July 29, 1897 J 



NATURE 



299 



the ice. He points out that it is not safe to assume that a 

 rugged peak has escaped ice-action, since there is plain evidence 

 thai certain peaks have been overwhelmed by the ice without 

 losin;[ their ruggedness. Two incidental discoveries given in 

 this paper deserve special mention. One is the finding of 

 recent marine shells in the boulder-clay of a moraine fifty feet 

 above sea-level, and also in the ice itself of the glacier that had 

 brought them there — a fact of great interest to British glacialists, 

 in view of recent controversies. The second refers to the flora 

 of a nunatak (Mount Schurman), regarded as but recently 

 exposed above the ice : only light-seeded plants are said to have 

 reached it as yet. A thorough study of the flora of nunataks 

 would doubtless be as interesting as that of volcanic islands. 



A VALUABLE paper has recently been published by Mr. C. S. 

 Myers, giving " An account of some skulls discovered at 

 Brandon, Suffolk" {Journ. Anth. lust., xxvi. p. 113). 

 Brandon is the site of the famous flint quarries which are 

 believed to have been worked continuously since the Neolithic 

 period. In the vicinity are two Roman camps, and near by 

 runs the Icknield Way, the great war- and trade-route of the 

 Iceni in pre-Roman times. A few skulls resemble the " Neo- 

 lithic" or " Long Barrow type." The skulls of brachycephalic 

 series do not belong to the " Round Barrow type," which is 

 quite unrepresented, but are to be allocated to a fairly widely- 

 sprea-l " Romano-British type." Among the elongated skulls 

 Mr. Myers has proved the occurrence of the old " Row- 

 Grave type " of Germany ; it is a significant fact that about 

 372 A.D. the Alemannic Bucinobantes came from Mainz on 

 the right bank of the Rhine, and appear to have settled, within 

 twenty miles of Brandon, at Buckenham in Norfolk. Allied to 

 these skulls is the long, low-crowned " Batavian type," which 

 also occur at Brandon. Only one definitely Saxon skull was 

 noted. The evidence points to the fact that the burial-ground 

 whence these skulls were obtained was that of a people of mixed 

 ethnic character belonging to a time antecedent to the Saxon 

 Invasion ; but it is probable that even then Saxon settlers were 

 arriving in small numbers. 



The curious custom of trepanning — that is, of removing 

 small pieces of bone from the living head — is very ancient and 

 widely spread. In his recently-published book, "Prehistoric 

 Problems," Dr. Munro has devoted a chapter to "Prehistoric 

 trepanning and cranial amulets." About the same time, Drs. 

 H. Malbot and R. Verneau published in V Anthropologie 

 (tome vii.) a memoir on the Chaouias and the trepanning of the 

 skull in the Aures. The Djebel-Aures, " Mountains of the 

 Cedars," form the south-east border of the Algerian plateau ; 

 here and in the neighbouring Djebel-Chechar is the centre of 

 trepanning. The natives are carefully described ; they belong 

 to the Berber stem ; a portion — perhaps one-eighth— are fair ; 

 thus the external, as well as the cranial, characters show them 

 to be a somewhat mixed people. The method of trepanning 

 is very fully described, and a native doctor showed Dr. Malbot 

 a skull with over a dozen circular holes, two slits, and a large 

 irregular orifice, all of which had been pierced when the man 

 was alive ! The skull, though taken from a grave, was kept 

 hidden, and it evidently was used as an example by the local 

 doctors. The enthusiastic French doctor says ' ' the Chaouias 

 respect their tombs, and on no pretext will rifle them ; the love 

 of science alone can explain this profanation on the part of our 

 trepanner. It is the same sentiment which has led to our 

 possession of the specimen." Dr. Malbot describes how he 

 acquired the specimen which is now in the Museum d'histoire 

 naturelle in Paris. The natives have recourse to trepanning 

 for blows or wounds on the head ; it does not matter how long 

 before the blow may have been given, if only a sick person can 

 remember that he has had one. The operation is by no means 

 NO. 1448, VOL. 56 j 



a severe one, as the people have a most remarkable recuper- 

 ative constitution. A woman, tired of the conjugal yoke, has 

 been known to call in the services of a trepanner in order to 

 procure a divorce from her husband by producing a piece of 

 her skull, which she affirmed had been broken by his ill- 

 treatment. 



The useful services rendered by ladybirds in ridding fruit 

 trees of insect pests were referred to in an article in Nature of 

 March 25 (vol. Iv. p. 499). Further information upon the sub- 

 ject is given by Mr. C. L. Marlatt in the " Vear-Book of the 

 U.S. Department of Agriculture," in an article describing the 

 various methods employed to combat the ravages of injurious 

 insects in California, where the possibility of control of insects 

 by introducing and fostering their natural enemies has been 

 thoroughly tested. The very notable instance of the entire 

 eradication of the white scale insect by the introduction from 

 Australia of its ladybird enemy, Vedalia cardinalis, demon- 

 strated the possibilities in this direction in the most striking 

 way. This one experiment saved the State its citrus industry, 

 and gave the greatest confidence in many quarters in this means 

 of controlling insects, as well as incited the later action looking 

 to the introduction of beneficial insects on a much larger scale. 

 It led the State of California, in 1 891, to grant 5000 dols. "for the 

 purpose of sending an expert to Australia, New Zealand, and 

 adjacent countries to collect and import into this State parasitic 

 and predaceous insects." Mr. Albert Koebele, who had pre- 

 viously been instrumental in introducing Vedalia cardinalis, was 

 selected for the work. His chief object was to obtain pre- 

 daceous insects which might exterminate the black scale, the 

 red scale, and the San Jose scale. Mr. Koebele's mission 

 lasted upwards of a year, and during this time he imported into 

 California probably 60,000 specimens, representing very many 

 species, chiefly of ladybirds. Five or six of these species took 

 hold well from the start, and two or three of them are still re- 

 presented abundantly in the orchards of California, the others 

 having practically disappeared. The important ones remaining 

 include a very efficient predatory enemy of the black scale in. 

 the little Rhizobius ventralis, and two much smaller species, H, 

 debilis and R. toowooinba, which attack the black scale, and 

 also the red scale and San Jose scale to a less extent. Rhizobius 

 ventralis was easily colonised, and during the last three years 

 has been distributed in enormous numbers to different parts of 

 the State, 300,000 or 400,000 having been colonised in Southern 

 California alone. This beetle is by far the most useful of the 

 recent importations, and has already done much good ; in 

 several instances it has eff"ected the entire eradication of the 

 black scale in badly infested orchards. The disappearance of 

 the scale may in some cases be due to other natural causes, 

 but there seems to be no doubt that the chief credit belongs ta 

 the ladybirds. Once the ladybirds have established themselves 

 in suflScient numbers, it seems best not to spray or fumigate the 

 trees, as these treatments are very prejudical to the multiplica- 

 tion of this beneficial beetle. 



On Monday, August 2 (Bank Holiday), the Yorkshire 

 Naturalists' Union will hold a meeting at Market Weighton, 

 for the investigation of Everingham Park and surrounding woods 

 and the low-lying Carr-land in the district. 



We have to acknowledge the receipt of " Bulletin No. i of. 

 the Free Museum of Science and Art, Department of Arch- 

 aeology and Palaeontology, University of Pennsylvania." The 

 object of the bulletin, which will be published four times 

 a year, or as frequently as occasion may require, is the publica- 

 tion of new material acquired by the Museum, with accounts of 

 explorations conducted by the Museum, and original investiga- 

 tions based upon its collections. The present issue contains 



