270 



NATURE 



[Seftember I, 1910 



Nethei lands New Guinea, though used in the valley of the 

 Fly River, and in the central district of British New 

 Guinea, whence it has spread along the coast. The dis- 

 covery of its use and culture among these mountaineers 

 suggests that the custom was introduced into New Guinea 

 from the north. Dr. Lorentz suggests intercourse with the 

 northern coast, as the mountaineers wore large sea-shells 

 as breast ornaments. No accurate information was obtain- 

 able, as intercourse was carried on only by signs. 



Mr. J. Hewitt, assistant for lower vertebrates in the 

 Transvaal Museum, and formerly curator of the Sarawak 

 Museum, has been appointed director of the Albany 

 Museum, Grahamstown, South Africa, in succession to 

 Dr. S. Schonland, who has resigned owing to pressure of 

 other work. The herbarium is still under the care of Dr. 

 Schonland. 



A Reuter telegram from Spezia announces the death, 

 on August 28, of Prof. Paolo Mantegazza. From a short 

 notice in the Times, we learn that Prof. Mantegazza was 

 born at Monza on October 31, 1831. .After having studied 

 at Milan and at Pisa he devoted himself to the study of 

 medicine, and took his degree as doctor of medicine at 

 Pavia. He early acquired a reputation, which increased 

 steadily until he came to be regarded as one of the most 

 learned physicians and the first hygienist of Italy. His 

 method of exposition was easy, brilliant, and attractive, 

 and did much to popularise the teaching of medical science. 

 His devotion to his profession, however, did not prevent 

 him from taking an active part in public affairs. A 

 member of the Consiglio Superiore di Saniti, Mantegazza 

 was also professor of general and experimental pathology 

 in the University of Pavia, whence he proceeded to teach 

 anthropology in the Istituto di Studii Superior! in 

 Florence, in which city he founded the first anthropological 

 and ethnographical museum ever established in Italy. In 

 November, 1876, he was included by Royal decree amongst 

 the Senators of the Kingdom. 



During the past month sixteen advanced students and 

 researchers have been at work at the Port Erin Biological 

 Station. The Oceanography course conducted by Prof. 

 Herdman, with Dr. Dakin and Dr. Roaf, during the first 

 half of .August was attended by eight, and consisted partly 

 of lectures and laboratory work in the Biological Station 

 and partly of work at sea. One day was spent in fish- 

 trawling on board the Lancashire Sea-fisheries steamer, 

 and other occasions in plankton work and dredging from 

 the s.y. Ladybinl. The contemplated addition of a new 

 research wing at the back of the present -building has now 

 been decided on, and the work will be commenced in a 

 few days. This new building will provide an addition to 

 the librarv and a large experimental-tank room and two 

 smaller research rooms with large tanks for physiological 

 and other experimental work on the ground floor, and a 

 series of eight separate research rooms, each with two 

 v;indows, on the upper floor. The whole will be com- 

 pleted in time for use during next Easter vacation. The 

 addition is made necessary by the increase in the number 

 of students and research workers at the Port Erin Bio- 

 logical Station. A circular letter stating that 350/. would 

 be required to build the new wing was issued by Prof. 

 Herdman in May last, and since then the sum of about 

 250?. has been raised. It is hoped that the balance will 

 soon be found; and in the faith that the work of the 

 laboratory justifies the' extension, the building is to be 

 commenced. 



The eleventh annual meeting of the .Astronomical and 

 Astrophysical Society was held at the Harvard College 

 NO. 2 131. VOL. 84] 



Observatory, .August 17-19. The programme included 

 about fifty papers, and the meeting was well attended, 

 among those present being many astronomers and 

 physicists, who have gone to the United States in ordi-r 

 to attend this meeting and that of the International Solar 

 Union at Pasadena. 



The subject of the celebrated skull discovered at Galley 

 Hill, Kent, in 1888, and now in the possession of Dr. F. 

 Corner, formed the subject of a full-dress debate before 

 the .Anthropological Society of Paris, of which a report is 

 included in the last issue of its Bulletins e.t McUnoires. 

 The character of this skull has been discussed by many 

 British anthropologists. Mr. E. T. Newton attributed it 

 to the race known as that of Neanderthal ; and this view 

 was more or less accepted by M. Paul Raymond, while 

 it was questioned by authorities such as MM. F'raipont, 

 Herv^, and .A. de Mortillet. The result of the debate was 

 thus inconclusive. But, on the whole, the doubts of Prof. 

 Boyd Dawkins and the late Sir John Evans, the latter 

 expressing surprise at the discovery of an entire cranium 

 in the diluvium, will suggest an attitude of caution in 

 arriving at any definite conclusion on the age and racial 

 affinities of this remarkable specimen. 



The forty-fourth volume (Series 3, vol. v.) of the Journal 

 of Anatomy and Physiology is completed by the number 

 published in July last. The papers which it contains 

 nearly all refer to the human subject, and are therefore of 

 interest more particularly to medical men. We may direct 

 special attention to an elaborate account of the develop- 

 ment of the larynx by Mr. J. E. Frazer, which illustr.ates 

 verv well the important part now played by wax model 

 reconstruction in the study of human embryolog)-. 



In the -August number of the Zoologist Colonel C. E. 

 Shepherd gives the results of investigations in regard to 

 the relative sizes of the otoliths in various species and 

 groups of bony fishes. Among the catfishes, it is note- 

 worthy that while in the fresh-water Synodontis schal all 

 these bones are very small, in the marine /Elurichthys 

 gronovii one of them is very large. This suggests a differ- 

 once between deep- and shallow-water fishes in this respect, 

 but the idea is negatived by the fact that deep- and shallow- 

 water members of the Berychida; have otoliths ' of nearly 

 similar relative size. All flat fishes likewise agree in the 

 large size of these bones, so that in both instances adherence- 

 to a constant family type overrides adaptation in this 

 matter. More promise seems to be afforded by the idea 

 that the size of the otoliths may vary in proportion to 

 the degree of development of visual power, long rectal 

 ocular muscles, which indicate a quickly mobile eye, being 

 correlated in the Scombrida; in most cases with small 

 otoliths. In the Gadid.-e, on the other hand, the eye- 

 muscles are short, indicating an eye with little mobile 

 power, while the otoliths are large. -Although his investi- 

 gations show that such a correlation holds good in the 

 case of a large number of the species examined, Colonel 

 Shepherd remarks that it cannot yet be regarded as proved 

 that quickness of sight among fishes is compensated for 

 by dullness of hearing, or that acute hearing accompanies 

 an increase in the size of the otoliths. It is added that 

 in sharks and rays the otoliths are represented by " ear- 

 dust," although why this should be so is at present a 

 mystery. 



CoNsiuERABLE interest attaches to a paper by Dr. Einar 

 Lonnberg published in vol. vii., No. 2, of ArUiv fiir 

 Zootogi, in which it is shown that the hinder teeth of very 

 voun'"^ white whales (D<-Il^hiiiaptfrus Icucas) constantly 



