September 



898] 



NATURE 



411 



numerous references are given to original papers, and 

 written in a style which should prove attractive to every 

 intelligent reader. 



After an introductory account of the scope and aims 

 of anthropology, Prof. Haddon describes the usual 

 anthropological measurements, and then surveys such 

 features as the colour of the hair and eyes, the form of 

 the head, and the character of the nose, drawing in- 

 structive conclusions from the facts as to the distribution 

 of these characteristics. To illustrate the value of 

 blending anthropological investigations with the records 

 of history, he devotes a short chapter to an abstract of 

 Dr. Collignon's work on the ethnography of the Dor- 

 dogne district of West Central France. Following this 

 are two interesting chapters on the evolution of the cart, 

 and the origin of the Irish jaunting car, which latter 

 conveyance Prof. Haddon shows was evolved at the end 

 of the last century, or more probably within the first few 

 years of this century. A series of popular articles on 

 the history and literature of toys and games are used as 

 the basis of the succeeding eight chapters, the chapter on 

 "bull-roarers" being particularly noteworthy. Finally, 

 instructions are given for conducting ethnographical 

 investigations, based upon those issued by the British 

 Association Committee on the Ethnographical Survey 

 of the United Kingdom. It will be understood from this 

 outline that Prof. Haddon's work, which, we may add, is 

 illustrated by a number of good figures, will interest the 

 public in anthropological science, and thus assist in the 

 preservation of vanishing knowledge. 



A School Geography. By George Bird, B.A., F.G.S. 



Pp. X + 294.. (London : Whittaker and Co., 1898.) 

 This volume is distinctly in advance of the usual school- 

 books of geography ; for it belongs to the steadily 

 increasing class of works which aim at making the study 

 of scientific subjects educative as well as informing. The 

 long lists of capes, rivers, mountains, &c., which still fre- 

 quently figure in school geographies, and have to be 

 committed to memory by the unfortunate pupils of 

 teachers behind the times, have been omitted, and in- 

 stead of pages of unnecessary statistics we have a logical 

 statement based upon a rational scheme of geographical 

 teaching. In the author's words : " While trying to make 

 the book interesting, I have also tried to make it of edu- 

 cational value by continually referring to the influence of 

 the geographical position and surroundings upon the 

 climate, productions, industries, and trade of the various 

 countries." 



Every geographer admits that these are the right lines 

 to follow, but opinions differ as to the amount of 

 astronomical geography which should be studied be- 

 fore the pupil passes to the description of the various 

 countries. Mr. Bird commences with a chapter on astro- 

 nomical geography, and then deals in successive chapters 

 with land, water, air and climate, before passing to 

 general geography. With the exception of the first 

 chapter, these introductory descriptions will be easily 

 understood by the pupils of about twelve or thirteen 

 years of age, for whom the book is intended. Teachers 

 of geography know how very diflficult it is to give young 

 pupils clear and accurate ideas concerning the move- 

 ments of the earth and the phenomena produced by these 

 motions, and many of them will probably take Mr. Bird's 

 hint to touch but lightly upon topics in the opening chapter 

 in going through the book for the first time. If more 

 prominence had been given to apparent phenomena, 

 which the pupils can observe for themselves, and less to 

 the actual conditions which produce them, this chapter 

 would have gained in educational value. But this is a 

 minor point, and the book as a whole represents a credit- 

 able attempt to improve the teaching of geography in 

 this country. 



NO. 1505, VOL. 58] 



LETTERS _ TO THE EDITOR 



[ The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions eX' 

 pressed by his correspondents. Neither can he undertake 

 to return, or to correspond with the writers of, rejected 

 vianuscripis intended for this or any other part of NATURE. 

 No notice is taken of anonymous communications. ] 



A Case of Inherited Instinct. 



Three species of cave locusts are found in New Zealand, 

 belonging to three different genera, (i) Pachyrhamma speluncie 

 is allied to Gymnoplectron longipes, which lives among the 

 branches of trees, both genera being known only from the 

 north island. (2) Pleioplectron edwai-dsii inhabits caves in the 

 south island, and has close allies, belonging to the same genus, 

 living amongst old wood in both islands. (3) Macropathus 

 filifer is allied to Pharmacus montanus, which lives in the open 

 among rocks, both genera being from the south island. Macro' 

 pathus and Pleioplectron may have originated from a common 

 ancestor in New Zealand, but Pachyrhamma belongs to another 

 section, and is more nearly related to European and American 

 species than to the other cave locusts of New Zealand. These 

 three genera belong to that group of the Stenopelmatidce — 

 distinguished by having no pads on the tarsi — to which all the 

 cave locusts of North America, Europe, and Burma belong ; 

 the habit of living in caves appearing to be an instinct found 

 only in that group among the whole of the Locustodea. 



So much for the facts : now for the inference. We cannot 

 suppose that the ancestors of the New Zealand cave locusts, 

 who migrated to that country through what is now called the 

 Malay Arclnpelago, lived in caves during the whole of the 

 migration ; partly from the impossibility of their having passed 

 from one cave to another, and partly because each species has 

 allies which do not live in caves. If this be so, we have here 

 a most interesting case of an instinct which has not only been 

 transmitted through many generations, but which must, in at 

 least two cases, have remained dormant during the greater part 

 of the southerly migration, and reappeared when favour- 

 able conditions enabled it to do so. For we are compelled to 

 assume that none of the first Stenopelmatidis which came to 

 New Zealand lived in caves, and that some of the descendants 

 of the northern cave locusts reverted to that curious mode of 

 life. F. W. HUTTON. 



Christchurch, N.Z., July 20. 



Transference of Heat in Cooled Metal. 



Your issue of June 30, containing a letter from M. 

 Henry Bourget under the above heading, has only just come 

 into my hands. In 1889, when working at the Cavendish 

 Laboratory, Cambridge, I was interested in the phenomenon 

 described by M. Bourget, and made a few preliminary experi- 

 ments in connection therewith, but, owing to other work, I was 

 unable to proceed very far with the investigation, and probably 

 shall not have the opportunity of doing anything further. My 

 notes, taken at the ume, show that the following experiments 

 were made and results obtained : — A large well-used soldering 

 bolt had a hole drilled nearly through the iron shank at the end 

 remote from the copper portion ; into this hole, and surrounded 

 with mercury, was placed the bulb of a thermometer with small 

 thermal capacity ; a bunsen flame was then placed beneath the 

 copper portion, and the heating continued until the thermometer 

 indicated a steady temperature. The flame was then removed, 

 and a vessel containing water brought up over the hot end, upon 

 which the thermometer showed a rise of I "5° C. There was a 

 considerable film of copper and iron oxides, &c., at the junction 

 of the iron and copper. 



After this a copper rod § inch diameter and 18 inches 

 long, and with a bend of about 45°, 4 inches from one end ; at 

 the end of the 14" portion, close to but just not touching, was 

 placed a sensitive thermopile connected up to a low- resistance 

 reflecting galvanometer. The rod was set up with the longer 

 portion horizontal, and the 4-inch portion depending. The end 

 of the rod and the thermopile were well shielded by means of 

 asbestos and dusters, and the rod passed tightly through a hole 

 in a large vertical sheet of asbestos millboard in order to pro- 

 tect the thermopile further from any chance currents of heated 

 air or steam. 



As before, a bunsen flame was placed at the centre of the 



