532 



NATURE 



[June 23, 192 1 



posed on scientific education and research by the 

 proposal to repeal that part of the Tariff Act of 1913 

 which permits the duty-free importation of scientific 

 materials, and on behalf of its 12,000 members asks 

 for reconsideration of the suggestion. 



A FURTHER step in the movement towards the 

 standardisation of automobile, motor-cycle, and cycle 

 parts has been taken by the British Engineering 

 Standards Association in the formation of seven sub- 

 committees the subjects and chairmen of which are as 

 follows : — Nomenclature, Major C. Wheeler ; Steels, 

 Mr. A. A. Remington; Small Fittings, Mr. W. D. 

 Williamson ; Electrical Fittings, Mr. E. Garton ; 

 Shafts and Shaft Details, Mr. L. A. Legros ; Wheels, 

 Rims, and Tyres, Lt.-Col. D. J. Smith; and Cast 

 Iron, Dr. L. Aitchison. Before the sub-committees 

 actually embark upon the detailed work the various 

 organisations concerned are being consulted in order 

 to ensure that the proposed personnel meets with their 

 approval as adequately representing their respective 

 interests. In the meantime, technical data in regard 

 to the specific subjects to be taken in hand imme- 

 diately are being collected, and this should greatly 

 facilitate the progress of the work as soon as the 

 membership of the sub-committees is officially 

 approved. 



Dr. a. C. Haddon selected as the subject of the 

 Huxley memorial lecture, published in the Journal of 

 the Royal Anthropological Institute (vol, 1., part ii.), 

 "The Migrations of Cultures in British New Guinea." 

 He remarks that along the coast a traveller notices a 

 series of cultures, some evidently related to one an- 

 other, while others are as obviously unrelated. The 

 differences indicate that there is no immediate relation 

 between them, though their affinity points to a 

 common orig^in. The cultural problems of the south- 

 eastern peninsula and the outlying islands are in the 

 main quite distinct from those of the west, and the 

 differences between these two groups indicate clearly 

 that there cannot have been any extensive cultural 

 movements from the Papuo-Melanesian to the 

 western Papuan. We are driven, on g^eneral grounds, 

 to the supposition that the cultures of the southern 

 coast of New Guinea came down more or less froni 

 the north. The difficult%' is that we have as yet no 

 precise knowledge of the inhabitants of the interior of 

 the island, and the socio-religious customs of the 

 natives of many of the coastal areas have yet to be 

 investigated. The lecture, with its appendix of 

 material, is a valuable contribution to our knowledge 

 of the ethnology of New Guinea. 



It is a significant indication of the change of view 

 in relation to anthropometry that in his paper on 

 "Ancient Skulls from Greenland " Mr. W. E. Le Gros 

 Clark (Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 

 vol. 1., part ii.) remarks that many attempts have 

 been made to deal with the various races of man as 

 the zoologist deals with the various species of mam- 

 mals ; to find some specific features which may serve 

 to differentiate the skull of one race from the skull 

 of another, in the same way that the concave post- 

 orbital process distinguishes the skull of a fox from 

 that of a dog. " This method was carried to an ex- 

 NO. 2695, VOL. 107] 



treme by Sergi when he subdivided the Mediterranean 

 Race into a number of varieties, each characterised 

 by the shape of the cranium as seen from above. 

 These attempts have all failed, and it must be realised 

 that the variation of individual skulls of modern 

 races is so great that it is often extremely difficult to 

 assign an isolated skull of unknown origin to a de- 

 finite race with any degree of certainty." Mr. Clark 

 points out that the construction of a type contour 

 obviates these difficulties, and on its use the future ot 

 the science of craniology must depend. 



All lovers of Oxford will welcome the pamphlet 

 issued by the Clarendon Press in which Mr. H. E. 

 Salter, after an exhaustive study of the college records 

 and other literature, discusses "The Historic Names 

 of the Streets and Lanes of Oxford. Intra Muros." 

 It is remarkable that during the last 900 years only 

 two new streets have been constructed — New Road in 

 1770, and King Edward Street about a hundred years 

 later. The old lane near Christ Church meadow was 

 called Shulinstoke, the pool above the mill where the 

 cucking-stool was used; The Seven Deadly Sins was 

 perhaps the sign of an inn, or a set of seven small 

 cottages; Bocardo Lane was called after the Bocardo 

 or Town Prison ; the Turl was the Twirling Gate on 

 the foot-way which led from Ship Street to Broad 

 Street, and is not, like "The Broad," an under- 

 graduates' abbreviation. Broad Street was known as 

 Horsemonger Street in the thirteenth century, and 

 that running from the west end of Broad Street to- 

 wards the station was Irishman's Street, The author 

 ends by suggesting that Cat Street should be restored 

 for Saint Catherine's Street, Bocardo Lane for St. 

 Michael's Street, and that Alfred Street should be re- 

 christened Vine Hall Lane. 



At the Royal Society conversazione on June 15 an 

 exhibit was given illustrating the life-history of 

 Chermes Cooleyi, Gillette. This insect has been 

 recently observed in Britain. It is spreading rapidly 

 throughout the southern counties of England, and 

 occurs in two localities in Scotland. A study of it is 

 being made by Mr. R. N. Chrystal under the direc- 

 tion of the Forestry Commission with the view of 

 working out its biology and determining its relation 

 to Douglas fir and Sitka spruce plantations in this 

 country. 



Vol. lviii. (pp. 483-576, 1920) of the Proceedings 

 of the U.S. National Museum contains a revision of 

 the Nearctic ichneumon-flies of the genus Apantales 

 by Mr. C. F. W. Muesebeck. As natural controlling 

 agents of injurious insects many species of Apantales 

 play important parts. Thus the larvse of the common 

 cabbage butterfly, those of the gipsy and brown-tail 

 moths, and many cut worms and army worms are 

 heavily parasitised by these insects. There appears 

 to be no authentic record of an Apantales having been 

 bred from any insects outside the Lepidoptera. In 

 this revision 164 species are known to the author, 

 and a list of their hosts is appended wherever known. 

 On pp. 327-62 of the same serial Mr. R. A, Cushman 

 revises the ichneumon-flies belonging to the tribe 

 Ephialtini, the members of which are internal para- 

 sites of Lepidopterous pupae. 



