May 6, 1875] 



NATURE 



The A'ok of Feet in the Struggle for Existence 



May not the "set " of the feet in various races of men have 

 played a not unimportant part in the struggle for existence ? In 

 thinking over the subject the following points have occurred to 

 me, and perhaps some of your readers may be able t© throw 

 some further light on the question. 



In the case of the North American Indian, for example, 

 except that he wears soft mocassins instead of stiff boots, 

 he is less in a state of nature as regards his feet than we 

 are. For we, and all the Teutonic tribes for countless gene- 

 rations, have paid little regard to our feet except as instru- 

 ments of unconscious progression or as pedestals on which 

 to stand firm. The North American Indian, on the contrary, is 

 obliged by his habits of life, and has been obliged for himdreds, 

 perhaps thousands of years, to direct his particular attention in 

 no small degree to the position of his feet. For in hunting it is 

 of the greatest importance that he shall not tread on any rotten 

 slick which may snap with a loud noise and alarm the game of 

 which he is in pursuit. On the war track it is of equal import- 

 ance that he shall deceive his enemies as to the number of his 

 party, and so each man carefully steps in the footprint of the 

 warrior who had preceded him. This, I should think, would 

 be decidedly easier if the foot were kept 

 pointing straight fore and aft than if it 

 were held obliquely. This may be more 

 evident from the three rough outlines I 

 have drawn of footprints in each posi- 

 tion, in which I have made the differ- 

 ence in the length of the btride much 

 the same. Indeed, the difference is 

 greater in the fore and aft one, and yet 

 the impression made by the three foot- 

 prints will not be so large as when 

 the foot is oblique. In walking in 

 snow-shoes, too, the feet must be held as nearly as possible 

 parallel, as otherwise the shoes are apt to catch in each other 

 and trip their wearer up. It seems quite possible that long- 

 continued attention to the position of the feet for many gene- 

 rations, together with the advantage which a parallel position of 

 the feet may have conferred in the struggle for existence, may 

 have led to its becoming a permanent characteristic of the Red 

 Indian ; while the advantage which the outward direction of the 

 feet may have given the old Saxon, by affording a firmer support 

 in a hand-to-hand struggle, may have led to its permanence in 

 the successors of those who possessed this peculiarity, and by its 

 means enabled them to overcome their opponents. 



I cannot be quite sure about the ancient Egyptians. If I 

 remember rightly, the Farnese Hercules has toes pointing con- 

 siderably outwards, while Mercury generally has his feet more 

 or less parallel. This would indicate that the Greeks associated 

 the former position with strength and firmness, and the latter 

 with fleetness. As fleetness will also aid the North American 

 Indian in the struggle for existence, it is possible that its asso- 

 ciation with a parallel foot may have something to do with the 

 peculiar formation of his ankle-joint. This, however, leads us 

 to the question which I do not think has ever yet been taken up : 

 In what way does the possession of a certain kind of weapon and 

 the use of particular methods of warfare influence the conformation 

 of the body ? Have the descendants of the Teuton tribes toes 

 which point outwards because their forefathers used clubs, axes, 

 and targets, and have the Red Indians of the present day parallel 

 feet because their forefathers used arrows and keen tomahawks, and 

 trusted to agility rather than to brazen studs and thick bull-hide 

 for escape from the blows of their adversaries? X. 



Destruction of Flowers by Birds 

 A WELL-OBSERVED case of the destruction of primrose 

 flowers by birds will perhaps be of interest to some of your 

 readers. 



The flowers of two plants of primrose at a short distance from 

 a window have during the last lew days been almost entirely de- 

 stroyed ; and this having drawn attention to the subject, they have 

 been watched. .The result is that a number of the common 

 house-sparrows have been seen to peck off the flowers by cutting 

 them through at the base of the tube of the corolla, so as to 

 remove the ovarium. In some cases the flower has not been 

 completely detached from its stalk, a ragged hole being left 

 where the ovariiun originally was placed, but the flower has 

 never been subject [to any further _dismcmberment. The few 



flowers which have been left on the plants, when chewed in the 

 mouth, do not seem to have any sweetness about them, and one 

 would thereforesuppose that they do not contain any appreciable 

 quantity of nectar. 



The inference from these observations seems to be that the 

 sole object of the destruction of the flowers is to obtain the 

 ovaria. It is also to be observed that the primrose is not indi- 

 genous to this part of the country, and the only plants within 

 a radius of at least two miles are those cultivated in gardens. 

 The cowslip is, however, very abundant, but I have never 

 noticed any similar destruction of it. I shall, now the cowslips 

 are coming into flower, watch them with the object of finding 

 out whether they are attacked or not. 



II. George Fordham 



Note on the Common Sole 

 In looking over Mr. Buckland's last work on "British Fishes," 

 I did not find any account of the power the Sole has of fixing 

 itself against the glass of an aquarium by means of a sucker 

 placed close to the mouth, on the lower side ; and as I find it is 

 one of the "things not generally known," I think it maybe 

 worth your notice, particularly as I have not remarked it at the 

 Brighton Aquarium. I first observed the fact at the Havre 

 Aquarium, where I pointed it out to many persons hitherto 

 unacquainted with it, but I have been disappointed at not seeing 

 It at Brighton during any of my visits. The only way I can 

 account for this difference in the habits of the same fish is that 

 the Brighton Soles being, during my visits, always in the light, 

 lay quietly at the bottom, whereas those at Havre, being almost 

 excluded from the light, were seen to much greater advantage, 

 swimming about freely and attaching themselves to the glass 

 when they came in contact with it, or sliding down to the ground. 

 The sucker of a Sole nine inches long would be about | inch by 

 4 inch, placed diagonally to the long diameter of the fish, and 

 exhibiting fine radiating lines. Though I watched other flat-fish 

 carefully, I never could detect any attempt in them to fix them- 

 selves against the glass when they struck it, and therefore I am 

 quite unable to explain why the Sole alone should have this 

 power. As I make no pretension to be an ichthyologist, it is 

 very probable that I may be telling a thrice-told tale. I must 

 therefore leave it to your judgment to decide whether it is worth 

 your notice in Nature. t. Ogier Ward 



Eastbourne 



Colour in Goldfinches 



Last July I took a goldfinch's [Carduelis elegans) nest with five 

 young birds in it out of a tree in my garden and brought them up. 

 Four turned out to be properly marked specimens, but the fifth 

 is almost black, only having a few red feathers on its head. I 

 see in Bechstein's "Cage Birds" (third edition), p. 147, that 

 " four young ones of this variety were found in the same nest." 

 Now, why were not all my five specimens black, and what is 

 the cause of the fifth's blackness ? Can any of your readers say ? 



Manley, May i Lucie Woodruffe 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN 

 Variable Stars.— The two following stars require 

 further examination, as affording signs of fluctuating 

 brightness, (i) Lalande 23228-9, estimated 7th magni- 

 tude, 179s May 8, and 5^, 1798 March 14. It is 67 in 

 Lament (No. 1149), and m Steinheil's Chart, one of the 

 series published by the Berlin Academy, it is only 8th 

 mag. Neither Bessel nor Santini has observed it. (2) 

 The star Lalande 27095, in Bootes, 7th mag., observed 

 179s May 25, and missed by Olbers, 1804 March 22, 

 during his observations of the comet of that year : it is 

 the star which passed the centre wire at I4h. 42m. los. 

 (Histoire Cdleste, p. 164), and Olbers distinctly says of it 

 " ist nicht mehr am Himmel zu finden." It was, how- 

 ever, observed by Bessel in his Zone 415, 1828 May 24, as 

 a 9th magnitude; it is 9-0 in the " Durchmusterung," and 

 is called 9-1, 1866 June 5, in the Bonn Observations, 

 vol. vi. The positions of these stars for 1875-0 are :— 

 (i) R.A. I2h. 1 8m. 45s. N.P.D. 100° 54'-9 



(2) ,> . 14 45 54 „ 52 6-3 



