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- June 2, 1923] NATURE 753 

Datinc THE HEBREW Exopus FRomM Ecypr.—tIn 
the April issue of the Fortnightly Review Dr. H. R. 
Hall attempts to estimate the value of the recent 
startling discoveries in Egypt, but he defers a full 
appreciation until next winter’s work and an examina- 
tion, which must be protracted, of the objects in the 
tomb. More definite conclusions are reached by 
Mr. Arthur Weigall in the Empire Review for May. 
He identifies the 80,000 “ unclean’’ people, whom 
Manetho says that one of the Pharaohs deported to 
the east bank of the Nile, with the heretic Aton- 
worshippers. Thus arises the question of the Hebrew 
exodus, which tradition has associated with Rameses 
the Great, the best known of the Pharaohs. But 
it more probably occurred in the reign of Tutan- 
khamen, 1358-1350 B.c., and this is corroborated by 
the Karnak inscription, which states that he was 
employing Asiatic slaves in his great work of re- 
building the temples ruined by Akhnaton, a result 
which raises the question of the connexion of Hebrew 
monotheism with the earliest known monotheism of 
the Egyptians. It is also interesting to note that 
Tutankhamen in the same inscription speaks of Egypt 
as being plague-ridden in his reign. 
Fiints 1n Marta.—In the May issue of Man Miss 
M. A. Murray describes the results of excavations at 
a group of megalithic ruins of Borg en Nadur, over- 
looking the little harbour of Fort St. George, which 
forms part of the great bay of Marsa Scirocco on the 
south-east of Malta. During the excavation of this 
site last summer about thirty stone implements were 
found under the pavement west of the dolmen. They 
include three specimens the appearance of which 
Suggests that they are part of an apparatus for 
producing fire. Throughout Malta flints of this kind, 
generally recognisable by the fact that they contain 
no cutting edges and have a characteristic semi-circular 
_ hollow on one side, where the stone had been struck 
by the steel, are often found. Until the last fifty 
years or so, flint was imported into Malta from Sicily 
_ for fire-producing purposes, and during the War, when 
there was a shortage of matches, these flints came 
into use again, and were sought for in the fields where 
they had been thrownaway. The flints found at Borg 
en Nadur may have formed part of such a consignment. 
CIVILISATION AND PRIMITIVE PEopLEs.—Mr. H. 
Balfour in his presidential address delivered before 
the Folklore Society, published in Folk-Lore, vol. 
xxxiv. No. 1, discusses the results of the expedition 
to the Naga Hills, Assam, whence he has returned 
with a rich store of material for the Pitt-Rivers 
Museum. In his address, he discusses the danger 
of interfering with the institutions and customs of 
rimitive tribes. “To root up old - established 
indigenous trees and plant in their place alien sub- 
stitutes to which the soil is unsuited is a useless 
and unproductive work; and equally futile and 
unprofitable is it to abolish ruthlessly old-established 
beliefs and practices, and to endeavour to replace 
them with imported doctrines and customs, which 
have developed under totally different conditions, 
and which merely Sea the natives without en- 
lightening them.’”’ In the districts most exposed to 
foreign influence—that of Christian missionaries and 
that of the Bengalis—he noticed ‘‘ marked evidence 
of a comparative lack of that virility, alertness, and 
zest which I had observed in the more eastern 
districts, and the partial atrophy of these qualities 
is certainly correlated with the loosening of the grip 
upon traditional customs and ritual. I firmly believe 
that the comparative inertness is mainly the outcome 
of change of habit consequent upon contact with 
NO. 2796, VOL. 111 | 
Research Items. 
alien peoples and alien cultures.”” These conclusions, 
arrived at by a singularly competent and sympathetic 
observer, demand the attention of all British officers 
placed in control of primitive races. 
: ‘ 
_ Rep SEA-WATER DUE TO A DINOFLAGELLATE.— 
Another instance of discoloration of the sea by a 
'Dinoflagellate is recorded by K. Hirasaka (Amnot. 
Zool. Japon., x., Art. 15, Dec. 1922). In December 
1921 discoloration of the water in Gokasho Bay, 
ead was observed and was found to increase until 
y January 10, 1922, the entire bay presented “a 
deep bloody or a chocolate colour,’’ which continued 
to the end of February, when it began to diminish, 
and by the middle of March had disappeared. The 
depth to which the discoloration extended was from 
three or four to six feet. The organism, a new species 
of Dinoflagellate of the genus Gymnodinium, seemed 
to migrate diurnally according to the temperature 
and intensity of light, the colour of the water being 
deepest in the afternoon. The author states that 
the discoloured sea water was highly luminous. 
JAPANESE MarINE TricLtaps.—T. Kabouraki 
pjourn. Coll. Sci. Imp. Univ. Tokyo, xliv., Art. 3, 
ept. 1922) gives an account of the anatomy of the 
Ser marine triclads known from Japan, namely, 
vocerodes lactea, Stummeria trigonocephala, and 
Ectoplana limuli. The former two live beneath 
stones, but the last named occurs abundantly on the 
cephalothoracic appendages and on the gill-books 
of Limulus longispina, is 4 to 6 mm. long and 
about 1 mm. broad, and usually milky white. The 
author concludes a brief discussion of the integument 
with his opinion that the turbellarian epidermis is 
homologous with the cuticle of the trematodes, and 
he regards the rhabdites as the equivalent of gland 
secretions, and as being of use to the worm in securing 
food as well as in offence and defence. He states that 
all three worms are very sensitive and they usually 
Move to a dark place, and that even on a slight 
shock they stop instantly, contract, and remain im- 
movable. Ectoplana is not a parasite, and causes 
o injury to the Limulus on which it occurs ; it lives on 
he fragments of food left over by the Limulus, and 
hence is a commensal. It lays its eggs on the gill 
lamellz. Appended is a note on the classification of 
the marine triclads and a key to the genera. 
Somr Antarctic CrusTacEA.—The latest in the 
Series of reports on the British Antarctic (Terra 
Nova) Expedition (Zoology, vol. iii. No. to), 
published by the British Museum (Natural History), 
is by Prof. W. M. Tattersall and deals with the 
Crustacea of the order Mysidacea. The usual but 
indefensible grouping of these with the very different 
Euphausiacea under the name “ Schizopoda ”’ is here 
abandoned. In addition to the purely antarctic 
collections, the report deals with a large amount of 
material obtained during the winter cruises of the 
Terra Nova off the north of New Zealand. A review 
is given of all the known antarctic Mysidacea, and it 
is pointed out that they were all taken in deep water 
and form part of the cold water fauna which is found 
in the depths of all the oceans. The littoral antarctic 
species, if any exist, are still unknown. So far as the 
evidence goes, however, the distribution of the group 
supports Regan’s delimitation of the Antarctic Zone. 
From New Zealand only three adequately described 
species of Mysidacea have hitherto been known. In 
this report the number is increased to fifteen, of which 
eight are described for the first time. Seven of the 
new species belong to the genus Tenagomysis, to 
which only two species had previously been referred. 
This genus is only known from New Zealand and the 
