May 17, 1883] 



NA TURE 



55 



hour of its occurrence is identical with that of the appearance 

 of the phenomenon seen by me, and the day of the month so 

 closely approximates as to be only one day later. That which 

 Dr. Armstrong saw in 1842 was at the time of the full moon 

 in February. C. Pooley 



Curious Habit of a Brazilian Moth 

 At the last meeting of the Literary and Philosophical Society 

 of Liverpool (April 30) I read the following note on a 

 remarkable habit of a Brazilian moth; and as it is a habit that 

 has perhaps not been observed before, it may be of sufficient 

 interest for insertion in Nature. 



The moth (of which I inclose a sketch) is a species of Panthera 

 (P. Apardalaria). 



When rambling about the rocky beds of small streams on the 

 Serra da Contareira, near San Paulo, I have often been struck 

 by the great numbers of yellow and black moths that flew up 

 from the water as I disturbed them by my presence. On careful 

 examination I found that these moths were resting upon the wet 

 stones, in many cases even with a film of water flowing over the 

 spot on which they had settled, and were all engaged in nicking 

 up the water through the proboscis (I can hardly call it drinking, 

 for no imaginable thirst could account for the enormous amount 

 of water sucked up), and this water was passing through the 

 moths, minute drops forming on the tip of the abdomen, and 

 falling off as formed. I timed several specimens, and found 

 that the average rate was fifty drops per minute. I have observed 

 the same individual remain in the same position with the action 

 going on unceasingly for three hours ; and in all probability it 

 had been there some time before I observed it, and remained 

 after I went away. But even in this length of time the quantity 

 of water passing through the moth was enormous in proportion 

 to its sire. The drops I did not actually measure, but they are 

 probably between 1 and 2 millimetres in diameter. Taking 

 them to be i-j millimetres in diameter, the total amount of 

 water in the three hours was 15-84 cubic centimetres, or almost 

 exactly a cubic inch. This quantity is equal to about 200 times 

 the volume of the body of the moth ! 



The tibiae of the hindlegs are very thick and are armed with 

 long hairs, that by their capillary action prevent the moth being 

 immersed in the water. I have often seen one of them knocked 

 down by a little spurt of water splashing over the stone on 

 which it was standing, and it recovered itself immediately with- 

 out being wetted in the least. 



Upon my return to Brazil I shall try to measure exactly the 

 amount of water passing through one of these moths. And it 

 would be most interesiing to find out what is the object of this 

 excessive drinking. Can it be that the moth extracis nourish- 

 ment from minute particles of organic matter contained in the 

 water ? 



I may remark that the water of the streams where I have 

 observed the moth is very clear and pure. 



E. Dukinfield Jones 

 Acrefiehl, Woolton, Liverpool, May 5 



Leaves and their Environment 



I take the following from an experiment which I made two 

 years ago. I think it throws some light on the point under 

 discussion : — 



On May 8 six young pea plants, similar in size, &c, were 

 transplanted from the garden into three large flowerpots, a pair 

 in each, and were covered with bell glasses. On next day an 

 apparatus for generating a constant stream of carbonic acid gas 

 was connected to No. I bell glass. No. 2 was left normal. 

 No. 3 inclosed a small disk of caustic potash solution. They all 

 had as nearly as possible the same amount of sunlight, and the 

 same measured quantity of water was given to each. 

 ^ Taking the notes referring to the leaves only I find on May 21 : 

 No. 1, vigorous large leaves. No. 2, much smaller leaves. 

 No. 3, leaves smaller than No. 2, with edges serrated as if the 

 veins were growing on, but could not find food for fleshy part of 

 leaf — really a starved plant." 



On May 27 the plants were taken up and washed, when No. 1 

 weighed 148 grains; No. 2, 115-5 grains; and No. 3, 87 grains. 

 After drying, the weights of Nos. 1 and 3 were as 19 to 13. 

 The longest leaf on No. I measured i| in., and on No. 3 



"ff ">• „ J. Brown 



Belfast, May 3 



Foam Balls 

 In Nature, vol. xxvii. p. 531, there is a mention by Mr. J. 

 Rand Capron of foam ball--. These are common on the coast 

 of the Northern United States, especially of a cold dry day, 

 when, if there be much wind, these huge foam balls, which may 

 reach a diameter of two feet or more, are rolled up the beach. 

 Their weight soon changes their form, so that at last they present 

 the appearance of long white rolls of sparkling foam. This 

 singular appearance was first described in verse, so far as I know 

 by Dr. S. Weir Mitchell, of Philadelphia. The verse, as I recall 

 it — I quote from memory — is this : — 



" And wilder yet when of a winter day 

 The cold dry norther rolls athwart the beach 

 The gleaming foam balls into serpents white. 



And all the sand is starred with rainbow light." 



Philadelphia, U.S. An American Subscriber 



ANTHROPOL O GY > 

 II-! 

 T N considering the claims of anthropology as a practical 

 x means of understanding ourselves, our own thoughts 

 and ways, we have to form an opinion how the ideaslind 

 arts of any people are to be accounted for as developed 

 from preceding stages. To work out the lines along 

 which the process of organisation has actually moved, is 

 a task needing caution and reserve. A tribe may have 

 some art which plainly shows progress from a ruder state 

 of things, and yet it may be wrong to suppose this deve- 

 lopment to have taken place among themselves— it may 

 be an item of higher culture that they have learnt from 

 sight of a more advanced nation. Our own history shows 

 to how small an extent we have been the developers of 

 our own arts and sciences, how largely we have em- 

 bodied the culture of other nations. It is essential in 

 studying even savage and barbaric culture, to allow for 

 borrowing, so as to clear the lines of real development. 

 When the savage comes into contact with the civilised 

 man, he does not see his way to copy all the high con- 

 trivances of this mysterious higher being, but where he 

 thinks he can imitate, he is apt to try, and sometimes 

 succeeds, though oftener fails. After a time of friendly 

 intercourse, the wild man generally learns such substantial 

 secrets of culture as he is in a position to assimilate. 

 Ethnologists have been inclined to look on the wandering 

 Esquimaux of the polar regions as "nature-men," and 

 perhaps no harm has arisen from reasoning on them as 

 such, for they are in many ways fair representatives of 

 the rude nomad hunter and fisher. But I suspect that in 

 some respects they do not show the mere result of the 

 primitive savage working out by slow degrees a somewhat 

 higher culture. Looking at them not as they are now, 

 Europeanised under missionary training, but as they were 

 when Egede and Cranz went out to them from Denmark 

 in the eighteenth century, it seems that their way of 

 life even then had some incidents above the savage level. 

 Their clothing was artistically contrived to resist the 

 intense cold. Its material is sometimes strange to our 

 notions ; an undershirt of birds' skins with the feathers 

 inside requires an effort to realise even in our bleakest 

 season. But a leather tunic with sleeves and a hood to 

 pull over the head, a pair of sealskin breeches with 

 leather stockings and boots, form a defence against the 

 cold, at once like that familiar to Europeans, and unlike 

 any unquestionable savage costume, such as the furs which 

 in the Antarctic regions the shivering Fuegians throw 

 over their shoulders. Moreover, all across the polar coast 

 region of the Esquimaux their houses of earth or moulded 

 snow, with compartments like ship-cabins, are warmed and 

 lighted with blubber, burnt in lamps shaped out of pot- 

 stone with moss to serve as wick, and over these are 

 hung the potstone kettles for their slight cookery. Now, 



1 Two lectures on " Anthropology," delivered on February 15 and 21 at 

 the University Museum. Oxford, by E. B. Tylor, D.C.L., F.R.S. Con- 

 tinued from p. 11. 



