IO 
with such attention to detail, that they afford very 
strong evidence as to the appearance of these 
species now in many cases extinct. Lastly, there 
is the interest attached to the chronological order 
of the paintings as it may be determined by an 
examination of those examples far from rare in 
which one figure is superimposed on another. The 
evidence from this source is not, however, so com- 
plete that we can tell the order in which certain 
animals have become extinct. 
curious caprice that the mammoth, for instance, 
in ‘“‘La Caverne de Font-de-Gaume”’ appears only 
in “paintings” belonging to the first and fifth 
periods. 
There is naturally a special interest in those 
frescoes in which Man himself is the subject. 
Unfortunately there is no clear and full repre- 
sentation of Man. The figure in the cave Hornos 
de la Pefia is almost certainly not that of a man. 
There is, however, a very spirited delineation of 
a human arm in “La Pasiega,” while the number 
of times in which the human hand is depicted is 
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- Fic. 2.—Fresco of hands, animals and weapons (?) on the wall of the 
remarkable. Representations of the left hand 
preponderate greatly over those of the right hand, 
a fact which is explained no doubt rightly by 
assuming that man had already ceased to be ambi- 
dextrous. It is a very curious coincidence that 
among the native Australians the custom of draw- 
ing or painting the hand on the wall of a cave 
is not infrequently practised. The 
ing figures show how closely related such 
examples may be. In Australia the boomerang 
is often found associated, while in Spain instru- 
ments of a similar shape are also sometimes intro- 
duced. Naturally there are many other markings 
the meaning of which it is difficult to determine, 
“tectiform,” “scutiform,” “claviform” figures. 
It is tempting to think that some of the former 
are meant to represent huts, it is at any rate 
difficult to know what else they could be while 
their resemblance to the homes of primitive people 
in all parts of the world is striking. 
The value of these important books, the great 
labour they have entailed, the vast knowledge 
N@: 23m.) VOL.103| 
accompany- | 
cavern at Castillo. 
| Acrzine Butterflies. 
[Marcu 5, 1914 
they have exacted, will be readily granted when 
it is further noted that they include a “descrip- 
tion raisonée”’ of all the animals depicted, a 
description based on an examination of all the 
art specimens extant representing the animals, 
whether gravure, carving, or “painting.” There 
is again a very careful and scientific comparison 
made between these old examples and those of 
| the modern African Bushman. 
We find by a | 
The books constitute, with the archeological 
books already published from the Monaco press, 
a series of classics which mark an epoch in the 
history of our knowledge of archeology. They 
_ enable us to view the past as through a telescope. 
WILLIAM WRIGHT. 
THE HOPE (REPORTS# 
| hee anyone would undertake the task of writing 
the history of zoological science during the 
past fifty years, an interesting chapter could be 
written on the attitude of the leading authorities 
towards the work of the pure systematist. 
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From ‘‘ Les Cavernes de la Région Cantabrique.” 
Fewer than fifty years ago every zoologist who 
ventured to express his opinions on the philo- 
sophical questions that gathered round the science 
was a recognised authority on the systematic 
zoology of some one group of animals. Haeckel 
had studied the Radiolaria and Meduse; Darwin 
wrote a monograph on the Cirripedia; Huxley 
contributed to our knowledge of the systematic 
zoology of the Siphonophora. But the time came 
when, for a period, the study of a special group 
was discouraged, and the student, passing from 
his course of general study, started on his investi- 
gations on embryology or morphology, without 
taking the trouble to become acquainted with the 
difficulties of systematic work, or to train himself 
in the observation of minute differences of struc- 
ture upon which the arrangement of animals into 
specific groups must, in so many cases, be based. 
1 The Hope Reports. Edited by Prof. E. B. Poulton, F.R.S._ Vol. vill , 
Appendix, 1890-1910, Including Five Sub-families of the Blattide. ByR. 
Shelford. Vol. viii., 1910-13. With a Separate Appendix. Vol Ix., 1911-13. 
The Natural History and Description of African Insects, especially the 
(Oxford, 1913.) 
