October 3, 1901] 



NA TURE 



555 



previously noticed in Nature (June 15 and September 20, 

 1S99). There are also reports on the shores of Lake Winnipeg, 

 on those of Hudson Strait, and on Quebec province. In these 

 the fossils of the Cambro-Silurian or Ordovician rocks of Mani- 

 toba and of Quebec receive especial attention, and there are full 

 descriptions of the glacial phenomena. There is a good view 

 showing the character of the surface of the Archaean rocks in 

 Keewatin, and many other photographic illustrations of scenery 

 and geological structure. 



Mr. J. J. Wilkinson has forwarded us a copy of a pamphlet 

 giving an account of the very large and remarkable pharynx of 

 the fly-larvK commonly known as rat-tailed maggots, which are 

 sometimes seen so abundantly in water. The pamphlet, which 

 is illustrated with two plates, is published by Messrs. R. Clay 

 and Sons, Ltd. 



The American Naturalist for September contains only two 

 original communications— the one a continuation of Prof. W. M. 

 Wheeler's account of the compound and mixed nests of American 

 snts, and the other of Prof. H. S. Jennings' synopsis of North 

 American invertebrates. The particular description of social 

 ant-life treated of in Prof. Wheeler's article is that commonly 

 known as slavery, and technically as "dulosis." Instead of 

 slaves, it is suggested that a better title for the .subservient ants 

 would be helpmates, or auxiliaries, for the members of the two 

 species found in the same nests behave towards each other as if 

 they were brothers and sisters, and share the task of constructing 

 the habitation. Unlike that which obtains in other kinds of 

 anl-association, the so-called slaves always belong to the same 

 subfamily group as their masters. 



In their Report for 1900 the trustees of the South African 

 Museum remark that "the pubhc events of the past year have, 

 naturally, affected the Museum in more ways than one. Both 

 the number of contributions to the collection and the number of 

 visitors to inspect them have fallen off to a considerable extent. 

 This is the first break in a continuous increase prolonged over a 

 lengthened period." In spite of these discourjiging circum- 

 stances, it is nevertheless hoped that substantial progress has 

 been made both in regard to the development of the Museum 

 and the extension of our knowledge of the South African fauna. 

 During the year in question were issued Mr. W. L. Sclater's 

 two volumes on the mammals of South Africa and the late Dr. 

 Stark's volume on the birds, all of which have been noticed in 

 our columns. The Director announces that, with the aid of 

 the MS. left by Dr. Stark, he has completed the second volume 

 on the birds, while the third is in hand. The Museum has 

 been enriched by specimens of several mammals from Mr. 

 Rhodes's park at Groote Schuur. 



An interesting and well-illustrated account of the growth and 

 present condition of the Millport Marine Biological Station, or, 

 as it is now called, the Marine Biological Association of the 

 West of Scotland, appears in Good JFords for September. As 

 many of our readers are aware, this admirable institution, which 

 is so largely indebted for its progress to Sir John Murray and 

 had very small beginnings, was started to commemorate the 

 life-work of David Robertson, the "naturalist of Cumbrae." 

 And it is satisfactory to learn that the "Robertson Museum," 

 occupying the upper part of the main building of the station, 

 attracts during the season a large number of visitors, many of 

 whom display much interest in the living creatures from the 

 Firth of Clyde exhibited in special tanks. From its humble 

 beginnings in the well-remembered "Ark" — a barge given by 

 Sir J. Murray — the author traces the gradual progress of the 

 station, which has been recently enriched by the gift, from an 

 anonymous donor, of a deep-sea dredging steamer, and likewise 

 ■by a five-year endowment from the same generous hand. As an 

 NO. 1666, VOL. 64] 



instance of the manner in which commerce is benefited by under- 

 takings of this nature, Mr. Sinclair tells us how the discovery of 

 large deep-water shrimps in the Scotch lochs led to their detection 

 in the still deeper fjords of Norway, with the result that the 

 Norwegians now do a flourishing trade in these deep-sea 

 crustaceans. 



In a very interesting memoir which has recently appeared in 

 the Proceedings of the Americaft Academy of Arts and Sciences 

 (vol. xxxvi. No. 20, March 1901) Messrs. T. W. Richards and 

 E. H. Archibald give a preliminary account of the series of 

 investigations they are carrying on in the chemical laboratory of 

 Harvard College on the growth of crystals. Ever since the 

 discovery of the microscope, the gradual growth of crystals in a 

 solution has proved a fascinating study, but the sudden way in 

 which the embryo crystals flash into existence and the insensible 

 manner in which they enlarge their dimensions appear to defy 

 the acutest observer. Vogelsang introduced the method of 

 retarding the action of the crystallising forces by adding viscous 

 materials to the solvent, and his study of globulites and other 

 forms of embryo crystals has been the starting-point of many 

 important physical investigations by O. Meyer, Ostwald and 

 others. The two American investigators, with the aid of a grant 

 from the Rumford Fund, are now applying the method of 

 instantaneous photomicrography to thestudy of growing crystals. 

 In their first memoir they discuss the methods of procedure and 

 give illustrations of some of their results, which appear to be 

 full of promise. 



Anthropologists and folklorists would find it worth their 

 while regularly to look over the pages of Globus, as in that 

 well-edited journal there are constantly interesting and often 

 illustrated articles and notes which are of permanent value. 

 For example, in No. 23, Bd. Ixxix., there is an essay by Julius 

 von Negerlein on souls as birds, and a well-illustrated article on 

 West African masks and the ceremonies with which they are 

 associated, by Dr. Karutz. R. Palleske gives an illustrated 

 account of a find at Ingelstad, in Sweden, of a horse's skull in 

 which is embedded a very fine stone axe head of a form 

 characteristic of the later half of the (Neolithic) Swedish Stone 

 age ; as it is highly probable that the horse did not exist in its 

 wild state in Sweden after the Quaternary period, the con- 

 clusion is arrived at that in the late Neolithic age the horse was 

 domesticated in Sweden. The original account of this interest- 

 ing find was published by Gunnar Andersson, in Ymer, 1901, 

 heft i. In No. l, Bd. Ixxx., F. von Luschan gives an illustrated 

 description of a new kind of masks from New Britain, Dr. 

 A. Kramer discusses phallic and other sacred stones from the 

 Pacific and Dr. L. Rutimeyer figures two " stone idols " from 

 West Africa. In No. 7 Dr. R. Lasch publishes a learned study 

 on the fate of the souls of women who die in child-bed. All 

 over the world there are beliefs of the disastrous results of this 

 calamity ; thus in the Malay Peninsula " the Pontianak " (or 

 Mati-anak, as W. W. Skeat also calls it in his " Malay Magic," 

 which book the author appears to have overlooked) " is sup- 

 posed to be the ghost of a woman dying in child-bed, and is 

 commonly seen in the form of a huge bird uttering a discordant 

 cry. It haunts forests and burial grounds, appears to men at 

 midnight, and it is said to emasculate them." 



The Transactions of the American Microscopical Society for 

 1900 (issued May, 1 90 1), contains papers on a great variety of 

 subjects, ranging from the surface impurities affecting water- 

 supply and " limnology " (the study of lakes), to the classifi- 

 cation of desmids and microscopic crustaceans, the parasites of 

 the human ear and of lacustrine fish, and the description of a 

 new cave salamander from Missouri. The latter, it may be 

 observed, is another member of the already large American 

 genus Spelerpes. A special feature of the volume is the first 



