May 6, 1915] NATURE 275 

i 2 priests retire into an underground ceremonial chamber, 
F SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION symbolising the lower world, and, after undergoing a 
$55 EXPLORATIONS. } strict fast, pray for rain. It is startling to learn that 
THE report of Explorations and ope the | this tribe still propitiate the rattlesnake in order to 
Smithsonian Institution for 1913 (Smithsonian | prevent it from injuring them, by a quadrennial 
WR aoe aaa Cone vol. Ixiii., No. 8, 1914), °| human sacrifice, either of the youngest female. infant 
\ including the Nationa useum, 
f Bureau of American Ethnology, 
f and Astrophysical Observatory, re- 
‘ presents much activity in various 
i; 
: 
directions, even if, owing to 
scarcity of funds, some promising 
enterprises were abandoned. 
In geology the most important 
work was a survey by Dr. C. D. 
Walcott of the Robson Peak dis- 
trict in British Columbia and 
Alberta, and the Field region in 
British Columbia, which he re- 
gards as one of the finest geo- 
logical sections in the world (see 
Nature, December 24, 1914, Pp- 
468). A series of admirable photo- 
graphs, one of which (Fig. 1) is 
here reproduced by the courtesy of 
the secretary of the Institution, 
illustrates the splendid mountain 
and glacier scenery of this region. 
At Field a large collection of speci- 
mens was made from the great 
Cambrian fossil quarry. Mr. F. 
Springer’s exploration in Illinois 
produced numerous examples of 
fossil crinoidea, and in Montana 
Mr. E. Stebinger discovered a new 
ceratopsian or horned dinosaur, the 
first example possessing a com- 
plete articulated tail and hind foot, 
which contributes greatly to our 
knowledge of the skeletal anatomy 
of this group of extinct reptiles. 
Dr. W. L. Abbott continued his 
work in Kashmir, his acquisitions 
including a curious silvery-grey 
shrew about 74 millimetres long, 
quite different from anything he 
had before seen, and a fine snow 
leopard with complete skeleton. 
In the field of anthropology Dr. 
A. Hrdlicka continued his explora- 
tion in Peru with the object of 
determining the relations of the 
ancient Peruvians of the mountains 
with those of the coast, with the 
result that he finds no evidence of 
any great antiquity of man in 
Peru. Except the cemeteries or 
burial caves of the coast or moun- 
tain people, there was no sign of 
human occupation and no trace of 
anything older than the well-repre- 
sented pre-Columbian Indians, 
neither the remains of the coast 
nor of the inland people disclosing 
an antiquity greater than some _ . 
twenty centuries. In the Antilles. . 
Dr. Fewkes finds a race of seden- 
tary people possessing a form of 
culture extending from Trinidad to 
Porto Rico, preceded in Cuba and ot ‘ 
Hayti by a cave-dwelling race, and followed by the | or of an adult unmarried childless woman.- The 
comparatively late Carib immigration. “ victims are drugged until they seem to be dead and are 
As regards the Indian tribes of the States, the most || then exposed to the sacred snakes, who are allowed to 
interesting information is that collected by Mrs. M. C. | devour the corpse. The skeleton is then buried with 
Stevenson among the Tewa tribe, where the rain- | offerings under the floor of an adjoining room. 
: NO. 2375, VOL. 95| 
ee 

Photo.) Fic. 1.—Summit of Mount Resplendent, British Columbia. (Pel iat 
