Augusts, 1878] 



NATURE 



387 



battle unclasped one another, and they went on for several 

 days amicably feeding, burrowing, and building. The 

 same experiment was tried on the carpenter ants, which 

 behead their enemies ; their hostile proceedings were not 

 stopped by eau-de-Cologne. 



The Snare of the Basilica Spider. — Science is 

 under obligations to Mr. McCook of Philadelphia, for 

 his study of the marvellous constructions of the Basilica 

 spider (genus Epeira), near the Colorado River, Texas. 

 It was first found about two feet from the ground upon a 

 bush. The general form is pyramidal, the upper part of 

 it a mass of straight lines knotted and looped, and 

 crossing in all directions. Within this is suspended an 

 open silk dome, of a vast number of radii crossed by 

 regular concentrics. The dome was suspended from the 

 upper erection so as to be perfectly steadied and kept 

 in form. Beneath the dome was a light sheet of irregular 

 cobweb. The spider itself is very beautifully coloured. 

 This form appears to be a capital specimen of transition 

 between the orb-weavers and the line-weavers. It has 

 the characteristics of the line-weavers, namely, right lines 

 and sheet-web in exact detail, and dome-shaped web in 

 outline ; it also has the geometric web of the orb-weavers, 

 or radiating lines regularly crossed by concentrics. An 

 allied species {Epeira ghbosa)\s an orb- weaver, adding to 

 the simple orb an open but distinct tube reaching almost 

 to the centre of the web, with a free ray running along 

 the floor of the tube, kept taut by the fore feet of the 

 spider. An insect struggling in the web communicates 

 the motion directly to the spider, which rushes along the 

 covered gangway to its prey. Sometimes the gangway 

 is imperfect, or even wholly omitted. The orb in the 

 basilica spider appears to be the chief means of capture, 

 the dome the dwelling-place, and the upper pyramid a 

 suspension for this, and a protection against enemies. 



Sexual Conditions in the Red Maple.— It is 

 commonly stated that maples bear hermaphrodite, male, 

 and female flowers, but Mr. Thomas Meehan, of Phila- 

 delphia, asserts that the red maple is, according to his 

 observations, really dioecious, having only flowers of 

 one sex on the same tree. But the male and female 

 flowers are similar in outward appearance at first open- 

 ing, except that the small pistil is not developed in the 

 male flowers. The female flowers have anthers of full 

 size, and are supposed to be of both sexes, but the fact is 

 that the anthers do not develop after the flower has 

 opened, and shed no pollen. This is a rery remarkable 

 survival from a condition when the flowers were perfect. 

 It is not uncommon to find trees, originally female, send- 

 ing forth male branches, but Mr. Meehan has not found 

 male trees produce female branches. The male flowers 

 were found fragrant, the female not so. 



GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES 



Under the title of "Naturalists in the North West," a 

 Sydney paper has recently pubhshed some interesting 

 articles, the last of which relates to Mr. Miclucho-Maclay's 

 account of the manners and customs of what he calls the 

 Papuans of the Maclay coast. Their food consists mainly 

 of vegetable products, but'they have also some animal food, 

 though it is somewhat scarce. Many of their domestic 

 implements are of a very primitive nature ; a flat splint 

 of kangaroo bone forms a knife, of which a large kind 

 is made from a smooth shell ; axes are made sometimes 

 of agate, and a few large ones, 3 inches wide, are kept as 

 public property in each village. The dress of these 

 natives is the nial, a piece of cloth prepared like the tapas 

 of the Polynesians, from the bark of trees. The men all 

 carry the jambi and the gun, to supply the want of 

 pockets, the former being a bag suspended from the neck, 

 and containing tobacco, Ac, and the latter one woven of 

 different coloured threads, and ornamented with shells. 



The gun is slung over the left shoulder, and contains the 

 box of lime, betel-nut, knives, bamboo boxes of red and 

 black dyes, &c. The natives also wear bracelets of bark 

 or grass above the elbows, into which the dotigan is 

 thrust, and implements or weapons are also placed in the 

 bangles on their legs. Wild boar's tusks are highly 

 prized as manly ornaments to be worn on the chest, and 

 ear-rings of tortoise-shell, bamboo, stones, or flowers, are 

 all considered the proper adornment of the men. The 

 women do not decorate themselves to the same extent, 

 but they have cords from the upper part of one 

 ear passing over the forehead to the other, and 

 also bunches of dogs' teeth hanging from the lobes 

 of the ears ; they carry two bags, in one of which 

 they place provisions and in the other their young infants 

 or some pet pigs or puppies. Their huts and villages are 

 situated in groups round clearings in the forest, and the 

 plantations are usually at some distance. They have 

 three sorts of houses — for the single people, the families, 

 and a common house, principally used by the bachelors. 

 These habitations do not resemble the pile-dwellings of 

 the Western Papuans, and are only slightly raised above 

 the ground. In each cluster of huts is a gong, like a boat 

 raised on trestles, which, when struck in the right place, 

 emits so great a volume of sound that it can be heard at 

 a distance of six miles. It may be mentioned that these 

 people have no means of obtaining fire,' and frequently 

 have to go to the hill tribes, who are acquainted with a 

 cumbersome mode of friction by which they obtain a 

 light. 



Great exertions are being made by the Marquis 

 de Croizier, and others, to ensure the success of the 

 coming International Congress of Commercial Geo- 

 graphy, which will be opened at Paris on September 23, 

 under the presidency of M. Meurand, of the French Foreign 

 Office. Numerous foreign societies have been invited to 

 send representatives to the Congress, and we believe that 

 the Royal Geographical Society will be represented by 

 some members of their Council. The programme of the 

 Congress is an extensive one, the numerous subjects pro- 

 posed for discussion being arranged under the following 

 five heads : Explorations et Voies Commerciales ; Pro- 

 duits Naturels et Manufactures ; Emigration et Colo- 

 nisation ; Enseignement ; and Questions G^nerales. A 

 detailed programme and a restmii of the proceedings of 

 the Congress will be pubhshed each day and forwarded 

 to all the members. The meeting will be brought to a 

 close on September 28. 



At a recent meeting of delegates of the German African 

 Society at Berlin, it was resolved to grant the sum of 

 10,000 marks(5oo/.)to the International Association for the 

 Exploration of Africa, and also to support Dr. Buchner, 

 who is about to start for a tour through the districts lying 

 south of the Congo River. The reports recently received 

 from Herr Schiitte, the engineer of the society, who is now 

 at the Congo, continue to be favourable, and are accom- 

 panied by excellent maps of the districts he visits. 



Dr. Otto FinsCH, the Director of the Natural History 

 Museum of Bremen, will start for a scientific expedition 

 to Australia at the end of this year ; he is sent out by 

 the Royal Academy of Sciences of Berlin, who will defray 

 his expenses from their Humboldt fund. 



THE ELASMOTHERIUM 



AMONG the extinct animals of the diluvial age, few 

 hare left such scanty remains as the elasmotherium. 

 At the beginning of the present century Fischer von 

 Weldheim, when examining the palaeontological collec- 

 tions of the University of Moscow, came across the half 

 of the under-jawbone of an unknown animal, to which he 

 assigned a place between the rhinoceros and elephant. 

 The name elasmotherium was given to the new species, 



