May 8, 191 3] 



NATURE 



'5' 



19 12. The learned author has discussed the question 

 with much care and learning, and though some may 

 still hesitate to accept his conclusions, his communica- 

 tion deserves the attention of all who are interested 

 in the astronomical aspect of megalithic monuments. 



The attention of students of African ethnology may 

 be invited to an important paper, " Notes on the 

 Geographical Distribution of the Hottentot and Bantu 

 in South Africa," by Mr. W. H. Tooke, published in 

 part v., vol. ii.. of Records of the Albany Museum 

 of Grahamstown. The cradle of the Hottentot race 

 he believes to have been the region now occupied by 

 the Hamitic tribes— Berbers, Gallas, Somali, and 

 Masai. But there are mixed races containing negro, 

 Semitic, and Caucasian elements, and the problem 

 remains whether any of these tribes are derived from 

 a prototype of which the Hottentot is evidently, from 

 close conformity to persistence of type, the present 

 representative. He groups the Bantu into four divi- 

 sions — inland, including the Makalanga and the Bech- 

 wana; coastal, the Baronga or Tekeza, and the Zulu- 

 Kosa or Zulu-Kaffir. The movements of these groups 

 are intricate and obscure, but the information col- 

 lected by Mr. Tooke will help towards a scientific 

 solution of these tangled problems. The importance 

 of the study of stone implements in the same region 

 was urged .in his lecture, delivered on February 29, 

 before the African Society by Prof. Henry Balfour, on 

 the earliest inhabitants of South Africa. 



To the April number of The Geological Magazine 

 Mr. R. B. Newton contributes a note on the fossils in 

 the Pennant collection, recently presented to the 

 British Museum (Natural History) by Lord and Lady 

 Denbigh. These include about a thousand specimens, 

 some of which were described and figured by Pen- 

 nant himself. A selection has been placed on exhibi- 

 tion in the geological department. 



The extent to which the native fauna is disappear- 

 ing in Victoria may be inferred from the following 

 paragraph relating to the Darby district in the March 

 number of The Victorian Naturalist': — "Only a few 

 years ago the koalas, or native bears, were numerous, 

 and could be seen here at any time. Wallabies, 

 dingoes, and the introduced hog-deer were also com- 

 mon, but are now replaced by the fox." 



In the Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural 

 History, vol. xxxii., art. 2, Mr. R. J. Coles records 

 a method of obtaining embryos of large rays. Having 

 observed that female rays appeared to have expelled 

 their embryos in their struggles when taken in nets, 

 the author resorted to the plan of jumping into the 

 water as a seine containing a ray was drawn into the 

 shallows, stabbing the fish with a knife in the back 

 of the head, and then holding on to the knife-handle 

 with one hand, and plugging the vent with the other. 

 The fish was then dragged ashore, when the young 

 would be ejected on the sand. The author then 

 describes, with illustrations, the embryos of several 

 species, and also adduces evidence to show that there 

 is a regular northward summer migration of certain 

 tropical species of rays along the Atlantic coast of 

 North America. 



NO. 2271, VOL. 91] 



I.\ an article on the late Prof. Alpheus Hyatt and 

 his principles of research, published in the April num- 

 ber of The American Naturalist, Dr. R. T. Jackson 

 emphasises the importance, of these researches in 

 pect to the phylogeny and mutual relationships of 

 invertebrates. Stages in development, more especially 

 post-embryonic, were a favourite subject with Hyatt, 

 who inculcated the law that the development of the 

 individual is an epitome of that of its group. He also 

 insisted on the importance of a due recognition of 

 parallelism in development, and originated the theory 

 of acceleration of development, as well as directing 

 attention to senile degenerate development. In con- 

 clusion, the biographer expresses the belief that in 

 the future " Hyatt will be looked on as the master- 

 mind who pointed out the methods by which to ascer- 

 tain the true phylogenetic relations of invertebrate 

 organic forms." 



The first part of vol. cv. of the Zeitschrift 

 fur wissenschaftliche Zoologie contains three papers 

 of considerable interest to embryologists. The first, 

 by Theodor Baumeister, deals with some early stages 

 in the development of the hedgehog. As this animal 

 is sometimes regarded as the oldest living mammal 

 it has already received a large amount of attention 

 at the hands of embryologists, but the present memoir 

 serves to fill an important gap in our knowledge. 

 The second, by Eva Kriiger, treats of the reproduc- 

 tion and gametogenesis of the nematode Rhabditis 

 aberrans, n. sp., while the development of a more 

 familiar nematode, the well-known fresh-water form, 

 Gordius aquaticus, claims the attention of N. Th. 

 Meyer. The segmentation of the egg in the species 

 last-named has been worked out in detail, and the 

 figures are sufficiently convincing. The process of 

 gastrulation, however, appears to take place in a 

 very remarkable manner. The mesenchyme is stated 

 to be formed by an early unipolar immigration, while 

 the alimentary canal arises from two opposite in- 

 vaginations which meet and fuse together to form 

 a tube, the hinder of the two forming both midgut 

 and proctodaeum. The proboscis arises as a second 

 invagination of the anterior end. The author himself 

 appears not quite to be convinced as to the correctness 

 of his account of the formation of the alimentary 

 canal. 



Among the most recent publications of the Depart- 

 ment of Applied Statistics, University College, Lon- 

 don, is an investigation into the mortality of the 

 tuberculous after sanatorium and tuberculin treatment, 

 by Mr. W. Palin Elderton and Mr. Sidney J. Perry. 

 The data from which they worked consisted of records 

 of 3000 cases from the Adirondack Cottage Sanitarium, 

 provided by Dr. Lawrason Brown, of smaller numbers 

 from Scottish sanatoria, provided by Dr. Rest and Dr. 

 Guy, and of particulars of cases dating from 1845 to 

 1870, from the case books of Dr. Austin. Flint, which 

 serve as a guide to the mortality of the consumptive 

 in America in . pre-sanatorium days. The most in- 

 teresting of the conclusions arrived at is stated by the 

 authors as follows : — " There is no evidence in the 

 mortality shown from the data before us to prove that 

 tuberculin as compared with ordinary sanatorium 



