February 5, 1903] 



NATURE 



\2\ 



which some 169 species are recorded, the voracious habit 

 of swallowing a prey several times its own size is extended 

 to a powerfully dentigerous Scopeloid Odontostomus, 

 living at 573-870 fathoms. 



Most interesting among the fishes is a Scorpaenoid 

 {Minous inermis), trawled at 45-70 fathoms both N. 

 and S. of the Bay of Bengal and in the Malabar Sea. 

 It has a compound Hydroid (Sty/actis minoi) living com- 

 mensally about its branchial region, and of this creature 

 we recall the fact that, in his original memoir upon it, the 

 author tells us how, in the presence of two species of the 

 genus Minous, it will select that after which he has now 

 named it. 



Numerous other fantasies are attractive features of the 

 book, as, for example, certain stories of bird-life which 

 have come within the experience of the author and his 

 wife, which almost baffle comprehension. And as a 

 noteworthy scientific fact, the author tells us that while 

 his greatest haul was one at 188 fathoms in the Anda- 

 man Sea near the Cinque Islands, his successor, Dr. 

 Anderson, obtained nothing on repeating it. 



For those who love sensation and admire pluck, the 

 story of the carrying away by a big shark of a drik-net, 

 which with its sinkers weighed more than 450 lb., the 

 two becoming involved " past all surgery," like that of 

 the fate of the cork of a bottle of " Bass " when lowered 

 to 459 fathoms, where the pressure is equal to two tons 

 to the square inch, and, above all, of the loss of the cap 

 of one of the lieutenants, while returning to the ship 

 after the successful rescue of a gunner from the attentions 

 of three man-eating sharks, are tales of the sea as in- 

 structive as they are exhilarating, which must be read to 

 be appreciated. 



Among the more important discoveries of the voyage 

 emphasised in the book are those of a "solitary" coral 

 {Caryophyllia ambrosia), and the giant ostracod Bathy- 

 nomus and blind lobster Phoberus caecus, hitherto 

 thought to be characteristic of the depths of the Gulf of 

 Mexico : and there are endless other records little less 

 important than these, as all familiar with Dr. Alcock's 

 scientific memoirs may well imagine. The book is inter- 

 esting and attractive from cover to cover, worthy its 

 author's reputation as a naturalist and explorer ; and we 

 know of no popular work of the kind more trustworthy 

 and at the same time better calculated to give the reader 

 an insight into the nature and methods of marine investi- 

 gation, and to arouse an interest in this charming pur- 

 suit and the quaint resources of the deep sea. It is one 

 of the best natural history books published for some 

 time, altogether admirable, and it cannot fail to be 

 widely read and appreciated. 



A TRAVELLER IN PATAGONIA. 1 

 J_T UDSON, in his " Idle Days in Patagonia," says 

 ■*• -*■ "It is not strange that the sweetest moment in 

 any life, pleasant or dreary, should be when nature draws 

 nearer to it, and, taking up her neglected instrument, 

 plays a fragment of some ancient melody, long unheard 

 on the earth." Perhaps in Patagonia, more than in any 

 other part of the western continent, the traveller feels 

 the touch of aeons of forgotten centuries. He finds 

 himself in a strange, unfinished world. On the west, a 

 belt of volcanic peaks, snow-crested and glacier-dotted, 

 represents the last fiery effort of the Andes to divide the 

 world into two fractions. Cradled in their ramifications 

 lies an extensive system of great lakes of surpassing 

 beauty — lake succeeding lake for a distance of 600 

 miles from north to south. On all sides are found ancient 

 moraines and the remains of mountains which have 

 been torn to fragments by volcanic action, and vast 



'"Through the Heart of Patagonia." By H. Hesketh Prichard. 

 (London: William Heinemann, 1902.) 



NO. 1736, VOL. 67] 



canons and deep river beds through which streams 

 have sometimes found their way to the Atlantic and then 

 again to the Pacific Ocean, or vice versa, according to 

 the convulsions of nature. Between the Atlantic coast 

 and this Andean belt rises terrace after terrace, repre- 

 senting one of the greatest Tertiary deposits known. The 

 shingle- and basalt-covered plains are scored by violent 

 rivers and deep, broad depressions. Everywhere are 

 found evidences that the country has been several times 

 submerged and raised. The plains are the home of the 

 guanaco, the huemul, the puma, the American ostrich 

 and countless varieties of the feathered tribe. Primitive 

 man must have found here a rare hunting-ground. His 

 numerous, sturdy descendants, a nomadic hunting race, 

 without trace of agricultural life, presented a bold front 

 to the Spanish conquistador. They had several tribal 

 divisions ; the Moluches, or warriors (called Araucanos 

 by the Spaniards), occupied both sides of the Cordillera 

 in Patagonia, and were subdivided into Pehuenches and 

 Huilliches. The- former extended to 35° south lat. and 

 derived their name from pekuen, a pine tree, and che, 

 meaning people. The Huilliches, or southern Moluches, 

 had four subdivisions, and extended along the whole west 

 side of Patagonia south to the Straits of Magellan. The 

 Puelches, or eastern people, so-called by the Moluches, 

 occupied the whole of Patagonia between the Atlantic 

 Ocean and the Andes, but were split into several frac- 

 tions ; the most southern one was known as the 

 Tehuelhets, but called themselves Tehuel-kunny, or 

 southern men, generally known in early writings as 

 Patagones, but in modern times writers have fallen into 

 the error of calling them Tehuel-ches, applying the 

 Araucano che instead of the Tehuel het to denote people. 



All these tribes south of 36 s south lat. were the 

 scourge of the Yiceroyalty of Buenos Ayres and 

 incessantly raided the Spanish settlements as far north 

 as the line of the present Central Argentine Railway, 

 even as late as 186S. In 1845, they proposed to the 

 Government of Buenos Ayres that the southern frontier 

 of the province should be the River Salado, only eighty 

 miles south of the city of Buenos Ayres. There is now 

 but a remnant of them left. 



Such is the country the interior of which Mr. Prichard 

 traversed from the mouth of the River Chubut to Puerto 

 Gallegos, covering about nine degrees of latitude, and 

 such the "Tehuelches," the only indigenous tribe whom 

 he met, from time to time, en route. His expedition 

 was generously financed by Mr. Pearson, proprietor of 

 the Daily Express, of London, with the hope of discover- 

 ing a living specimen of the Giant Ground Sloth— the 

 prehistoric Mylodon — a portion of the remains of one 

 having been previously found, at Last Hope Inlet, by 

 the well-known Argentine savant, Dr. F. P. Moreno. 

 In his quest, Mr. Prichard was unsuccessful : and it 

 recalls to mind that a King of Spain was also unable to 

 obtain a live Megatherium which he had ordered a 

 Buenos Ayrean Viceroy to obtain and send to him. But 

 if Mr. Prichard could not bring a Mylodon to life, he has 

 at least given a life colouring to Patagonia in his charm- 

 ing book. It is profusely and richly illustrated from 

 photographs and maps drawn from the inexhaustible 

 collection made by Dr. Moreno during his years of 

 explorations there. After devoting a few interesting 

 pages to the physical features of Patagonia, its dis- 

 covery, and some mention of some of the travellers 

 and writers who preceded him, Mr. Pricrnrd takes us 

 with him to the Welsh Patagonian settlement, at the 

 mouth of the River Chubut, and tells us that "the older 

 and younger generation are unlike each other now, and 

 will probably continue to become more so as time goes 

 on. Physically, the younger people are far better deve- 

 loped than their elders." The splendid climate is 

 evidently destined to grow a superb race of men — such, 

 in fact, as Pigafetta and others, of Magellan and Drake's 



