594 



NA TURE 



[April 19, 1894 



there in association with the worked flints. The n-.andible of 

 Felis spehta found in the cave of Herm presents characters inter- 

 mediate between the lion and the tiger, and M. Boule would 

 prefer to look upon this great cave cat as merely a polymor- 

 phous race of the modern lion ; he suggests that it should be 

 called fclis leo, race spelaa. — M. Salomon Reinach treats of 

 sculpture in Europe prior to Greco-Roman influence : and M. 

 G. Capus describes the ethnical migrations in Central Asia from 

 a geographical point of view. From the Himalaya, southwards, to 

 the Altai, northwards, the great mountain ranges of Central 

 Asia form a series of practically parallel ridges running from 

 east to west ; but from the 35th to the 45th parallels of latitude 

 there is also a mountainous barrier extending from north to 

 south, and separating the western plains from the valleys and 

 plateaus of the east. This barrier has played an important part 

 in determining the ciurse of the migration of nations and the 

 distribution of the two great Asiatic races. It is formed more 

 particularly by the Pamir plateau, extending from the valley of 

 the upper Indus as far as the Thian-Shan, to the north of the 

 Trans-Alai range. The whole of the surrounding region 

 is thus divided into three great sections — the Indo-Afghan, 

 the Turanian (including Kashgar), and the Tibetan, 

 and each of these three districts is characterised by certain 

 physical features which distinguish it from the others. 

 The Turanian slopes, with their grassy steppes and their arid 

 deserts, possess a climate, a fauna, and a flora of great uni- 

 formity ; the absence of great forests, the predominance of pas- 

 turage over arable land, the rarity of summer rains, and the 

 great variations of temperature, clearly distinguish this section 

 trom the other two. On the high Tibetan plateaus which 

 extend from the Kuen-lun to the Himalayas, the climatic con- 

 ditions caused by the great altitude are, in general, so unfavour- 

 able to human life that they serve by themselves sufficiently to 

 characterise this region. The plateaus and valleys of Afghani- 

 stan and the northern plains of India enjoy, on the other hand, 

 a soil less unequal in richness, a climate less extreme, and a 

 vegetation more abundant, thanks to the moisture that they 

 receive from the south-west monsoons. The cultivation of the 

 soil is more extensive, and is, at the same time, carried on with 

 greater energy, so that arable land is less localised, and is in 

 greater proportion to pasturage. But the aptitude of the soil 

 to support nomadic cattle-breeders or sedentary agriculturists is 

 an efficient factor in determining the routes chosen by the one 

 and the other in their movements of migration or exodus ; and 

 so we find that the sedentary Aryan who has trusted to agricul- 

 tural pursuits from time immemorial has moved from the west to 

 the south-east and the east ; while the Turco-Mongol, who has 

 devoted himself to the raising of cattle and nomadism, has 

 chosen the Turanian route from the east to the north-west and 

 west. — M. R. Verneau describes a new human cranium from a 

 lacustrine city. This is one of two crania found at Concise, by 

 Dr. Gilbert, with some 1700 objects of bronze and stone, and 

 is confidently attributed to the bronze age; it is almost perfect 

 with the exception of the lower jaw, and is remarkable for its 

 extreme brachycephaly (91 "46). 



The number of the Nuovo Giornalc Botanico Italiano for 

 April, and Nos. 2-4 of the Bullettino of the Italian Botanical 

 Society, are almost entirely occupied with papers of special in- 

 terest to Italian botanists, with whom the study of the galls pro- 

 duced on plants by insects occupies a large share of attention. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 



London. 



Royal Microscopical Society, March 21. — A. D. 

 Michael, President, in the chair. — Mr. C. L. Curties exhibited 

 and described a new form of photo-micrographic camera and 

 drawing apparatus, designed by Prof. Edinger, and constructed 

 by Herr E. Leitz. — Dr. W. 11. Dallinger exhibited and 

 described a new model microscope by Messrs. Swift. — Messrs. 

 Watson and Sons exhibited a new super-stage plate fitted with 

 two steel springs ; they also showed a Ramsden screw micro- 

 meter and an Abbe camera lucida, both made in aluminium. 

 ■ — Mr. R. T. Lewis described a scale insect from Natal, which 

 he believed to be Trioza pelliicida. — Mr. J. G. Grenfell ex- 

 hibited and described specimens of Dicyemida, parasites found 

 on the renal organs of cephalopods. — The President read a 

 paper entitled " Notes on the Uropodinse," a sub-family of the 



NO. T277, ^^^- 49] 



Gamasidse, one of the higher families of Acari. The classifi- 

 cation was first considered, that by former authors was reviewed, 

 and a new classification proposed suitable to the present state 

 of knowledge on the subject. Two new genera were estab- 

 lished : one, Glyphopsis, for species with the body of irregular 

 form sculptured on the dorsal surface, and with excavations for 

 the legs on the ventral surface, which the author claimed as 

 forming a natural group ; the other, Trachetes, to replace 

 Celieno, which name has failed by the operation of the law of 

 priorities and for other reasons. Three new species were 

 described, two from Cornwall and one from the Tyrol. One of 

 the former, Glyphopsis Bostocki, is the largest and handsomest 

 of known Uropodina; ; the Tyrolese species, Uropoda hamulifera, 

 is also a remarkable creature. A list of the British species, 

 which has not been attempted before, was then given, and the 

 synonomy, which has fallen into great confusion, elucidated. 

 The author then treated of the anatomy of Glyphopsis formi- 

 carict, a curioi;s species found some years since by Sir John 

 Lubbock in the nests of the ant Sasiiis Jlaviis , and lately found 

 by Mr. Michael in considerable numbers in Cornwall, in similar 

 nests. This anatomy varies a good deal from that of other 

 Uropodinas previously investigated. The alimentary canal is 

 more of the type of other Gamasidoe than of the Uropodinse, 

 the ventriculus being small and its caeca long. The male genital 

 organs also present special features ; but the most remarkable 

 novelties consist in a number of branched " racemose glands " 

 of various sizes underlying the dorsal cuticle in fixed situations, 

 and probably functioning as dermal glands ; the coxal gland, 

 which is attached to the second leg on each side, is also notice- 

 able specially for the extremely large size and fleshy nature of 

 its duct. It is probably the most striking coxal gland yet found 

 in the Acarina. 



Victoria Institute, March 19.— Sir G. G. Stokes, Bart., 

 F.R.S., President, in the chair. — On a possible cause for the 

 origin of the tradition of the flood, by Dr. Prestwich, F. R. S. The 

 paper described at considerable length the various phenomena 

 which came under the author's observation during long years of 

 geological research throughout Europe and the coasts of the 

 Mediterranean. He concluded by giving the reasons why he 

 considered that these were " only explicable upon the hypo- 

 thesis of a widespread and short submergence of continental 

 dimensions, followed by early re-elevation, and this hypothesis 

 satisfied all the important conditions of the problem." The 

 age of man was held to be divided into Palaeolithic and Neo- 

 lithic, and he considered rightly so. He concluded by saying 

 that thus there seemed cause for the origin of that widespread 

 tradition of a flood. The paper was followed by reference to a 

 communication from Sir W. Dawson, F.R.S., who welcomed 

 the paper as confirming his conclusion, come to on geological 

 and palaeontological grounds, as to a physical break in the 

 anthropic age. The evidence for this was afforded by the cave 

 remains and from a vast quantity of other sources. The dis- 

 cussion which ensued was joined in by a considerable number, 

 including Dr. Woodward, F.R.S., Prof. T. R. Jones, F.R.S., 

 T. McK. Hughes, F.R.S., E. Hull, F.R.S., and Sir H. 

 Howorth, F.R.S. 



Zoological Society, April 3. — Sir W. H. Flower, K.C.B., 

 F. R. S. , President, in the chair. — The Secretary read a report 

 on the additions that had been made to the Society's menagerie 

 during the month of March 1894. — Dr. Giinther exhibited and 

 made remarks on some specimens of the American Lepidosiren 

 {Lepidosiren paradoxa) from the Upper Rio Paraguay, collected 

 by Dr. Bohls. — Captain H. G. C. Swayne, R.E., gave a de- 

 scription of the physical features of Somaliland, and an account 

 of the expeditions he had made into the interior of that country 

 during the past nine years, pointing out the localities in which 

 the larger mammals were usually met with. The paper was 

 illustrated by the exhibition of a large series of well-mounted 

 headsof the various species of antelopes and other animals of 

 Somaliland. — Mr. O. Thomas read a paper on the dwarf an- | 

 telopes of the genus Madoqua, in which three species from 

 Somaliland were described as new, and named M. yioaynei, M. 

 phillipsi, and M. gucniheri. A revised classification of the six 

 known species of this genus of antelopes was added. — Mr. R. T. 

 Coryndon gave an account of his pursuit of the white or Bur- 

 chell's rhinoceros {Rhitwceros si/mis) in Mashonaland, and of 

 the way he had obtained the specimens which would shortly be 

 placed in the British Museum, the Tring Museum, and the 

 Cambridge University Museum (see p. 584). — A communication 



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