September 29, 19 10] 



NATURE 



401 



at Mulgrave, with their deep, well-watered ravines in- 

 variably produce a rich fungus flora independent of season, 

 which to a very great extent determines the presence or 

 absence of fungi in less favoured districts. Notwithstand- 

 ing four previous visits, six agarics new to the British 

 flora were met with, in addition to a species only 

 previously recorded from Jersey. Mycena flavipes, a 

 beautiful fungus with a pink cap and a bright yellow 

 stem, was met with in some quantity. This fungus w-as 

 first recorded as a British species from specimens collected 

 in Mulgrave Woods about twenty-five years ago, and has 

 not been met with elsewhere in this country. A consider- 

 able number of rare and interesting British species were 

 also collected. Several parasitic fungi were also noted. 

 The total number of species collected amounted to between 

 four and five hundred. During the evenings, discourses 

 on mvcological subjects were given by Mr. Harold Wager, 

 F.R.S., Mr. .\. Clarke. Mr. T. Gibbs, and Mr. Geo. Massee. 

 Mr. Cheesman exhibited a collection of Myxogastres 

 collected in the Rocky Mountains, and Mr. A. Clarke 

 exhibited an extensive series of coloured drawings of fungi. 

 Much of the success of the meeting was due to the facili- 

 ties kindly afforded by the Rev. the Marquis of Normanby. 



Prof. Flinders Petrie in Man for September records 

 the discovery in the neighbourhood of the Pyramid of 

 Sneferu (B.C. 4600) of a stone tomb dating from a time 

 before the construction of the pyramid, the earliest private 

 tomb in Egypt to which a date can be assigned. This 

 burial is of the highest interest, as it shows that the 

 body was completely unfleshed before it was wrapped in 

 linen. It lies in a sarcophagus of red granite, the oldest 

 stone sarcophagus known. It has long been known that 

 in prehistoric burials the corpse was stripped of the flesh, 

 the bones even being broken to extract the marrow. In 

 the present case each bone was separately wrapped in 

 linen ; and the present discovery proves that the dissever- 

 ing of the skeleton was the custom among the higher 

 classes at the beginning of the Pyramid period. 



In the last progress report of work at Knossos Dr. 

 A. J. Evans records a remarkable discovery of what he 

 calls the "Tomb of the Double Axes," which has pro- 

 duced more definite evidence regarding the sepulchral cult 

 and the conception of the after-world than any grave yet 

 opened in Crete or prehistoric Greece. Here the double 

 axes were socketed in sacral horns of plaster, and it 

 would seem that the tomb, besides being a place of 

 sepulture, was also a chapel, where the protection of the 

 Great Mother of the prehistoric Cretan cult was sought 

 for the shade of the departed warrior, the stone benches 

 round the shrine being probably arranged for some 

 memorial function in which the family took part. Inside 

 the tomb was found a bronze axe, not of the thin ritual 

 type, but a real prehistoric implement, probably used by 

 the workmen at some early reopening of the sepulchral 

 chamber to admit of the presentation of offerings to the 

 dead. 



An interesting recent addition to the Maidstone Museum- 

 is a model of the fine dolmen situated at Coldrum, some 

 2j miles north of West Mailing. The dolmen itself stands 

 on the edge of a well-marked prehistoric cultivation 

 terrace at the foot of the chalk escarpment and faces 

 east, towards Kits Coty House, which is some six 

 miles distant. It was in this dolmen that Mr. F. J. 

 Bennett recently found some remains of prehistoric man, 

 and it is to Mr. Bennett, assisted by Mr. Filkins, of 

 Maidstone, that the model is due. It is built to scale, 

 NO. 2135, VOL. 84] 



the model of each stone having been made and fi.xed at 

 the site of Coldrum itself, thus ensuring an accurate repre- 

 sentation. Mr. Bennett has also had prepared plans of 

 the Coldrum and Addington megaliths, together with a 

 photographic survey of the former and a tracing of the 

 25-inch map showing additional sarsens, so that visitors 

 to the museum may more clearly understand the relations 

 of the various parts and their surroundings. With so 

 many of our megalithic remains being neglected or wilfully 

 despoiled, it is an urgent necessity that similar models, 

 plans, &c., should be made of the few which still remain 

 intact. 



A MEMOIR on " Factors in the Transmission and Preven- 

 tion of Malaria in the Panama Canal Zone," by Dr. S. T. 

 Darling, in the Annals of Tropical Medicine and Parasit- 

 ology, vol. iv.. No. 2, describes a number of very interest- 

 ing observations and experiments on the development of 

 the parasites of simple and malignant tertian malaria in 

 mosquitoes, and on the infectivity of different species of 

 anopheline mosquitoes in the region in question. Cellia 

 albimana, the common white-hind-footed mosquito, a very 

 hardy species, was found to be the most efficient trans- 

 mitter of malaria, C. tarsimaculata scarcely less so ; on 

 the other hand, Arribalzagia malefactor belies its name, 

 since it was not found possible to infect it. Incidentally, 

 the author comes to a conclusion which will perhaps be 

 a surprise to many— that the characteristic musical note 

 of the mosquito is caused by the vibration of the proboscis, 

 not by the wings in flight. 



A RECENT number of the Philippine Journal of Science 

 (vol. v.. No. I, Section B) contains seven' papers by 

 different investigators on the subject of the etiology of 

 beriberi, together with a report of the discussion which 

 followed the reading of these papers at the first biennial 

 meeting of the Far-Eastern Association of Tropical 

 Medicine, held at Manila in March. It was generally 

 agreed, and a resolution was passed by the meeting to 

 the effect, that " beriberi is associated with the continuous 

 consumption of white (polished) rice as the staple article 

 of diet." Evidence, experimental and otherwise, was 

 brought forward to prove that in the process of polishing 

 the rice the grains are deprived of certain outer layers, 

 the pericarp and sub-pericarpal tissue, which appear to 

 contain some substance or substances essential for the 

 maintenance of the normal metabolism of nerve-tissues. 

 On this view, beriberi is a disorder of metabolism, due to 

 deficiencies of diet. The chief obstacle to the acceptance 

 of this tTieory, it is pointed out, is that it does not explain 

 the occurrence of beriberi in some tropical countries and 

 its absence in others, such as Ceylon, where white rice 

 is equally the staple diet of the natives. Some experts 

 consider, therefore, that the diet is only the predisposing 

 condition, and that the true cause of the disease has yet 

 to be found. . 



A SYNOPSIS of the Silurian fossils of the South Yarra 

 district forms the subject of a paper by Mr. F. Chapman, 

 palfeontologist to the Melbourne Museum, in the August 

 number of the Mctorian Naturalist. The presence of an 

 eurypterid of the genus Pterygotus, of the peculiar brittle- 

 star described by the author as a new genus, Gregoriara, 

 and of the bivalve Cardiola cornucopiae, is stated to link 

 the fauna with that of the British and Bohemian Silurian. 



The September issue of the Irish Naturalist is devoted 

 to a report of the sixth triennial conference and excursion 

 of the Irish Field Club, held at Rosapenna, County 

 Donegal, on July 8-13. Notes on the natural history and 



