December io, 1908J 



NA TURE 



16; 



the " Precis de Paleontologie humaine,"' in 1S70. In 1S73 

 he was appointed " aide naturaliste "to De Quatrefages, 

 then professor of anthropology at the museum, and in 

 collaboration with him published the classical work 

 '• Crania cthnica " (1875-18S2); of equal value is his great 

 " Anthropologie du Mexique " (1884, 1890, 1891). His 

 interest in American archaeology and ethnography is 

 evidenced by the " Decades Americana^ " (1883-1899). In 

 1880 he was appointed director of the Mus^e d'Ethno- 

 graphie, then recently installed in the Trocad^ro, which 

 post he held for twenty-six years ; but despite his incessant 

 efforts, lack of funds prevented him from developing it 

 according to his desires. In this connection he published 

 the " Origines du Mus^e d'Ethnographie " (1890) and the 

 " Galerie americane du MusiJ-e d'Ethnographie du Troca- 

 dero " (1897). The geographical aspects of ethnology had 

 an attraction for him, his most important contribution 

 being the " ^udes historiques et g^ographiques " (1896). 

 Most of his ethnographical essays were published in the 

 Revue d'Ethnographie et Anthropologie (1882-9). Dr. 

 llamv possessed a great range of knowledge and sane 

 judgment, and it is not only in France that his loss will 

 be felt. 



Although there is a slight increase in the list over that 

 of the previous year, the council of the Ealing Scientific 

 and Microscopical Society, in its report for 1907-8, urges 

 the necessity for new members. .Abstracts of the lectures 

 delivered last session are included in the report. 



Four out of the five papers in vol. ii.. No. 3, of the 

 Journal of the Federated Malay States Museums are de- 

 voted to the mammals of the district, Mr. O. Thomas 

 describing new species from Tioman and Aor Islands, in 

 the South China Sea, while Mr. Boden Kloss contributes 

 lists of the species inhabiting the Malay Peninsula and 

 neighbouring areas. It is sad to see such well-known 

 names as Macacus cynomolgus and Galeopithecus respec- 

 tively replaced by Macaco fascicidaris and Galeopterus. 



TfiE ovum of mammals forms the subject of two papers 

 (each issued only in preliminary shape) in No. 6 of the 

 Bulletin of the Royal .Academy of Belgium. In the first 

 of these Messrs. Winiwarter and Sainmont announce the 

 discovery that, in the cat at any rate, the functional ova 

 are developed during post-foetal life, whereas it has hitherto 

 been supposed that in all mammals this took place in 

 titero, or during the very earliest stages of extra-uterine 

 development. The second paper, by Dr. O. Vander Stricht, 

 Is devoted to the development of the ovum in bats, as 

 npresented by the noctule. 



The whole of the second number of the Annals of the 

 Transvaal Museum is devoted to an account of the 

 numerous species of ticks infesting South Africa. Accord- 

 ing to the author, Mr. C. W. Howard, entomologist to 

 the Mozambique Government, these pests have hitherto 

 been studied only in relation to the transmission of disease, 

 =n that little has been known with regard to specific 

 'i.nacteristics and the variations (which are great) pre- 



nted by the different species. These gaps in our know- 

 ledge are to a great extent filled by Mr. Howard's paper, 

 although, as might be expected, much work still remains 

 to be done. 



For some time a discussion has been going on in the 

 columns of the Emu with regard to the food of .Australian 

 cormorants and the harm these birds are alleged to inflict 

 on the local fisheries. The discussion is continued in the 

 October number of that journal, where it is emphatically 



NO. 2041, VOL. 79] 



affirmed that, instead of subsisting exclusively on fish (as 

 is universally stated to be the case with all cormorants), 

 these birds feed very largely upon crabs and shrimps, 

 which themselves are harmful to fisheries on account of 

 their partiality to fish-spawn. Moreover, instead of sub- 

 sisting very largely on the introduced trout, as has been 

 alleged, the local cormorants are stated to be much more 

 fond of eels, which are of little importance as food-fish. 



In a notice of the badger in Norfolk, published in the 

 November number of the Zoologist, Mr. A. H. Patterson 

 gives a qualified assent to a theory suggested by Mr. T. 

 Southwell, that the aboriginal stock was at one time totally 

 exterminated, and the existing representatives of the species 

 are the descendants of animals turned down in consequence 

 of their usefulness in forming earths for foxes. If this 

 be so, the practice of huntsmen in regard to badgers in 

 Norfolk is different from that obtaining in certain other 

 counties we could mention. It is satisfactory to learn that 

 Norfolk badgers are now on the increase. 



We have been favoured by the author, Mr. R. B. 

 Newton, with copies of two papers from the Proceedings 

 of the Malacological Society, one on relics of coloration 

 in fossil shells, and the other on fossil pearl-growths. 

 The former is illustrated with a plate showing colour- 

 pattern on shells from the Silurian upwards. The author 

 mentions the theory that such patterns may be taken to 

 indicate the comparatively shallow-water habitat of the 

 shells in which it occurs, and the objections taken to the 

 same, but fails to give his own opinion on the matter. 

 Pearls or pearl-like growths are shown in the second paper 

 to occur in fossil shells of the genera Volsella (Mytilidse), 

 Inoceramus (Aviculidse), and Gryphsea (Ostr^ids'l, most 

 of these being of Cretaceous age. 



New discoveries of fossil fishes and arthropods in the- 

 Middle Coal-measures of Sparth, Rochdale, Lancashire, 

 form the subject of a paper by Mr. W. A. Parker in 

 vol. ix. of the Transactions of the Rochdale Literary and 

 Philosophical Society. The fish-remains include scales of 

 species of Ctenodus and Strepsodus sauroides, as well as 

 a nodule enclosing a nearly entire specimen of a probably 

 new member of the palaeoniscid group. Of greater 

 interest are the arthropod fossils, which include eight new 

 species, namely, two of Eoscorpius, three members of the 

 king-crab group referable to the genus Belinurus, a pedi- 

 palpate arachnid of the genus Geralinura, a member of 

 the shrimp-like Pygocephalus, notable as being the only 

 specimen exhibiting the whole dorsal surface, and a 

 myriapod referable to Xylobius. Examples of previously 

 known arthropods are likewise recorded. 



An issue (vol. iii.. No. 4) of the botanical series of the 

 rhiUppine Journal df Science is devoted to two sets of 

 identifications of insular plants. The majority of the 

 specimens described by Mr. C. B. Robinson, under the 

 title " Alabastra Philippinensia, II.," are shrubs or trees 

 collected by Mr. R. S. Williams. The euphorbiaceous 

 genus Cleistanthus, supplying several new species, is 

 specially summarised. The second paper, contributed by 

 Mr. E. D. Merrill, contains the diagnoses of many new 

 species and a new genus, Sagittipetalum, of the order 

 Rhizophoraceae, that grows in the dipterocarp forest. The 

 species of Homalium, a genus furnishing important trees, 

 are differentiated with the help of a key. 



Bulletins dealing with ground-nut and fig cultivation 

 in southern India have been published by the Department 

 of Agriculture, Madras. The notes by Mr. H. C. Samp- 

 son on ground-nut cultivation refer to the " Mauritius " 



