of a wooden club, 
DECEMBER 7, 1916] 
NATURE 
275 
generation of the nuclei, which he regarded as indica- 
tions of senescence, leading to cessation of fission and 
death. - If, however, before such degeneration took 
place in any given culture, individuals of the ‘same 
species, but of different origin, were introduced, con- 
jugation took place. M. Maupas traced the nuclear 
interchange and the complete reorganisation of the 
nuclear apparatus, and concluded that this syngamic 
process determined rejuvenescence. Largely on 
account of his work, conjugation has been regarded 
as the sole panacea for protoplasmic old age and 
death. M. Maupas published, in 1890-91, brief 
accounts of his investigations on reproduction and sex- 
determination in rotifers, and in 1900-01 detailed 
researches on the moulting, encystment, and reproduc- 
tion of nematode worms, in which, in addition to the 
descriptive matter, there are discussions on points of 
great general interest, e.g. that the dicecious, and not 
the hermaphrodite, is the primitive condition, and 
that sex is determined in the: egg very soon after 
fertilisation, if not earlier. For these papers on nema- 
todes M, Maupas was awarded a prize by the Paris 
Academy of Sciences in 1901. 
Dr, E. W. Scriprure recently read to the Patho- 
logical Section of the Royal Society of Medicine a 
communication on registration of speech sounds in the 
diagnosis of nervous djseases, in which he described 
a method of recording speech sounds in the early 
stages of certain diseases of the central nervous sys- 
tem, such as sclerosis, and he claims that the tracings 
so obtained are almost an infallible mode of diagnosis. 
The method has been carried out in various institu- 
tions in London, It is evident that very slight modi- 
fications of the articulating mechanism may thus be 
detected, and it is remarkable that such modifications 
are characteristic of different diseases; thus an addi- 
tional ‘method has been placed at the disposal of 
clinical physicians, and this has come from the region 
of experimental phonetics. 
Prors. Sata and Verga deal withthe diagnosis of 
the peripheral nerve-lesions in 150 cases of gun-shot 
wounds in a paper just received (“Le lesioni dei nervi 
periferici per ferite d’arma da fuoco,” Memorie del R. 
Istituto Lombardo di Scienze e Lettere, vol, xxi.—xii. 
della serie iii., fasc. x.; Milano: U, Hoepli). The 
authors lay stress upon the practicability of ascertain- 
ing, by study of the disturbances of skin and bone 
sensation, and: by the electrical reactions of the muscle 
and nerves, the precise seat of the nerve-lesion, and 
to some extent whether it involves rupture of struc- 
tural continuity of the nerve or strangulation of it by 
cicatricial fibrous tissue. The large part played in the 
causation of paresis, whether of motion or sensation, 
by cicatricial bands constricting otherwise uninjured 
nerve-trunks in such cases is dealt with at length 
and fully illustrated. The utility of testing at the 
time of the operation the exposed nerve-trunk with 
faradism applied by platinum-pointed electrodes, as in 
the physiological laboratory, is dwelt upon, and shown 
to be productive of no harm to the nerve-trunks. The 
operative procedures for freeing nerve-trunks from 
fibrous bands compressing them, and for repairing 
disrupted nerve-trunks, are discussed. A full report 
of the success of the treatment adopted is promised 
for a later paper, 
In the November issue of Man Mr, H, D. Skinner 
traces an interesting link of connection’ between ‘the 
Melanesian and New Zealand cultures in a description 
of three characteristic Maori weapons, known as the 
Hani, Tewha-tewha, and the Pou-whenua—all forms 
In one form. the carving at the 
lower end has been boldly designed and finely executed 
NO. 2458, VOL. 98] 
| with stone tools, 
The point represents a human 
tongue ornamented with scrolls; above it are the teeth 
and upper lip, above which again may be discerned a 
diminutive nose, eyes obliquely set and inlaid with 
circlets of shell, and a beetling brow with conventional 
forelock, With these forms the writer compares a 
paddle club from the Solomon Islands, from which, 
compared with the ordinary paddle of the same group, 
the difference is slight, and every intermediate grada- 
tion of shape might be figured. From these facts he 
arrives at the conclusion that we are justified in claim- 
ing a Melanesian ancestry for the two-edged clubs of 
Rarotonga and New Zealand. The question arises; 
Did the three Maori forms differentiate themselves in 
New Zealand, or must their point of origin be placed 
oversea? From a consideration of the facts the writer 
reaches the conclusion that the differentiation of the 
Tewha-tewha form had already begun in Melanesia, 
THE activities of the United States Board of Agri- 
culture cover a wide field, and, happily, their behests 
are promptly attended to. Originally the preserva- 
tion of wild birds was undertaken purely from the 
point of view of economic zoology. During recent 
years, however, the Board has taken over the charge 
of numerous and extensive reservations for the pro- 
tection of birds to save them from the ravages of the 
plume-hunter and the egg-collector, and they have 
done magnificent work in this direction. How great 
are the difficulties of the Board, and how wide its 
powers, may be gathered from the statement in the 
American Museum Journal for October to the effect 
that news reached the officials that a Japanese poach- 
ing vessel had been seen in the neighbourhood of the 
Hawaiian Islands, where a reservation has been estab- 
lished, At once the Revenue-cutter Thetis was 
ordered to cruise to the bird islands. In due time the 
vessel returned, bringing twenty-three Japanese 
feather-hunters, captured in their work of destruction, 
In the hold of the vessel were stored 259,000 pairs of 
wings, 24 tons of baled feathers, and several large 
cases of skins, for which the Japanese, had they 
escaped with their booty, would have realised more 
than a hundred thousand dollars, In Florida, we 
are glad to learn, the white egrets are slowly recover- 
ing from the ruthless slaughter to which they have 
been subjected, though the warden charged with their 
protection goes in daily peril of his life from desperate 
and lawless agents of the plume-trade. 
THE course of lectures on “The Origin and Evolu- 
tion of Life upon the Earth,” delivered by Prof. H, F. 
Osborn before the Washington Academy of Sciences 
earlier in the year, is now being made available to a 
far wider public through the medium of the Scientific 
Monthly, The October number contains the first lec- 
ture of part iv. Herein the contrasts between plant 
and animal evolution and the origin of animals are 
discussed. The process of the differentiation of the in- 
vertebrate types of to-day, it is urged, ‘began in pre- 
Cambrian times, and among aquatic types, of which 
we have as yet very imperfect knowledge. The evolution 
of the terrestrial forms began with the Devonian, 
when the increasing verdure of the land invited the 
invasion of life from the waters, the first conquest 
of the terrestrial environment being attained by the 
scorpions, shellfish, worms, and insects. This is an 
instance of the constant dispersion of new animal 
forms into new environments for their food supply, 
the chief instinctive cause of all migration. This 
impulse is constantly acting and reacting throughout 
geologic time with the migration of the environ- 
ment.’’ This is an interpretation to which some 
at any rate will demur. Rether migration seems, in 
the first place, to’ come about as a result of over- 
