202 



NATURE 



\yune 20, 1878 



and other physicai observations which were made will be 

 published in well-arranged form. At the furthest point 

 reached, a bread bag filled with the scrapings of the 

 pannikins and a little pemmican was lowered to the 

 bwittom of the sea, and, having been kept there for some 

 hours, was hauled up, and was found to be almost alive 

 jjwith numerous small crustaceans and foraminifera. With 

 b/the thermometer a series of temperatures was taken 'at 

 * every ten fathoms, while the specific gravity of the sur- 

 face-water was also obtained. Tidal action was apparent, 

 though it was impossible to collect any exact data. 



Capt. Markham, like his relative, Mr. C. R. Markham, 

 is evidently of opinion that the Eskimo entered America 

 from Asia, spreading eastward, and finding their way to 

 Greenland by crossing at almost 8i° 54'. This is, we 

 confess, the theory which most readily presents itself, but 

 those who have studied the subject most deeply, and in 

 all its aspects, have come to the conclusion that the 

 Eskimo are virtually indigenous, and came northwards 

 from the American continent itself, the migration being 

 from America to Asia, and not the other way. Indeed, 

 some ethnologists go so far as to maintain the essential 

 unity of origin of all the American families, and that all 

 the differences in physique, language, &c., may be ex- 

 plained by differences of environment. In the case of 

 America, probably, more than anywhere else, language 

 is a really important factor in the ethnological problem. 

 (See Prof. Sayce' s article last week on " The Ethnology 

 of North-West America.") 



Capt. Markham gives an extremely pleasant account of 

 the winter amusements on board the Alert — the Royal 

 Arctic Theatre, the Thursday Pops., the school for the 

 men, &c. The last-mentioned institution appears to have 

 been a great success^ and we are sure the men will feel 

 the benefit of it all their lives. One feature of the Thurs- 

 day Pops, we must mention with special approval ; except 

 on the evenings exclusively devoted to the legitimate 

 drama, these entertainments were always preceded by a 

 lecture delivered by one of the officers on some interesting 

 and at the same time instructive subject, adapted to the 

 knowledge and intelligence of the audience. In this way 

 thirteen lectures were given altogether, and with the 

 exception of one on a historical subject by Mr. White and 

 one on Sledging Experiments by Capt, Nares, they were 

 all on scientific subjects. Capt. Nares began the series 

 by a lecture on Astronomy, which was followed by lectures 

 by the other officers on Magnetism, Geology, Meteorology, 

 Steam, Mock Moons under the Microscope, Light, Astro- 

 nomy again, Food in the Arctic Regions, Arctic Plants, 

 Hydrostatics. Indeed it is difficult to conceive that more 

 could have been done to enable the expedition to pass as 

 cheerful a winter as possible under the circumstances. 



Altogether Capt. Markham' s work is a thoroughly 

 interesting and instructive narrative of a memorable ex- 

 pedition. The numerous illustrations and the maps add 

 considerably to its value. 



ON THE STRUCTURE AND DEVELOPMENT 

 OF THE SNAKE 



IN my paper on the skull of this type (see abstract Proc. 

 Roy Soc, January 10, 1878, pp. 13-16) I spoke of the 

 snake as "lying at the very base of the gill-less \txt&- 

 brata, and possessing a skull at once the simplest and 

 yet the most curiously specialised," of any of the many 

 kinds I have worked out. 



As far as existing forms of reptiles are concerned, the 

 snake does lie at the very base, yet, on the whole, I am 

 inclined to add it to the other limbless lizards, such as the 

 blind-worm and the amphisbasna, and to consider it, 

 therefore, as a lizard which has had its limbs starved out 

 for special purposes. 



Much of the cranio-facial axis of the snake remains in 

 a very primordial condition, but the outworks of the skull 



are modified to such a degree that " the power of nature 

 could no further go." 



I have not yet worked out the skull in the amphis- 

 baenidas, but I expect to find it to have many things in 

 common with that of the serpentiform amphibia, the 

 " CcEcilians." 



But the "Anguidae," taking the common blind- worm 

 {Annuls fragilts) as an example, are merely "Scin- 

 coids" that have dropped their limbs but retained their 

 limb-girdles : they are lizards to all intents and pur- 

 poses, and the native kind only differs from its quadru- 

 pedal relatives, in possessing an additional segment 

 ("mesopterygoid'') in the " pterygo-palatine " arcade, 

 a segment common in osseous fishes and birds, but sup- 

 pressed, as a rule, in the scaly reptiles. 



As to that which is archaic, the chameleons so com- 

 mon in Africa, and the unique New Zealand Hatteria 

 {Sphefwdofi), these outliers of the lizard tribe are evidently 

 more generalised than the serpents. 



But all these forms — snake, tropical lizard, legless 

 lizard, and old aberrant lizards — all these come as close 

 to the bird as the ptipa of a dragon-fly does to the imago 

 of the same insect. 



With regard to the earlier stages and to the mode of 

 development of the embryo, generally, I have stated in 

 my paper (pp. 9 and 10), that " As to the general embryo- 

 logical study of the snake's embryo, it may be remarked 

 that it is almost exactly that of the birds. Comparing 

 my own observations on this low type with the results 

 given in the study of the chick in Foster and Balfour's 

 excellent work, I find that few paragraphs in it would 

 need any material alteration, and that the figures would 

 mostly serve very accurately if in that work the word 

 chick- were to be exchanged for that of snake-e.Tc^x^'o. 

 The development of the vesicles of the brain, the organs 

 of special sense, the rudiments of the cranium and face^ — 

 those things that come across my path, to say nothing of 

 the rest of the growing germ, all are developed similarly 

 in the snake, below, and in the bird, above." 



If this be so, the modifications undergone afterwards, 

 in the specialisation of the skull and skeleton generally, 

 and in the appearing and packing of the enclothing 

 muscular masses, those " cunning machines " that do the 

 gymnastics of the body — the development and endless 

 modifications of these parts must be of the greatest 

 interest. 



I must refer to Professor Huxley's paper "On the 

 Classification of Birds" iJLooi. Proc, 1867, pp. 415-418) 

 for a comparison of the bird with the reptile, and for the 

 reasons existing that have led modern anatomical zoolo- 

 gists to put the reptiles and birds into one group, viz., 

 the " Sauropsida." ^ 



With regard to the loss of limbs it is not a httle re- 

 markable that, on the theory of the "Ratitse" being 

 parental to the " Carinatae," in the bird class, that pair of 

 limbs which was to be most metamorphosed was not 

 quickened into new life until it had died. Morphogically, 

 the wingless Dinornis stands directly beneath the whole 

 of the "winged fowl" known to us, and the steps and 

 stages from that monster up to the sun-bird and the hum- 

 ming-bird are very gentle and gradual. 



But there were reptiles in the olden times " that spread 

 their limber fans for wings," and there were true birds 

 also which had evidently only just escaped from the rep- 

 tilian territory, as the Archaopteryx, for instance, and 

 these are seen to be actually modifying the paw into a 

 wing. 



Perchance the birds grew out from many a kind of old 

 generalised reptile ; yet, be this as it may, the eagle him- 

 self is not a more powerful or beautiful creature than a 

 python or a boa, nor is there much more to wonder at in 



' That account of: the "Sauropsida" needs a little modification in the 

 light of newer discoveries. I have given such an improved account in my 

 article on the Anatomy of Birds in the ninth edition of the "Encyclo- 

 paedia Britannioa," vol. iii., p. 278. 



