November 19, 1891] 



NA TURE 



71 



Australian Mammal Notoryctes typhlops ; (3) by Mr. G. A. 

 Boulenger, an Iguana with the tail reproduced ; (4) by Mr. R. 

 Gordon Wickham, a very fine pair of horns of the Gemsbok 

 {Oryx qazella) from Port Elizabeth, South Africa ; and (5) by 

 Dr. Edward Hamilton, a photograph of an example of the 

 Siberian Crane (Gnis lutcoiferanHs), shot on the i-land of Barra, 

 Outer Hebrides, in August las'. — Mr. R. Lydekker give a de- 

 scription of some Pleistocene Bird-remains from the Sardinian 

 and Corsican Islands. These belonged mostly to recent forms, 

 but to genera and species which in several instances had not 

 been found fossil. They showed rather more of an African 

 character than the present avifauna of the>e islands. — Mr. R. 

 Lydekker also read some notes on the remains of a large Stork 

 from the Allier Miocene. These remains were referred to the 

 genus, closely allied to Cicoiiia, lately named Pelai-gopsis, but 

 which (that term being preoccupied) it was now proposed to 

 rename Pelaigoides. — Mr. K. Lydekker also exhibited and 

 made remarks on the leg-bones of an extinct Dinornithine Bird 

 from New Zealand, upo-i which he proposed to base a new 

 species allied to Pachyornis elephantopus (Owen), and to call it, 

 after the owner of the specimens, Pachyornis rothschildi. — Dr. 

 A. Giuither, F. R. S., read a description of a remarkable new 

 Fish from Mauritius belonging to the genus Scorpana, which he 

 proposed to call Scorpirna froiidosa. — A communication was 

 read from Mr. Roland Trimen, containing an account of the 

 occurrence of a specimen of the scarce Fish Lophotes cepedianus, 

 Giorna, at the Cape of Good Hope. — A communication was 

 read from the Hon. L. W. Rothschild, giving a description of a 

 little-known sjjecies o{ Papilio from the Island of Lifu, Loyalty 

 Group. — Mr. R. J. Lechmere Guppy read some remarks on a 

 fine specimen of Pleurotomaria from the island of Tobago. — A 

 communication was read from Mr. L. Peringuey, giving an 

 account of a series of Beetles collected in Tropical South- 

 western Africa by Mr. A, W. Eriksson. 



Entomological Society, November 4, — Dr. D. Sharp, 

 F.R.S., Vice- ('resident, in the chair.— Mr. W. F. Kir by ex- 

 hibited a series of a very dark-coloured form of Apis reared by 

 Mr. John Hewitt, of Sheffield, from bees imported from Tunis, 

 and which he proposed to call " Punic bees." — Mr. C. G. 

 Barrett exhibited five melanic specimens of Aplecta ncbidosa, 

 reared from larviu collected in Delamere Forest, Cheshire, and 

 described in the Proceedings of the Lancashire and Cheshire 

 Natural History Society as A. nebulosa, van Robsoni. Mr. 

 Barrett also exhibited a beantiful variety of Argynnis aglaia, 

 taken in Norfolk by Dr. F. D. Wheeler, and two specimens of 

 Lyccena argiadcs, taken in August 1885, on Bloxworth Heath, 

 Dorsetshire. — Mr. H. St. John Donisthorpe exhibited a collec- 

 tion of Coleoptera, comprising about thirty-six species, made in 

 a London granary in 1890 and 1891. The genera represented 

 included Sphodrus, Calathus, Qiiedius, Creophilus, Omalium, 

 Trogosita, Silvantts, Lathridius, Dermestes, Anthrenus, Ptinus, 

 Niplus, Anobium, Blaps, Tenebrio, Calandra, and Briuhiis. — 

 Mr. A. B. Earn exhibited a series of specimens of Eubolia 

 lineolata, bred from a specimen taken at Yarmouth. The series 

 included several remarkable and beautiful varieties, and the size 

 of the specimens was much above the average. — The Rev. Dr. 

 Walker exhibited specimens of ^r^^/mzV ino and A. pales, from 

 Norway. — Mr. B. A. Bower exhibited, for Mr. J. Gardner, 

 %ptc\mtns o^ Nephopteryx splendidella, H. S. , Botys lupulinalis, 

 Clk., and Bryotropha obscure! la, Hein., taken at Hartlepool. — 

 Mr. R. Adkiii exhibited two very dark specimens of Pcronea 

 cristana, from the New Forest. — Colonel C. Swinhoe exhibited, 

 and remarked on, types of genera and species of moths belong- 

 ing to the Tineina, all of which had been described by Walker, 

 and placed by him amongst the Lithosidit. — Mr. H. Goss 

 exhibited specimens of Calliinorpha hera, taken by Major- 

 General Garden in South Devon in August last, and observed 

 that the species appeared to be getting commoner in this country, 

 as General Garden had caught seventeen specimens in five days. 

 Mr. Goss said that the object of the exhibition was to ascertain 

 the opinion of the meeting as to the manner in which this species 

 had been in'roduced into this country. A discussion on the 

 geographical distribution of the species ensued, in which Mr. 

 G. T. Baker, Colonel Swinhoe, Mr. McLachlan, Mr. Verrall, 

 Captain Elwes, Mr. Barrett, Mr, Fenn, and others took part. 

 — Mh C. J. Gahan contributed a paper entitled "On South 

 American Species of Diabrotica," Part III. — Mr. McLachlan 

 contributed a paper entitled '* Descriptions of New Species of 

 Holopthalmous Ascalaphida." — Mr. W. L. Distant communi- 

 cated a paper entitled " Descriptions of Four New Species of 



NO. II 5 I, VOL. 45] 



the Genus Pu/gora."— Mr. F. Enock read a paper entitled 

 "Additional Notes and Observations on the Life-history of 

 Atypus piceus." Every detail in the life-history of this spider 

 was most elaborately illustrated by a large number of photo- 

 graphs, made by Mr. Enock from his original drawings, and 

 shown by means of the oxy-hydrogen lantern, A discussion 

 followed, in which Mr. C. O. Waterhouse, Dr. Sharp, Mr. G. 

 C. Champion, the Rev A. E. Eaton, and Mr. P. Crowley 

 took part. 



Anthropological Institute, November 10.— Dr. Edward 

 B. Tylor, F.R.S., President, in the chair.— Mr. Francis 

 Galton exhibited, on behalf of Lady Brooke, a photograph of a 

 human figure carved on a rounded sandstone rock in Sarawak ; 

 the rock is about twelve feet in height, and the sculpture is in 

 high relief and of the size of life. Mr. Galton also exhibited 

 some imprints of the hand, by Dr. Forgeot, of the Laboratoire 

 Criminale, Lyon. — Dr. Tylor read a paper on the limits of 

 savage religion. In defining the religious systems of the lower 

 races, so as to place them correctly in the history of culture,, 

 careful examination is necessary to separate the genuine 

 developments of native theology from the effects of intercourse 

 with civilized foreigners. Especially through missionary influ- 

 ence since 1500, ideas of dualistic and monotheistic deities, and 

 of moral government of the world, have been implanted on 

 native polytheism in various parts of the globe. For instance,, 

 as has lately become clear by the inquiries of anthropologists, 

 the world-famous Great Spirit of the North American Indians 

 arose from the teachings of the Jesuit missionaries in Canada 

 early in the seventeenth century. This and analogous names 

 for a Supreme Deity, unknown previously to native belief, have 

 since spread over North America, amalgamating with native 

 doctrines and ceremonial rites into highly interesting but per- 

 plexing combinations. The mistaken attribution to barbaric 

 races of theological beliefs really belonging to the cultured 

 world, as well as the development among these races of new 

 religious formations under cultured influence, are due to several 

 causes, which it is the object of this paper to examine : (i) 

 direct adoption from foreign teachers ; (2) the exaggeration 

 of genuine native deities of a lower order into a God or Devil ; 

 (3) the conversion of native words, denoting a whole class of 

 minor spiritual beings, such as ghosts or demons, into individual 

 names, alleged to be those of a Supreme Good Deity or a rival 

 Evil Deity. Detailed criticism of the names and descriptions of 

 such beings in accounts of the religions of native tribes of 

 America and Australasia was adduced, giving in many cases 

 direct proof of the beliefs in question being borrowed or de- 

 veloped under foreign influence, and thus strengthening the 

 writer's view that they, and ideas related to them, form no 

 original part of the religion of the lower races. The problems 

 involved are, however, of great difficulty, the only hope of 

 their full solution in many cases lying in the researches of 

 anthropologists and philologists minutely acquainted with the 

 culture and languages of the districts ; while such researches 

 will require to be carried out without delay, before important 

 evidence, still available, has disappeared. 



Paris. 



Academy of Sciences, November 9. — M. Duchartre in the 

 chair. — On the use of chronophotography for the study of 

 machines constructed for aerial locomotion, by M. Marey. It is 

 known that, in the case of a plane moving in a fluid medium, the 

 centre of pressure only coincides with the centre of figure if the 

 plane be normal to the direction of its motion ; but if the plane 

 makes an angle with its trajectory, the centre of pressure occurs 

 in advance of the centre of figure to an extent which increases as 

 the plane forms a more acute angle with the direction of motion, 

 and as its velocity of translation is increased. This principle is 

 strikingly illustrated by some photographs of a specially con- 

 structed falling body taken at intervals of a twentieth of a second. 

 The body first described a sensibly parabolic curve, it then rose 

 slightly, and passed over a convex curve before reaching the 

 ground. The figure accompanying the paper shows clearly that 

 the inflexions of the body's trajectory depend on the variations 

 of its velocity, and the inclination of its surface with respect to 

 the direction of motion. — On the laws of the intensity of light 

 emitted by phosphorescent bodies, by M. Henri Becquerel. 

 The author develops formulae to represent the relation between 

 the intensities of light emitted by phosphorescent bodies and 

 the duration of illumination, and compares the results of some of 



