August 23, 1900] 



NATURE 



Zil 



able form of the balloon, a cylinder experiencing greater 

 resistance than a sphere. The performance of the motors and 

 screws is described as brilliant. 



We have already referred to the great loss anthropology has 

 sustained in the death of Mr. Frank Hamilton Gushing on April 

 10. In the current number of the American Anthropologist are 

 memorial notices by various leading American anthropologists, 

 from which it is evident that a peculiarly gifted and winning 

 personality has passed away. Mr. Gushing had great manual 

 dexterity and an acute appreciation of how things were made, 

 and he had practised himself to do anything an American 

 Indian could accomplish, and with the same limited resources. 

 For five years he lived with the Zufii Indians, living their life 

 and familiarising himself with their ideas and modes of thought, 

 and he rose high in the social Pueblo life, taking part in their 

 councils and in their sacred ceremonies. An intense eagerness 

 to learn more and more of aboriginal thought and deed was the 

 mainspring of his life, and his kindly sympathetic nature and 

 keen intelligence and dexterity placed him in the front rank of 

 field investigators. We understand that Mr. Gushing left an 

 immense amount of MS. material, which it is to be hoped will 

 be fully published, for his published works by no means do 

 justice to the extent and value of his researches. 



Our contemporary Science, for July 27, contains a summary 

 of the " Lacey Act," recently passed by Gongress for the pro- 

 tection of game and other birds in the United States, and for 

 the regulation of the importation of foreign birds and mammals. 

 The carrying out of this important Act has been confided by the 

 Secretary of the Department of Agriculture to the Division of 

 Biology, Dr. T. S. Palmer being the officer selected to supervise 

 its actual administration. Dr. Palmer has lost no time in making 

 known the principles of the new law, having already published 

 a Bulletin of the Department, entitled "Protection and Im- 

 portation of Birds, under Act of Gongress, approved May 25, 

 1900." As regards the importation of wild animals and birds, 

 an absolute veto is placed on certain injurious species ; and im- 

 porters must in all cases obtain special permits from the Secre- 

 tary of Agriculture before a single individual can be landed. 

 These permits should be applied for in advance. No permits 

 are issued for shipping birds from one State to another, although 

 in certain States the Gommissioners of Fish and Game have 

 authority to allow the shipment of a limited number for breeding 

 purposes. No permits are necessary for domesticated birds, and 

 the same applies to natural history specimens for museums. In 

 the case of the larger ruminants special permits will be issued, 

 as heretofore, in the form prescribed for domesticated mammals. 

 The prohibited species include the European house-sparrow, the 

 starling, fruit-bats or flying foxes, and the mongoose, or ichneu- 

 mon. Special inspectors are appointed to carry out the law, 

 and to give advice in cases of difficulty. The attention of all 

 concerned is drawn to those sections which make it unlawful 

 to ship from one State to another animals or birds taken in 

 contravention of local laws, and which require all packages 

 containing live birds and animals to be clearly marked with 

 the name and address of the shipper, and with the nature of 

 their contents. 



Whether or no the inferior animals have souls, forms the 

 subject of an article by Herr S. von Uexkiill in the Biol. 

 Centralblatt of August i. 



• 



In Part 3 of vol. xxviii. of the Morphologisches Jahrbuch, Dr. 

 B. Haller publishes his third memoir on the vertebrate brain, 

 treating specially of that of the mouse, but adding some ob- 

 servations in regard to Echidna. The second article in the same 

 NO. 1608, VOL. 62 1 



number is by Dr. Fiirbringer, and treats of the systematic position 

 : of the Myxinoids. The author is of opinion that vertebrates 

 should be subdivided as follows : — 

 I. Acrania (Amphioxina). 

 II. Graniota : 



(1) Distoma (Myxinoides). 



(2) Cyclostomi ^Petromyzontes). 



(3) Gnathostoma : 



(a) Anamia (Pieces, Dipneusta, Amphibia). 

 \b) Amniota (Reptilia et Aves, Mammalia). 



We have received the Report of the Manchester Museum for 

 1 899- 1 900. From this we learn that the Museum has been en- 

 riched during the period in question with two collections of 

 first-class importance, one of these being Mr. G. H. Schill's 

 cabinet of Lepidoptera, and the other the Layard collection of 

 weapons and implements. 



In the concluding part of his " Ornithological Notes," pub- 

 lished in the July issue of the Victorian Naturalist, Mr. Robert 

 Hall, of Melbourne, discusses the question whether a tree- 

 building diamond-bird (Pardalotes) is the foster-parent of a 

 cuckoo. In the case referred to the young cuckoo was actually 

 seen to be fed by the diamond-bird, one of whose own young 

 was brought up with it. The incident is at present quite unique. 



The Library of the Patent Office is an institution known and 

 appreciated by many students of science, both pure and applied. 

 A series of classified catalogues of the contents of the Library 

 has just been started by the publication of a " Subject List of 

 Works on Photography and the Allied Arts and Sciences." 

 Each volume of the series will contain (i) a general alphaliet of 

 subject headings, with descriptive entries, in chronological 

 order, of the works arranged under these headings ; (2) a key 

 or a summary of these headings shown in class order. The pre- 

 sent list comprises 557 works (73 serials, 484 text-books, &c.) 

 wholly or in part photographic — representing \}po volumes. 

 The catalogue is really a valuable little bibliography of photo- 

 graphy as well as a guide to the contents of the Library. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include a Green Monkey {Cercopithecus callitrichus), 

 a Monkey (^Cercopithecus, sp. inc.) from West Africa, pre- 

 sented by Mr. L. J. Sparrow ; a Mozambique Monkey (^Cerco- 

 pithecus pygerythrus) from East Africa, presented by Mr. 

 G. Mackay ; three Pheasants (Phasianus colchicus), British ; a 

 Gommon Peafowl (Pavo cristatus, S } from India, presented by 

 Gaptain G. H. Arnot ; a Long-legged Buzzard (Buteo ferox), 

 a Black Y>\\.&{Milvus tnigrans), two Lesser Kestrels ( Tinnunculus 

 cenchris), European, two American Kestrels ( Tinnunculus 

 sparverius) from America, presented by Mr. J. Simonds ; a 

 Bengal Weaver Bird (Ploceus bengalensis), a Manyar Weaver 

 Bird (Ploceus manyar), four Black- throated Weaver Bird 

 (Ploceus atrigula), an Indian Roller [Coracias indica) from 

 India, presented by Mr. E. W. Harper ; a Spiny-tailed Iguana 

 (Ctenosaura acanthiira) from Gentral America, presented by 

 Mr. G. Hagenbeck ; a Gommon Lizard (Lacerta vwipara), 

 British, presented by Mr. Stanley S. Flower; a Military Macaw 

 (Ara militaris) from South America, a Roseate Gockatoo 

 (Cacatua roseicapilla), six Blue Lizards (C^rr^/w/Mj coeruleus) 

 from Australia, three Blue-tongued Lizards (Tiliqua scincoides) 

 from Western North America, a White collared Kingfi.sher 

 {Halcyon chloris) from India, a Saddle-backed Tortoise (7V.f/»/a'<7 

 ephippiuni), three Albemarle Tortoises ( Testudo vicina), two 

 Thin-shelled Tortoises ( Testudo microphyes) from the Galapagos 

 Islands, deposited; an Argali Sheep (Ovis amnion, <i) from 

 the Altai Mountains, two Black Storks (Ciconia nigra), 

 European ; a Ring-necked Pheasant (Fhasianus tori/uatus) horn 

 Ghina, purchased; four Indian Grows (Corvus splendens), a 



