198 



NA TURE 



[April 14, 1910 



Mongol. They seem rather to be representatives of the 

 primitive Indonesian type, of which the Miao-tse and Khas, 

 as well as various peoples in the East Indian Archipelago, 

 are descendants. The skulls appear to belong to the while 

 rather than the yellow branch of the human race, which 

 fact supports M. de Quatrefages's theory (which has been 

 accepted by otheir students) of a white element having lived 

 once in the continental regions of the Far East. The 

 implements associated with these remains are of a Neolithic 

 type; ornaments and pottery are rare. The absence of 

 bones of large edible animals in the archaeological layer 

 leads to the conclusion that the ancient troglodytes of 

 Pho-Binh-Gia were mainly vegetable feeders, but they also 

 fed on fresh-water molluscs. It is proposed to make a 

 fresh investigation of this important cave. 



The whole of part vii. of vol. cxviii., Abt. iii., of the 

 Sitzungsberichte of the Royal Vienna Academy of Sciences 

 is devoted to a relatively long article by Mr. O. Straeker 

 on the plica longitudinalis of the duodenum, with its 

 associated papilla, in man and the lower mammals, these 

 remarkable structures being discussed in detail from the 

 morphological, histological, and physiological standpoints 

 in a number of species. 



A SPECIAL exhibit has been made in the hall of the 

 Natural History Museum of the mounted skin and 

 skeleton of the specimen of the monkey-eating eagle 

 (Pithecophaga jefferyi) recently living in the Zoological 

 Society's Gardens, and the only example of its kind 

 hitherto exhibited alive in England, and probably in 

 Europe. This splendid eagle, it will be remembered, was 

 discovered by the late Mr. J. Whitehead, and described, 

 as a new genus and species, by Mr. Ogilvie-Grant in the 

 Ihis for 1897, its nearest relative being apparei'tly the 

 South American harpy eagle (Thrysaetiis harpyia). Great 

 credit is due to Mr. Rowland Ward for having made a 

 complete mounted skin and skeleton from a single bird. 



Considerable interest attaches to a letter in the Field 

 of April 2 from Mr. C. W. Stockley on rhinoceroses living 

 for long periods in Somaliland without water. They 

 inhabit certain parts of the Bur Dab, where, during the 

 dry season, there appear to be no pools over a consider- 

 able area, the two nearest known drinking-places being 

 thirty-three and forty-five miles distant. To these pools 

 it is believed the rhinoceroses make only very occasional 

 journeys. Such moisture as they require is obtained by 

 eating the leaves of an aloe locally known as dur. Beisa 

 oryx, on the other hand, maintain existence in the thirst- 

 land by eating a small kind of gourd, called by the Somalis 

 unun ; but kudu, which likewise go without drinking for 

 long periods in this country, browse on dur. 



We have been favoured with a copy of an excellent little 

 illustrated guide to elk and ptarmigan shooting in Norway, 

 by Mr. Erling Hiorth, published, in English, at Christiania. 

 Brief accounts are given of the haunts and habits of the 

 two species, together with full information as to sporting 

 localities, hotel-accommodation, tariffs, game-regulations, 

 suitable clothing, &c. The pairing-season of elk in Norway 

 commences about September 20, and the stags shed their 

 antlers the following February, and begin to grow the 

 new ones in May, which are clear of the velvet in 

 August or September. The antlers begin to degenerate 

 after the twelfth year. Highland elk are stated to differ 

 from those of the plains by the slight development of 

 palmation in the antlers. The calves, either one or two 

 at a birth, are born in May. 



We have received vol. xii. of the third series of the 

 Anales del Mtiseo Nacional de Buenos Aires, the contents 

 of which include Dr. Ameghino's paper on Diprothomo, 

 NO. 21 II, VOL. 83] 



already noticed in Nature, as well as several articles by 

 Mr. Juan Br^thes on South American Diptera and Hymeno- 

 ptera, and a long one by Mr. C. Spegazzini on Argentine 

 Mycetozoa. In two articles from the succeeding volume 

 (xx. of the complete series) Dr. Ameghino describes a 

 young tapir-skull from Tucuman as a new species under 

 the name of Tapirus spegazzinii, and likewise adduces 

 evidence considered to prove the existence of a prelacteai 

 dentition in the genus. The Tucuman tapir differs from 

 T. americanus in its shorter and wider nasals. The pre- 

 sumed existence of a prelacteai dentition is afforded by the 

 presence of small dental caps overlying some of the teeth 

 of the milk-series. 



TriE alien problem has long since been acute in Great 

 Britain in the case of human bipeds, and it promises ere 

 long to become so as regards their feathered analogues, for 

 the additions to the list of " British " birds are becoming 

 appallingly frequent, the two latest, according to the April 

 number of Witherby's British Birds, being the lanceolated 

 warbler (Locustella lanceolata), a specimen of which was 

 shot in Lincolnshire on November 18, 1909, and the 

 Corsican woodchat (Lanius senator badius), of which an 

 e.xample was killed in Romney Marsh on June 20 of the 

 same year. The former species breeds in Kamchatka, 

 Japan, and Saghalin, and appears never to have been 

 previously recorded from western Europe, so that it has 

 nothing whatever to do with the British fauna. To 

 exclude such stragglers from the British list seems 

 impossible, as there is a gradual transition from these to 

 species which are more regular visitors. At the same 

 time, their inclusion is a great nuisance, as tending to 

 swamp the proper fauna, and a satisfactory way of deal- 

 ing with the difficulty is urgently required. 



The Bulletin du Jardin Imperial Botanique, St. Peters- 

 burg (vol. X., part i.), contains a list of fungi from the 

 district of Moscow compiled by Mr. J. P. Petroff, and a 

 note on the geotropism of some luffa fruits by Dr. N. 

 Monteverde and Mr. V. Lubimenko. The latter refers to 

 Luffa acutangula and other species, which it is stated 

 acquire a positive geotropic tendency at the period when 

 the fruits ripen with the purpose of casting the lid to 

 allow of the escape of the seeds. 



•Systematic articles in the Kew Bulletin (No. 2) are 

 provided by a revision of the genus Myxopyrum, com- 

 municated by Mr. A. W. Hill, and a decade of nev*: African 

 determinations. Mr. C. E. Legat presents an account of 

 a trek from Pietersburg in a north-eastern direction across 

 the Zoutpansberg range in the Transvaal, undertaken with 

 the object of studying the trees and shrubs growing in 

 this little explored region. South of the range Dombeya 

 rotundifolia, Sclerocarya caffra, and Dichrostachys nutansl 

 were frequently met with ; Copaifera mopane, Pterocarpusi 

 angolensis, and Adansonia digitata were found to the! 

 north. A summary of Thompson's report on the forests j 

 of the Gold Coast directs special attention to arguments 

 adduced as to the great influence of forests on physical and 

 climatic conditions. 



•An article on Chinese Rubi, by Mr. W. J. Bean, pub- 

 lished in the Kew Bulletin (No. 2), gives particulars o! 

 some of the new species collected by Mr. E. H. Wilson 

 Their beauty lies chiefly in the stem and foliage, althougl 

 one or two may, under cultivation, yield new fruits o; 

 good quality. Rubus Veitchii, noted as one of the mos' 

 attractive, is a bush with purple stems and handsome 

 pinnate leaves. R. polytrichus is a dwarf shrub withou 

 prickles, but densely clothed with hairs. R. coreanus h 

 distinguished by its bluish-white stems, and R. Parkeri 



