JuLy 6, 1899] 
form is the ancestral one, just as the conclusion that 
Africa is the ancestral home of the species is justified by 
the predominant amount of mimicry of which D. chry- 
sippus has been the attractive centre in this as compared 
with all other parts of its vast range. The time which 
wouldbenecessary to bring about so deep an impression on 
so many diverse members of the surrounding insect fauna, 
justifies the view that the type form has persisted as it is 
for a very long period, and that it is an extremely ancient 
inhabitant of the country in which, far beyond all others, 
these effects are marked. 
The statement on p. 61, that the varieties of the 
female Hypolimnas misippus are nowhere found “ where 
the inedible chrysippus and its varieties do not occur,” is 
‘an error. For many years now—certainly between 
twenty and thirty—the former species has been estab- 
lished in some of the West Indian islands and certain 
parts of tropical South America. 
There are several errors in the spelling of names of 
species, and the figures in the plates are often wrongly 
sexed and sometimes wrongly named in the descriptions. 
The doubtful points in the paper have been here dis- 
cussed at some length, and errors of detail pointed out ; 
but the present writer would wish in conclusion again to 
emphasise the interest of this short communication, and 
again to draw attention to the usefulness of the numerous 
illustrations. 1D eye 
THE UNITED STATES NATIONAL 
MUSEUM 
HE last report issued by the U.S. National Museum 
furnishes abundant evidence of the energy with 
which America is now conducting scientific inquiry, and 
of the zeal with which she is augmenting the rich and 
varied collections preserved at Washington. Like most 
collections of the same character, the National Museum 
owes its origin to the generosity and enterprise of private 
individuals ; and it was only after some years of pre- 
carious existence that it obtained due assistance and 
recognition from the State. The society organised in 
1840, and called the “ National Institute,” may perhaps 
be regarded as the parent of the present Museum. 
Though prosperous during the first few years of its 
existence, it failed to interest a wide body of the public, 
and it was reserved for the Smithsonian Institution to 
obtain official recognition as the only lawful place of 
deposit for the national scientific collections. In 1846 
such recognition was accorded by Act of Congress, and 
from that year until the present time the work of collect- 
ing and exhibiting new material has been carried on 
without interruption. 
One striking characteristic which distinguishes the 
National Museum from similar 
countries is to be found in the somewhat restricted area 
to which it has confined its attentions. While the 
museums of Europe include exhibits from all regions of 
the globe, the United States collections are, with a few 
exceptions, exclusively North American. The advantage 
of so restricting the area of research is obvious, for by 
this means the Museum has been enabled to attain an 
unrivalled completeness in the departments of science to 
which its energies have been devoted. The authorities 
have also found considerable assistance in the fact that 
for nearly twenty years they have received all collections 
of minerals and objects bearing on natural history 
archeology and ethnology which have been made during 
the numerous surveys undertaken by the Government of 
the United States. 
The present report occupies over eleven hundred pages, 
1 Report of the United States National Museum under the direction of 
the Smithsonian Institution, for the year ending June 30, 1896. Pp. xxiv 
+1107. (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1898.) 
NO. 1549, VOL. 60] 
NATURE 
institutions in other ! 
225 
and it would be impossible in a short notice to do more 
than sketch the general nature of its contents, and to 
indicate the sections into which it naturally falls. The 
volume is divided into two unequal parts, of which the 
first consists of the report of the late Mr. Brown Goode, 
assistant secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, to 
which are attached a number of appendices. This 
report covers the whole ground of the Museuin’s 
activities, describing new accessions, the arrangement 
and labelling of the collections, the work of exploration 
conducted during the year, the official publications and 
contributions made to scientific literature, and the work 
done in connection with visitors and students at the 
Museum. These general summaries are followed by 
detailed reports of the work done in the various scientific 
departments, concluding with the report of the adminis- 
tration department of the Museum. After a perusal of 
these reports it is evident that, in addition to prosecuting 
scientific inquiry, the Museum is doing much to render 
its resources available to the public at large. By its 
system of exchange and its distribution of duplicate 
w 
Fic. 1.—Wind Musical Instruments. 1, Reeds or Pan Pipes ; 2, Ram's 
Horn; 3, Double Flute ; 4, Flute. 
specimens, a large number of local museums in the 
United States have benefited in the course of the year 
The second and larger portion of the volume is of 
greater general interest, for it consists of a number of 
original papers describing and illustrating the collections 
preserved in the Museum. Of these, perhaps the most 
important is the paper on “ Prehistoric Art ” by Mr. 
Thomas Wilson, the curator of the Division of Pre- 
historic Archeology. Although in the main describing 
the specimens under his charge, Mr. Wilson has not 
confined himself to the art of primitive America, but has 
given a very exhaustive sketch of the products of early 
civilisations all over the world, and his essay forms a 
valuable contribution to the study of prehistoric man. 
Another interesting paper devoted to a special subject is 
contributed by Mr. Walter Hough, the assistant curator 
of the Division of Ethnology, who has written a mono- 
graph on “The Lamp of the Eskimo.” The Museum 
possesses a very complete collection of Eskimo lamps, 
comprising examples used by nearly every tribe from 
| Labrador to the Aleutian Islands. The lamps are 
