2f8 



NA TURIL 



TDecemiser 31, it)o8 



harassed by wolves, and ihc opinion is expressed tliat 

 unless something is speedily done to reduce the number 

 of the latter, the bison is doomed ere long to complete 

 extermination. Two parties, comprising respectively eight 

 and sixteen head, were reported by the Indians to include 

 no yearlings or two-year-olds, all the calves having been 

 Uilled by wolves. 



Is the December number of Man Mr. .A. Lang returns 

 to the well-worn controversy on the subject of totemism 

 hy a criticism of Dr. Seligmann's paper in the previous 

 number on the subject of "linked totems." He rightly 

 questions the admissibility of the term, and remarks on 

 the confusion between the words " tribe " and " clan " 

 in dealing with the subject. It seems clear that until a 

 recognised terminology comes to be adopted by all writers, 

 the origin and meaning of totemism must remain to a 

 large degree uncertain, and the important problems of its 

 relation to cxogamous marriage and prohibited forms of 

 food will continue to be incapable of solution. It may be 

 hoped that in his great forthcoming work on totemism 

 Prof. J. G. Frazer will finally settle the nomenclature of 

 the subject, and thus dispose of difficulties which have 

 led to much wearisome and embittered controversy. 



Mt!. \V. K. MooRiiE.'iD, of the Phillips .Academy, 

 Andover, .Massachusetts, which claims to be " the only 

 preparatory school in the world that possesses a fine 

 museum and department of archxology, " has issued two 

 fresh Bulletins, Nos. 3 and 4. The second and more 

 important contains an elaborate monograph on the famous 

 site of Fort -Ancient, the great prehistoric earthwork of 

 Warren County, Ohio. It is satisfactory to learn that the 

 State Legislature has now^ completed the purchase of this 

 important site, which will be preserved as a public park. 

 Needless to say, the age of this monumctit and its rela- 

 tion to the immense aboriginal cemetery at Madisonville 

 have long formed a subject of controversy among .American 

 rmthropologists. Mr. Moorhead, who has done much work 

 on the spot, thinks that Fort Ancient may be some eight 

 or nine centuries old, and he dismisses the modern articles 

 found in a grave at Madisonville as " intrusive." It is 

 clear, however, that this risume of the facts at present 

 available will not close the discussion. The writer admits 

 that " we have but begun the right study of the Ohio 

 Mounds," and that it will take many years to complete 

 the field work which is necessary before the problem of 

 llieir origin and age can be finally solved. 



.Although the rules and recommendations regarding 

 botanical nomenclature at the A'ienna Congress were 

 fr.imed primarily for the guidance of systematic botanists, 

 it is important that they should be generally known. A 

 I).iniphlef, reprinted from the Transactions of the New 

 Zealand Institute (vol. xl.), gives the substance of an 

 •address on the subject read by Mr. T. F. Chceseman at 

 the -Auckland Institute. It provides a good epitome of the 

 salient points, and contains a list of changes caused in 

 the nomenclature of New Zealand ferns. A second con- 

 tribution to the fuller knowledge of the flora of New 

 Ze.iland, by the same authority, is concerned mainly with 

 till' record of new- localities. 



Intending visitors to Connemara in search of botanical 

 rarities will find it profitable to consult the account of 

 an excursion published in the Transactions and Proceed- 

 ings of the Botanical Society of Edinburgh (vol. xxiii., 

 part iii.). The two plants, Erica Siiiarti and Erica 

 .Macl;aia)ia, that formed the immediate object of the ex- 

 pedition, were obtained. In the same part Mr. W. W. 

 NO. 2044, '^'OL. 79] 



Smith describes a lemarkable tussock formation observed 

 in the Scilly Isles, where plants of Aruiido phragniilcs. 

 Picris aquilitia, and Carex paniculata were growing 

 together in clumps, rising as high as 8 feet above the 

 marshy substratum. -A short note on the collection of five; 

 species of Riccia in the Edinburgh district is contributed 

 by Mr. W. Evans. 



.Among the systematic articles published in the latest 

 part (No. g) of the Kcui Bulletin, special interest attaches 

 to the description of a new species of the Burmanniacea;, 

 Bagnisia Hillii, reported from New Zealand by Mr. T. I". 

 Cheeseman. Species of the subfamily to which Bagnisia 

 belongs have been hitherto collected in Ceylon, Samoa, 

 and New Guinea, so that the discovery in New Zealand 

 extends the range considerably further south. Another 

 contribution of considerable interest, more especially to 

 the small cultivator, is the account of a Lancashire willow 

 farm furnished by Mr. \V. Dallimore. The willows arc 

 grown on dry land under similar conditions to ordinary 

 farm crops; the best twigs are obtained from special 

 varieties of the species purpurea, viminalis, rubra, ami 

 Smithiana. 



We are in receipt of the n'cent issues of the .\i;riculliiral 

 News, a fortnightly paper issued by the West Indian 

 Department of Agriculture dealing with matters of 

 interest to tropical agriculturists. The subject-matter 

 consists mainly of excerpts from various agricultural 

 journals and bulhtins, the selection being carefully and 

 intelligently made. .Altogether the paper must be ranked 

 among the most useful of our agricultural publications. 



The determination of total solids in sugar-mill products 

 has usually been rather a tedious and uncertain business 

 by reason of the ijistability of certain compounds in the 

 molasses. Mr. Peck finds that the Abbe refractometer can 

 be used conveniently, and describes the method of work- 

 ing in BuUi'tin No. 27 of the Hawaiian Sugar-planters' 

 .Association. He gives also a set of tables to show the 

 percentage of total solids corresponding with each re- 

 fractive index. The agreement between the results 

 obtained in this way, and by the older method of drying, 

 is satisfactory, and the method promises to be very useful 

 to sugar chemists. 



We have received from the Board of -Agriculture leaflets 

 dealing with gooseberry black-knot (Plowrightia ribesia, 

 Sacc-), grain weevils (Calandra granaria and C. ory::ae). 

 and the apple saw-fly (Iloplocampa [Tenthredo] testudiuea). 

 They give illustrations showing the pest in its various 

 stages, and the kind of damage it does ; there is also :i 

 description, in simple language, which will hc-lp the prac- 

 tical man in liis identification. Schemes of treatment are 

 suggested. 



Inxre.isino attention is being devoted in South .Australia 

 to fruit production and to the best methods of placing 

 the products on the market. The Journal of Agriculture 

 of South Australia has recently described at some length 

 how fruit-drying is practised in California, where this 

 practice has been developed to a high degree of perfection. 

 The fresh fruit is first fumigated by means of sulphur, 

 then spread on trays and exposed to the sun until dry ; 

 but as the weather conditions may become unfavourable, 

 the larger drying grounds are also provided with elaborate 

 drying plant, so arranged that the fruit shall be exposed 

 to a gradually increasing temperature. The tray of fruit 

 is placed in a gently sloping tunnel up which a stream of 

 hot air from a furnace passes, and is gradually pushed 

 downwards as fresh trays are put on behind. This slow 



