March 26, 1885] 



NA TURE 



479 



ground in the midst of Islam, is referred to the beginning 

 of the fifteenth century. But the fair state of preservation 

 of this wooden image bespeaks a much more recent date. 



On the concluding plates are figured numerous designs 

 of bronze drums or gongs from every part of the Archi- 

 pelago and Further India. These instruments, which 

 play so large a part in the social economy of the Indo- 

 nesian and Indo-Chinese peoples, are here brought to- 

 gether for the purpose of elucidating the obscure and 

 hitherto little studied history of their origin and diffusion 

 throughout South-Eastern Asia. Those interested in the 

 subject will find much instructive matter embodied in the 

 accompanying text. 



A word of thanks is also due to Dr. Max Uhle, the 

 Curator's able assistant, not only for his general co- 

 operation, but more especially for the great care he has 

 bestowed on the map of the regions in question. On 

 it are accurately indicated all the places in Malaysia 

 where Hindu antiquities have at any time been dis- 

 covered, or where monuments dating from pre-Muham- 

 madan times are found. A. H. KEANE 



OUR BOOK SHELF 

 The Antananarivo Annual and Madagascar Magazine, 



No. VIII. Christmas, 1S84. (Antananarivo: Printed 



at the London Missionary Society's Press by Malagasy 



Printers.) 

 Although the previous number of this interesting 

 periodical was, I believe, noticed in Nature, I should 

 like to call attention to the present issue, inasmuch as it 

 is a token of the valuable scientific work which, amid 

 great difficulties, is being bravely carried on by Christian 

 missions in the sorely troubled island of Madagascar. 



One of the editors of the Annua/, the Rev. R. Baron, 

 is an accomplished botanist, indefatigable in his efforts to 

 explore the botany of his adopted home, and unwearied 

 in his efforts to obtain materials for Mr. J. G. Baker and 

 other workers at home ; and his colleagues, no less than 

 himself and his fellow editor, the Rev. J. Sibree, seem 

 devoted to the double duty of teaching the Christian 

 religion and civilisation to the Malagasy and of advancing 

 our scientific knowledge of the strange land in which they 

 are for the time being dwelling. 



The present number, besides a spirited account of a 

 Royal Kabary or coronation ceremony, contains valuable 

 philological articles on the Malagasy pronouns, by the 

 Rev. L. Dahle ; on Malagasy dictionaries, by the Rev. 

 \Y. E. Cousins ; and on the want of new words in the 

 Malagasy language and the way of supplying them, by 

 the Rev. S. E. Jorgensen, the latter having a more than 

 philological, indeed a personal, interest to scientific 

 writers, who, like the Madagascar missionaries, are con- 

 tinually in ''want of new words " and not always very 

 judicious in their " way of supplying them." Articles on 

 Malagasy superstitions, on the Sakaklava, and on Mala- 

 gasy proverbs, contain much valuable matter for the 

 anthropologist : while a paper on medical mission work, 

 by a non-professional ; an instructive critical exposure of 

 a geographical fiction, by the Rev. L. Dahle ; notes on 

 natural history, by the Rev. R. Baron ; a four years' 

 record of rainfall, by the Rev. J. Richardson ; and various 

 notes, such as one recording the arrival, on Malagasy 

 shores, of worn fragments of pumice-stone, supposed . o 

 be from Krakatoa, complete the number. 



The technical printing does great credit to the native 

 printers, for, though one German quotation has gone a 

 little wrong, the press errors are otherwise exceedingly 

 few. 



I feel sure that I may bespeak the sympathy of the 



readers of NATURE with the Antananarivo Annua/, and 

 that we may look forward with confidence to much scien- 

 tific as well as other fruit from the continued labours of 

 the editors and their con//, M. Foster 



LETTERS TO THE ED L TOR 

 {The Editor does not hold himself 'responsible for opinions expressed 

 by his correspondents. Neither can he undertake tc return, 

 or to correspond with the writers of, rejected manuscripts. 

 No notice is taken of anonymous communications . 

 [The Editor urgently requests correspondents to keep their letters 

 as sliort as possible. The pressure on his space is so great 

 that it is impossible otherwise to insure the appearance even 

 of communications containing interesting and novel facts.] 



The Forms of Leaves 

 I have read Mr. Henslow's letter with interest ; and of course 

 any criticisms from him are worthy of all attention. At the 

 same time I may observe that as yet he has only seen what may 

 be called an abstract of an abstract. A Friday evening lecture 

 is scarcely the occasion to work out a special statement in 

 detail ; but he is apparently criticising not even my lecture itself, 

 but merely an abstract of it. He commences by saying that it 

 is " self-evident" that the size of the leaf is regulated mainly by 

 the thickness of the stem. This may be, but, so far as I am 

 aware, the importance of this consideration had not been pre- 

 viously pointed out. Having, however, first disposed of my state- 

 ment as " self-evident," he proceeds next to deny it altogether, 

 and quotes cases in which the size of certain leaves bore no 

 reference to the thickness of the stem. With regard to these, 

 however, I must observe that I was referring to leaf-area, and 

 as Mr. Henslow does not mention the number of leaves his 

 illustration is incomplete. Moreover, as he was dealing merely 

 with an abstract of what I said, he does not recognise the quali- 

 fications to which, in the lecture itself, I called attention. 



As regards hoily leaves, Mr. Henslow denies my statement, 

 and questions my explanation. With reference to the fact, I 

 should have thought there was no question. It has been stated 

 over and over again in standard works. Sir J. D. Hooker in the 

 " Student's Flora," for instance, says that the leaves are spinous, 

 adding, those on the upper branches often entire." This is 

 entirely in accordance with my own experience. Next, as to 

 the explanation. Mr. Henslow observes that it "seems to be 

 attributing to the holly a very unexpected process of ratiocina- 

 tion." Surely, however, this would apply to any explanation, 

 and in this world there must be some cause for everything. Mr. 

 Henslow would not maintain that the pitchers of pitcher plants 

 imply any process of ratiocination ? :i 



Mr. Henslow's next point is with reference to fleshy leaves, 

 and he observes that, " Surely the usual explanation that it is 

 this thick cuticle which prevents rapid exhalation is a better 

 reason." A better reason for what? I was not speaking of the 

 thickness of the cuticle but of the unusual development of the 

 parenchymatous tissue. 



Again, he questions whether "cut-up" leaves present a greater 

 extent of surface in proportion to their mass, but surely he 

 cannot seriously deny this. 



Lastly, he doubts whether it is an advantage to water-ranun- 

 culi to have filiform leaves, because he saw a pond last summer 

 which was dried up, and yet covered with a " carpet composed 

 of the erect filiform branchlets of the cut-up leaves of Ranun- 

 culus aquattlis." But it does not follow that a plant placed in 

 an abnormal situation should at once alter its habit, any more 

 than an individual duck would lose its webbed feet because it 

 was kept from water. Any one who will take an ordinary plant 

 of R. aquatilis out of water will see at once that the leaves cannot 

 support themselves. 



I admit that my suggestions require more evidence than can 

 be given in a single lecture, and I shall hope to develop them at 

 greater length elsewhere ; but in the mean time, though I think 

 that Mr. Henslow's criticisms admit of answer, I am much 

 obliged for his suggestions. John Lubbock 



Aurora at Christiania 



On the evening of March 15 an aurora appeared of unusual 

 proportions for our part of the country. It was seen for the first 

 time at 7.45, and then Consisted of diffused and faint arches high 

 on the northern sky. By degrees its sphere extended, and 



