Fune 9, 1870| 
NATURE 
Tot 
The Aye Aye 
I rirst saw the quotation from the Pal Mall Gazette in the 
columns of NATURE concerning the long finger nail of the Aye 
Aye, and the ‘* exquisite argument” founded by Professor Owen 
upon it. 
Asa simple matter of fact, allow me to state that I kept a 
living Aye Aye (now preserved in the British Museum) ina large 
cage in.the Mauritius, and as its food I gave it the maggot that in- 
fested branches of a species of Acacia. The animal used to spend 
its evenings in feeding, as follows. It listened attentively at the 
branches, tapping occasionally the most perforated parts ; it then 
tore off pieces of the wood around the maggot hole, inserting 
the peculiar long finger as a probe from time to time, and ended 
by extracting the maggot by means of this long finger and its 
strong rodent teeth. 
I have seen the operation scores of times. 
Athenzeum, May 28 IuMPHRY SANDWITH 
Carp and Toads 
In the last number of NATURE you give an abstract of a paper 
by M. Duchemin on the destruction of carp by toads. The fact 
that carp are so destroyed is, or was, well known. Walton, in 
his ‘‘Complete Angler,” says :—‘‘ And I have known of one 
(person) that has almost watched the pond, and at the fishing of 
the pond, found of seventy or eighty large carps not above five 
or six ; and that he had foreborne longer to fish the said pond, 
but that he saw on a hot day in summer, a large carp swim near 
the top of the water with a frog upon his head; and that he, 
upon that occasion, caused his pond to be let dry ; and I say, of 
seventy or eighty carps, only found five or six in the said pond, 
and those very sick and lean, and with every one a frog sticking 
so fast on the head of the said carps, that the frog would not be 
got oft without extreme force or killing.” Walton also mentions 
that pike are attacked and destroyed in the same manner. 
Walton wrote his ‘‘ Complete Angler, or Contemplative Man’s 
Recreation” in 1653. The confusion between frogs and toads was 
one likely to be made at a time when natural history was so little 
studied. In all other respects Walton’s account agrees with 
M. Duchemin’s. Cy HG; 
Anticipated Destruction of the Cheesewring 
I Am sure your readers will pardon me for drawing their 
attention to the very perilous situation of that remarkable pile of 
rocks, six or seven miles north of the town of Liskeard, in Corn- 
wall, and known as the Wring-cheese or Cheesewring. Wilkie 
Collins, in his ‘Rambles beyond Railways,” thus describes the 
general appearance of this natural curiosity :—‘‘ If a man dreamt 
of a great pile of stones in a nightmare, he would dream of such 
a pile as the Cheesewring. All the heaviest and largest of the 
seven thick slabs of which it is composed are at the top ; all the 
lightest and smallest at the bottom. It rises perpendicularly to 
a height of thirty-two feet, without lateral support of any kind. 
The fifth and six rocks are of immense size and thickness, and 
overhang fearfully all round the four lower rocks which support 
them. Allare perfectly irregular ; the projections of one do 
not fit into the interstices of another ; they are heaped up loosely 
in their extraordinary top-heavy form on slanting ground, half 
way down a steep hill.” Of late years this hill has been so ex- 
tensively quarried for granite that the workmen are now within 
afew paces of the Cheesewring itself. When a lease of the 
ground was first granted, it was stipulated that no stone should 
be removed within a certain distance of this well-known land- 
mark, so as to prevent any possibility of its being destroyed. 
Now, however, the boundaries of the quarry have been so ex- 
tended that powerful blasting operations are continually being 
carried on within a short distance of it, not without very great 
risk to the whole structure. In fact, it is on the eve of being de- 
stroyed, unless a vigorous and influential attempt is made to save 
it. Six months ago the Royal Institution of Cornwall sent a 
deputation of its members to report on the exact state of the 
Cheesewring ; and although a memorial was addressed to the 
authorities of the Duchy of Cornwall, the owners of the property, 
praying that some means be adopted for the preservation of this 
extraordinary geological formation, no satisfactory reply has been 
hitherto received. Since, therefore, Zoca/ influence appears to be 
of little or no avail, itis to be hoped that the matter will be 
taken up by those who are especially interested in the preserva- 
tion of remarkable objects of this kind, The untimely fate of 
the great Tolmén last year should be remembered ; and measures 
immediately adopted to avoid a repetition uf a similar catastrophe 
within so short a period. Whatever is done should be begun 
speedily, or in the meantime the impending calamity may actually 
take place. E. H. W. DuNKIN 
Greenwich 
Left-handedness 
I HAD been intending, if no one had anticipated me, to suggest 
what I have little doubt is the true explanation of the destruction 
of carp by toads. I see in p. 59 of NATURE for May 19, that 
Mr. Wade hints at this solution of the difficulty. 
Let me take this opportunity of saying a word on Left-handed- 
ness. The late eminent anatomist, Professor Gratiolet, main- 
tained that in the early stages of foetal development, the anterior 
and middle lobes of the brain on the left side were in a more 
advanced condition than those on the right side, the balance 
being maintained by an opposite condition of the posterior lobes. 
Hence, in consequence of the well-known decussation of the 
nerve-roots, the right side of the body—so far as it is influenced 
by brain force—would, in early foetal life, be better supplied with 
nervous power than the left side; and movements of the right 
arm would precede and be more perfect than those of the left. 
If Gratiolet’s view is regarded as established (it has, I believe, 
been disputed), we have a physiological clue to the explanation 
of Right-handedness. In rare cases the development of the 
interior and middle lobes of the right side may precede that of 
the left ; we shall then have Left-handedness, 
May 21 M.A., CANT. 
’ 
In answer to Mr. Meyer’s letter on this subject, I can only say 
that the question of the dependence of Left-handedness on abnor- 
mality of the subclavian artery cannot be settled by the authe- 
rity of even so eminent an anatomist as Professor Hyrtl, when 
it is adduced against the facts I mentioned in my last note. 
That there have been cases like that quoted from Dr. Buchanan 
of transposition of viscera and left-handedness occurring in the 
same individual, and that they will be observed again, I do not 
doubt. Otherwise the conclusion would be that such abnor- 
malities prevent left-handedness, which no one pretends. What 
I venture to think the cases already on record prove is, that the 
one condition has no relation to the other in either causing or 
preventing it. 
With regard to the origin of the right subclavian direct from 
the end of the transverse aorta, though I have met with 
several cases of this variation, they were in subjects whose 
history was unknown; while, unlike complete transposition of 
the viscera, the condition cannot of course be recognised during 
life. But at the last meeting of the Pathological Society, a case 
of aneurism with this abnormality was brought forward ; and, 
by the kindness of Dr. Peacock, who exhibited it, I am informed 
that the patient was undoubtedly right-handed during life. 
Even apart from facts like this, one would scarcely expect to 
find the explanation of left-handedness in abnormalities affecting 
only the upper extremity. The condition is one of the eye, the 
leg, and the whole body. This one discovers in using the micro- 
scope, shooting, and batting ; and the facts of aphasia appear 
to show that we are all, to use M. Broca’s phrase, gauchers de 
cerveau. In fact, we must first explain normal right-handedness, 
and that not only as seen in man, but also in the paces of the 
horse, and in many other alternate or otherwise unsymmetrical 
movements of animals. 
The only anatomical explanation of right-handedness I have 
met with is the unconfirmed statement of Gratiolet that the left 
half of the brain is developed more rapidly than the right. But 
even if true, this would only throw back the question to the 
origin of such a condition of the brain. 
That the primitive habit of bilaterally symmetrical animals is 
to use right and left organs equally, seems probable, and also 
that when more complicated movements have to be performed, 
one limb alone must be chosen and so in time become more 
skilful. This preference may be transmitted hereditarily. But, 
granting in addition that the convenience of the community 
requires that all its members should select the same limb, it 
yet is not clear by what process of natural selection the right one 
has come to be universally preferred to the left—how, in fact, 
except from practice, right-handedness has come to be dexterity, 
and left-handedness gaucherie. 
