503 



NATURE 



[October 20, 19 10 



The most western group of the immigrant Mela- 

 nesians are the Roro and Melveo people of the St. 

 Joseph River, with whom are closely related the Pokao 

 and Kapatsi between Hall Sound and Cape Suckling. 

 In chapters xvii.-x.\.\i. the social relations and family 

 life of the Roro are detailed, with an account of the 

 clans and village organisation of the Mekeo, and a 

 note on Pokao. This region is characterised by the 

 greater importance attached to the right than to the 

 left side in ceremonial matters, and by the prominence 

 of geometrical design in the decorative art. Among 

 the Mekeo there are traces of mother-right, though 

 descent is patrilineal. .\ prominent feature in the 



absence of cannibalism. Both sections are remarkable 

 for the building and use of large sea-going canoes, 

 and the characteristic Massim decorative art reaches 

 its highest development in the ornamental prows of 

 these vessels in the north. The author's account of 

 the sociology of the southern Massim includes a col- 

 lection of folk-tales. The people live in hamlet- 

 groups, the inhabitants of which are more or less 

 closely related by birth or marriage. There is also a 

 peculiar form of totemism in which the members of a 

 clan have as totems a series of associated animals or 

 plants, as, e.g. a bird, fish, snake, and plant, the 

 number and nature of these varying in different places. 

 The northern Massim are 



described in similar detail as 



regards the Trobriands, Mar- 

 shall-Bennets, and JMurua. 

 .Shorter accounts are given of 

 the Louisiades and Mukaua on 

 the southern and western 

 borders. 



The volume is exceedingly 

 well illustrated. There are 

 seventy-nine plates from photo- 

 graphs or native drawings. 

 Most of the former are excep- 

 tionally good. In addition 

 there are tiftv figures in the 

 text drawn bv Mr. Norman H. 

 Hardy, a good map, a glossary 

 of native words, and a verv 

 useful index. Dr. .Seligmann 

 has produced an interesting, 

 trustworthy, and scholarly work 

 on a most interesting section of 

 the Melanesian people. 



S. H. Ray. 



-Popungapi u/u uf R;irai Villa 



Mekeo village is the highly decorated uju, or club- 

 house. 



The Massim people of the east are more homo- 

 geneous than the western Papuo-Melanesians. Dr. 

 Seligmann makes two divisions, the northern in the 

 Trobriands, Marshall-Bennet. ^^'oodlark, Laughlan, 

 and some smaller islands, the southern in the south- 

 east peninsula of New Guinea between the south shore 

 of Milne Bay and Goodenough Bay, with some of the 

 Louisiades. Each division has its distinctive features. 

 In the north there is a higher cephalic index and 

 cranial capacity, a hereditary chieftainship, and 

 NO. 2138, VOL. 84] 



THE CEl^TENARY OF 

 FILIPPO CAVOLINI. 

 T^HE first centenary of the 

 -'■ death of Filippo Cavo- 

 lini, the great Neapolitan 

 naturalist, was celebrated on 

 September 12-13, t^he function 

 having been arranged by the 

 Society of Naturalists in 

 Naples. Citizens, as well as 

 the scientific and the political 

 authorities, answered enthu- 

 siasticallv to the appeal of the 

 society. The municipality and 

 the University united, formed 

 a powerful honorary general 

 committee, tlie patronage of 

 which was assumed by King 

 Victor Emmanuel III. The 

 chairman of the ordinary com- 

 mittee, composed of members 

 of the -Societv of Naturalists, 

 was the president of the societv. 

 Prof. F. S. Monticelli. Tlie 

 committee published an attractive booklet, giving a 

 resume of the life and works of F. Cavolini. " 



On September jz the aula magna of the University 

 was thronged by delegates of the Italian and foreign 

 universities, by members of the International Zoo- 

 logical Congress, and by others who had been invited. 

 .'\mongst the many supporters, apart from the Italian 

 Ministries of Public Instruction and of Agriculture, 

 we note those of many academies and universities 

 of Europe and .-\merica, and also the Prince of 

 Monaco. 

 Prof, Pasquale del Pezzo, rector of the University, 



of British New Gu 



