Oct. 23, 1879] 



NATURE 



601 



in many points, and there is also a resemblance in form 

 between these stone images and the smaller ones of other 

 Polynesian islanders. Mr. Wallace makes all the mystery 

 out of the fact that the present islanders know nothing of 

 the images, but savages quickly forget. The very name 

 of the image platform Moai, as Meinicke remarks, seems 

 to be the same as that of the old Tahitian chief's burial 

 places, "Marae," Hawaiian, "Moral." 

 t The account of the Sandwich Islands is very short and 

 contains several errors. Mauna Kea, the highest of the 

 three volcanic mountains of the Island of Hawaii, is 

 described as an active volcano instead of as extinct. 

 Kilauea should hardly be described as the most remark- 

 able "burning mountain" in the world. It is really a 

 lateral crater only on the side of Mauna Loa, the terminal 

 crater of which is far more remarkable when in eruption 

 than that of Kilauea. It is rather stretching a point to 

 speak of the crater of Kilauea as a fathomless oval abyss, 

 for tourists from the hotel on its brink usually walk nearly 

 all over its bottom on a floor of hard lava, and the descent 

 to the bottom is no great one. The figure given in the 

 text as representing Kilauea volcano apparently is taken 

 from a sketch of one of the ponds of fluid lava usually 

 present at one end of the bottom of the crater. 



No account is given of the ethnological characteristics 

 of the Hawaiians, and nothing of the importance of the 

 Chinese settlers in the group, nor of that of the developing 

 half-caste population. The estabUshment atHonolulu of the 

 hostile Church of England Mission is spoken of with the 

 warmest approbation, whereas most unprejudiced persons 

 regard it as an unmixed evil that the natives who have 

 been Congregationalists for nearly eighty years, should be 

 interfered with by a different Protestant sect 



In the account of New Zealand (p. 564) the possibility 

 is suggested of a former land connection having existed 

 between the Kermadecs and New Zealand. Such a con- 

 nection would explain well some of the peculiarities of 

 the flora, especially of the ferns of the Kermadec Islands, 

 but unfortunately a depth of 2,000 fathoms was found by 

 the Cascllc to exist between the two places, and the con- 

 nection cannot therefore have existed. It is surprising 

 that Mr. Wallace speaks of the Kermadecs as interesting 

 only because they form a stepping-stone to Tongatabu 

 to assist in the migration of Polynesians : he forgets 

 entirely the interest of their flora as described by Sir J. 

 D. Hooker. 



The work concludes with an essay by Mr. A. H. Keane> 

 on the Philology and Ethnology of the Inter-Oceanic 

 Races. A long and very useful catalogue is given of the 

 inter-oceanic races and languages, and of their very 

 numerous and puzzling native names, with good references 

 appended. It is very voluminous, and we were astonished 

 to light upon an omission in so complete a catalogue. It 

 was that of the Lutaos, the native nam; for the Sulu 

 pirate race. 



On the whole, it is to be regretted that Mr. Wallace 

 has not studied other German sources of information than 

 Hellwald's work with care. The fact is it is too much to 

 undertake to describe Polynesia together with the Malay 

 Archipelago, Melanesia, and Micronesia, all in one 

 volume, and the result has been that Polynesia has suf- 

 fered in treatment. The most striking defect in the book, 

 however, lies in the meagreness of the references, the 



catalogue of which, at the beginning of the book is very 

 small and contains almost solely English books. There 

 is no reference to Finsch's work on New Guinea (" Neu 

 Guinea und seine Bewohner") nor to the Goddefroys' 

 publications ; and with the splendid bibliography of 

 Meinicke's and Gerland's works before us, the neglect ot 

 the literary side of the subject is most irritating ; but Mr. 

 Wallace, as most working zoologists know to their cost, 

 neglected also to supply adequate references in his 

 work on the " Distribution of Animals," and thus re- 

 duced the value of the work by at least one-half. If 

 any one wishes to obtain a concise scientific account 

 of any of the Polynesian or Melanesian islands, and 

 references which will when consulted put them in posses- 

 sion of all the information to be obtained, they should 

 read Meinicke's book, and not " Australasia." 



In conclusion, our readers may be reminded that very 

 much yet remains to be done in the exploration of the 

 Australasian region, and most interesting results may be 

 expected when the snow-clad Charles Louis Mountains of 

 New Guinea, possibly 18,000 feet in height, shall have been 

 climbed by the naturalist, and such other hitherto unvisited 

 regions as the island of Timor Laut and the great central 

 mountain of Ceram Nusa Heli, said to be near 10,000 

 feet in height, from which Mr. Wallace, who has best right 

 to judge, expects great things. 



OUR BOOK SHELF 



Geological Glossary for the Use of Students. By the late 

 Thomas Oldham, LL.D., F.R.S. Edited by R. U. 

 Oldham. Pp. 62. (London : E. Stanford, 1879.) 



This is a posthumous work by the late lamented Super- 

 intendent of the Geological Survey of India. In a 

 modest preface the author's son, who edits the work, 

 explains that its object is to furnish a companion to the 

 recognised geological text-books by including such terms 

 only as are likely to be met with J by beginners, and 

 explaining thern in the most concise and simple manner 

 possible. 



The definitions given in the book are always brief and 

 to the point, but in a few cases in the attempt to be 

 concise, tlie author has scarcely succeeded in making his 

 explanations sufficiently clear for a student. We notice 

 that the common mistake is made of confounding together 

 the German words Keuper and Kupfer. The book is, 

 however, very carefully prepared and edited, the arrange- 

 ment and typography leave nothing to be desired, and 

 we have no doubt that it will prove of the greatest service 

 to the class of students for whom it is designed. 



Ueber die Tcktonik dcr Vulcane von Dohinen. Von Dr. 

 Ed. Reyer. (Vienna: Alfred Holder, 1879.) 



In this memoir Dr. Reyer shows that the Schlossberg of 

 Teplitz is really a volcanic cone which has been produced 

 by the successive and continued out-wellings of masses of 

 phonolite lava from a volcanic centre. This he is able to 

 prove by a study of the position of the great divisional 

 planes which intersect the mass. The diagram of the 

 internal structure of the mass of volcanic material, which 

 he is thus enabled to construct, shows the most complete 

 agreement with that of the plaster models which Dr. Reyer 

 has described in an earlier paper on the subject. The 

 author also adds some interesting information upon the old 

 denuded volcano of Klein Preisen, and the whole paper 

 forms a valuable and suggestive contribution to our know- 

 ledge of volcanoes, which is well worthy of attentive 

 study. J. W. J. 



