Oct. 14, 1886] 
NATURE 
aa 
usually adopted, since there are some grounds for thinking that 
the limits of disturbance are generally lines of faulting or limits 
of formations. In the first report received, the extreme points 
mentioned to the west were Jacksonville and Chicago, both 
situated on a line which represents the axis of the promontory of 
Florida, as shown by the map. The great mass of the surface 
shaken lies to the east of this line, so that this surface would be 
bounded by coast-line directions, at least partially. When fuller 
information comes to hand, I trust to be able to show more 
perfect results in this respect. J: P. O'REILLY 
Algebraic Notation of Kinship 
Mr. F. Gatton has described two systems of kinship nota- 
tion: one in his work on ‘‘ Hereditary Genius,” pp. 50-53 ; the 
other in a letter to NATURE, vol. xxvill. p. 435. I propose to 
indicate here the outline of another system, which, though 
slightly more cumbrous in form than Mr. Galton’s, seems to me 
to possess some advantages of its own. t 
Let us denote t'e male members of a family by a capital 
letter, say F, females by a small letter, # Taking the person 
described as a starting-point, relatives in different generations 
may be denoted by éwdices attached to these letters. For rela- 
tives in the same generation, the index is 0; for those in the 
first, second, &c., generation before him, the indices are I, 2, 
&c. ; for those in generations following him they are —1, -2, &c. 
Thus, a brother would be denoted by the symbol F°, a sis‘er 
by f’; the father by i! and mother by #1; a son by F7! and a 
daughter by f~1. Again, the father’s father would be denoted 
by F' F!, or more shortly by F2; the father’s mother by F'/1; 
ason’s son by F°, a daughter’s son by f-'F7!; the father’s 
brother by F! £° (or perhaps by F?°, if it be remembered that 
here to stands for 1 + 0, and not for ten, which is too large a 
number to be often required); the mother’s brother by f! F°; 
the father’s sister’s son by F!/° F-}, and her daughter by 
F1f°f; andso on, The advantages of the system are: (1) 
that it is readily used and interpreted ; (2) that the generation 
of any relation with respect to the person described may be 
found at once by adding the indices of his kinship symbol. For 
example, in the Jast two instances given, the sum of the indices 
is 0, showing that in both cases the generation is the same as 
that of the person described. 
The simpler relationships are shown in the following table :— 
F2 Fil fiFl f2 
Grandfather=Grandmother Grandfather=Grandmother 
Flso ah : Jn 
Al FO fi ro pho 
Uacle Father= Mother Uncle Aunt 
| ate 
| | 
yo J 0 
Brother Person DescrinED Sites 
el es ae se fied la 
| | | | | 
FO F-1 F0 f-1 F-1 fil fo Fa fofa 
Nephew Niece Son Daughter Nephew Niece 
i | 
| | | | 
F-2 Fit fo F-l f2 
Grand- Grand- Grand- Grand- 
son daughter son daughter 
If desired, suffixes to the letters might be added to denote the 
position in his family of any person noted in the kinship symbol. 
The symbol I°5! /5~* would, for example, denote a son’s daughter, 
the son being the third member of his family, and his daughter 
the fifth. CHARLES DAVISON 
Birmingham, September 30 
Physiological Selection 
As Dr. Romanes has had his attention drawn to my letter 
(NaTuRE, vol. xxxi. p. 4), he may be interested in knowing just 
how far his theory of physiological selection was anticipated by 
what was in my mind. 
My idea was that a spontaneous variation might occur in the 
sexual elements of the offspring of one parent or pair which 
would leave them fertile with each other, while rendering them 
almost or quite infertile with the rest of the species, so that the 
family would be physiologically insular. 
Though I did not definitely so limit it, it did not seem to me 
likely that a corresponding change in both sexes, which was 
what I had in my mind, would occur, except in the offspring of 
the same parent or pair ; and I rejected the idea of a gradually 
increasing infertility in favour of a total or nearly total infertility 
arising in the one generation, because I did not see any cause 
for the continuous increase from generation to generation of such 
infertility. 
It did not occur to me that a partial infertility would, in a 
number of generations, produce the same result, as pointed out 
by Dr. Romanes (NATURE, August 5, p. 316). Nor do I now 
see clearly that it would ever lead to the total infertility which 
exists between species which have not otherwise diverged very 
much. At present, however, I only wish to point out that the 
idea of gradually increasing infertility was in no way anticipated 
by me. EDMUND CATCHPOOL 
Friends’ Institute, 13, Bishopsgate Street Without, 
London, E.C., October 9 
American Vines 
In reading Prof. Carruthers’ very interesting address to the 
Biological Section of the British Association, I observe that he 
says, when speaking of the vine discovered by Dr. Schweinfurth 
at Abd-el-Qurna: ‘‘ The leaves which have been obtained entire 
exactly agree in form with those cultivated at the present day, 
but the under-surface is clothed with white hairs, a peculiarity 
which Dr. Schweinfurth has not observed in any Egyptian vines 
of our time.” Will you allow me to remark that this is a cha- 
racter of several of our American vines? Both the Northern 
Fox and the Summer Grape (V. Zadbrusca and V. estivalis) are 
conspicuously downy on the lower surface of the leaves—so much 
so that they appear white. 
This fact adds another to the list of points in which the old 
flora of the eastern hemisphere resembles that now existing on 
the western side of the Atlantic. But the resemblance in this 
case is of much more recent date than those with which we are 
so familiar from the researches of Prof. Heer among the Oenin- 
gen beds of Switzerland. 
In connection with the facts above mentioned, it would be of 
interest to ascertain if an opportunity should ever occur whether 
the other notewerthy differences between the American vines 
generally and the European vine, namely, the musky or foxy 
flavour and the soft and pulpy, not firm and fleshy, berry were 
accompaniments of the downy leaf. This may never be possible, 
but it would serve to show which of the two was the older stem 
from which the other has diverged. E. W. CLAYPOLE 
Akron, O., U.S., September 30 
““Scopelus miulleri” 
A Frew weeks since I received a letter from Mr. Southwell, 
of Norwich, wherein he informed me that Capt. Gray had sent 
him a very interesting fish, which he kindly forwarded to 
Cheltenham. He captured it on August 1, 1886, in lat. 73° 12’ 
N., and long. 14° 28’ W. Capt. Gray remarked :—‘‘ It was at 
the surface ; I noticed it while away in a boat as I leant over the 
bow and watched the water as it passed. It was covered with 
bright golden scales when I first found it, but they are nearly all 
rubbed off. It was alive when I picked it up, and the tempera- 
ture of the water was 35° F., and that of the air 35° also. ’ 
The specimen is in comparatively a good state of preserva- 
tion ; the tail, however, has been broken, reducing its total 
length to 2 inches ; from the snout to the base of the caudal fin, 
1°8 inch. 
DA TAS Td) Vero, AL eLO nC. mrOs med eso: 
Its proportions are normal, agreeing with Collett’s description, 
the origin of the dorsal fin commencing exactly midway between 
the end of the snout and the base of the caudal fin. As good 
examples appear to be very rare, I propose remarking on certain 
appearances which have been indispute. The eye-like spots are 
thus disposed: along the edge of the abdomen, between the 
throat and base of the ventral fins, 5 pairs ; between the ventral 
and anal, 3 pairs; along the base of the anal, 8 pairs; beyond 
the anal, 6 pairs. Kriiger gave a similar number between the 
ventral and anal to what exists in this specimen, but Collett 
found 4 pairs there. Between the 6th and 7:h pairs along the 
base of the anal fin, and between the 5th and 6th pairs behind 
that fin, there is a wider space than between the others. Along 
the side and below the posterior half of the lateral line are two 
more of these eye-like spots, while a row of three passes from 
