238 
NATURE 
[OcToBER 23, 1913 
the mason-bees, suggested to Fabre the making of 
experiments to determine, if possible, whether this 
instinct was at all dependent on a perception by the 
insects of the direction in which they were first carried 
away from their nests. A whole series of trials was 
carried out by Fabre, the essential feature in which 
was the enclosure of marked bees in a dark box, the 
carrying of the box with its inmates in a direction 
opposite to that from which the release was to take 
place, and the repeated rotation of the box at different 
points of the route, in order to ensure that the captive 
bees should lose their bearings during the journey. 
The experiment was repeated, with variations, many 
times over, the almost uniform result being that from 
30 to 4o per cent. of the liberated bees found their 
way home without difficulty. This was contrary to 
the expectation of both inquirers, and Darwin next 
proposed to try the effect of placing thé insects within 
an induction coil, ‘‘a curious notion,’ as Fabre 
observes. The experiment was performed, with amus- 
ing results. But in the end the experimenter was 
fain to confess that the homing instinct of his bees 
remained a mystery. 
The Gypsy Lore Journal (vol. vi., Part 4) is largely 
devoted to an account by Mr. E. O. Winstedt of ** The 
Gypsy Coppersmiths’ Invasion of 1911-13." Owing 
to the reticence displayed by these people, the origin 
of the party which visited England is uncertain. 
Some claimed to be Caucasians, others Russians, and 
many seem to have forgotten the place whence they 
started. Galicia seems to be the probable home of 
many of the immigrants. They appear to be 
genuine gypsies, their skin colour being practically 
identical with that of the Russian peasantry. In 
their metal work there are remarkable coincidences 
with Indian art products. This monograph contains 
a very complete account of their religious beliefs, 
organisation, dress, manners, and customs. The 
excellent work being carried out, with very limited 
resources, by the Gypsy Lore Society, which has its 
headquarters at 21A Alfred Street, Liverpool, should 
invite support from all who are interested in this 
remarkable race and from students of anthropology. 
RecentLy the Prehistoric Society of East Anglia 
formed a committee to investigate the “Red Crag 
shell portrait’? at present in the possession of Dr. 
Marie C. Stopes. The report of the committee has 
now appeared in the excellent Proceedings of that 
society (Part 3, vol. i.). The shell represents a typical 
Red Crag species, and bears the crude carving of a 
human face. The committee reported that ‘the 
weight of evidence was in favour of the Pliocene age 
of the human work on the shell... it was impos- 
sible to speak with absolute certainty on the point.” 
One has only to glance at the other articles included 
in this volume to see how much and varied is the 
prehistoric research which is being carried out at 
present in East Anglia. Dr. Allen Sturge has 
applied Drayson’s theory to explain the occurrence of 
periods of glaciation; a description is given by Mr. 
J. Reid Moir of worked flints from the mid-glacial 
gravel and chatky boulder clay of Suffolk; an account 
is written by Col. Underwood of Pleistocene bones 
NO. 2295, VOL. 92| 
and flint implements from a gravel pit at Dovercourt, 
Essex. The description of a Palzolithic site on 
Wretham Heath, near Thetford) by Dr. J. E. Marr, 
of Cambridge, is particularly interesting. Mr. W. G. 
Clarke contributes a paper on Norfolk implements of 
Palzolithic ‘cave’? type. The Proceedings of the 
East Anglia Prehistoric Society contain matter which 
archeologists and anthropologists cannot afford to 
overlook, 
A PARAGRAPH in NaTuRE of October g (p. 175) upon 
a pamphlet recently issued by the National Equine 
Defence League, referred to a Bill to prohibit the 
docking of horses, printed at the end of the pamphlet, 
as having become law. The honorary secretary of the 
league writes to say that the Bill was abandoned last 
session in order to be amended, and will again be 
introduced next session. A clear statement to this 
effect might with advantage have been printed upon 
the same page of the pamphlet to prevent a mistaken 
conclusion such as was arrived at by our contributor. 
The honorary secretary will be pleased to forward any 
information upon the subject to anyone applying to 
him at Beaconsfield Road, New Southgate, London, N. 
In No. 2014 of the Proceedings of the U.S. National 
Museum (vol. xlvi., pp. 93-102) Mr. C. W. Gidley 
gives a preliminary account of mammalian remains 
from a Pleistocene cave-deposit near Cumberland, 
Maryland. Lower jaws of a bear and a dog are de- 
scribed as new species—Ursus vitabilis and Canis 
ambrusteri. As the former differs from the American 
black bear (U. americanus) merely by the larger lower 
canines, it might well have been regarded as a race 
of that species. The latter is of the size of a wolf, 
but has the lower carnassial tooth approximating to 
that of a coyote or a jackal. In the legend to the 
figures on p. roo and the first paragraph on the 
opposite page, no fewer than eight misprints are 
noticeable, one of which, namely Hyscins, for 
Lyciscus, is distinctly puzzling. 
Tue size of litters and the number of nipples in 
swine forms the subject of an interesting paper by 
Messrs, G. H. Parker and C. Bullard in the Pro- 
ceedings of the American Academy of Arts and 
Sciences, vol. xlix., No. 7. The authors have pre- 
pared a record of tooo litters of unborn pigs of various 
breeds, and by means of tables arranged in order 
of the number of pigs in the litter are shown the 
relative position of the pig in the uterus, its sex, and 
the number and arrangement of its nipples. Of the 
total number of pigs examined 3024 were males and 
2946 females, and in the whole population it-was 
found that the nipples ranged from 8-18, with a mean 
of 12-2 and a mode of 12. In the majority (3559) the 
arrangement of the nipples was regular in character. 
No obvious relation would appear to exist between the 
size of the litter and the number of nipples in the 
females; though there may be as few nipples as eight 
and as large litters as fifteen, disadvantageous com- 
binations of large litters borne by females with few 
nipples cannot be of frequent occurrence. Commonly 
there are about twice as many nipples, twelve, as 
young, six. 
