Sept. 7, 1SS2] 



NA TURE 



453 



e:ch other in dialectic forms. Not only do these totem-classes 

 regulate marriage and descent, but the subclasses, i.t. their well- 

 known form as Ipai-Kumbo and Muri-Kubi. do so likewise, and 

 moreover the two primary classes which I have now succeeded 

 in tracing out over the area named are those in fact in consider- 

 ing the legality of marriages the aborigines finally look. It is, 

 in fact, these two primary classes v. hicb, through their four suh- 

 ilivisions and the group of totem names, imperatively regulate 

 marriage. They are the tw exogamous intermarrying groups 

 into which the tribe in its social organisation is divided. The 

 marriage of two individuals belonging to one primary class is 

 regarded in the light of incest, and is very generally punished by- 

 death. Thus the objections which have been taken that the 

 class-names do not influence marriage and are mere terms of 

 .-v dress receive renewed and positive contradiction from accumu- 

 lating evidence. 



As to the objections taken to my statement of the practice of 

 marriage by elopement among the Kurnai, I have little to add to 

 the full account f have given in my work in that tribe. Mere 

 denials of its existence, mere statements that marriage by elope- 

 ment is a "product of misconception," do not alter the fact that 

 the practice existed in Gippsland, as I have stated it. The diffi- 

 culty which has been raised as to the elder men obtaining wives 

 and second wives amounts to nothing. It may interest my 

 critics to know as one instance that the man King Charley, 

 whom I mentioned in "Kamilaroi and Kurnai," obtained his 

 first wife from Maneroi by elopement ; he obtained his 

 second wife from the YVurniingatti division of the Kurnai also by 

 elopement, leaving his first wife with some friends during this 

 proceeding. In addition to these eases, in which elder men 

 obtained wives, or second wives, in Gippsland by (1) capture ; 

 (2) inheritance from deceased brothers (own or tribal) ; (3) by 

 the rare cases of gift by the woman's relatives or by exchange of 

 a female relative, will be found by those who desire to find the 

 evidence in "|KumiIaroi and Kurnai." 



It is an error on the part of our critics to suppose that in 

 Australia it is general, or even very frequent for the elder men 

 to monopolise all the women. The young men acquire w ives in 

 various manners in various tribes, as by arrangement by rela- 

 tions, by exchange of sisters, by betrothal, by elopement,' or as 

 among some of the Kamilaroi tribes, by an absolute ri»ht of 

 selection by the " initiated youth " of any unmarried girl of the 

 proper class-name, provided bis hands are free of the blood of 

 her kindred. 



It has been asserted by more than one of our critics that "the 

 class-names as well as the terms of relationship are names merely, 

 belonging to a system of personal addresses." Personal names 

 are not in all Australian tribes secret names. In tribes within 

 my knowledge personal names, class-names, totem-names, terms 

 of relationship, are all med in addressing indn iduals. There is, 

 therefore, no necessity in such tribes for individuals to have 

 recourse to an invented system of fictitious relationships for the 

 purpose of addressing each .'her, such as some of our critics 

 believe in. The terms of relationship define groups, and the 

 individual takes the name of his eroup. These groups have a 

 real existence. For instance, in the tribe which occupied the 

 table-land of Maneroo, it was the males of the two primary class 

 divisions which met as two groups to mutually initiate their 

 youths, that is, to confer upon them the privileges of manhood. 

 It was the group " Jambi " of each intermarrying primary class- 

 division which, under the control of the old men of the tribe 

 initiated the youths of the other group. The youths being 

 initiated are also " Jambi." It was one Jambi who gave a wife 

 to the other Jambi, receiving his sister" in excliai ge, and the 

 relationship of Jambi included theref. re " sister's husband " as 

 well as "wife's bother" ; but it was not imperative that the 

 "sister ' should lie an "own sister," for she might bea " tribal 

 sister." Jambi therefore represents a group ; the individual 

 takes the relationship of his group, and the relationship is a real 

 one. We have here two exogamous groups of 1 : . 

 organisation of a tribe meeting to confer the rights of manhood 

 on the youths of each, and each group providing the other 

 group with wives. It is significant that in some tribes there is 

 evidence that on such an occasion a temporary return to more or 

 less intersexual communism between the groups takes place. 

 In conclusion, I may say that since the publication of 

 Kamilaroi and Kurnai," I have extended my inquiries over the 

 greater part of Australia, and am still gathering information. 

 The evidence has accumulated to a large extent, but I cannot at 

 present foresee at what time it may be sufficiently completed for 



publication. I have therefore thought it well to make this state- 

 ment, and also to say further that meanwhile I propose from 

 time to time to summarise results in a series of short memoirs, 

 the first of which I have presented to the Anthropological 

 Institute, through the courtesy of Dr. Tylor. I must refer my 

 critics to these memoirs, [lending a final publication, for replies 

 to their objections and for additional facts which it may be 

 advantageous for them to consider. A. W. HowiTT 



Sale, July I 



New and very Rare Fish from the Mediterranean 

 In Prof. Giglioli's letter on rare Mediterranean fishes, which 

 appeared in Nature, vol. xxv. p. 535, he refers to specimens of 

 Sterpana usliilata, Lowe, obtained at Messina. In some "Notes 

 on some rare and Utile known Fishes taken at Madeira," pub- 

 lished between 1S60 and 1870 in the Annals and Mo 

 Natural History, I undertook to prove that the fishes on which 

 Mr. Lowe founded that species were merely young specimens of 

 the common Scorpana scrofa, L. It might be well if Prof. 

 Giglioli looked at the paper referred to before labelling his 

 Sicilian fishes. With regard to the two Macruroid fishes, Afala- 

 cocephalus lavis (Lowe), and Corypkanoides terra/tts (Lowe), 

 which the Professor captured in the Mediterranean, I may state 

 that they are so rare at Madeira, where they were originally de- 

 tected by the late Mr. Lowe, that during thirty years I have only 

 obtained a single specimen of the former and have never met 

 with the latter at all. It would be curious if the "singular fish 

 of a deep black colour, with small eyes, a naked skin, and a 

 most abyssal physiognomy," should prove to be the rare Madeiran 

 Gadoid, Chiasmodon niger, described by me in a paper read 

 before the Zoological Society of London on November 10, 1863. 

 The unique specimen was sent to the Kritish Museum, but 

 another example was afterwards taken in the West Indie-, ard 

 figured by Dr. Carte in the Proe. Z. S. London, 1S66, pi. ii. 

 Singularly enough the stomach of the latter specimen contained 

 a fish which exceeded the size of its swallower, and this was no 

 other than an example of an extremely rare Madeiran -pecies, 

 Neoscopilus macrolepidotus, described by me in the Proc. Z. S., 

 January 13, 1863, pi. vii. 



In enumerating the known species of precious corals in 

 Nature, vol. xxv. p, 552, Prof. Gig1i< li has not referred to ihe 

 pure white species of Madeira on which Dr. J. E Gray founded 

 the genus Ilcmi corallium, the polyp cells I eing on one side of 

 the branches, like the Corallium secundum of Dana. Only two 

 specimens of this coral have fallen in my way, and one of these 

 was presented to the British Museum. This was described wiih 

 a figure by Dr. Gray in the Proc. Z. S. 1867, p. 394, Radiata, 

 pi. xviii. See also his Catalogue of Lithophytes in the British 

 Museum, 1870, p. 24. If this white coral could 1 e found in 

 greater abundance it would form a valuable ai tide of commerce. 

 Madeira, August 26 James Yate Johnson 



Aurora 



An aurora of considerable proportions and of the radiant 

 form was visible here on Wednesday night. At 9 p.m. the 

 centre of energy was in the north-west, and from a large blunted 

 cone-shaped smoke like luminrus mass in that quarter, fan-rayed 

 streamers were projected to the ,-enith. The streamers were 

 crossed at equal intervals by horizontal bars, similar in appear- 

 ance, minus the motion, to the pulsating bars which sometimes 

 form a feature of auroral activity. The day had been finer than 

 has been the prevalent weather of late. Set of wind during the 

 day, north-west. Drift of the cloud- at high ahitudes from 

 south-west. The night calm, barometer high, thermometer 57. 

 At 9 p.m. the western sky w a- no-vered with flocculent cirri. 

 The north-west was obscured by I he den-e eruptive volume of 

 auroral vap ur. The northern sky was clear, and so was the 

 eastern. The moon was shining brightly. The line between 

 the auroral mass and the region of blue sky was remarkably 

 sharp and well defined. Just after 10 p m. a narrow streamer 

 of great brilliancy shot from the north-west across the zenith to 

 the north-western limb of the moon, constituting a notable feature 

 of the display. As the night wore 1 11, the centre of energy, 

 together with the basal eruptive mass, travelled slowly north- 

 wards, and the northern sky became covered with bright white 

 beams, rays, and streamers. At the same time, clouds of the 

 cirrus type made a mackerel sky in the west, as well as in the 

 zenith towards the south. Some of the streamers were of 



