October 24. 1918 



NATURE 



151 



Somi ii' « 1 i t^li t on ilu proto-ethnolog) of the Mala} 

 Peninsula is thrown b\ excavations in caves al Leng- 

 . 1 ppei Perak, conducted b) Mr. I. II. N. Evans, 

 tin- results t if which an published in the Journal oi 

 thi Federated Mala\ States Museums (vol. vii., 

 pari iv., June, 1918). Amongsl other objects, some 

 implements were discovered. VVhethei these had 

 a rubbing-down process still remains 

 bt. Ii wi are to regard the speci- 

 mens .1- being roughlj blocked ou( and unfinished 

 specimens of thi X ■ . . 1 i 1 1 1 i i period, ii is difficult to see 

 into whal peninsular type or types they are to be 

 included. Ii is possibli thai the earliest occupants ol 

 thesi 1 •'- did nol possess an) pottery, bul a littli 

 mavhavi been in use in the period represented b) these 

 implements. 



Is Wan t Miss M. Murraj dis- 



- the question of the so-called "devil's mark," 

 familiar to all students oi European witchcraft. After 

 .1 review "I the evidence, the writei draws the con- 

 on thai the mark was coloured, permanent, caused 

 11 pricking or tearing of the skin; thai the opera- 

 passed hi- hands 01 fingers ovei the place, and 

 thi pain was seven and mighi lasl a consider- 

 time. rhese facts suggest tattooing. Another 

 form ol thi 'devil's mark" was the "little teat." 

 Ih. description points to its being a natural pheno- 

 lernumerary nipple. Cases of poly- 

 mastia or supernumerarj breasts, and polythelia or 

 rnumerary nipples, are constantly observed by 

 : 11 s< holars, and their occurrence is more common 

 than is general!) believed, and in main cases is 

 itieed, unless well-marked in men or causing dis- 

 l b) functioning when in women. 



I\ tin Eugenics Review for Octobei (vol. \., No. j) 

 Prof. J. A. Lindsa) discusses the eugenic and social 

 i the war. lie- concludes trial "when we 

 come to count up the gains and losses of the war, 

 an be little doubt to which side the balance will 

 incline. The nation will have lost heavily in man- 

 power, in brain-power, in capital, and in industrial 

 resources. Bul there will be some nol inconsiderable 

 ompensations. The nation will, we may hope, 

 «i from tin gn it ordeal purged of some of its 

 lefects. Luxury will diminish, thrift will increase. 

 Food production ai home will have received a great 

 stimulus. Education will be on a sounder basis. We 

 be mon teachable, less self-satisfied, readier to 

 profit bj example and by experience." 



There is a general belief that it is a relatively eas) 

 in to estimate a person's intelligence bj looking 

 at him ; and teachers, physicians, and employers are 

 compelled to make judgments as to the intel- 

 ligence of a given person with no more data than can 

 btained from a rapid surve\ of his appearance; 



hence Mich phrases a- "he looks bright" or "he looks 

 stupid." Even in the law courts rough estimations of 

 intelligenci art sometimes required. In the Psytho- 

 logical Review (vol. xxv., No. 4) Mi. R. Pinter gives 

 the results of an investigation he made for the pur- 

 posi of testing tin trustworthiness of these judgments. 

 The author chose twelve photographs of children vary- 

 ing in intelligence from proved feeble-mindedViess to 

 unusuall) great ability, and asked groups of people to 

 photo raphs in order of merit for intel- 

 llis -roups consisted ol physicians, psveho- 

 • 1. le rs, and miscellaneous pi ople. I fe found 

 p of psj 1 hoio^isN w .i~ the most i" .11 1 

 bul that on the judgment of no one group 

 or of no on. person could anv reliance he placed. 

 Several observers were consciously influenced le 

 children of their acquaintance whom a photograph 

 NO. 2556, VOL. 102] 



happened to resemble, and irrelevant trivialities quite 

 frequently biased the observer's judgment. The 

 author concludes that, although perhaps a living person 



would I., easier to judo,, than i photograph, neverthe- 

 less the-., hapha/anl judgments are too untrust- 

 w 01 tin to In of practical value; and that, whether the 



observei lie a teacher, physician, ot employer, it would 

 he bettei >o use objective standards, and l" recom- 

 mends that the use of mental test- should !»■ con- 

 siderably extended. 



I 111 fourth and fifth parts of the Report ol the 

 Danish Oceanographical Expedition of 1908 io 10 the 

 Mediterranean and adjacent seas have just in mi pub- 

 lished (Copenhagen, 1918). No. .1 deals entirely with 

 several groups of the fishes collected the shon 

 tin- Stomiatidae, Argentinidae, Microstomidae, Opistho- 

 prcetidae, Mediterranean Odontostomidae, Bramidae, 

 and Trichiuridae. No. 5 is also biological, and 

 describes the Mediterranean Scopelidae; one group 

 oi Crustacea, the Hyperiidae-Amphipoda ; the sea- 

 grasses; and the Algae (except the calcareous species). 

 The report-, are wholly systematic, ami particular 

 attention is paid to larval and post-larval forms. 

 Schmidt's biometric methods tire applied in the descrip- 

 tions ol fishes, ami verj clearly drawn and printed 

 tallies and distributional charts are included. The 

 report is a model of careful editing and admirable 

 printing. 



The Bulletin of the Madras Fisheries Department 

 (No. 1 1, Government Tress, Madras, rgi8, edited bv 

 Mi. James Hornell) contains a ver) interesting paper 

 by Sir F. Nicholson, Honorary Director of Madras 

 Fisheries, on carp cultivation in Bavaria. Then are 

 thousands of ponds in the kingdom, and the) are 

 regarded as more profitable than the same area of 

 good land. As a rule, they are natural hollows, which 

 nearly empty in the winter. About once in ten years 

 they are cropped with oats or some other cereal. They 

 receive drainage from the surrounding area of culti- 

 vated land, and the liquid part of the farm drainage 

 is deliberately led into them. Shade is undesirable, 

 and a high water temperature very favourable. The 

 ordinary pond vegetation exists, with a very abundant 

 plankton. The fish are actually cultivated, like trout 

 for stocking purposes in this country. They are fed 

 artificially by cereals, seeds of lupins, maize-cake, fish- 

 meal, bad potatoes, oil-cake, vegetables unfit foi tin 

 table, etc. In one farm, not the best, the output in 

 one year from a pond of SS acres was 11,000 lb. of 

 fish. The methods are stronglv recommended for adop- 

 tion in India. 



The vital relation of economic ornithology to agri- 

 culture and horticulture is sufficiently obvious to war- 

 rant a more extensive and more scientific studv than 

 it has yet received. The subject is an intricate one, 

 and much harm has been done bv hasty generalisa- 

 tions based upon ver) inadequate and imperfectly col- 

 lected data. Few workers have contributed more use- 

 fully to the subject than Dr. W. E. Collinge, and the 

 report on his recent investigations, which is published 

 in th<' September issue of the Journal of Ilu- Board 

 oi {griculture, is deserving of wide notice. In most 

 previous work the numerical or gravimetric system of 

 estimating the food contents of birds' stomachs has 

 been followed, but Dr. Collinge roundl) condemns this 

 in favout of the volumetric method 01 percentage 

 valuation b) bulk. As the result of examinations of 

 (670 adult birds and 505 nestlings, embracing nine 

 species of wild birds, he draws tin conclusion that 



Onl) ' 'A o of these spei ies, \i/. tl). hot -' MMlloW and 



the wood-pigeon, are distinctly injurious, and should 

 lie subji eted to stn ires. Two 



