December io, 1914] 



NATURE 



391 



other appliances suitable for use in ships." Appa- 

 rently the reader is expected to acquire that in- 

 formation from illustrations which seldom show 

 more than the outside appearance of the appa- 

 ratus, and often show nothing- at all but a cast- 

 iron case ! There are some more detailed dia- 

 grams, but too many of them refer to machines or 

 apparatus which could only now be purchased in 

 the electrical equivalent of the old clothes shop. 



The book will certainly enable the sea-g^oingf 

 eng-ineer to distinguish between a search-lig^ht and 

 a telephone, or between a dynamo and a switch, 

 but we fear he would be very much at sea when 

 anything^ went wrong if his knowledge was not a 

 great deal deeper than that in the book. 



It may be the printer's fault that a very ordin- 

 ary Welsh name is gfiven as that of one of the 

 celebrated builders of high-speed engines, and 

 that Mr. Marconi's has been associated with his 

 great rivals. But these errors sufficiently well 

 typify much of the contents of the. book. 



David Robertson. 



Die Insekteti Mitteleiiropas insbesondere 

 Deutschlands. Edited by Prof. C. Schroder. 

 Band iii. Hymenopteren (Dritter Teil) Die 

 Gallwespen (Cynipidae). By Prof. J. J. 

 Kieffer. Die Blatt- und Holzwespen (Tenthre- 

 dinoidea). By Dr. E. Enslin. Pp. xiii + 2i3 + 

 viii plates. (Stuttgart : Franckh, 19x4.) Price 

 7.20 marks. 



The third part of the third volume of the 

 "Insects of Central Europe," so ably edited by 

 Prof. Chr. Schroder, of Berlin, contains an 

 account of the gall-wasps (Cynipidae) by Dr. J. J. 

 Kieffer, and of the saw-flies and wood-wasps 

 <Tenthredinidae) by Dr. E. Enslin. In both cases 

 the systematic description is preceded by an 

 effective introduction dealing with structure, life- 

 histories, and ecology. Thus we find a ven,- clear 

 account of the various theories of gall-formation 

 by Cynipidae and of parthenogenesis in Tenthre- 

 dinidae. The volume is very well illustrated, both 

 as regards the text figures and the coloured 

 plates. 



Bartholomew's Orographical Map of Central 

 Europe, shoiving Political Frontiers. Scale : 

 3 1 5 English miles to i in. Price 2s. 6d. net. 

 Bartholomew's War Map of Europe and the 

 Mediterranean. Scale : 86 miles to i in. Price 

 15. net. (Edinburgh : John Bartholomew and 

 Co., 1914.) 



XoTHixG assists an intelligent appreciation of the 

 details of military campaigns more than good 

 maps of the areas concerned. The maps before 

 us are excellent. The first enables the reader of 

 war news to realise the intimate interdependence 

 of strategy ajid land relief ; and the second depicts 

 boldly the present extent of the European terri- 

 tories of the nations at war. Both maps are pro- 

 duced in the workmanlike manner for which the 

 Edinburgh Geographical Institute has long been 

 well known. 



XO. 2354, VOL. 94] 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 



[The Editor does not hold himself responsible for 

 opinions expressed by his correspondents. Neither 

 can he undertake to return, or to correspond with 

 the writers of, rejected manuscripts intended for 

 this or any other part of Nature. No notice is 

 taken of anonymous communications. J 



Soldiers as Anthropologists. 



In Nature of December 3 (p. 383) there appeared 

 a brief abstract of a paper communicated by Mr. 

 Reginald A. Smith to the Royal Anthropological Insti- 

 tute on behalf of its author. Major E. R. Collins, 

 D.S.O., now a wounded prisoner of war in Germany. 

 The paper is not only an important contribution to 

 our knowledge of the prehistoric stone implements of 

 South Africa, but is evidence that a brave and capable 

 soldier may, while helping to shape the history of his 

 own time, give material assistance in unravelling the 

 past history of the country through which he may be 

 campaigning. 



Major Collins collected the material for his paper 

 while engaged on trenching operations during the late 

 Boer war. These operations extended over a large 

 part of South Africa^ — from Cape Colony to the Trans- 

 vaal. The trenches were usually cut to a depth of 

 5 ft., and often crossed terrace deposits, which are 

 presumably of Pleistocene age. It was whilst engaged 

 on these operations that Major Collins made his col- 

 lection of the stone industries of the ancient inhabi- 

 tants of South Africa, keeping systematic records 

 of the deposits in which the implements occurred, 

 and the levels at which the various types were found. 

 That Major Collins 's interest in anthropology did not 

 interfere with his military duties may be inferred from 

 the fact that he earned the Distinguished Service 

 Order. 



Mr. Reginald Smith has directed my attention to 

 an earlier instance of a soldier utilising military 

 operations for the progress of anthropology. In the 

 Journal of the Anthropological Institute for 1884 

 (vol. xiii., p. 163) there is a paper, also on South 

 African implements, contributed by Major H. W. 

 Feilden, which was described by the late Mr. Hyde 

 Clarke, vice-president of the institute, as "remarkable 

 for the circumstances under which the information 

 was obtained — on the march, in the battlefield, and 

 through the perils and vicissitudes of war." Major 

 Feilden made his observations during the campaigns 

 in Natal, 1881-82. I have little doubt that some of 

 our French colleagues, amidst all the dangers and 

 anxieties which attend the present war, will avail 

 themselves of the opportunities presented bv the ex- 

 tensive trenching operations in northern France to 

 extend further our knowledge of prehistoric times. 



I have headed this note " Soldiers as Anthropo- 

 logists," but I may be pardoned if, at the present 

 time, I direct attention to another side of the matter, 

 •The Anthropologist as Soldier." In a letter I had 

 lately the honour to receive from Prof. Manouvrier, 

 secretary to the Society of Anthropology of Paris, I 

 was grieved to learn that "' Nous avons perdu en 

 France un anthropologiste archeologue des plus 

 estimes, M. Dechelette, capitaine de territoriale, tue 

 dans une charge k la tete de sa Compagnie." M. 

 Dechelette was author of a standard work, " Manuel 

 d ' Archeologie prehistorique Celtique et Gallo- 

 Romaine," the third volume of which appeared during 

 last year. M. Dechelette did not allow either his past 

 or present services to science, his family ties, or his 

 age — ^he was fift\'-nine — to stand between him and 

 what he considered his duty to his countr\% Although 

 a great number of its members — including many of 

 the most eminent anthropologists in Europe — are on 

 active service — some have fallen, some wounded, and 



