dS 4 



NATURE 



[July io, 191; 



and Obermaier. The most interesting discoveries are 

 two fine examples of the decorated staves called by 

 French archaeologists batons de commandement, from 

 Spanish caves; a rough delineation of an animal, 

 perhaps a horse, and a male human figure from the 

 grotto of San Garcia in Burgos ; and a remarkable 

 series of figures from the Sierra Morena and Velez 

 Blanco caves, illustrating the evolution of design in 

 a female idol of the early Neolithic age. The ex- 

 plorers record their obligations to an English anti- 

 quarian, Col. Willoughby Verner, for his researches 

 in the Peleta cave at Benaojan, Malaga, and describe 

 the visit of M. Breuil, under the guidance of Prof. 

 Sollas, to the well-known Bacon Hole, near Swan- 

 sea, which corroborated the identification of the 

 Palaeolithic drawings on its walls. 



American archaeologists, having settled the main 

 problems which the continent presents, are now devot- 

 ing themselves to regional, intensive exploration. 

 Mr. Clark Wissler has recently issued in Bulletin 9 

 of the Geological Survey of New Jersey a preliminary 

 report on archaeology. The surface sites so far re- 

 ported are rare except in restricted areas, which 

 correspond with the distribution of the Lenap£ 

 Indians during the early settlement period, and it 

 thus appears that all such remains belong to the 

 historic Indians and their immediate ancestors. No 

 positive traces of a pre-Indian culture have been 

 discovered. Long lists and descriptions of the re- 

 mains are given, classified as camp and village sites, 

 shell-heaps, cemeteries, rock shelters, quarries, caches, 

 and trails, the camp and village sites being most 

 abundant. Stone implements are abundant, but as 

 regards palaeoliths, though the existence of such 

 seems to have been demonstrated by Volk in the 

 Delaware Valley, some archaeologists are not satis- 

 fied that they are human in origin. 



We have received the Livingstone College Year 

 Book for 1913, which gives particulars of the work 

 done there, extracts from the letters of old students, 

 &c. The college is established for the training of 

 missionaries in the elements of medicine and hygiene. 

 An appeal is made for io,oooL for paying off a mort- 

 gage on the property and establishing a small endow- 

 ment fund. 



Parts i and 2 of Mikrokosmos (7 Jahrg., 1913-14) 

 contain several well-illustrated articles of interest to 

 microscopists, e.g. a simple illuminating apparatus, a 

 new form of mechanical stage, preparation of mate- 

 rial, development of protozoa, &c. Herr Giinther and 

 Dr. Stehli contribute lists of common plants in suit- 

 able condition during April and May for the demon- 

 stration of special structures, &c, which are indi- 

 cated, with their habitat. 



A ninth research report, by Dr. Houston, director 

 of water examination, has been issued by the Metropoli- 

 tan Water Board. It deals with a search for the 

 typhoid bacillus in raw river water and crude sewage, 

 and is a continuation of the author's former investiga- 

 tions on the same question (see second, fifth, and 

 seventh research reports). Twenty-eight samples of 

 crude sewage were examined, mostly from Barking 

 NO. 2 2 80, VOL. 91] 



or Hendon, also from Dublin, Belfast, Edinburgh, 

 and Aberdeen, but in no case was the typhoid 

 bacillus detected. Dr. Houston concludes that the 

 home of the typhoid bacillus is not so much in impure 

 water, or even in the crude sewage from a large com- 

 munity, as in the " factories " of disease, as exempli- 

 fied by the "carrier" case- 



Among the cases referred to in a recent batch of 

 Opinions (52 to 56) issued by the International Com- 

 mission on Zoological Nomenclature at Washington 

 is that of the rodent genus Ondatra, frequently con- 

 sidered as applicable to the South American coypu, 

 commonly known as Myocastor or Myopotamus. In 

 the opinion of the majority of the committee this 

 usage is, however, considered erroneous, the name 

 really belonging to the musk-rat, originally described 

 as Mns zibethicus. 



To the May number of The National Geographic 

 Magazine Mr. E. C. le Munyon communicates a richly 

 illustrated account of his experiences in conveying 

 a motor-car for the use of the Tasha-Lama from 

 Tientsin across the Gobi to Urga, in northern Mon- 

 golia. One of the plates shows a vast flock of sheep, 

 probably of the Hunia breed, on the march to Pekin, 

 whence a large quantity of the wool — which is chieflv 

 employed in carpet-making — is exported to America. 

 The author also encountered enormous herds of wild 

 horses and "antelopes," the latter being doubtless 

 the Mongolian gazelle or one of the allied species. 

 It may be added that the motor reached its destina- 

 tion in excellent working order. 



A paper by Prof. A. Keith on the teeth of pre- 

 historic man is published in the Odontological Series 

 of the Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine, 

 vol vi. After noticing certain variations from the 

 modern type characteristic of many prehistoric molars, 

 the author proposes the term " taurodontism " for the 

 modification in which the crown tends to become 

 excessively wide in proportion to the root, while 

 " cynodontism " is suggested for the opposite condi- 

 tion. Taurodontism is stated to be excessively de- 

 veloped in Neanderthal man, whose teeth, although 

 primitive or simian in some features, are regarded 

 as highly specialised in others; the dentition of the 

 Galley Hill man is, however, regarded as still more 

 simian in character. 



In an article in the June number of The Zoologist 

 on his experiences of hunting the hump-backed whale 

 from one of the two whaling stations at Durban, Mr. 

 T. B. Goodall directs attention to what he regards as 

 a misinterpretation of the relationship of the plates 

 of whalebone to the plate in the whalebone-whales. 

 It is generally stated in text-books that these plates 

 are outgrowths of ridges on the palate, comparable to 

 the rugae on that of cattle. Mr. Goodall states, how- 

 ever, that the plates arise on the outer sides of two 

 median raised ridges of mucous membrane, which can 

 apparently be raised or depressed. These ridges, or 

 folds, he thinks, probably represent the gums, 

 although it is also suggested that they may corre- 

 spond to the upper lips. In consequence of this, the 

 plates of whalebone, according to the author, appear 



