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NATURE 
[NovEMBER 30, 1916 
the Upper Cretaceous of Alberta, Canada, are also | 
described in several papers by Mr. Barnum Brown, 
who discusses chiefly the Trachodontidz (related to 
Iguanodon) and the horned dinosaurs or Ceratopsia. 
Among other observations he makes specially valuable 
notes on the brain-cavities of these two groups. It 
appears that just before their extinction the dinosaurs 
in North America exhibited almost incredible variety 
and eccentricity. 
When the first Tertiary mammals were discovered in 
North America, too little attention was paid to the 
geology of the deposits whence they were obtained. 
The American Museum has always recognised this 
deficiency, and the new collection of papers includes 
some valuable contributions to our knowledge of the 
lowest Tertiary formations. Of the mammals them- 
selves, Prof. H. F. Osborn describes the skull of 
Bathyopsis, a supposed ancestor of the Dinocerata, 
and a skull with other remains of Eomoropus, a new 
genus ancestral to the anomalous hoofed animals 
known as Chalicotheriide. Dr. W. J. Sinclair gives 
technical descriptions of the rare pieces of jaws of 
pig-like artiodactyls from the Eocene of North 
America, and Dr. R. W. Shufeldt discusses many 
fragmentary remains of birds. Dr. W. D. Matthew 
also describes the important discovery in the lowest 
Eocene of New Mexico of the skull of an insectivore 
related both to the existing Chrysochloris of South Africa 
and to the extinct Necrolestes of South America, thus 
proving that the close affinities of these two genera 
do not imply any former direct connection between 
the two southern continents in which they occur. 
All the papers are well illustrated with text-figures 
and plates, and the American Museum is to be con- 
gratulated on the manner as well as the matter of its 
publications. AS Se Ww. 
STUDIES OF HYMENOPTERA. 
COME small hymenopterous parasites of the noto- 
rious Hessian fly form the subject of a paper by 
C. M. Packard in the Journal of Agricultural Research, 
vi., No. 10. The life-histories of three species belong- 
ing to the genera Eupelmus, Merisus, and Micromelus 
are described, and the figures of eggs, larvae, and pupze 
are especially valuable. The author concludes that 
never more than a single individual of either of these 
parasites can mature inasingle cecid puparium. Where 
more than one egg was placed on the same host, one 
larva only survived; ‘‘the rest were killed by that one 
or starved to death . . . whether the two or more 
larvae were of the same or different species.’’ 
It is well known that certain species of the Chalcidide 
—small Hymenoptera that are typically parasitic in 
their habits—lay their eggs in plant tissues on which 
their larvee feed, and the genus Megastigmus has been 
noticed as injurious to fir seeds. J. M. Miller (Journ. 
Agric, Research, vi., No. 2) is the first to describe the 
actual operation of egg-laying by these minute flies; 
the female pierces the scales of the young cones with 
her long ovipositor and lays the eggs close to the 
developing seeds. The process is well illustrated by 
Mr. Miller’s photographs. 
The literature of the honey-bee is ever increasing. 
A noteworthy paper on the sense-organs on the mouth- 
parts of the bee is published by Dr. N. E. McIndoo 
in the Smithsonian Misc. Collections (Ixv., No. 14); 
he gives the results of experiments by feeding bees on 
various substances, and describes with clear figures 
the minute structure of the sense-organs under dis- 
cussion. When “undesirable substances” were added 
to the bees’ food, the insects were found to refuse such 
““after eating more or less of them,” and the author 
concludes that ‘‘the olfactory sense in the honey-bee 
NO. 2457, VOL. 98] 
is highly developed, and that it serves as an olfactory 
and gustatory perception combined.’” 
Systematic work on the ants claims the attention of 
entomologists in distant regions. In the Ann. South 
African Museum (xiv., part 2), G. Arnold continues 
his extensive ‘‘ Monograph of the Formicidz of South 
Africa.” A, Gallardo publishes a monograph of the 
Dolichoderinz as a contribution to ‘‘ Las Hormigas de 
la Republica Argentina,” in the Ann, Mus. Nat. de 
Hist. Nat. de Buenos Aires (xxviii., 1916, pp. 1-130), a 
praiseworthy feature of which is the addition of at 
least one clear structural figure to the description of 
each species. The Argentine ant, Iridomyrmex humilis, 
is discussed at length, the description of its varieties 
and habits occupying sixteen pages. This insect has in 
recent years become a serious pest in parts of the 
United States; colonies have also been introduced into 
southern Europe, and some time ago these ants gained 
a temporary footing in a garden near Belfast, whence 
they invaded the adjacent dwelling-house, with the 
result of considerable alarm and inconvenience to the 
inhabitants. Ga EiG. 
OBSERVATIONS ON RECENTLY 
DISCOVERED FOSSIL HUMAN SKULLS.* 
“]>HE announcements made in Nature last year 
(1915, August 5, p. 615; September), 
Pp. 52; and December 2, \p. 380)" Jobs the 
discovery of fossil human skulls in Australia 
(Talgai) and South Africa (Boskop) suggest certain 
observations concerning the problems relating to early 
mankind. For not only do they add to the number of 
the distinct types of early humanity with which we 
are acquainted, but they also force upon us the further 
consideration of the question of early migrations, of the 
reality of which the widespread distribution of certain 
definite types of stone implements already afforded con- 
vinoing testimony for all who were willing to accept 
the plain significance of positive evidence. 
There are reasons for believing that when Homo 
sapiens first became differentiated from other human 
species many human strains other than those which 
made their way into western Europe in the Upper 
Paleolithic (which may be called the Early Neo- 
anthropic, see NaTURE, August 17, I916, p. 514) 
age were also budded off from the original 
parent stock. Some of these diversely specialised 
strains were the ancestors of the Australians, others 
of negroes, others again of the Mongolian race, and 
yet others of the brachycephalic types of humanity, 
none of which were represented in Europe, excepting 
possibly the last of the groups mentioned, which began 
to filter into eastern Europe in Azilian times, but 
did not become at all common in the West until the 
closing phases of the Neolithic. Some of these various 
strains wandered far from their area of characterisa- 
tion; and when brought into contact with other stocks 
were able to transmit their culture. Thus it is possible 
to explain how, even in the remote period usually 
called Paleolithic, identical methods of chipping stone 
implements in widely separated localities can be re- 
garded as certain evidence of the derivation of the 
technique from a common source, though the actual 
makers of the weapons may be of different races. Nor 
can the source of the inspiration be in doubt even if 
certain peoples may continue to follow the distinctive 
methods in the twentieth century. - 
Further, a particular culture-complex may have been 
built up of practices and customs derived from varied 
sources: the particular set of them which becomes 
intermingled in one area, and the type of culture which 
develops as the result of the blending of these in- 
1 Abstract of a paper read before he Manchester Literary and Philo- 
| sophical Society on October 3r by Prof. G Elliot Smith, F.R.S. * 
| 
