May 27, 1915] 
NATURE 
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45 


The source of Peter Martyr’s information was un- 
doubtedly Columbus himself, for we find the same fish- 
ing incident related, together with a more trustworthy 
description of a species of sucking-fish (probably 
Echeneis naucrates), in those fragments of the Journal 
of the second voyage of the great discoverer which 
have been preserved by his son Ferdinand, and by 
the chroniclers Bartolomé de Las Casas and Fray 
Andrés Bernadez. 
Bernaldez, curate of Los Palocios, was a personal 
friend of Columbus, and had access to his Journals 
and other papers. Thirteen chapters of his history 
are devoted to the Admiral and his discoveries. In 
chapter 126 occurs an interesting passage relating 
to the Remora, which no doubt faithfully reproduces 
the famous navigator’s own words. The only 
naturalist of modern times who has commented upon 
the incident in question, so far as the present writer 
has been able to find, is Alexander von Humboldt. 
Poey briefly refers to it in his description of the so- 
called Echeneis guaican, and Dr. Gtinther appears 
to doubt that the Remora was actually employed in 
the capacity narrated. 
The passage in Bernaldez reads :— 
“fAt the Queen’s Gardens, off the coast of Cuba] 

Fic. 2.—The Remora or “‘ Reversus” asdescribed by Christopher Columbus. 
Gesner, 1558.) 
on the day following [May, 1494] the Admiral being 
very desirous to find someone from whom he might 
obtain information, there came a canoe to hunt for 
fish :—for they call it hunting, and they hunt for one 
fish with another. They have fishes of a certain kind 
which they hold by a line fastened to their tails, and 
which are like the conger-eels in shape; and have a 
large mouth armed with suckers, like the cuttle-fish. 
They are very fierce, like our ferrets, and when they 
are thrown into the water, they go to fasten them- 
selves upon some of the fishes there, and sooner die 
than let go their hold, till they are drawn out of the 
water. The fish is very light, and as soon as he has 
taken hold, the Indians draw him by the long cord 
tied to his tail, and immediately throw him into 
the water again; and in this way, they take one 
every time. As these hunters were at a distance from 
the caravel, the Admiral sent his armed boats to 
them, contriving it so that they should not escape to 
land. As the boats came up to them, these hunters 
called out to the men, as unconcernedly as if they 
had known them all their lives, to stop, because one 
of the fishes had fastened upon a large turtle, and they 
must wait till they had got it into the canoe. 
“Tis our men did, and afterwards they took the 
canoe, and those in it, together with four turtles, 
NO. 2378, VOL. 95] 
| each of which was three codos long, to the ships of 
== = 
(After Conrad 
the Admiral; and there they gave some account of 
these islands, and of their cacique, who was close at 
hand, and had sent them to hunt. They asked the 
Admiral to go on shore, and they would make for 
them a great feast, and would give to them all four 
of the turtles.” C. R. Eastman. 
American Museum of Natural History, New York. 

A Mathematical Paradox. 
“Two horses, side by side and four feet apart, run 
once round a race track.» How much further does the 
outer horse go than the inner?” 
If this question is asked, in nearly every case the 
immediate reply is that it depends on the size of 
the track. It is somewhat paradoxical that the dis- 
tance is 8z, or a little more than 25 ft., is actually 
independent both of the size and of the shape of the 
race track, provided that there no reversal of 
curvature. 
This problem is stated in a more formal manner 
in Williamson’s ‘Integral Calculus,’ namely, if two 
curves have the same evolute the difference of their 
lengths is 47D, where D is the distance between the 
curves. PNgisie 15. 
is 
A Mistaken Wasp. 
Tue mistake made by the cabbage 
butterfly referred to in NaturE of May 20 
appears to be made by other insects. 
Quite recently (last week in April) whilst 
having lunch in a sunny room decorated 
with a light-coloured paper with a floral 
design of pink roses in full bloom, a large 
wasp entered and became very agitated; 
observing it for some little time, I noticed 
it alight every moment or so in the centre 
of one of the roses, remain a moment, 
then off again to another; it appeared to 
be getting very angry as it went from rose 
to rose, which it kept on doing during the 
time I was in the room—twenty minutes 
or so. W. A. Gunn. 
Corporation Museum and Art Gallery, 
Dock Street, Newport, Mon., May 22. 
, 
THE PENGUINERY RE-VISITED.! 
"T°HE author’s fascinating popular account of the 
social life of the Adélie Penguin (Pygoscelis 
adeliae) has been already reviewed in these 
columns, but the subject is of such great interest 
and Dr. Levick is such a consummate observer 
that we make no apology for turning to this second 
and more formal publication in the hope of add- 
ing to the completeness of the picture previously 
presented. 
Apart from the observations made by the late 
Dr. Edward A. Wilson, which may be accepted, 
we are told, as “entirely correct,” previous de- 
scriptions of the life of the Adélie Penguins have 
failed to do justice to these wonderful birds. 
About the middle of October they appear in ones 
and twos on the beach at Cape Adare, and by 
the end of the month there may be three-quarters 
1 British Museum (Natural History). British Antarctic (Terra Nova 
Expedition, 1910. Natural History Report. Zoology. Vol. i., No. 2. 
“Natural History of the Adélie Penguin.” By Staff-Surgeon G. Murray 
Levick. Pp. 55-84+plates i-xxi. (London: British Museum (Natural 
History), and Longmans, Green, and Co., 1915.) Price 5s. 
