NATURE 



[July 27, 191 1 



Cape Town. 

 Roval Society of South Africa, May 19.— Mr. S. S. 

 Hough, F.K.S., vice-president, in the chair.- — R. Mar-loth 

 Some new South African succulents and other plants. 

 Among the plants described in this paper are three species 

 of special interest, viz., one of Cytinus, one of Borbonia, 

 and one of Anacampscros. The Cytinus is noteworthy as 

 it constitutes a second species of Rafflesiaceaa for South 

 Africa ; the Borbonia is of economic importance, being the 

 source of a colonial tea, viz., " rooibosch-tea," and the 

 Anacampseros is another example of mimicry-plant, of 

 which eight species were described in previous papers. — 

 Miss D. L. Bleek : Note on the language of Bushmen 

 tribes north of the Orange River. All words and sentences 

 taken down from Bushmen south of the Orange River 

 show that they spoke one language, with dialectical varia- 

 tions. North of the Orange River, however, in the Lange- 

 berg and adjoining Southern Kalahari, we find a different 

 language, that of II n Bushmen, closely allied to that of 

 I Xam Bushmen (those south of the river) ; the difference 

 in the vocabulary, and still more in the grammar, of these 

 two tribes is too great to be called a mere dialectical varia- 

 tion. In the Northern Kalahari the so-called Masarwa are 

 found, people living exactly as Bushmen do, though said 

 to be mixed in type. The South African Museum has a 

 series of gramophone records taken from pure Masarwa, in 

 the heart of the Kalahari region, which the author has 

 transcribed, and which, in spite of the instrument not 

 having recorded clicks clearly, gave valuable evidence that 

 the language belongs to the Bushman family. !.. 

 Pering-uey : Note on the result of investigation of a Strand 

 Looper rock-shelter, with exhibition of the objects found. 

 The cave which it was decided to excavate is, properlv 

 speaking, a rock-shelter, filled with an accumulation of 

 kitchen refuge, blown sand, &c. The excavation was 

 carried through a deplli of nearly 14 feet of this material, 

 when it was found necessary to stop, owing to the dampness 

 of the detritus. The cave was originally discovered by 

 Mr. C. J. Whiteher, who carried on some excavation first, 

 and very kindly allowed the museum to proceed with 

 further exploration work. This cave proves to have been a 

 necropolis, a considerable number of skeletons having been 

 found at different depths. In the pelvic bone of a young 

 child for female) was found embedded a small stone chip, 

 part of the point of an arrow, probably poisoned. Most of 

 the skeletons are in a greatly advanced stage of decay. 

 Some are plainly Strand Loopers, but others were found 

 which are not Strand Loopers ; they are of greater and 

 more robust stature, and would appear to be half-bred, or 

 perhaps Kaffirs, yet the mode of burial is the same, but 

 the skulls of this " larger race " are not entire, nor could 

 all the fragments be found. A feature of the hitherto un- 

 recorded burial rites is the placing of flat stones, occa- 

 sionally painted, on the hunched-up body resting on its side. 

 One of these stones has polychrome paintings of the 

 Bushman type, but unlike any of these paintings, in this 

 one the eye, and an attempt at facial delineation is notice- 

 able. The evidence of the bone and stnne implements found 

 in this sepulture not only indicates that the two industries 

 prevailed simultaneously, but that implements of palaeolithic 

 and neolithic type were also coeval. It can now be said 

 that in South Africa the hiatus which in Europe, or in the 

 Palaearctic region, separates the palaeolithic from the 

 neolithic, is now proved not to have existed. — T. Burtt- 

 Davy : Observations on the inheritance of character in 

 Zea Mays. In Red Cuzco and some other breeds of red 

 maize, the red colouring matter is confined to the pericarp, 

 and is therefore a fruit character; it does not appear in 

 the first cross between a white male and a red female. In 

 a red dent breed the red pigment occurs in the all 

 Iaver ; it is therefore a seed character; it is dominant to 

 whiteness. When this breed is crossed with a white sugar 

 breed the results in the second generation are approxi- 

 mately : — Red : starchy, 56-25 per cent. ; sugary, 18-75 P er 

 cent. = 75 per cent. White : starchy, 18-75 P er 

 sugary, 6-25 per cent. =25 per cent. \ single grain lias 

 been seen, in which the starchy character appears in one 

 half, the sugi r. The number of 



rows on a maize ear, within certain limits, is subjeel to 

 fluctuating variations, which may perhaps he affected by 

 season or food supply, or both. When an 8-row type is 

 NO. 2 [78, VOL. 87] 



crossed with an 18-row type, both characters disappear in 

 the heterozygous form, and an intermediate type is pro- 

 duced, in which there are 10, 12, or 14 rows, 12 rows 

 greatly predominating. A white-cobbed breed crossed with 

 a red-cobbed produces a red-cob in the first filial generation. 

 Result of reciprocal cross is the same. — E. Nevill : The 

 early Babylonian eclipses of the sun. On the fourteenth 

 line of Tablet No. 35968 of the British Museum Collection, 

 Mr. King has deciphered the record : — " On the twenty- 

 sixth day of the month Sivan in the seventh year the day 

 was turned into night and fire in the midst of heaven. ..." 

 From collateral evidence contained on the tablet, the author 

 supports Mr. King's contention that the phenomenon re- 

 ferred to is a total eclipse of the sun, but differs from 

 Dr. Cowell, who has identified it with the eclipse of 

 B.C. 1062, July 31. The author has examined the features 

 of some seventy eclipses which occurred between B.C. 1250 

 and B.C. 950, the extreme limits of date which seems to be 

 compatible with the inscription, and finds that three of 

 these only appear to satisfy the prescribed conditions of 

 having been visible from the neighbourhood of Babylon at 

 a time of year corresponding with the twenty-sixth day of 

 the month Sivan, viz., those of — 1217 June 5, ■ — 1123 

 May 18, and — 956 May 31. The identification of this 

 eclipse is of importance as bearing on the theory of the 

 moon's motion, as well as in relation to doubtful points 

 concerning the chronology of the earlier kings of Babylon. — 

 T. Muir: Sylvester's axisymmetric unisignants. 



CONTENTS. page 



The Encyclopaedia Britannica 103 



Comparative Anatomy. By G. E. S 104 



The Benin Group of Negroes. By Sir H. H. 



Johnston, G.C.M.G., K.C.B 105 



Colour and Constitution. By J. T. H 106 



The Non-metallic Minerals of Economic Value 107 



Electricity and Magnetism 107 



Cellulose Ephemerides 108 



Our Book Shelf 109 



Letters to the Editor: — 



The Rearing of Sea Urchins. {Illustrated) — Prof. 



J. Stanley Gardiner, F.R.S no 



Absorption Markings in " K " Spectroheliograms — 



Albert Alfred Buss; J. Evershed no 



Hamilton and Tait — A. G ill 



Other Contemporaries of Man and the Reindeer at 



Mentone. (Illustrated.) By Dr. William Wright . 112 



The Types of Water Waves. (Illustrated.) 113 



Five-hundredth Anniversary of the University of 



St. Andrews. By W. C. M • .... 114 



National Association for the Prevention of Con- 

 sumption 115 



Dr. John Beddoe, F.R.S 116 



Dr. H. Timbrell Bulstrode 117 



The Promotion of Scientific Research by the De- 

 velopment Commissioners 11S 



Notes 122 



Our Astronomical Column: — 



Astronomical Occurrences for August 127 



Discovery of another Comet (19111) 127 



The Kiess Comet, 1911* 127 



Wolff's Comet, 1011.1 127 



Tin- Radial Velocity of the Sun, and Doppler's Principle 128 

 Peculiar Stellar Spectra and Selective Absorption in 



Interstellar Space 12S 



French Astronomical Works 128 



The Manchester Meeting of the International Asso- 

 ciation of Seismology 128 



The Progress of Cancer Research 129 



The Board of Educations Science Examinations 



and Grouped Course Certificates. By J. Wilson 131 

 The Brighton Conference of the Museums Associa- 

 tion 132 



The French Aerotechnical Institute 133 



University and Educational Intelligence 134 



Societies and Academies 135 



