July 7, 192 1] 



NATURE 



603 



King's mouth with a fork ; should the fork touch the 

 king's teeth the cook is instantly put to death. All 

 who have to do with the king's food, either milk or 

 meat, are specially purified, and have their faces, 

 chests, and arms whitened. Daily the king has to 

 pass through a series of seven sacred huts for the 

 purpose of herding three of the sacred cows in a 

 special enclosure. The rest of the day he is occupied 

 largely with royal duties, receiving and judging his 

 people. 



At every appearance of the new moon there are 

 festivities which last nine days. The king, as soon 

 as the new moon appears, pronounces a blessing on 

 the people, and dancing and music begin, continuing 

 day and night for a week. On the second day the 

 king proceeds through the seven sacred huts to the 

 place where he dailv herds the sacred cows, and there 

 he receives any member of the Sacred Guild who has 

 offended. The mark of pardon is to be allowed to 

 kiss the king's hands, and, however kindly the kmg 

 may address the man, unless he holds out his hands 

 to be kissed, the man knows that he has only a few 

 davs to live. , r- -ij 



The admission of a new chief to the Sacred Uuild 

 is also a milk ceremonv of importance, for the new 

 chief has to drink some of the king's sacred milk in 

 the presence of the king. The experience is so trymg 

 that men sometimes faint under the ordeal. 



The king holds an annual celebration of his acces- 

 sion to the throne, when to defeat his enemies he 

 shoots arrows to each quarter of the globe from a 

 special bow strung with sinews cut from the shoulder 

 of a living man. Once a year also the king calls for 

 a blessing on the land by offering pieces of meat to 

 each of the four quarters of the globe. 



In reply to questions asked after the readmg of the 

 paper, Mr. Roscoe said that the reason for these cere- 

 monies, as given by the natives themselves, was purelv 

 economic. The aim was to promote the well-being of 

 the cattle and the crops. 



Trees and Shrubs of Mexico. . 



THE first instalment of an account of the woody 

 plants of Mexico, by Mr. Paul C. Standley, is 

 issued as vol. xxiii., part i, of the Contributions from 

 the United States National Herbarium. The work 

 is based upon the extensive series of Mexican plants 

 in that institution. The botanical features of Mexico 

 have attracted attention from the days of the earliest 

 explorers, and many botanists have visited the country 

 within the last hundred years, yet the flora is still 

 but imperfectly known. The plant formations are 

 remarkably diverse, including the wet tropical forests 

 of the southern lowlands, the temperate deciduous 

 and coniferous forests of the central plateau and of 

 the ranges of the Sierra Madre, the alpine zones of 

 the high peaks like Orizaba and Popocatepetl, and 

 the great barren or cactus deserts in the northern 

 States. For anvthing approaching a complete account 

 of the flora of 'Mexico we have hitherto had to rely 

 on Dr. Hemsley's list in the " Biologia Centrali- 

 Americana," published nearlv forty years ago; much 

 botanical work has been done in the country since that 

 time, and a descriptive flora which will give an 

 account of present knowledge and serve as a starting- 

 point for further work is a desideratum. 



Mr. Standley deals only with the trees and shrubs, 

 the larger number of which, especially those of 

 economic importance, are probably already repre- 

 sented in herbaria. In his introduction ^ he gives 

 an interesting account of several of the earliest enter- 

 prises for the botanical exploration of Mexico, in- 

 cluding that of Francisco Hernandez, 1570-77, and 



NO. 269.7, VOI^- 107] 



that of Martin Sessi and Jose Mocino more than two^ 

 centuries later. Large collections of plants and 

 sketches were made in connection with both these- 

 expeditions, and extensive accounts prepared in manu- 

 script, but the work of Hernandez was not publishedi 

 until long after his death, and then only in an. 

 abridged form; while Mocino 's " Plantae Novae 

 Hispaniae " and " Flora Mexicana " were issued by 

 the Sociedad Mexicana de Historia Natural in i886' 

 and 1888 respectively, by which time their interest had 

 become merely sentimental. 



The present instalment of Mr. Standley 's work deals'- 

 with the ferns, gymnosperms and monocotyledons,, 

 and a few families of dicotyledons. By an oversight 

 no clue to the general systematic arrangement has- 

 been given ; there is an elaborate key to the families,, 

 which should have been given numbers. Keys to the 

 genera are supplied under each family and to the 

 species under each genus ; references to the original 

 description of genus and species are given, the range 

 of each species so far as it is known is indicated, and' 

 in some cases short descriptive notes are added ; the 

 native names and economic uses are also mentioned. 

 The ferns (elaborated by Mr. W. R. Maxon) are 

 nearly all tree-ferns ; the conifers include twenty-six 

 species of pine, and a few cypresses, junipers,, 

 ephedras, and others. There are a few grasses — 

 bamboos, reeds, etc. — eighteen genera of palms, and,, 

 though strictly herbaceous, three genera of climbing 

 aroids are included. Prof. Trelease has been largely 

 responsible for the account of the liliaceous and 

 amaryllidaceous plants, types characteristic of dry 

 country, including the yuccas and agaves, species of 

 the latter genus nurnbering 170. The dicotyledons 

 include fifty-nine species of Piper, poplars, willows 

 (sixteen species), walnut and hickory, and alders (six 

 species). 



University and Educational Intelligence. 



Birmingham. — At a degree congregation held on 

 July 2 the Chancellor (Lord Robert Cecil) conferred 

 the following degrees : — D.Sc: Fred Johnson; M.D.: 

 John Shaw Dunn; Ph.D.: H. D. K. Drew, Abd el 

 Rahman El Sawv; M.Sc: F. Adcock, C. F. Allpress,. 

 H. Burgess, V.' A. Collins, W. A. P. Challenor, 

 J. G. H. Frew, C. V. Hackett, Lucv E. Hardcastle, 

 W. J. Hickinbottom, T. L. Ibbs, D. H. Ingall, F. 

 James, L. A. Jones, E. W. Pratt, E. A. F. Reeve, 

 H. S. Rooke, F. G. Srawlev, R. C. Watson, Dorothv 

 Webster, and E. H. Wells.' 



In addition 134 candidates were admitted to the 

 degree of B.Sc. 



The Chancellor announced that the recent appeal 

 had brought in 285,062/., besides increased grants 

 from education committees in the surrounding 

 counties. 



A generous donation of 5000Z. from Mr. C. Hyde 

 has enabled the University to acquire a house, to be 

 converted, into a hostel for about seventy men 

 students. 



Cambridge. — A travelling fellowship of 200/., offered 

 to past students of Girton College, and tenable at any 

 foreign or colonial university, has been awarded to 

 Miss M. G. Tomkinson, assistant lecturer in 

 chemistry. Girton College. Miss Tomkinson proposes 

 to work in the chemical laboratory of the University 

 of Toulouse, under the direction of Prof. Sabatier. 



Dublin. — Mr. D. Clark, lecturer in civil engineering 

 and chief assistant to Prof. Moncur in the Royal 

 Technical College, Glasgow, has been elected to the 

 chair of civil engineering at Trinity College. 



The honorary degree of LL.D. has been conferred 



