January 3, 1901] 



NATURE 



239 



In his address on the future of anatomical teaching, delivered 

 before the Middlesex Hospital Medical Society on October i8, 

 and published in the December number of the Middlesex 

 \los^\\aX Journal, Prof. Alexander Macalister urges that much 

 of the matter in our anatomical text-books might advantageously 

 be omitted from what is taught to the over-burdened student. 

 The essential thing for the future practitioner to learn is the 

 position of the working parts of the human frame which affect 

 his practice. In the case of the shoulder-girdle, for instance, he 

 must know the precise shape of the articular surfaces, their 

 extent of motion, where they are covered with muscle, and 

 where the capsule is thinnest. But the minute description of 

 the ligaments do not concern him. Neither need he know the 

 relations of minute arteries in other parts of the body, or be 

 taught the homology of, say, the human pterygoid bones. Not 

 that what used to be called transcendental anatomy is decsied 

 by the professor. On the contrary, the importance of its study 

 is extolled ; but the ordinary medical student has not the time 

 for it. 



We have received a paper by Messrs. D. S. Jordan and J. O. 

 Snyder on fishes recently collected in Japan by Mr. Otaki and 

 the U.S. steamer Albatross, published in the Proceedings of the 

 U.S. Museum (vol. xxiii., pp. 335-380). Fourteen new species 

 are described, several of which are jeferred to new generic 

 types. 



In the section of the Papers from the Harriman Alaska Expe- 

 dition devoted toDiptera, Mr. D. W. Coquillet describes a con- 

 siderable number of new forms, among them being a new genus 

 — Ornithodes — of Tipulidse. This most remarkable discovery 

 is, however, the existence in Alaska of a species of Telma- 

 togeton, a genus previously known only from St. Paul's Island 

 in the Indian Ocean. 



The issue of the Notes from the Leyden "Museum for January 

 and April last (published in July and received a few days ago) 

 opens with a communication from Mr. M. C. Piepers, in which the 

 views advanced by him at the Cambridge Zoological Congress 

 in regard to the evolution of colour in butterflies are defended 

 against the criticisms of Miss Newbigin and others. The author 

 urges that none save those who have made the morphology of 

 the Lepidoptera their special study are capable of fully appreci- 

 ating, much less of criticising, his views. 



A SECOND article in the same issue, by Dr. F. A. Jentink, 

 describes a remarkably coloured stoat in the Leyden Museum. 

 After describing the gradual change from the brown summer to 

 the white winter coat in the species and vice versd, the author 

 goes on to say that the example in question is striped in such a 

 curiously symmetrical manner that it might well be regarded at 

 first sight as representing an unknown species. The brown of 

 the upper parts is locally interrupted by narrow bands of longer 

 white hairs, which appear to be the remnants of the winter 

 coat ; and there are patches of white elsewhere — notably a ring 

 dividing the black tip of the tail from the brown of the remainder 

 of that appendage. The specimen was killed in Holland during 

 the spring of 1869. 



The Geolc^ical Survey of Canada has published a useful 

 general index to the reports of progress, 1863 to 1884. Since 

 1884 the successive annual reports have been separately in- 

 dexed, but it is intended at a later date to prepare a general 

 index to them. The volume before us, which contains full 

 references to subjects, localities and authors, has been compiled 

 by Mr. D. B. Dowling. 



Crags of weathered granite in the Black Hills of South 

 Dakota are described and pictured by Mr. E. O. Hovey {Bull, 

 Geol. Soc. Amer., vol. xi). The granite is intrusive in the mica- 

 schists of the region, but the schists have suffered most from 



NO. 1627, VOL. 63] 



erosion, so that the granite, which is intersected by numerous 

 joints, stands up in places in sharp pyramidal and needle-like 

 forms. 



The latest addition to Prof. Penck's Geographische Abhand- 

 liingen is a pamphlet on the three lakes of the Reschen-Schei- 

 deck, by Prof. Johann Milliner. The positions of the lakes, 

 their supply areas, depths, surface levels, rainfall conditions and 

 ice-covering, are dealt with in separate chapters, and besides the 

 interest of its results the investigation forms another excellent 

 example of the adequacy of the geomorphometric methods em- 

 ployed by the geographers of the Vienna school. 



The third number of the current volume of the Zeitschrift der 

 Gesellschaft fiir Erdkunde zu Berlin is devoted to a review of 

 the present state of knowledg'e of the geographical distribution 

 of plants and animals, by Dr. Arnold Jacobi. The special 

 problem dealt with is the position and form of biogeographical 

 regions, and the bases on which such regions must be defined. 

 A general map of animal distribution and special maps showing 

 the distribution of the jay and the bullfinch accompany the paper. 



The November number of La Geographie contains the first 

 part of a paper on the geography of the coast-region of the 

 Landes, by M. Hautreux, well known for his work on the 

 oceanography of the Bay of Biscay. M. Hautreux here discusses 

 the wind records from a number of coast stations, with special 

 reference to their influence on ocean currents and on the forma- 

 tion and movement of sand dunes. We note with satisfaction, 

 from an announcement also in La Geographie, that the efforts 

 of M. Hautreux during the last twenty years have borne fruit in 

 the establishment of a " Societe d'Oceanog raphie du Golfe de 

 Gascogne," to which we wish every success. 



We have received a copy of an official pamphlet on the 

 currents of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, practically an abstract of 

 the reports on surveys of tides and currents for the seasons 

 1894, 1895 and 1896. The information is arranged in a form 

 likely to be specially useful to navigators ; the surface currents 

 in each locality are minutely described, and the causes of the 

 general circulation in the Gulf are dealt with separately. One 

 of the most important facts brought to light by the work of the 

 survey is that no confirmation is forthcoming of the supposition 

 that a current enters the Gulf by Belle Isle Strait and leaves it 

 by Cabot Strait. The current flowing out by Cabot Strait 

 apparently consists partly of water from the St. Lawrence and 

 partly of water entering Cabot Strait itself on the eastern side. 



The November number of Petermann' s Mitteiliingen contains 

 the third and last instalment of an important paper by Dr. L. 

 Frobenius on the " Kulturformen " of Oceania. Dividing the 

 region into four parts, in the west "Indonesia" or Farther 

 India, in the south-east Australia, east Melanesia, and north, 

 east Mikronesia, the author points out that there are three main 

 lines extending from the first of these eastwards, a southern 

 axis towards Australia, a central axis just skirting Australia, and 

 a northern axis through the Mikronesian archipelago. To the 

 civilisation of the southern axis the name " nigritic " is given, 

 to that of the central axis " vormilaysian," and to that of the 

 northern " malayo-asiatic. " The paper is illustrated by an 

 elaborate series of maps. 



Promptitude of publication is now the distinguishing 

 characteristic of the Journal of the Chemical Society. The 

 January number of the journal contains the Rammelsberg 

 Memorial Lecture (pp. 43) delivered by Prof. H. A. Miers, 

 F.R.S., on December 13. 



The third volume of Prof. G. O. Sars's detailed " Account of 

 the Crustacea of Norway " has been published by the Bergen 

 Museum. It treats of the Cumacean group of Crustacea, which 



