October 2, 1899.] 



KNOWLEDGE 



229 



ever, may be caused by the slowness of the trains, which 

 run about fifteen miles an hour, and the long intervals 

 between them, there being in most parts only two a day, 

 and only about one an hour out of even Lisbon. Mr. 

 Maunder has been very active in bringing useful informa- 

 tion together for the benefit of those taking part in the 

 expedition, and in this connexion the following particulars 

 may be helpful ; — To Lisbon (or Oporto) and back, £'10 ; 

 to Cadiz, giving access to the centre of Spain, and back, 

 £14 ; to Alicante, a port on the east of Spain, where the 

 eclipse will be visible, £16. Algiers is the final place to 

 which the steamer will proceed, and remain there to act 

 as an hotel for the party. The cost for the entire trip 

 for those going to Algiers and remaining on board during 

 the stay at Algiers would be £22 lOs. These figures 

 represent the cost to members of the British Astronomical 

 Association. To friends the charge will be guineas instead 

 of pounds. The ecUpse committee ought to know defi- 

 nitely before the end of the year the exact number of 

 passengers going and the ports which they may have 

 selected, in order to be able to complete arrangements. 

 As yet one hundred and fourteen or one hundred and 

 fifteen names have been given in ; but in order to justify 

 the committee in completing the arrangements they ought 

 to have at least two hundred taking part in the expedition. 



The entire trip wiU take eighteen days. 

 — ►-•-. — 



Mr. E. E. Austen, of the Zoological Department of the 

 British Museum, has accompanied the expedition from the 

 Liverpool School of Tropical Diseases to Sierra Leone in 

 the capacity of naturalist. Though his special work is 

 upon Diptera, and no doubt he will make a particular 

 point of those insects which convey diseases, yet Mr. Austen 

 will be able to do some more good general work on the 

 lines of that he compassed during his trip up the River 

 Amazon a little time back. 



Anyone wishing to see the extent to which the Rontgen 

 rays have influenced scientific instrument making will be 

 repaid by a visit to the works of Messrs. Isenthal, Potzler 

 & Co. AH the latest additions to the radiographer's outfit 

 and demonstrations of the wonderful effects achieved 

 therewith are freely exhibited by these ingenious con- 

 trivers of apparatus for all kinds of work in this special 

 line. 



British (©rnittjolngtcal Notts. 



Conducted by Habbt F. Witherby, f.z.s., m.b.o.u. 



Notes on the Sazorbill. By Edsvard M'C.iuon (Irish Naturalist, 

 June, 1899, pp. 132-136). JUr. M'Canou, one of the Irisli light- 

 keepers, gives some interesting and original notes on the Razorbill, 

 especially as regards the different plumages of the bird. 



White Waf/fails at Bartragh, Co. Matfo (Irish Naturalist, August, 

 1899, p. 187). Mr. Robert Warren records that Mr. Kirkwood again 

 saw White Wagtails this spring on the island of Bartragh for the 

 third year in succession, on their northern migration. From this 

 it would seem that White Wagtails are in the habit of migrating 

 along the west coast of Ireland in the spring, probably on their way 

 to Iceland, and possibly Greenland, in both of which countries they 

 breed. 



The Construction of the Nest of the Little Tern (Slerni minuta). 

 By Charles J. Patten, b.a., m.d. (Irish Naturalist, September, 1899, 

 pp. 189*197). A very careful and detailed description is given 

 here of the construction of Little Terns' nests f oimd during several 

 years at two colonies near Dublin city. Dr. Patten describes the 

 "nests" as rather elaborately constructed hollows, lined with shells. 

 These " nests " were made in shingle-covered sand, and Dr. Patten 

 remarked that round the eggs was a narrow zone of bare sand. It 

 must not be thought from this that all Lesser Terns' " nests " are 

 constructed in the same way. We have found the egu's of these birds 

 on the Kentish coast placed on the bare shingle, without even a 



depression, or apparently the disturbance of a stone, and we have 

 found them in the Spanish marismas in the merest " scoop " on the 

 bare, hard mud. 



Slue-headed Wagtail in Cumberland CZoologist, June, 1899, p. 267). 

 The Rev. H. A. JIacpherson says that after waiting for seventeen 

 years he has at last detected Motacilla Jlara in Lakeland. He 

 identified and watched a specimen of this bird for two hours on 

 Maj" 1st last, near llaryport, Cumberland. This Wagtail is very 

 common in many parts of the Continent, but it can only be considered 

 as an occasional migrant in Great Britain. 



On some Remains of Birds from the LaJce-dwellings of Glastonbury^ 

 Somersetshire. By C. W. Andrews, B.SC. , F.z.s. (Ibis, .Tune, 1899, 

 pp. 3.51-358). Mr. Andrews gives details of a number of bird bones 

 found in the Lake-dwellings discovered in 1892 at Glastonbury. The 

 author concludes that the birds were killed with the sling, and used 

 as food by the inhabitants of the ancient pile-dwellings. 



Report oil the Movements and Occurrence of Birds in Scot/and 

 during 1S9S. Bv T. G. Laidlaw, m.b.o.u. (Annals of Scottish 

 Natural Sistorg.'.July, 1899, pp. 140-1.58). This is a detailed and 

 comprehensive record of bird movements in Scotland. Mr. Laidlaw's 

 report, drawn from records furnished by some forty observers in 

 different parts of the country, should prove of great value to Scottish 

 ornithologists. 



All contributions to the column, either in the way of notes 

 or photographs, should be forwarded to Harry F, Witherby, 

 at 1, Eliot Place, Blackheath, Kent, 



0.otitts of ISoolts. 



— • — 



^fan ; Past and Present. By A. K. Keane, F.R.G.s. (Cambridge 

 University Press.) In fulfilment of his promise, the author of 

 the volume on " Ethnology,'' which has proved so successful, 

 has supplemented that work by the present treatise, which 

 deals in greater detail and more systematically with the primary 

 divisions of mankind. Since tbe appearance, in 1874, of the 

 English translation of Oscar Peschel's '• Races of Man," there 

 has been no such convenient text-book published as that now 

 before us. The production of a volume like this involves the 

 possession of a combination of qualities such as few can lay 

 claim to. Happily, Mr. Keane's well-known linguistic powers, 

 together with a general acquaintance with the details of physical 

 anthropology and an intimate knowledge of the vast literature 

 of the subject, h.ave been the means of enabling him to impress 

 upon this work, which must of necessity be largely a compilation 

 of the observations of others, his own personality. The plan of 

 the book is excellent. The first two chapters are devoted to the 

 discussion of certain general considerations. In these we notice 

 the author's adherence to such expressions as the " old stone 

 age"' and the "new stone age" as applied to chronological 

 periods ; more properly they apply to stages of culture. We 

 cannot but think that such abuse of the terms leads to much 

 confusion. We speak of a neolithic period as if it were a past 

 age. So it is, so far as we are concerned, but it may be pointed 

 out that there are still many savage races living in a stage of 

 neolithic culture. Furthermore, we lay far too great stress on 

 the transition from the paleolithic to the neolithic stage of 

 culture, forgetful of the fact that in the production of a neo- 

 lithic implement it must first pass through the palasolithic stage 

 of production ; hence it may be that many of the roughly- 

 trimmed flints found with polished tools or weapons are but 

 the specimens cast aside by the maker before he succeeded in 

 obtaining one suitable to receive a better finish. The labour 

 involved in chipping a rude flint is not great, hence the implement 

 made may often have been thrown away after having been used ; 

 on the other hand, the time and labour expended in the production 

 of a polished implement rendered it an object of value to the 

 owner, and doubtless, in many instances, it was handed down 

 from generation to generation. Much, too, depends on the 

 material employed, the more highly prized examples being 

 always those most difficult to work. From the culture stand- 

 point, a stone age in nowise difl:'ers from a bone age, though the 

 remains of the latter are scarcer owing to their perishable 

 nature. The succeeding chapters are devoted to a consideration 

 of the various races of mankind : each is preceded by a conspectus 

 in which are briefly summarised the facts relating to the 

 primeval home, present range of distribution, physical characters, 

 temperament, speech, religion, culture, and main divisions of 



