separate genus, 

 the name for which is derived from the Malayan 

 species. Echium coeleste, Stapf, is another endemic 

 species confined to a very restricted area within the 

 Canary Islands. There are already three other 

 endemic species of Echium known from the island of 

 Palma, and one of these, E.gentianoides, like the present 

 species, is known only from the mountains above 

 Garafia. E. cceleste is perhaps the most beautiful of 

 this striking group of endemics, and may therefore 

 be of interest to horticulturists, as several striking 

 hybrids have already been produced from species 

 of Echium. 



Australian Dung Beetles. — In the Records of 

 the South Australian Museum, vol. ii. No. 3, June 

 1923, are several noteworthy papers on Australian 

 insects. Mr. Arthur M. Lea treats of the dung beetles 

 of the sub-family Coprides, but in comparison with 

 other parts of the world .\ustralia is poor in indigenous 

 species of these insects. This, however, is scarcely 

 surprising considering the dearth of large indigenous 

 mammals. Dung beetles of several kinds have multi- 

 plied with the distribution of domestic animals, and 

 many European species have been introduced. 

 Several of the genera are of exceptional interest, 

 especially Macropocopris, species of which live in fur 

 about the anal region of marsupials, and have de- 

 veloped very powerful claws : one species, M. sym- 

 bioticus, has been found in the cloaca of a wallaby. 



Praying Insects of Australia. — The Mantidae or 



Staying insects of Australia are enumerated bv Mr. 

 [orman B. Tindale in the Records of the South 

 Australian Museum, vol. ii. No. 3, June 1923. They 

 are evidently abundantly represented. The known 

 Australian species now number 76, including 4 genera 

 and 16 species added by Mr. Tindale. One of the 



NO. 2819, VOL. 112] 



